Destiny Review (PS4)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Destiny
  • Platform: Playstation 4
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A review of Destiny on PS4

Destiny is one of the most anticipated games of the year, particularly when it comes to all-new intellectual properties, as millions of first-person shooter fans are looking forward to the new experience from Bungie, the developer that has already impressed them with the Halo franchise for many years.

While the game received lots of different screenshots, videos, details, and even alpha and beta test phases, Destiny has just reached its final version and is now available worldwide across the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms.

After all this hype and promotion, is the complete Destiny experience worthy of our attention or should we choose another fate? Let's find out.

Story

Destiny has been marketed as an open world experience, but its actual story hasn't been detailed all that much, with the exception of a few small details.

Players take on the role of Guardians, who are warriors defending the last city on Earth. The actual playable character is discovered by a small drone called Ghost, voiced by Peter Dinklage, in the ruins of Old Russia, an abandoned territory on our planet. After getting back to grips with your Guardian powers, you are tasked with completing all sorts of different missions that take you from Earth to the Moon, Mars, or Venus.

The mysterious sphere hovering around the last city, called the Traveler, is detailed during the game's plot, as is the Darkness, the likewise mysterious force that's spreading across the solar system and the whole universe.

The actual plot is relatively interesting, but its delivery can often go above the player’s head, especially if you are focusing on the adventures you can have with your friends via the cooperative mechanic. In true MMORPG style, you'll get quite a lot of plot info from different characters that sit around the Tower, the home base of the Guardians, but also from Ghost, who fills you in with all sorts of necessary details. This, however, doesn't work all that well and you won't find yourself caring about characters or putting that much heart into what's happening with them.

Overall, the story of Destiny is filled with lots of info, but unfortunately it's not relayed all that well and requires some effort from players to understand. You also don't really get to forge a connection with the city you're supposed to be defending, and there are way too many things that don't get resolved throughout the campaign, no doubt being left open for expansions or sequels.

Defend the Traveler
Defend the Traveler

Gameplay

Destiny, at its core, is a first-person shooter, and considering Bungie's heritage with the Halo franchise, the studio has more than enough experience with delivering a tight shooter with varied weapons and mechanics.

The shooter mechanics include traditional running and gunning, as you can sprint around the environment, shoot from the hip, or use the aim-down-the-sights system to shoot more accurately. The weapons are pretty varied and are divided into quite a few different categories, from hand cannons to rifles of the automatic or semi-automatic specializations, not to mention the adequately futuristic fusion rifles and quite a few other varieties.

Ammo management is key in Destiny, as there are many enemies scattered around its different environments and you'll often end up running out of ammunition on your primary weapon. Luckily, you can carry around extra weapons and switch to them, depending on the situation or on your necessity. Fortunately, ammo can drop from enemies, but don't expect endlessly bountiful enemies filled with loot and other things. When in trouble, you can also use the satisfying melee punches to knock out foes, and if the cooldown has expired, to send them back using your class-specific abilities.

Of course, one of Destiny's main claims to fame is the class system, which allows players to choose from one of three categories – Titan, which is your basic warrior, Hunter, which is more akin to a rogue, and Warlock, which is basically a mage.

Each class has different super abilities as well as specific grenades and modifiers of abilities, like the melee one. Of course, the game also has a complex role-playing aspect that allows players to customize their skills, unlock special abilities, and spend more points in specializing in different areas, such as Super or grenade use. The armor you find in the game also caters to these skills and earning a special item with great stats is more than enough incentive to revise your play style and skill point allocation.

In terms of opponents, they are quite varied and can be classified into quite a few factions, such as the more basic Fallen and Hive, but also the more deadly Vex and Cabal. Almost all enemy groups include regular soldiers, melee-only creeps, as well as cannon fodder creatures and other such things.

The movement system is also pretty tight and there are other elements to improve it, such as the double jump or the Shrike, which can be summoned easily and helps traverse the large environments in the game.

Speaking of environments, the actual planets, while having only one main zone, are quite large and filled with many enemies and things to do. You can travel throughout them during the regular story mode by completing the plot-specific quests in those areas, but also in the explore mode, in which you seek out beacons that offer random tasks for you to complete.

Given the huge environments and the scope of the experience, the loading screens are pretty lengthy, especially when you load up the Tower, which is filled with all sorts of other players. While I'm sure Bungie worked hard to get the loading screens to be as short as possible, they're still quite long and tedious.

What's really special about Destiny's online aspect is the fact that people are scattered throughout the game's world. While that may not seem out of the ordinary for MMO veterans, the game doesn't throw that many other people in a session, so the few people that you meet are still novelties and you're certainly tempted to join them in their action and craft your own adventure.

One rather annoying aspect of the game appears in the Explore mode, where the actual random missions offered to players don't really take into account their level. It's often that a level 4 character gets a mission deep inside a zone that's filled with level 8 or higher enemies. While that may not seem like such a big difference, the level cap is 20 and it takes quite a while to progress.

The main issue with Destiny, however, is its mission design, both relating to the plot quests and the explore goals. They're all pretty generic and task players with, more or less, escorting Ghost through enemy camps, defending it in front of waves of foes while he breaks into one system or another, and listening to his exposition.

Multiplayer

Of course, another part of the game is the multiplayer aspect, largely because you need to be connected to Bungie's servers in order to experience Destiny. However, on the PS4 at least, you can play the story and explore modes without a PlayStation Plus subscription, as that's required only for co-op Strike missions or the competitive Crucible encounters.

The cooperative mode has two different aspects, as you can group up in a fireteam of three members to complete the story or the explore mode missions. When you want more challenging encounters, you can go on the Strike missions, which are basically your MMO raids against groups of enemies.

While exploring Destiny's vast environments is much more fun in a group, the co-op Strikes are a pain, largely because of the tough enemies presented to players and the design of the challenges. Almost always you're presented with a huge foe that's armored and has a huge life, and instead of allowing you to focus on that enemy, the game keeps throwing at you other powerful foes that prevent you from doing any damage.

When you get bored of defeating hordes of AI-controlled foes, you can jump into the Crucible, which is the name of the competitive PvP mode. It's filled with all sorts of different game types for players to explore, from Control, which is unlocked at the beginning, to others like Clash or Rumble, which are new names for classics like Team Deathmatch or Free-for-All.

Skirmish is the one novel experience, as three players go up against three others, and killed teammates can be revived. This adds a bit more strategy to the PvP experience, but communication and teamwork are mandatory.

The competitive experience feels pretty well balanced, but after fighting regular foes in the campaign, it takes some getting used to going up against fellow Guardians that can use their Super abilities, their gravity-defying jumps, and their other skills. While level advantages are disabled by default, experienced players can still gain the upper hand by using their legendary weapons.

Go beyond Earth
Go beyond Earth

Visuals and Sound

Destiny runs on the PS4 at a native resolution of 1080p and a locked framerate of 30fps. The visuals look pretty good and textures hold up pretty well. There are some low-res models here and there, and the shadows look pretty jagged in some situations. The framerate, while it's unfortunate that it's locked at just 30fps, still handles pretty good. It would've been great, however, if it could reach a 60fps limit.

Special mentions go to the environmental design, as each planet feels unique and you can often just lose yourself in the meticulously crafted worlds forged by Bungie.

The soundtrack is stellar in Destiny, and even if you'll spend plenty of time with the game doing repetitive things, it doesn't get boring at all. Throw in the voice acting of Peter Dinklage, which is much better than in the original PS4 alpha, and you're in for quite a good time. What's great is also that, from time to time, your character speaks during certain cut scenes which, in this era of silent shooter protagonists, is quite refreshing.


The Good

  • Tight shooter mechanics
  • Absolutely stunning soundtrack
  • Gorgeous visuals
  • Plenty of good ideas

The Bad

  • Repetitive missions
  • Co-op Strikes are badly designed
  • Lengthy loading times
  • Story isn't explained well and doesn't make players care

Conclusion

Destiny is a great-handling first-person shooter that manages to seamlessly weave multiplayer elements into its campaign. Bungie has managed to craft plenty of great mechanics for the new game, as well as allow for player expression through the RPG skills and customization system.

However, don't expect a touching story and be prepared to endure plenty of repetition in the story missions. The co-op strikes and the random operations break this tedious feel, but you should still expect some lengthy loading screens and a fair amount of unbalanced missions or strikes.

story 7
gameplay 8
concept 8
graphics 9
audio 10
multiplayer 8
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good
 

Destiny Screenshots (21 Images)

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