Bungie's latest creation has crash landed on Earth with a violent bang, causing quite a shockwave among the gaming population. And why not? It is the famed developer and creator of the Halo franchise, so obviously the world would wait with bated breath to see how a completely new franchise not only compares to their once-flagship series, but also distinguishes itself enough to stand on its own.
Since we received our game on the day it released, naturally, I'm not quite ready to give my final verdict on the game. I still have levels to gain, subclasses to try out, planets to wander around and players to slaughter. However, I have certainly put enough time in the game to share some initial thoughts and concerns.
Right now, my character is a level 14 Hunter. I'm currently done with the three first major planets, and I am a loading screen away from taking my first steps on the planet Mars. I've participated in nearly everything my level and progress would allow — story missions, Strikes, exploring, and three out of the four Crucible modes, which include Control, Clash and Rumble.
If there is one thing I took away from even the first hour with Destiny, it's that Bungie absolutely nailed the gameplay. The gunplay feels fluid and natural. I don't consider myself an FPS fanatic by any standards. I don't hop on the Call of Duty train or the Battlefield wagon, but I do enjoy games like Borderlands, which add a little RPG flair to the standard gunplay. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting Destiny to be the next evolution of Borderlands, and judging by a lot of you online, you did too. I wasn't wrong to expect this, since Bungie's descriptions of Destiny often echoed mechanics of Borderlands — loot, co-op, RPG mechanics.
That said, Destiny isn't like Borderlands, and that's OK. Once gamers get out of the initial mindset that they won't be showered with loot while on a single mission, or that Ghost isn't nearly as charismatic as Claptrap was, Destiny still offers up a lot of great gameplay experiences that actually add some Halo flavor to the mix, rather than Gearbox's Shoot-n-Loot.
My 24-hour period with the game consisted of primarily grouping up with two other GameZone staff members and completing missions systematically. Often, I repeated a mission to try it out on the harder difficulty or to help another player who hadn't yet completed it. Since Destiny's missions are all relatively short, it was never an annoyance to go back and replay a level.
My guess is Bungie is betting on this bite-sized missions structure and varying levels of difficulty to increase the replay value of Destiny. Considering I'm already on the last planet of the game, I can say that the 75% that I already ran through wouldn't have taken me as long, if I had stuck to just completing mission after mission. This artificial inflation of length based on repetition isn't really the best way to show off your game that apparently has a 10 year life span.
Now granted, I haven't hit level 20 yet, so there is a chance that the game opens up tremendously after I'm able to access every high level zone on each planet, but even then, it's all without narrative. By then, I will have beaten the main campaign, meaning the rest of my time spent on these planets will be through the explore mode, with no real guidance to any of these places. Again, this is just a guess since I'm not yet level 20. The game could be completely different at max level, and that's why it wouldn't be fair to give Destiny a score without getting to experience that.
My Crucible (PvP) experiences have also been pretty good, though there are times when I firmly believe that the Hunter is underpowered when compared to the other two classes. However, having the class powers at your disposal during the match adds an exciting layer that other shooters don't have. I don't even think I've seen every single multiplayer map there is, but it's apparent that the design of every map plays into the Guardian's mobility. Each class has a secondary jump, whether it's a double jump, a hover or a jetpack, which allow for some impressive map traversal, similar to the Pilots in Titanfall.
When looking at Destiny's bigger picture and its longevity, it seems like Bungie is more so concentrating on the Crucible to extend the game's lifespan exponentially, rather than its story and PvE areas. For gamers like me who don't always look to multiplayer modes to extend a game's experience, that's a bit of a letdown. However, I'll be able to give a more thorough look, and final opinion, once I do hit the game's level cap, collect some legendary gear, and see what the planets have to offer those that are begging to explore them. Right now, I can sum up Destiny as an amazing shooter with great PvP offerings, but a mediocre story coupled with a fairly short campaign.
