Platforms: Playstation 3/4, Xbox 360/One.
Developer: Bungie Publisher: Activision
Players: 1-3 Online Release Date: September 9, 2014
Halo, is it me you’re looking for?
Let’s get this out of the way, Destiny’s Beta was good, damn good in fact. It played like a completed game, its responsive controls and glitch free areas would have satisfied even those ready to nitpick its flaws. In other words you can tell that the $500 million this game cost has gone to good use, just imagining that this level of polish will run throughout the rest of this epic game is reassuring. Destiny has a lot in common with Mass Effect and Borderlands, but its the fact that it feels so like Halo that’s the best thing about it. If you’re going to build and epic first person shooter, Halo’s perfect super powered gunplay is one of the best places to start.
You’ll start off by creating your guardian, choosing their race and class. The customisation options were quite limited, but what was there certainly looked pretty. It was also quite satisfying to see how quickly your guardian differed from others with the acquisition of more class specific armour. Classes also felt notably different without any of them coming across as overpowered or less interesting when compared to another. Playing as the Titan I was pleased to see I brought a very different set of skills to the table compared to the Hunter I teamed with throughout the beta, even in the early stages. For instance my grenade made short work of the shields of Fallen captains, which opened them up to easy headshots from my co-op partner. It was simple team work, but it nonetheless emphasised the advantages of each class in a rewarding way. Finally the super abilities were awesome, feeling more akin to Final Fantasy’s limit breaks than Borderlands’ action skills with their lengthy recharge times but devastating power. There’s also the promise of a second (and potentially third judging by the empty space) skill tree for each class which is something that will even further differentiate the classes.
You we’re given a fair chunk to play with, with most of what was on offer taking place in a single (albeit massive) area of Earth-Old Russia. The story missions gave what felt like the smallest peak into the story, unfortunately shedding next to no light on what was happening or where things were going but establishing the universe well enough to make me curious enough to want to play on. Gameplay wise the story faired far better, giving us a taste of fighting two alien factions and some enjoyable set pieces. Fighting each faction felt satisfyingly different, the tactical minded Fallen offering a different type of threat to the more aggressive Hive. The bigger battles offered some pretty challenging difficulty as well, something I was pleased to see on just the ‘Normal’ difficulty. You won’t be breezing through this game by any means, but you’ll most definitely feel like a bonafied badass when you come out on top. The short story missions however soon blended into one apart from the odd spectacular battle, the ‘go there and defend Peter Dinklage’ mission structure growing tiresome by the end of the beta.
Speaking of challenge, the strike mission that was available was the best on offer. A gauntlet that was far longer than any of the story missions, it threw dozens of enemies at you, including two formidable bosses. It was damn fun, and felt like far more of a fully fledged mission than the bite sized story exploits. The battle with the Devil Walker (a huge spider like tank) felt like a monumental task, with a bunch of varied attacks and a ton of health, it truly gave the impression of a group of footsoldiers going up against a tank (without the one shot kill solutions so many other shooters give to these situations). Calling the Devil Walker a bullet sponge however would be an understatement, as it took anywhere up to ten minutes to kill even when my fire team was nailing its critical spots and revealing its weak spot often. I personally like my bosses to be able to take a beating, but its important that the boss battle is fun in the first place. The Devil Walker wasn’t boring per se, but it had exhausted its handful of attacks early in the battle which made the rest of it feel slightly like an exercise in repetition. Furthermore for something with ‘Walker’ in its title and a cool looking set of spider legs it remained awfully stationary, only ever turning to shoot in different directions, which again emphasised repetition as you rarely had to move from a good section of cover once you’d found it.
The exploration mission gave you the opportunity to explore the Old Russia area in its entirety (though some areas were still blocked off) whilst picking up various missions along the way. Offering the whole area as an open world was appreciated but the missions soon dragged on (why can’t they just be assigned automatically rather than forcing us to traverse back and forth across the map to pick up their beacons) as they only offered pretty basic objectives, though the exploring alone made the mode a fun addition.
The Tower that serves as the games hub area was good fun to explore, but it didn’t have a great deal on offer besides its vendors and beautiful vistas. Something that struck me as odd was the fact that quality voice actors (I think I recognised Keith David) were present but only acted as glorified shop keepers and mission givers, I just hope that they’re given more to do in the final game. Peter Dinklage however, despite all his voice over controversy, was solid as the friendly AI Ghost and I can see him growing on me as we spend more time together in the final game.
The Crucible was a blast. There I said it. A fair few have been expressing their dislike for it on the internet but I found it to be well balanced considering it was having to put wildly different character builds on an even playing field. Its also important to point out that its labelled as PvP rather than competitive multi-player, so going into it expecting an evenly matched experience through and through like Halo would be a mistake. I felt powerful as my Titan, but I also learned to appreciate how deadly the other classes could be. I could take out a whole team with my Fist of Havoc ability, and feel a rush of achievement for it, but I’d also get annihilated by the Hunters or Warlocks abilities just as often. It deserves praise for making you’re class feel empowering in certain situations whilst also making you appreciate the power of the others the next second as well.
To sum up the Destiny Beta, it was one of the best looking and well polished games I’ve experienced in a while. There was also a great variety of modes on offer, each of which was fun in its own way. In a wise move Bungie also ensures that you’ll level up and find gear no matter what mode you’re playing, so no matter what you’re fire team fancies you’ll never begrudge it as you’re Guardians going to gain from it. As I’ll detail in the next section of this post, there’s a lot Destiny can still do to improve what it already has, but even if it ships just as it is it’ll be one hell of a game.
Now on to my hopes for the full release of the game…
1-More interaction options
The taunts available were great, initiating a group dance off being particularly hilarious, but they were limited. Having the option to buy more taunt options would be appreciated and would further the players capacity to make their character unique. Furthermore the sooner they add the option to trade items with players the better. First off it’d remove the disappointment of finding items you just aren’t interested in, and second it would just add another means to be friendly with other players (something Bungie is admirably pushing).
2-Greater customisation options
The number of options you could choose from in character creation were pretty limited, and seemed to range from mundane to insane with no middle ground. Here’s hoping they add more options come the full release, as knowing there’s only a handful of faces amongst the millions playing this game would remove the magic just a bit.
3-Better bosses
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the bosses on offer here, but they could be better. I reckon little changes like giving the Devil Walker more mobility could increase the intensity of a boss fight, forcing you to move and change up your tactics, and would make the ten minute battles far less of a slog. Then again we’ve only seen a few bosses, so the rest of them could already be an improvement over these.
4-More meaningful vehicles
The sparrows were awesome once I realised they were basically the horses of this game (though summoning them could be awkward), serving as a more enjoyable and convenient way of getting from A to B. But I hope we get more variation on these than the simple palette swaps available in the beta. The ships also seemed to suffer from this, for the time being appearing to be nothing more than an aesthetic choice. The Pike’s that turned up on the moon were fun to use, but compared to the likes of Halo vehicle’s seemed to be awfully sparse. I still yearn for massive battles such as those against the Scarabs in Halo 3, and seeing set pieces like this turn up in Destiny would be amazing.
5–Improved Campaign
This applies to both the narrative and the mission structure. While I was interested by the hyperbole thrown around by some of the characters in the first few missions, Destiny could do with more substance to help tide you over until you do encounter this ‘Darkness’. Likewise the missions could do with more variety and scope, as progressing to a destination and then having to protect your Ghost whilst he does something or other will only remain engaging for so long. As with the bosses, who knows whether the quality of the story will improve past the beta’s missions, but I certainly hope it will. As an aside, its a shame to see that the cut scenes only include your Guardian. Since you’ve reached that point with a team, it would be nice to see that team standing next to you during a conversation.
6-Expanded Tower
The Tower was fine as it was, but there are a few additions that could improve it. Simple things like a shooting range for comparing your guns or even a public area dedicated to forming fire teams or just goofing around could inject more usefulness and life into the hub.
So what were your thoughts on the beta? Have any improvements in mind? Let me know in the comments! Finally here’s an infographic that Bungie has released revealing the impressive statistics of the beta. Destiny is released on September 9th on Xbox 360/One and PS3/4.
CRITICAL HIT REVIEWS 