Destiny – the ‘Haters Gonna Hate’ Review

Title: Destiny
Publisher: Activision, SCE
Developer: Bungie
Platform(s): PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Genre: Action role-playing, FPS

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Video killed the Radio Star, and unabashed marketing certainly kills off the credibility of a generic but fun new IP. That’s how I would like to start my Destiny review, hoping to point my guns at the right people. It is not about the game being too long or short, too preachy or not, it’s about how publishers push sales via ads and hope that their new franchise is that very clutter breaking piece of innovation that changes the destiny of mankind. Take the E3s for example, huge reveals, big words thrown around, and ultimately a handful of people testing the IP inside enclosures. Video games were always our favourite mode of escapement, because unlike other forms of entertainment video games sold on true value, no half naked music videos and definitely no clichéd war cry featuring trailers. Expectation is a b*tch, and as long as advertising lives, real value will always be overshadowed by clever marketing tactics.

Is Destiny an MMO? Probably not. Is Destiny an FPS path breaker? Yes, I mean, No. Is Destiny an extensively interactive world that will make you go crazy? Dyude, No. Then what is Destiny? It is the stickiest game that you will ever come across.  We might be fools at the end of the day to judge the game as an incomplete piece of intergalactic story, because everything happens according to plans. And in the recent video game industry, when a developer sets his game’s shelf life to at least 10 years, he means business over the years. DLCs, Endgames and much more to keep the franchise alive, with a bunch of dedicated players slash loyalists. That’s Destiny for you.

One can easily forget the clichéd intergalactic story of Destiny, which ricochets back and forth within the four corners of humanity falling prey to Dark Ages, and colonies being wiped out overnight. Add a few aliens, place a few jaw dropping hardware around, and you’ve got a world brimming with action. Destiny excels best when you treat it like a shooter. I’ve already seen the shape of First Person Gun and Run on my PS4 (with the likes of Killzone: Shadowfall and Battlefield 4), and now appears Destiny. Bungie’s freshest IP wraps up the so-called next gen we often talk of with ease, by delivering a shooter that is so fluid and responsive, at the same time fun, that you would never get bored of being trigger happy. Clearly, the enemy AI is not the cleverest that I’ve seen of late, and often hit you only in swarms; but there’s something very raw and very righteous about you pounding sixty precious minutes just trying to complete a Strike mission in Old Russia. Destiny on the next-gen doesn’t deliver 60 frames per second, for being a cross generation game, and yet it engages the gamers in a graphical immersion that is highly inexplicable.

I like music, especially Rock music, and I have different moods for different kinds of rock music that I listen to. I wouldn’t mind revealing the fact that I secretly still tune in to the naïve and raw likes of Limp Bizkit. But there are times when metal means poetic justice to me, something only a Dream Theater, a Karnivool or a Porcupine Tree can do to me. While Limp Bizkit is a complete fun package, DT and PT are highly technical (every cameo is so neatly arranged as a holistic piece of music that it amazes you every time). When I cannot decide which path to take or at times when I want to enjoy both the poles, there’s a middle path that comes to the rescue, it’s called Deftones. Nearly every Deftones song is commercially catchy, yet neatly arranged with legit metal progression. Destiny is like Deftones, it falls in between two outrageous breeds of creation, one that is fun and the other that is near flawless, and breeds sanity by being both of the extremes. Too many enemies doesn’t mean the lack of fun, as a grenade launcher can quickly change the course of the fight. Similarly too much fun doesn’t take away the tactical awareness from the player, as he is always on the lookout for better cover spots or fallen allies. The superior level designing in Destiny wants you to bring it to play.

Destiny adopts some of the relatively basic models of an MMO, like constant leveling, rare perks based on duties fulfilled and seamless player inclusions to your game. While I was harvesting helium coils on the moon with two of my other fireteam members, I found a group of four friends trying to do the same, and in a single blink both the fireteams broke into a dance. Destiny isn’t much about bragging as it is about exploring and wondering if the constellation actually exists in this accord. Similarly, while zapping across the moon you’ll notice enemy dropships appearing and it would seamlessly trigger a public event for all the players in your game session. Destiny doesn’t want you to stare at the sun aimlessly, it will drop enemies in quick successions and killing them will yield you common to rare to ultra rare weapons and armour. The repetitive nature of any MMO is persistent throughout Destiny, and the game is drawing attention for being highly inconsistent and inaccessible for the low-level players. Even though Old Russia and Mars have the same roadways and feel like the same, it is Venus that blows one over for its sheer artistic quality and noir imagination. There’s so much detailing in every planet that it would perhaps take me some light years to bump on them all. Destiny makes a dig at contemporary RPGs by fusing new age aliens with iconic RPG names, like Vandals, Minotaurs, Cyclops, Hydra, etc.

There’s a severe lack of variety in story based matches and missions, as some of the newly acquired skills fall redundant. Like I said, the enemy AI and variety isn’t top notch MMO level, and as a result what determines your game is the kind of team members you have on board or the kind of guns you are using. Of course there are big bosses that pep up the game, but for that you need to rely on Strike matches more often. There are Knights to Captains to Wizards to Minotaurs that you will need to face in every match; some come with their shields up, making it a little more different from the usual ones. Bungie should’ve included additional tasks within the game levels which can further split up team mates and make them execute different jobs while still fighting the horde. There’s a lot of talk about how the super hard and super lengthy Strike missions are like the Co-Op Dark Souls chapters of Destiny, and I would strongly say no, not yet. Dark Souls doesn’t kill you with a number advantage, but with an AI that is so superior to other games. Constantly resisting hordes may put the Sunday gamer off to sleep, but let’s believe Destiny wasn’t created to suffice their needs.

The class system stands out in Destiny and a fireteam with all the classes included: Warlock, Hunter and Titan always gets an upper hand. The Hunter gets huge perks to improve its attack, with tons of special guns and a dagger throwing melee move. The Titan runs rampant in the show due to its sheer defensive understanding, and can create shields to protect the teammates from taking fire. It also has a powerful punch that literally blows aside the enemies. The Warlock is the most powerful class in my opinion with its own class specific grenades and healing powers. Apart from the major classes there are subclasses for each, the Hunter can be a Gunslinger (Long Ranger) or a Bladedancer (Close Combatant), the Titan can be an Attacking One or a Defensive One, and the Warlock can further unearth its Sunsinger (Recon) subclass. It’s fun communicating with people from other classes and telling them their roles in the mission. Besides the usual moves, every class has a special finisher move, the Hunter has the Golden Gun that puts enemies on fire with a single shot, while the Titan thumps clean an entire radius of enemies.

Fun in Destiny is pure co-op fun, and if one chooses not to play with friends or players from the world, he is instantly welcomed by a horde of charging enemies, and hence seeps the frustration and boredom. Co-Op is what sets Destiny apart from the other shooters before Destiny. Guardians can patrol planets after their Sparrows (vehicles) are linked to its central intelligence, and discover radio beams that assign them infinite tasks. Completing Patrolling Missions give Guardians Vanguard Reputation points, with which they can unlock legendary gears and class marks. Patrolling increases your Vanguard status and within the session you can harvest Helium Coils and other such items that make sense after you cross Level 20. There are two major cults that the gamer can choose to follow, and their mission wins automatically get converted into Cult loyalty, let’s say it’s like the Sun Bros brotherhood in Dark Souls. With higher loyalty, you gain access to better gear provided exclusively by the Cult Leader.

Guns come big and guns come in plenty in Destiny. You can carry a Primary Weapon (Rifles, Hand Cannons, Auto Rifles, Pulse Rifles), a Secondary Weapon (Snipers, Shotguns, Ability enabled Pulse Guns) and a Heavy Weapon (Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers) while you are progressing. Even though the classes of guns may be amazing to hear, most of the guns under the respective subclass feels just the same. Coming from the guys who gave us the highly competitive and innovative Halo series, the guns department seems to be outrageously standardised. Each clan has full access to all kinds of arsenal, which actually makes the class system a little less interesting towards the end of the journey. Enemies constantly drop engrams (that can be decrypted for rare arsenal) and guns, and the more you use a certain gun, the higher upgrades you get for the respective piece. Destiny tempts one to pick a favourite set and use it throughout his journey, but the higher tempt of trying a new gun/armour always seeps into the mind.

Destiny banks on the Halo slash Borderlands inspired inter-galactic universe, with a touch of Star Wars (Return of the Jedi style Sparrows) and Star Wars: Battlefront original’s environment. It also brings alive some of the play style of Warhammer Online, like the side quests wherein an enemy drop ship appears on the map and one has to chase it to unlock its mission. The likes of Peter Dinklage (voicing the Ghost) and Bill Nighy (voicing the Speaker) are almost impossible to miss out in Destiny; however they are unable to stamp their authority in the game. The game persistently avoids cut scenes and story driven dialogues, like a modern RPG, and it is only the action sequences that defines the path you are taking. Destiny, however manages to tempt you with new planets, new upgrades and new sites, and that in a way pushes the story forward. It strictly wants you to enjoy the game rather than absorbing needless cosmic intellect like an MMO, and therefore sacrifices the story for the bigger benefit. Destiny delivers an impeccable soundtrack that goes with the intergalactic epicness that awaits the gamer, and I think I am going to miss Martin O’Donnell if there’s a sequel to Destiny. If you’re playing with your headset on, Destiny will cut out the daily chores to give you a priceless audio-visual experience.

Destiny had a lot to prove given the fact that it was probably the most hyped game of this summer, and it manages to fare well in most of the areas. It introduces a brilliant world, delivers a classic shooter experience and registering thousands of gamers on launch day, Destiny beats all odds to give us a seamless online experience on day #1, with only a few server crashes. However, Destiny is deservedly criticised for its poor story writing (especially if you have the whole universe to save) and its standardised guns department. But for all you know, the game that is hyped to last for the next 10 years, may have just shown a mere 20% of what is to come. The additional packs, season pass, weekly and daily challenges are on their way, along with a very competitive Multiplayer mode (called the Crucible) that has the best in-game rewards. I am completely sold as far as Destiny goes, and being a guy who hates high speed FPS and online games, I am looking forward to more from Destiny. Oh, and one more thing, Haters Gonna Hate.