The long awaited game Destiny from Bungie inc. has finally landed in stores on Sep. 9 and now is being called the best-selling video game of all time.
Destiny takes place 700 years in the future, humanity has spread out into the solar system during a golden age of space exploration. But then due to a mysterious event called “The Collapse,” human colonies began disappearing without a trace and humanity is pushed to the brink of extinction.
Now the only surviving humans live on earth under the protection of a large celestial orb called “The Traveler.”
To retake their long lost colonies, soldiers called guardians gifted with powers known as “The Light” travel around the solar system fighting the various alien races. Players take the role of one of the guardians who was brought back to life by an Artificial Intelligence called a Ghost.
There are three classes that the player can choose from. First is the Titan. This class specializes in frontline combat, wearing heavy armor and using machine guns to overwhelm his opponents. Next, is the Hunter who uses stealth and heavy revolvers to sneak up and assassinate anyone. The last class is the Warlock. This class wields scout rifles and light from The Traveler, manifesting it as powerful blasts of energy.
The three classes all have their differences but at a bare bones level they are quite similar. For example, all classes have a grenade and special ability. The titan has a ground pound and hunter can turn invisible and the warlock can unleash a massive blast of energy that can incinerate enemies. These abilities are fun and give a very Massive Multiplayer Online feel to a first person shooter.
Destiny has elements of a role playing gaming and Massive Multiplayer Online games while still wearing the coat of a first person shooter. It also draws from the games that Bungie have made in the past.
Gamers will recognize the musical style of Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori who composed the music for all the Halo games. It is always dramatic with sweeping horns and strings that jump and dance at just the right moment. O’Donnell and Salvatori have worked their magic on Destiny as well. The music fits the atmosphere perfectly and makes you really feel like you are on the Moon or flying through space.
The guns also feel very Halo like. There are auto rifles, scout rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, shotguns, rocket launchers and alien weapons. This is the exact setup for weapons that was used across every Halo game. Not that this is a bad thing. the setup works and gives a wide enough range of guns to let players play to their strengths whether if they want to be a tanky sniper or a hit and run mage.
In the end Destiny is another beautifully made game from Bungie inc. and Activision. The worlds are beautifully dark with proper amounts of ruined buildings and aliens trying to kill you.
Its atmosphere is wonderful but it falls short with in character development and plot that only seems to slip in every once in a while. When it does though, heavy plot points are dropped and you get to see inside the mind of the guardians and the other races that inhabit the Milky Way Galaxy.
Destiny is a hard game to define but also to review. Parts are executed brilliantly while other fall flat. But the thing that makes Destiny a great game is that the weaker pieces of the game don’t take away from the good parts. And the reason for that is, the great parts are just that good. You won’t care about the story or plot when you are waist deep in a firefight throwing grenades, killing aliens and saving humanity.
Destiny is a great game that anyone who calls themselves a Halo fan needs to pick up, plain and simple.
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