So, I finally gave Destiny a bit of a go yesterday. I can’t say the game held any surprises from first glance. Bungie literally made a Halo MMORPG, and then affixed some fancy menus onto it.
Also, IS IT MY DESTINY TO PLAY DESTINY?! I HAD TO DO THIS SILLY JOKE.
Anyway, to describe in more depth: this is about as close to copyright infringement that Bungie could get without getting sued by Microsoft, and that’s saying something. The same “space opera” aesthetic applies, as does “epic music in space” with a notable tinge of some evil forces in the universe. You should save them, and get loot for your troubles! The game’s divided into a hub city, from whence you buy your typical equipment or reveal equipment that’s hidden (think Diablo with those revealing scrolls, it’s pretty much the same thing and ensures you get something random for your trouble). You take missions, you travel somewhere into the open world, then you do the mission (usually, “kill x or y”), then leave. Sounds about as generic as possible.
And, as an frequent MMO player, mostly just World of WarCraft, it’s a perfectly competent grind. I picked a Titan – you shoot things, you punch them, all well and good. Everything feels just like Halo, from the slightly slow (and console-focused) movement speed to the AI patterns of the enemies to regenerating health. If you like this sort of first person shooter, I can’t imagine this not fitting the bill. I mean, there’s a few variation – depending on the class you pick, the “talent tree” will give you different special abilities – but I’m just amazed at how easy it is to get into the groove.
On the other hand, I’m not sure if a FPS/RPG hybrid really works for me, no matter how hard they try. When I start seeing health meters above enemies, and see the exact numerical damage my shots do to a particular part of an alien body, I just don’t find that very visceral or compelling. I get that it’s part of the MMO appeal to see numbers go up over a protracted period of time, but for a game experience that should be intense and challenging, Destiny feels more like a “lay back and chill” sorta game. You just do missions, get better equipment, and shoot bigger things with your bigger guns. The community focus seems like what you’d want to obtain in Destiny, and for that purpose I can imagine Destiny being a good time: shooting big things with friends!
Just, for me, I know that this won’t even become a fulfilling experience. I like the appeal of seeing my gear look cooler, but the first person perspective limits that. The gun that you shoot at the beginning of the game shoots a lot like the gun that you shot at the beginning – it’s hard to make guns “look cooler”, I think. Science-fiction MMOs often have this problem, because it’s hard to make them look more awesome, so the appeal of better gear isn’t quite as pronounced as in, say, World of WarCraft. And, add the first person perspective – the game will look the same no matter how long you play it.
In sum: I can’t say I didn’t enjoy my one hour and a half with Destiny, but I can’t say that I’m compelled to play more of it, either. Not surprisingly, I’ve uninstalled it already, because the game takes up way too much space on your hard drive! Thank goodness for free trials though!
