Thanks to some friends of mine, I've gotten and played the upcoming game by Bungie, Destiny. This awaited game promises us the perfect mix between MMO and a First Person Shooter. Being the birthplace of the renowned Halo Franchise, the expectations were/are high for this new title. Here's my sum-up of the taste we've gotten!
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| Welcome to Destiny |
This is not just Halo
Destiny is created by the makers of the Halo franchise, and this is most certainly visible in the game. Though I won't talk too much about the storyline, you were found by a sentient device, as a person able to conduct the energy given to us by an alien entity. The world has been infested by other races (whom are even in strife with eachother!) and it is your task to clean up this mess across the galaxy.
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| You travel from the Tower, to all other destinations |
The worlds themselves are created with great detail, and are a mix between a destroyed earth planet, and the crashsite of some nice alien devices. For the players of Halo, you'll find that the worlds, weapons, controls, .. do resemble those of Halo 4.
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| Just shooting some Dreg |
While roaming through these worlds, we've gotten the option to summon our own transportation device, to help us roam this free world. Thanks to certain tunnels, the loading times to go from zone to zone, are cut short, enabling a clean playthrough. Unfortunately, I didn't find a clean map to see where you exactly are. The only thing guiding you, is your HUD which contains a mini-map with an arrow pointing you to your target, or possible next assignments
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| Zooming around on my glider |
Shoot 'em up?
How is the FPS handled in this game, well, exactly like any other shooter. You're dropped onto the map, and you have to take out your enemies. But this time, you're dropped into a HUGE open world, with enemies spawning, or dropping out of dropships all around you.
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| A group of enemies spawned directly in front of me. Let me test this rocket launcher! |
This is further handled by the fact that during free roaming around the world, at certain moments, global events spawn, allowing you, and any other player in the world, to take down this enemy in unison, earning you all extra credits as well possible gear!
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| Where did that Walker come from? |
Massive Multi Player?
As previously mentioned, firstly you have global events. But let me first take a step back, and talk about Character creation. At the moment, we have the choice of 3 classes. Hunter, Titan or Warlock. The Hunter can be compared to your long range scout character, proficient in precision kills, but low on actual healing. The Titan is your heavy brawler. The man (or woman) to go in guns blazing and able to take down the most heavy opponents by staring at them. The last is the Warlock, the caster, able to bend the powers of the Void to change the flow of battle. They recover quickly, but offer low defense. I personally chose the Hunter Class. You have the option to style your character between different races and looks, making your character unique.
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| Just me, roaming the Tower |
Once off, you'll pick up, or buy new gear, this can be weapon, new armour and even ships or transport vehicles. Those can be equiped to your character, just as any other MMO, but every piece of equipment has the option to level up on his own, granting you extra perks (like quicker reload, extra damage, ...)
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| The beta is limited to Level 8 |
Your character itself, levels as well. Though this level doesn't represent the power of your character, it does give some feedback about the amount of experience you've gathered. Next to your level, you're also awarded with extra points, depending on the way you've made the kill. This improves the skills of your character. This skill tree, gives you the option to tweak certain attributes of your character, to more suit your specific playing style.
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| I'm close to unlocking that new perk! |
The missions
During free roaming, you'll get the option of picking up certain mini-missions. These mostly exist from gathering certain objects, or killing a number of enemies. Another option, is by selecting a mission, and thus continuing your storyline. These can be done solo, or in team (of 3 persons). By completing these missions, you'll earn certain rewards, and be able to further along in the story.
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| Razzy can shoot! |
How about fighting others
Destiny offers some great features in their PVE. By putting you against eachother in know scenario's like "Capture zones", or "Killpoints", you can test yourself agains the other Guardians in these modes. By playing these modes, you'll earn Crucible points, which can be used to buy specialized gear. During the beta, only the option to capture zones is available, though you certainly need to check it out!
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| A nice overview of your team |
Afterthought
You can certainly count on me getting this title on 9th september. And you'll certainly find me online the 26th when they've promised their permanent
reward to the beta players. This game is already living up to his promise, and I do hope they keep up the work. This, for me, IS the perfect mix between an FPS (that you can play with, or against your friends), cumulated with the grinding, and storylines found in any decent MMO. Both work together in one game, where no side dominates the other. If you don't like (or like me just suck) in PVP, then just keep to the PVE, and you'll have just as much fun!
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| Flying to my next review, in my latest ship ^_- |
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