A couple of month ago I noticed that a lot my PlayStation network contacts were playing the beta of a game called Destiny. The last game whose demo sparked that much interest was Mass Effect 3. So naturally I was curious and looked the game up online: a combination of a science fiction themed MMORPG and a first person shooter. Based on that and favourable reviews of the beta I decided to pre-order the PlayStation 4 version of the game.
Destiny is indeed a first person shooter and a well made one at that. Fast and nice looking graphics, big maps, lots of different enemies and an arsenal of well balanced weapons to fight them. Besides story missions that can be played alone or cooperatively Destiny also features various player vs. player modes which are in design similar to video games like Unreal Tournament. Destiny also contains some role playing elements: the player can choose between three different classes for the character which match the scheme found in many role playing games: Titan (Soldier), Hunter (Rogue) and Warlock (Mage). Each of the classes features three grenade powers, a powerful melee attack, a special jump and a Super. This super power is what distinguishes the classes from each other. Hunters e.g. get a Golden Gun which fires three powerful shots while Warlocks can trigger a powerful explosion by casting Nova Bomb. If a character reaches level 15 its second subclass is unlocked. This subclass provides a different set of powers which mostly notably includes a different Super. The player can switch between the two subclasses anytime but needs to level them up separately.
Destiny provides a very satisfying first person shooter experience. The well tuned combat system, the elaborate map design and the smoothly working multiplayer mode all contribute to that. It is particular fun when you take on one of the challenging Strike missions with your friends. As the game doesn’t feature any get out of jail free cards (like e.g. Mass Effect 3 multiplayer’s Medigels or Cobra Missiles) team work and coordination are very important. You have to decide quickly whether you want to risk exposing yourself by reviving your team mate or whether you wait 30 seconds for them to re-spawn. The role playing part however is disappointing. There isn’t much story, only hints, very little dialog and no way for the player to influence the plot. And while the concept of the Super is interesting its excessive cool down times prevents the player from using it frequently. I end up using it even less often than I could because I want to keep it charged in case a really challenging fight is around the next corner. There are also very little customisation options for your equipment. Most armours look very much alike and you need an extra item to apply one of the predefined colour schemes. Acquiring good equipment is even more important than in other games because it is the only way to level up past level 20. But as so often in video games you either need a lot of luck or spend hours and hours of grinding to get the desired equipment.
I definitely enjoy playing Destiny despite the underdeveloped RPG aspect. It reminds of Borderlands 2 in a good way. And to be fair Bungie, the company who created Destiny, called the game a shared world shooter which is a reasonable description. They never promised to deliver the MMORPG that players were hoping for. Based on that I’m however wondering whether the game will really have a life time of 10 years as Bungie promise. It will all depend on future expansions to this game world.