Destiny Beta Review (PS4)

by: Mohamed Mohamed

Preface: I would just like to reiterate that this is the review for the beta, and thus does not reflect my opinions on the full game. From prior experience with MMOs, I don’t expect the game to be fully optimized on day one, since servers of this magnitude have been known to crash in the introductory cycle of a game of this proportion.

A year ago, I overheard rumblings of a new first-person shooter IP, called Destiny, from the famed software developer Bungie. Being familiar with this company’s other projects, my curiosity was piqued; however I became skeptical of this hybrid MMO, not believing that a mix between these two genres was possible. With the launch of the next-gen systems, and their impressive early lineups, I stopped paying attention to this game. In fact, I was invited to participate in the alpha trials, yet spurned the request. As the summer arrived, I was convinced by my friends to give the beta a try, and everything changed. From the opening minutes of the beta, I was immediately hooked, since the gameplay was natural, and the story was thought provoking. As hours passed, I began to realize that I did not want to stop playing. This is hands down the best game that I have played on my PS4 and that is truly mind boggling, considering that it is only the beta.

Story: In my opinion, the weakest thing about Destiny is the story. A robotic device (your eventual “ghost”) floats around a pile of junk, searching for something. It turns out that he was searching for you, a guardian that had been dead for a while. Your new companion wishes to revive you, although its intention is not totally clear. Immediately, this new pairing is chased by “the fallen,” a robotic species that want to kill you for an unexplained reason.

At first, the story intrigued me, as questions raced through my head. Why am I being attacked? Why is earth destroyed? As I continued playing, I seemed to care less and less about these questions and just wanted to viciously murder the next wave of enemies. Unfortunately, the story takes somewhat of a back seat to the action. However, this is only the beta, so the story could grow and catch my full attention later on. In fact, I think there is a lot of potential in the mysterious Hunter character, who follows you through certain missions. The comparisons with movies of the space exploration genre are definitely present (I had flashbacks of Boba Fett stalking Han Solo in “Empire Strikes Back” during that moon mission).  At this stage, the story isn’t all that impactful. By no means does the story reach the horrendous levels of a movie game ( like the recent Transformers one ), yet after playing games that have fully developed characters and a compelling plot (like The Last of Us), I am left wanting more.

Gameplay: This is where the game truly shines.Destiny plays like a mix of Mass Effect, Halo, andBorderlands. The visuals are smooth and crisp, with a consistent frame rate, a must for the first person shooter genre. There are three different classes: warlock, hunter and titan. The beta only teases some features of these different classes. It appears that as you reach higher levels, these differences become more pronounced. Even though there are three different classes, there are no restrictions on utilizing the specific weapons of each class. If I want to be a squishy warlock running around with a shotgun I could (and did). The differences within classes arise from the specific abilities that you get from leveling up. For example, there are different types of grenade within each class. In all honesty, there are just enough differences to make each class unique.

Online matches are so much fun. There was only one playable type of match, called “control,” reminiscent of capture the flag. Even though there is nothing new about this type of gameplay, I was obsessed with playing this game; a result of the precise controls and fun weapons. Overall, the gameplay may not be revolutionary in a sea of first person shooters, yet the addition of MMO elements, gives this game a whole new feeling. While playing the beta, I literally could not put this game down, playing until the early hours of the morning (even if I had work the next day). Ever since the beta ended, I do not know what to play anymore. All previous shooters now seem lackluster, in comparison. I just want to jump back into the big beautiful world of Destiny all over again.

Score: 10/10