(First published at The Reboot Gamers.)
Thirty minutes into our battle with a giant robot spider tank, I shared a glance with my random-encounter-turned-partner combatant. He/she was a Titan, I was a Warlock. We had both died and respawned five times during our attempt to bring down the beast. We were both the main characters of our story, each a powerful space traveler, brandishing fierce weapons to fight aliens in a post apocalyptic Russian desert. And yet somehow, between the great vistas of the moon and the jungles of Venus, the lore of the mysterious Awoken and Exo species, our shared glance was one of a mutual feeling.
Wow, this game got boring quick.
Destiny is Bungie’s first step away from their successful Halo series,and the studio’s ten year mark on science fiction in video games is noticeable throughout this social first person shooter. Players begin “Destiny” by choosing to play as one of three classes: Titans are a one-man tank, Hunters are handy with a knife and a pistol, and Warlocks possess magical abilities. The decision might seem like a difficult one at first class, but beyond having different special moves, each character plays relatively the same. After customizing their character’s species (humans, the alien Awoken, and the robotic Exo) and gender, players step into the shoes of a chosen protagonist whose destiny is to ward off galactic evil doers. It’s all standard sci-fi fare.
Players garner and can switch out a number of different armor pieces and weapons as they progress, each adding up to a stronger defense as a whole or providing special incentives (i.e. gloves that improve hand cannon reload speed, a helmet that increases one’s focus, etc). The weapons pack a pleasant punch -- scout rifles pick off foes in a pinch, head shots with a sniper rifle feels satisfying, and successfully charged pulse rifle shots feel earned. Each class’s melee attack is great, especially the Warlock’s life-draining push, ringing with a thunderous crack.
Unfortunately, great gameplay mechanics can only take Destiny so far. Missions get repetitive fast -- fetch this item, go open this door, defeat x number of enemies before you can move on. Enemies vary little, each planet inhabited by similar characters that either bob and weave while they attack, rush and attempt to overwhelm the player, or carry a large shield to protect from gunfire. Beyond an increase in how many bullets enemies in later stages can absorb, enemy tactics never change. Firefights with towering bosses and relentless armies feel less like a great battle and more like an exercise in patience. It’s fun to shoot enemies, sure, but there’s little to no strategy here -- there’s no moments of great triumph, just sighs of relief that a mission is finally over.
Destiny’s poor mission design walks hand-in-hand with a narrative that falls flat shortly after the game’s well designed opening level. Plot progression is left to a few lines at the beginning and end of a mission from your robotic companion Ghost, voiced by a very dull Peter Dinklage. For the majority of the game, your character’s Ghost is meant to provide incentive and insight to Destiny’s lore, as a well as a personal connection to the world. Sadly, Dinklage’s performance matches the underwhelming writing, sounding at times bored with the game’s world.
And what a world Destiny is. This is a beautiful game, regardless of which console it’s played on, and depicts a universe grounded in years of myth and legend the main campaign only hints at. The ravaged lands of Russia tell of a great fall of man as players walk through shattered buildings. The safehaven of the Tower, a marketplace where players can purchase, sale and store goods, hints at a shiny and exotic culture of the future. The red mesas of Mars demand to be explored. The first moments players have on the moon is a striking one, as a shining Earth looms from above. It’s a shame that these locales, and the gorgeous backing soundtrack, are only different backdrops for repetitive battles and never become an interactive character that adds to the narrative.
Destiny’s big push, beyond looking and sounding pretty, is that this game is meant to be played with others. As players push forward on their next mission on Mars or the moon, they will occasionally run into other players, stranger to those on your friends list. The opportunity for playing cooperatively is there but is rarely taken -- there are too few means to communicate to these players and garner a shared experience. When these partnerships do happen, there’s fun to be had. Destiny’s competitive multiplayer harkens to Bungie’s bread and butter with the Halo franchise. Deathmatch and team deathmatch modes can be chaotic and fun, and teamwork can be critical if the opposing team provides an uneven match. In its early days of matchmaking, this is a common occurrence, as I fought many battles against players who have leveled up to and beyond the game’s level cap.
From a technical standpoint, Destiny is a polished experience. The game looks great, it’s backing score is moving, the gameplay mechanics are crisp and feel good, and the online integration is seamless. The game runs smoothly on the PlayStation 3, and the controls are competent with the DualShock 3, a controller that often is ill-suited for shooters. As an experience, however, Destiny reveals its hand too soon. Bungie is placing its bet on players getting hooked leveling up and searching for loot long after Destiny’s narrative end, returning to the game’s weekly new strike missions. Unless these missions provide something new to the table, however, there’s no good reason to return to a battle fought similarly in the game’s first few hours as they are in the game’s 20th or 30th hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment