Destiny; its Bungie’s newest IP after ending the Halo trilogy. I was part of the first Alpha test on PS4 and I have to admit, it rocked! Creating a new character took no time at all. I’m not all that big into customizing every detail of my characters so really all I did was pick a bad ass looking race and pick the class that suited me best. I initially started out as the Titan class just because I was trying to go for survivability rather than damage, plus it’s called Titan; that’s just a cool name. The Alpha started out at level 3 and only got as far as level 8 before the Alpha ended. After playing for a little bit, I tried out the Hunter and it played much the same as the Titan class, so I switched back.
As I played the tutorial mission, I just kept thinking about how good the game looked, even if it was just an Alpha build, I loved the way the weapons shifted forms, the vibrant colors on outer levels and how creepy the enemies appeared. In the looks department I give it an A+ so far, nothing seemed out of place, no bad textures or goody models, even in this early build. But that’s the idea, right? It’s a next-gen game; otherwise, it would have come out years ago. The Titan itself looked awesome with its armor, only to be outdone by the next set I purchased when I got enough glimmer aka money.
Gameplay wise I will admit to some annoyances but that might just be a personal peeve, mainly PvP peeves. While the story itself was entertaining the flow of the missions was a bit confusing. After beating the tutorial mission, I was given two areas to attempt to explore. One looked like a frozen version of the level I had just been in, the other seemed like a construction plant. My annoyance came during the construction plant or whatever it was. When I started the level there was a giant monster with ???? as its level already attacking everything in sight including me. Then suddenly two other players showed up and tried to kill it as well, but to no avail. There wasn’t any sort of explanation as to how they got there, what that giant bug wrecking us was, or how I could hope to kill it. After about twenty minutes of failing to kill it we all just left the game never to see each other again. I can understand if it’s like in other games where players can join in and help/party with you but there wasn’t any sort of description in the level I chose that; A: I had no chance by myself and B: People could just drop in and out of your games.
Oh, and like I said, don’t get me started on the PVP! I was barely able to win a single match. I received my Alpha code a little later than some and was being matched up against level 8’s (I think) when I had barely hit level 4! Normally, level in a game just determines your perks and whatnot but these guys had higher damage weapons, better armor and access to abilities I hadn’t even seen yet. If there were a few higher-level guys on the team against me, we were done, we couldn’t fight back. My point is, either make PVP equal for everyone with a base stat or default weapons or implement some sort of match matching system or improve the one you have.
Despite my initial concerns I still can’t wait for the Beta coming in July. Should you be preordering the game? I’m not sure yet. The game is unmistakably “Bungie” with even a few similarities to an open world HALO, so I’m leaning to yes, but until I see the next iteration, I’ll remain cautiously optimistic while I make my final decision.
