Last week saw the release of Bungie’s long awaited blockbuster game for Playstation and XBox, Destiny. Billed as an MMO RP FPS it’s a little confusing to me what genre it actually falls into! I don’t have a console so I haven’t been able to play yet but so far, reviews are pretty good although there are a few not-so-good ones too. It did make the record books though – it sold $500 million worth in the first week which is a record for a new title and having sold 10 million copies, I expect Activision & Bungie are pretty pleased with themselves! Having said that, the budget for the games development was around $500 million too so at this point, they have only just covered their costs!
Bungie’s main claim to fame is the well known and loved Halo game and Destiny has its similarities – the same kind of shooter style but with more scope and larger world, with RPG elements and a wider storyline that is expected/promised to develop over the next few years. Most of the reviews I’ve read seem to think this vastness helps make the game more generic, the storyline seems flatter and some of the regions at the lower levels are reported to be a bit repetitive.
As an MMO Shooter style game, there are various missions you can do – story missions, patrol missions and strike missions – all separated by their own instances. From what some friends have said, it seems to be a lonely play space with none of the crowding you get sometimes in MMO’s like World of Warcraft.
That doesn’t mean to say it’s not a good game though – with so many variations on how you level up, with well designed loot drops and reward systems and promised new content on a regular basis, it’s been described as addictive as hell – suitable for casual and hardcore players alike. As a casual player, you can pop in, do a mission or two then log off. If you’re hardcore, you can do them all as well as play the multiplayer options too.
One thing that does stand out is the regular events that are promised. Special play situations are being launched for limited time – last weekend it was a Salvage game for the Crucible and another has been announced for tomorrow – The Vault of Glass – which is designed for level 26 players and upwards. The feeling I get is that it’s a pretty decent and addictive game that doesn’t quite live up to the hype. My Twitter feed has mixed views as do most of the reviews I’ve read. The graphics are good but perhaps not quite as good as you’d hope with the development budget they had!
To get a really good overview of the game, I heartily suggest reading some of the Amazon reviews of Destiny the game – more mixed opinions but an overall feeling that it is a good game with potential for a long time to come yet.
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