Review

When the creators of Halo decided to leave the comfort of Microsoft and move into the arms of Activision it was very big news. The world waited to see what Bungie could come up with and it was seemingly an age before Destiny was first revealed to the world. Now, after an even longer wait, the game is finally here. Bungie have spoken openly about how their new creative freedom has allowed them to make the game they always wanted to make. That game is, apparently, Halo: The MMO.

Everything about Destiny – the orchestral score, the disembodied voice that acts as your guide and the attack patterns, with groups of small enemies protecting a bigger one – gives the exact same feel as the Halo series. This familiarity actually helps to draw you in at the beginning but pretty soon it starts to feel like Bungie are a bit of a one trick pony. During the first couple of hours it feels like Borderlands after a sense of humour bypass and is a bit of a slog. I can see a lot of people giving up during this time.

What kept me playing is how much fun the individual fire fights are. The world is peppered with rocks and debris that can act as makeshift cover for you to dart in and out of as you whittle down the enemy numbers or hide behind while your shield regenerates. All the guns are sufficiently weighty and fun to use and it won't be long before you settle of a favourite type. Death, however, seems to carry no consequence other than to add a number to your stats. When you are slain, you'll simply respawn a couple of metres away from where you died and continue the fight. There's no loss of XP, no cost in resources and enemy health bars remain exactly where they were. Only when you near the end of each mission do you enter a dark zone where respawning is restricted. Die here and you'll have to restart this section and kill all the same enemies all over again.

It's also helps that the presentation is of a consistently high standard throughout. You'll come across some stunning sights on your travels over the game's many worlds, especially once you reach the levels set on the moon. In a lot of instances, your route to each waypoint is not dictated to you so you are free to explore. However, there's no real incentive to do so beyond the boundaries of your current mission. I expected the world to be littered with items to pick up, secrets to discover and side-quests to distract you from the mission at hand. Strangely, there's none of this and it seems a missed opportunity.

My concerns over the always online element of the game have sadly been proven. On a number of occasions I found my other human players fighting alongside me without my knowledge. These people were not on my friends list and there was no communication from them or the game. If I want to play missions co-operatively I would either join a lobby or invite friends into my game, I don't want someone else to leap in a kill a difficult enemy for me before disappearing. No only does this diminish the fun, it also robs me of the sense of victory. I've searched menu screens to see if there was a way to make games private, but sadly, no such option exists.

Of course, there's a flip side to this is, and that's when you are playing with your friends, this becomes a hugely entertaining experience. Teaming up and communicating over the headset with a group of like-minded mates is clearly how Bungie intended the game to be played as it's fun to experiment with different weapon combinations and discovering how they compliment each other. I spent most of my time playing on my own though.

Another curious decision is the one to hold back on access to the competitive multiplayer, considering there are many gamers out there who never touch the campaign mode on a new Call Of Duty, although this actually turns out to be correct. It wasn't until about 2 hours into the game that I received my invite to The Crucible where all the traditional online modes live. Comparisons to Halo are even more warranted here and Bungie's expertise at level design comes to the fore.

Bungie have ultimately made a game that's equal parts brilliant and frustrating. I've enjoyed it a lot more than any of the Halo series to date I just wish that it took itself a little less seriously and that I could play without worrying about idiots invading and ruining my game. It also nice to see competitive modes taking a back seat instead of hogging the whole package.

About the Review

Platform

Microsoft Xbox One

Developer

Bungie

Publisher

Activision

Released

9th September 2014