Your Destiny Is Almost Upon You…

Some in the gaming media were given a look at a pre-release version of Destiny. We saw the PS4 version. In short this is nothing short of revolutionary. The tiny part of gameplay we saw was but a slice of a vast universe in Bungie’s vision. There’s elements of RPG character upgrading that don’t just mesh with the FPS nature of the gameplay, they feel married to one another. Different character classes (Hunter, Titan, and Warlock); each with their own paths and special abilities.

 

Destiny seems to have something for everyone. For the casual gamers, “Patrol” is a good place to start your Destiny journey. It’s a relaxed, easy experience where players can hunt beacons to trigger side missions, or just blast enemies. You’ll do this all at your own pace. From time to time you’ll encounter other players in this mode. From here, bigger events can then be triggered that make the game feel truly social. “Strikes” are more guided affairs that have a beginning, middle, and end. These endings typically culminate in a huge boss battle.

Bungie have not lost a step when it comes to innovative weapon design. Destiny looks to ramp up their armory more than any of their previous Halo games did. As you open caches and slay baddies, you’ll collect armfuls of new weaponry that offer unique benefits and drawbacks. One auto rifle might fire blisteringly fast but suffer from limited range and a tiny magazine; another might fire slowly but far more accurately. There are an array of shotguns and sniper rifles. Though the arsenal is diverse and dynamic, Destiny’s guns aren’t procedurally generated; each is hand-tuned by a Bungie weapon designer and has a role in the overall armory. You’ll be able to further customize your weapon by adding mods or leveling it up with consistent use. Every class will also have its own special ability such as the guardian arc blade that switches the camera to 3rd person where players can watch themselves tear through waves of enemies.

When Destiny was announced it felt like a pipe dream. A ten year project that would revolutionize the gaming industry??? We’ll I can tell you without a doubt, Destiny is no longer a dream. It’s almost here and seeing it in action only makes the wait for September 9 that much more painful. We’ll see more of Destiny in a few weeks at E3 and talk to some of the developers from Bungie.