You are a guardian of the last city on Earth, capable of wielding incredible power. Your mission: explore the ancient ruins of our solar system and defeat Earth’s dastardly enemies. You must discover all we have lost, and become a legend.
That’s the elevator pitch for Destiny, the latest extremely ambitious online-centric first-person shooter from the team behind Halo, but just because it’s already made a tonne of money doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the game for you.
Bungie refuses to call Destiny an MMO, but in reality, it totally is, and that’s perfectly OK. The game acts as the love child of Borderlands, Halo and World Of Warcraft, mixing equal parts levelling, loot chasing and hardcore action. It also attempts to seamlessly integrate cooperative, competitive, public and personal activities into one environment, and for the most part, succeeds with flying colours. Still, though, take our advice and play Destiny with some friends.
As a whole, speeding through the world on a hover bike only to quickly jump off and go toe-to-toe with alien scum is exhilarating, but it can also become highly repetitive. Many locations are repeated and although the shooting mechanics are some of the finest to grace a console, when you’re running through the same motions time and time again, it can become a little grating. It doesn’t help that despite the inclusion of Game Of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage, Destiny’s narrative is all but non-existent. Just know that the solution to everything is shooting it in the face and you’ll be fine.
Still, it’s a truly stunning game to look at and one that, despite the repetition, is undeniably addictive. Searching out new loot, upgrading your Guardian and doing battle with other people in the multiplayer Crucible mode will steal weeks from your life. Have no doubt about it – Destiny isn’t going anywhere.
4/5.
Destiny is out now through Activision / Bungie.
