Easily the most anticipated game of the year, Destiny demonstrated a mere
fraction of its content over the weekend to eager fans. Initially intended as a closed beta, gamers fought
their way through the Cosmodrome by visiting Old Russia and were soon joined by
the rest of their respective gaming community when the beta was opened to the
public. Intense battles were fought,
arguments were had, and exclamations of how shiny and pretty everything was
were plentiful over the duration of this beta.
In hindsight, my friends and I couldn’t be more excited.
Visual
The visual elements of the Destiny beta far surpassed what was initially
expected of such an early introduction to what some are concluding is very
close to the finished product. While we
personally experienced gamer tag glitches, some visual tearing on the Xbox 360
and occasional invisible characters, the beta was fairly consistent and
seamless in its visual experience.
The world of Destiny is expansive and impeccably detailed which encourages repeating
missions for the sake of a new visual experience. I was able to enjoy The Divide/Restoration
during sunrise, daytime, sunset, and evening.
While other games have implemented a day night system, I would say
Destiny is the first to offer a seamless feeling of time passing with subtle
detailing in the environments which added to the overall feel of playing at a
different time.
Unfortunately, while the lighting outside in the various environments was a
delight, lighting inside buildings left much to be desired. There were multiple areas where brightness
settings needed to be adjusted in order to proceed into an area. These issues only arose during instances when
the overhead lamp was not available to the player to use. In areas where the lamp automatically
switched on to provide players with a light source, the lighting was fantastic
and reminiscent of Metro: Last Light. It
was wonderfully creepy and delightful at the same time.
Game Play
Alas, in all betas, things will be broken!
While that was the case for certain aspects of Destiny, there were no
major flaws when it came to actual game play.
The controls are nearly identical to Halo and quickly become second nature. As evident in game play videos, the gestures
are a huge hit with the community and create humor in an otherwise seemingly
dark world.

consistent with character levels for specific areas.
The addition of fireteams in order to play the story missions with others is
a welcome aspect of Destiny. Touted as a
fully multiplayer game, Destiny incorporates the addition of extra Guardians
into the levels effectively and there are always enough enemies for everyone to
get a piece of the action. Outside of
the fireteams, players will come across others playing solo or in another fire
team. As a result, areas are generally
cleared with far more players than the three player maximum set by Bungie for
missions.
The introduction of random public community events to draw players on the
same server together also creates a fun and cohesive experience. Players are encouraged to work together to
complete a random objective and participation is voluntary. While these missions are entertaining, Bungie
fails to capitalize on proximity and in game chat. Players were unable to communicate to others
outside of their party and often had to hope players made the right decisions
when facing a tough enemy. Bungie has
confirmed it is working on implementing and fixing the chat aspect of the game
prior to the final launch.
In addition to the chat issues, the PvP multiplayer was available to players
in the form of domination. The
multiplayer maps took players to Venus, Earth, Mars and the Moon. Players use their own gear and equipment in
the multiplayer to face competitors and capture objectives. The maps were balanced, detailed, and felt
very open. With the exception of the
Moon map, I found the maps to be fantastic.
However, the server lag led to a mediocre experience when facing
competitors as first shots were never truly first shots. Hit boxes had a tendency to be a hot mess
depending on your chosen weapon and often players found themselves shooting far
more than would be necessary in other titles to defeat an opponent. Hopefully, this issue will be addressed in
the final version of the game. Overall,
the game play is smooth, fun, and intriguing.
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