The Guardians of the Galaxy

So there was this little game called called Destiny that came out about a week and a half ago, maybe you've heard of it.  Yes this is my attempt to review, or at least discuss, Destiny.  It is not a review for Guardians of the Galaxy, that movie doesn't need reviewed, you should just go see it immediately. 

Destiny is Bungie's latest blockbuster sci-fi shooter after a long line of blockbuster sci-fi shooters.  Most gamers and even quite a few non-gamers know the name Halo by now.  The series of games has made billions of dollars and was one of the major reasons why Microsoft's  Xbox was able to stay afloat when it was released.

Now we have something new.  Destiny marks the first non-Halo game Bungie has made since 2001 and a lot of people want to know if it's good, a clone of Halo or bad.  I can  only tell you my thoughts after playing it for a week, and its surprisingly hard to judge after just a week.

The world of Destiny takes place in the distance future.  At some point in the near future humanity is visited by a giant alien sphere known as The Traveler.  Luckily The Traveler was a nice alien and granted knowledge to humans that boosted humanity into a golden age.  During this golden age humanity created wondrous new technology and was able to colonize many of the planets in our solar system.

Since we can't have a sci-fi story without evil aliens The Traveler had an enemy called The Darkness that eventually followed him to our solar system (Thanks for the heads up, Traveler.)  The armies of The Darkness then proceeded to destroy the colonies of humanity and fight us all the way back to Earth where The Traveler sacrificed itself to protect one last pocket of humanity.

In its final moments The Traveler created Ghosts, little cool looking robot things that apparently come from the cast of Game of Thrones, that could seek out Guardians, warriors who could wield the Traveler's light as a weapon.  This is where you come in.

You are a Guardian.  Your Ghost, voiced by Peter Dinklage, has been searching for you for hundreds of years.  Oh yeah, you've been dead for a while too.  The game seems to glaze over it, but you're technically a zombie during this game.  Once restored by your Ghost you are quickly thrust into fighting the armies of The Darkness.

So that's a quick look at the plot, now let's look at the gameplay.  Destiny honestly has a lot of similar aspects to Halo, and that's not a bad thing.  It isn't a cookie cutter copy of Halo, but does take a lot of the tight mechanics that most people know and love and uses them.  Halo always had a combat trifecta of guns, melee and vehicles.  The vehicles don't make as much of an appearance, but the guns and melee are definitely core to the combat in this game.

So the game looks good, feels good and even tastes good... why exactly is it getting bad reviews then?  I like the thought I read in a review(ish thing) I read a couple days ago.  There were two games that released when Destiny did.  One was a very short campaign that ended once players hit the max level they could get with experience and one was a challenging MMOFPS that only starts once a player hits the max level they can get with experience.

A lot of people are comparing Destiny to a mix of Borderlands and Diablo, and I think those are the closest games you could compare it to.  The goal as of now once you hit the endgame is definitely to get better gear, but things like PvP add more depth to the game and then there's the raids.

I honestly can't talk about the raids because I've been told by multiple groups I've tried joining to take it on that I'm not ready.  The first group to beat it died 1,600 times.  I'm not ready.  You're not ready.  The whole game is a tutorial to get you ready.

That's right this whole game is a tutorial.  That's pretty much it.  That's why the story is so short and not very fleshed out.  That's why people are complaining there's not much content.  Which I would like to add, Bungie has already added free content and has promised more, as well as two expansion packs already planned, with the possibility for more.

As of right now I've loved Destiny.  Sure there are things I would really like added into the game, but I don't think there's anything that's absolutely ruined the experience for me.  If anything I'm just upset that there aren't more hours in the day so I can be a productive member of society and still have time to farm for purples.

Bungie can your next game please be a time machine?