So this week I had the opportunity to play the Destiny beta and the question on everyone’s mind was; Is it that good? Well let’s talk about it.
So lets start with the story….hmmm I’m not sure if I can because I was a little confused about it. From my understanding the beta was to be the beginning of the actual game. So with that said, you are brought back from the dead by an orb (called ghosts). The ghost comes from a larger orb called The Traveler who grants us magical powers. The Traveler is being chased by something called the Darkness (unique huh?). Are you still with me?
Good cause there is more! So far in the beta there are 2 types of enemies; the Fallen and the Hive (can’t help but to think Halo here, covenant and flood). They seem to be fighting each other. Dont really know why. You fight both for some reason ( I guess they are in your way).
The enemies are pretty cool. Some of them are your standard looking enemies:
This is one of the fallen. Here is another:
Lots of detail on them. Here are some of the Hive:
Now they look fearsome. They are also relentless. They will chase you down until they get you.
Now lets talk about the main character. You get to pick out of three classes; Titan, Warlock, Hunter. Basically a tank, mage,and a sniper/rogue.
My first instinct was to play the warlock but since all my friends were picking him, I decided on the hunter. The controls are very easy to get into. They give you options on different layouts for different play styles so getting used to the game was a breeze. One of the main differences of the classes was how you jump. Each class jumps differently, from gliding to a double jump. The classes can use the same weapons, at least for the beta, but the armor is different. Also each class learns different abilities that are pretty darn cool. The detailing of the characters is incredible, too bad you constantly play in 1st person mode.
The main ability each class has is as follows:
Titan: jumps in the air and comes down with a “Hulk type” punch that has an electric area of effect.
Warlock: a “black-hole” vortex type grenade.
Hunter: also a grenade but with a fire effect that does damage over time and can even follow you or become a trip mine.
Now again the beta caps us at level 8 so there is another ability at level 15 that is not accessable yet. Even though your level is capped for the beta you can still level individual skills which add different effects to your abilities.
Another cool thing is the weapons level up as well. The more you use certain weapons they also increase in skills and strength. You carry a main weapon, (auto, burst, charge, or hand gun), a special (sniper gun, or rifle) weapon, and a heavy (machine gun or rocket launcher) weapon. Some armor seems to be customizable but was not available for the beta (that’s weird).
So enough of that lets talk gameplay: the single player and the coop is what I would expect from this type of game. It has a Halo feel on the single player side but a Borderlands feel on the coop side. The main city even has a World of Warcraft feel being that it is a hub for all social activities. I love the single player because you can explore to your heart’s content. The coop just builds on that as enemies will respawn so you will not get bored and you need to keep moving.
So I know what you’re thinking. Sounds like an awesome game right, or I’m setting you up from some type of disappointment. Well here comes the disappointment; the multiplayer is in my opinion broken. During the beta there was no type of balancing as it seemed as some weapons/players were overpowered. Second was the fact that any weapon can one shot you if it was a headshot. Some may say there is nothing wrong with that. Well it is when it seems like every shot was a headshot I find something wrong with that. Why even have health bars then. I have played plenty of fps’ where there were one shot kills but this one is over the top. Finally was the ability to pick one spot on the map (the moon map), camp and cover 2 or 3 flag points. This is by far a bad map design.
In a game where a lot of the replay value is going to come from multiplayer, this is of great concern to me. I haven;t played a game this frustrating in such a long while. Even when you spawn, you can be instantly killed without even you being able to move. This game looks as through it has a ton of rewards for those fo excel at multiplayer but I WILL NOT sit there and bear this torture.
Bungie fix this please!!!
Despite this drawback, I will still get the game. Even if Bungie does not fix the multiplayer ( I can’t imagine why not) the single/coop is enough for me. A definite buy just for that.
In the meantime, check out this video of the last section of the beta and let me know what you think!
Until we meet in space, chase your Destiny!