Destiny, released on Sept. 9, 2014, is a new online-based first-person shooter video game from Bungie. The game puts you in control of a ‘guardian’ who must repel alien forces from planets around our solar system. Over the course of the game players travel from Earth, to the Moon, Venus, Mars, a far away asteroid belt known as “The Reef” and the mysterious planet-like “Tower” which is the homebase for the Guardians. Using weapons such as high-powered machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers and pistols, players fight aliens in objective based missions on the various planets. Completing mission objectives and killing enemies awards the player experience points and glimmer (the game’s currency). Players can also partake in patrols on planets and free roam while completing small tasks. Players can work together on most missions. Besides story missions players can also enter The Crucible. The Crucible is the competitive multiplayer section in Destiny that features modes such as Control (where your team fight to control points on the map), Rumble (an ‘“every man for himself” deathmatch), Clash (team deathmatch), Skirmish (a 3v3 game team deathmatch) and Salvage (your team captures relics and needs to transport them back to a ship). The controls in Destiny are responsive and precise. If you are used to playing first-person shooters you will feel right at home with Destiny’s controls and if you are new to the genre, the controls are extremely easy to pick up. The missions in the game are fun to play. The difficulty can be adjusted before the start of any mission for those who are looking for a harder or easier time getting through the game. The downfall of Destiny’s missions though is that they can get a little repetitive and enemy types don’t change all that much over the course of the game. Each planet has it’s own enemies but the variety of them could have been more plentiful. The Crucible is solid all around. It’s the most replayable mode in the game and players will spend a long time in the Crucible leveling up their character, seeing what rewards they earned at the end of a match and gaining much needed glimmer for items. It would be nice to see more modes added in the future though as the game continues on. Overall, I would’ve liked to see more things to do outside of the Crucible once I was done with the main story. Of course there were patrols I could always partake in but I felt as though there could’ve been more missions to further add to the Destiny experience. With two new downloadable content packages being released in the fall and spring, Destiny will be getting more missions soon but it would’ve been nice to have more right off the bat. The story could have been longer as well and it could’ve been presented differently to be a little less confusing. Of course the plot is straightforward, but the details and plot elements could have been made more clear. Although it has some faults, Destiny is a great game overall. Missions on every planet are fun to play and the Crucible keeps players coming back for more. Despite not being as clear with its plot elements as it could have been, Destiny’s story was intriguing and I hope to see more missions added in the future to further flesh out the Destiny universe. The controls are responsive and easy to pick up. Destiny is a game that should be in your library.
7.5/10 Good