Destiny, Bungie’s lost son… it has returned and hopefully, it can make the disappointed players believe again!
Destiny 2 had an amazing entrance during Bungie’s presentation. Bungie knows that a lot of players were disappointed by the release of “their big game” in 2014. As the game launched, it quickly became clear that this wasn’t ready to travel the long distance. The content was minimal and players felt like they were being ripped-off. Then again, Bungie had a lot in store when it came to “external content” due to their “year’s content package” full of paid DLC. People quickly left, as there was not much to do but some veteran players stayed because they believed in Destiny’s potential. Months after, the initial release the game released several packages of external content and people started to get back… Why? Because Destiny and all its DLC content was the game, everyone wanted. So in the end, Destiny survived and kept players interested. Bungie already left some hints behind in the original Destiny about their upcoming project, Destiny 2 and this last month, people got their hands on it!
Bungie has a lot on its plate and from what we’ve seen and played, we can say that Bungie learned from its mistakes and produced a better game… for now. With the latest demo, we had the opportunity to play the beginning of Destiny 2, some mods in the crucible and a strike mission. Destiny 2 will be released on the 6th of September and I must say, we’re looking forward to it!
That first moment of loading up the Destiny 2 demo screen was just an amazing feeling. Even though I played from the moment the “Destiny collection” was released, it just felt great booting up the game. The high hopes I have for this game… man, can’t wait! After that first encounter with the Destiny 2 logo, I was glad to see that I didn’t have any server problems or errors when it booted up. In the beginning, you’re able to choose one of the 3 classes that have their own set of skills and ultimate abilities named “Supers”. The warlock was my main, so I had to make my first steps with him. Before the mission “Homecoming” begins, the game opens with an exciting cinematic video.
“The core gameplay just feels great when it comes to gun play.”
Destiny 2 starts off where the Cabal breached the Tower with their full arsenal and big chunked troops. It was a relief that Bungie really wanted to make an effort in creating a deep story and trying to implement the 3 important characters in the whole game: Commander Zavala, Ikora Rey and Cayde-6. Destiny 1 didn’t have the best story or exciting cinematic experiences and hopefully, Bungie fixed this “section” of the game. The mission is around 20 minutes and it’s all about making your final effort to defend the Tower and confront the big boss of the Cabal. In the end, you face Ghaul, an unknown commander that introduces himself as the main villain of Destiny 2. Ghaul has breached the Tower for him to take everyone’s light. He succeeds and throws you from his ship to make his mark on this desperate land. So, ends the story mission for Destiny 2 and it was already more interesting and exciting than the first game. Finally, the game starts the story off with a purpose and an enemy, how it’s supposed to be.
Right off the bat, players will notice that the game hasn’t changed that much when you compare it to the previous Destiny. However, it already does something the previous game hasn’t and that’s giving your characters/ enemies some background so that people will develop an emotional connection with them, good or bad. Also, the main characters in the game are fighting with you instead of letting you do everything. The environment is also different when it comes to the details. Your environment is a lot more dynamic than the original Destiny. Destiny offers you different “environmental boxes” but nothing changes during your gameplay. The first mission of Destiny 2 how your beloved social hub takes damage during your “way towards the objective”. The world looks a lot more alive.
After the story mission, you’re being transported to “orbit” where you can mark your next destination. There’s the opportunity to play some multiplayer matches against other players in the crucible or you can fight alongside other players against the A.I. during a strike mission. Strike missions are replay versions of story missions but it’s a lot more challenging. These challenges go from different modifiers to different enemies or even bosses at the end. More challenging missions will reward players with better loot. The playable strike mission is called The Inverted Spire and it doesn’t change the Destiny’s formula a lot. This mode feels familiar, which isn’t especially a bad thing but coming from the first Destiny, hopefully, they amped up their strikes missions as well as they amped up their story missions from the original Destiny. This playable strike mission doesn’t add anything much more except for the active environments. This strike mission could easily just be a reprint of one of the strike missions from the first one. The end boss of the playable strike mission is a VEX machine that has the same “characteristic” as any other boss in Destiny. It’s just a bullet sponge with another jacket on. There weren’t exciting features during this strike mission, except for the environmental hazard. This just doesn’t feel “eye opening” for Bungie’s next big thing. A bit disappointing, again…
However, the core gameplay just feels great when it comes to gun play. Bungie did this thing very right in the original Destiny and it’s good that they’ve almost copied this “whole feature” on to the next Destiny 2. Still, the gunplay feels a bit different. The guns feel great but they feel a bit heavier which adds up to the slower gunplay than the original Destiny. The sub machine and the grenade launcher are definitely nice things to expand the “gunventory” and the new Supers are an extra plus as well but we do have to mention that the Supers charge very slowly, so you’ll have to think more about the use of your super. The cooldowns are slowed so your hero feels less overpowered which isn’t a bad thing since Supers dominated the last Destiny. The sound quality of the guns and the Supers are awesome to listen to and each fired bullet feels like it really does damage the enemies. Oh, how it’s satisfying to kill those Cabal! I wouldn’t have it any other way!
“This just doesn’t feel “eye opening” for Bungie’s next big thing.”
The crucible offers two game modes for those competitive people: Countdown and Control. “Control” is all about dominating 3 areas in the battlefield and scoring points. Whoever gains the total points the fastest wins. “Countdown” is a bit different and is more like “defuse the bomb” in Counter-Strike. The crucible is the PVP side of the game and you’ll have to notice the different game elements when it comes to PVE. Some of these elements are changed in PVP, to make it more competitive. For example, the grenade and super cooldowns take longer to recharge which gives you a sense of “skill based” – gameplay. Player versus player feels a lot more balanced than the original Destiny due to these minor tweaks.
Conclusion:
The original Destiny had a rough start but Bungie promised a better Destiny than before… time will tell! However, let’s give Bungie the benefit of the doubt, as the “Homecoming”- mission has been an amazing experience and gives us a more polished story than the original Destiny has given, and that game was longer than 20 minutes. Bungie also wants to make the game a lot more challenging with the help of some minor tweaks that will influence PVE and PVP. For example, the cooldowns for your abilities take longer to recharge, handling weapon feel slower, … The new abilities and weapons are a big plus that will be appreciated by the veteran players. Bungie talks like the game will have a lot more to offer than the original one, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, we all paid for a full package of Destiny 2 and not a “small piece” of the paid Destiny’s DLC puzzle! Let’s hope for a better Destiny and not a fully reprinted of the first one. The game will launch on the 6th of September for the PS4 and Xbox One. The game will also launch on the 24th of October for the PC.
