Destiny day one impressions: some good, some bad, some ugly

Destiny just launched the world over today. And no, this isn’t a review of the game. It would be unfair to review an always-online, multiplayer and cooperative-focused game on the basis of its first day. The community and features that will decide the game’s worth for most people haven’t been out long enough for anyone to really get a solid impression yet. Instead, here’s a video of the first mission, and my initial impressions are below.

[fve]http://youtu.be/eq6KFRfvIhA[/fve]

Here’s what you should look forward to and be aware of if you decide to take check out this MMO-shooter hybrid from the makers of cultural phenomenon Halo.

(See: 5 reasons why you shouldn’t play Destiny at launch)

For one, you’ll actually get to play the game. Sounds weird right? But in an age where always-online games such as Diablo III, even from experienced MMO developers like Blizzard, have suffered launch day issues, Destiny is surprisingly trouble-free. Booting the game up and connecting was a breeze, as was the 200MB-odd update that followed. There were no signs of lag, nor were there any error messages followed by appropriately cryptic numbers.

Considering that the Playstation Network was taken down two weeks back thanks to hackers, it’s nice to see that Sony’s infrastructure holds up in this case. Hopefully this isn’t just because it’s the first day and not everyone who has purchased the game is online yet. Whether the the servers would last in the face of a greater number of players remains to be seen.

(See: Destiny alpha preview: not sure if cliché or new game)

In addition to this, levelling up is a lot more fun. The alpha and beta previews of Destiny were a nice way for us to get a taste of what to expect prior to the full game releasing. It showed off slick graphics and Bungie’s dedication to the kind of tight gameplay we saw in Halo. But thanks to the compressed nature of the preview builds, it was easy to feel that you maxed out everything quickly be it abilities, or acquiring rare loot. Not so in the full release.

This time around, levelling up seems modified to suit the game’s pace better. There’s a certain thoughtfulness to the pace at which unlocking items and abilities take place. It isn’t a sudden flood of new skills and loot at your disposal, they’re spread out well. This makes seeing the game’s level up message a lot more enjoyable.

Nonetheless, some issues still remain. For most part, at least early on, Destiny exhibits the same kind of repetitiveness in missions that plagued the beta. You’ll be fulfilling the same objectives over and over, which mostly involve going from point A to B on the map and shooting up aliens along the way.

(See: Glacier White PS4 priced for Singapore, will be available as part of Destiny bundle)