Destiny review: fabulously flawed

I’m on the Moon. I’m dressed inappropriately for the occasion compared to Neil Armstrong and friends. Decked out with armor that resembles a rather garish bathrobe, what with being metallic orange and blue and all. I feel like I’m more appropriately dressed for an interstellar pajama party complete with hot alien pillow fights rather than putting a bullet square between the eyes of the enemies of earth.

And that my friends is the best part of Destiny. Well, at least for me. After all, how many games let you save the galaxy in a getup that most looks like snazzy pajamas?

(See: Destiny day one impressions: some good, some bad, some ugly)

Seconds upon seconds of fun

Cosmetic awesomeness aside, Destiny features slick gunplay. No surprise given Bungie’s expertise from the Halo franchise. Pulling off a headshot feels extremely satisfying and the sheer act of firing a weapon is fantastically executed. Throw in solid melee mechanics and you have yourself a competent shooter.

However, Bungie isn’t looking for sheer competence. In terms of minute-to-minute gameplay it goes above and beyond that. Layered over highly polished shooting and close range combat are special powers. Kill enough foes and complete enough in-game actions and you can use them. Depending on your choice of character class you can shoot deathly bolts of space magic or decimate your foes with a blade of light.

Backstory brilliance (that falls short)

But of course, there’s a reason for being able to destroy your foes in such a spectacular fashion. Peel back the fantastic gameplay and you have an extremely cool backstory to ponder. The basic gist is this: thanks to the discovery of a mysterious being known as the Traveler, mankind has been able to live on the stars and beyond. Life was good until “The Darkness” showed up and plummeted us back to the Stone Age as well as weakened the Traveler to the point where it hovers semi-comatose over Earth’s last city, the Tower.

It’s an interesting setup that should do well enough to weave a captivating tale. Or so you would think. The problem is there’s so very little beyond this in-game. Want to catch up on the game’s lore? Well pull out your smartphone and download the Destiny app. Descriptions to every and anything found in-game can be found here and not on your console. It’s a perplexing move that dilutes what Bungie is trying to achieve in the way of building a cohesive universe.

What you’re left with is a few cutscenes sprinkled across the entirety of a campaign that does very little to do justice to it’s potential. If you’re looking for a sci-fi epic in terms of narrative, this is not your game. The plot is definitely the weakest part of Destiny.

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