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Preview: Destiny

If you were lucky enough to play the Destiny first-look alpha over the weekend, you’d already know the game is amazing.

Strikingly gorgeous, Destiny is everything that Marathon and Halo fans would expect from Bungie’s next-gen, next IP. Think Halo on a grander scale, with social elements that edge the series close to an MMO, but not quite (and for me, that’s a bonus).

Think of a character that you’ve probably associated with in the past, like Master Chief, and throw that notion out of the window. Destiny is all about customisation, both antithetical and not, allowing you to create an avatar that not only looks the way you want, but has a play style that suits how you engage the game.

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In the hands-on demo I played, myself, a fellow journalist and a Bungie dev took on a Strike mission. I went with the ranged Warlock class, the Bungie dev took on the Titan and the other journo the Titan. Prepped on our strengths – the Hunter is aggressive, the Titan the support class – we hopped into our individual ships and first set off for the Tower.

The Tower is the game’s social hub, a place to gear up, upgrade armour and weapons and show off and upgrade your ship. It’s also a place to meet up with friends – or those who will become friends – and get a little dance on for fun. It’s one of the places where Destiny perhaps feels the most MMO-like.

Gearing up, we then set off for the Strike itself, hopping on our Sparrows when in the mission’s vicinity to get there faster. Riding on the Sparrow — which every Guardian has stowed away in a pocket — was great fun, almost akin to Halo’s Ghosts but without any weaponry. Thankfully, our objective was pretty much in a straight line, so I used the opportunity while travelling to take in the vistas around me.

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Guys, to say that Destiny is gorgeous is a horrible understatement. The level of detail in the game’s environments is quite high. High like the euphoric state I was in drinking it all in.

Our Strike mission called for us to take assassinate a high-ranking person of interest. To get to him, we basically had to take out an army of Fallen, one group of the game’s antagonists. Fallen baddies ranged from low-powered grunt-types followed by Fallen Captains, complete with shields – and yeah, just think of Elites and you’re most of the way there. Since we’re drawing relations to Halo, your instincts will get you far; headshots feel almost identically to Halo and are just as effective.

My Warlock was awesome. Powered up to the alpha level 8 cap, I had a range of tools and abilities at my disposal. I brought along vortex grenades for the mission, and together with my melee ability, which caused damage at the same time as pushing enemies away, was deadly. Even though I was a ranged character, I found rushing a group of Captains to melee them to a spot just ahead of me and then lobbing a grenade was most effective. My super move, which needed to be powered through combat, was also great for taking down grouped enemies at a distance.

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I understand that you could equate Destiny to a MMO, and Strike missions to dungeons. They don’t feel like it though. A group of three taking on a massive tank doesn’t strike me as “Leeeroy Jenkins”-worthy. Sure, Exploration missions have exploration (duh) and quest lines, but still – it’s more like the evolution of a single-player campaign. I tended to think of Strike as a cross between single-player and Halo 3: ODST’s Firefight mode, to be honest.

While you’re certainly going to be able to find new players and join up for missions in the Tower, something tells me Destiny will be far more enjoyable playing with tried-and-true friends. Make sure you and yours decide on your system of choice before picking up Destiny on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 from 9 September. Don’t be an idiot and get it on last-gen, though.

Destiny also has a PS4 beta that begins 17 July.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.