User Review : Destiny

The flaws in Destiny highlight far greater flaws in gaming journalism than the game itself.

Where does one start when it comes to reviewing Destiny? Is it an fps, mmo, rpg, a combination of the above or something entirely different? Can it be reviewed like a traditional game? Is it something the average COD or mmo player will enjoy? Questions like these can only be answered by those who actually experience the game for themselves, there isn't a review on the planet that can answer these questions for you as I myself have had mixed opinions from different friends. Let me give you some real examples as to why:

1) My 18 year old nephew who only plays COD and FIFA is addicted to this game and has put over 30 hours into it and now his friends are joining in.

2) My friends who read comics all day and speak Klingon who love big rpg's like Skyrim and Fallout have put in over 50 hours and can't get enough.

3) My friends who love DCUO and WoW are addicted to this game

4) My other friend who loves Skyrim, Halo and Titanfall dislikes Destiny to the point he refuses to buy it.

5) Another friend who only plays COD dislikes it as it is to sci-fi for his liking.

The story is probably the weakest element in Destiny as it doesn't really kick in until you hit the Reef. Yes, there are cutscenes before, but like when playing GTA, when you start doing side missions and just having fun with the world that has been put before you, the story tends to take a back seat. It would have been better had they taken a Skyrim approach or a Mass Effect approach, but it is what it is, and it certainly isn't game breaking as it does get better half way through the game. Further more, unlike other games out there, with the Destiny app, the grimmoir cards you earn by playing the game give more depth to the game and the universe Bungie have built. Although not essential, it shows an effort has been made for those who would like to know more about the universe and get more depth from the story, especially if their complaints are genuine.

Longevity:
Whether you like this game or not, you are going to end up pouring 30-40 hours in easily, whether it is on the mp, or the co-opish sp. Either way, I don't see how people can complain when they have bought games with far less content for an equal price or more and this is where the problems with a lot of journalists really starts to show, the reviewing system they use is flawed and can be awfully biased.

Destiny and why it journalist reviews highlights more flaws about themselves than the game itself:

Story:
Games like Titanfall, Mario, COD, MoH, Fez, Super Meat Boy, Resogun, R-Type, Unreal Tournament, Forza, Gran Turismo, and many more have little to no story or have recycled the same story for the last x amount of years, but they have never been penalized for the story or lack of it. They have gotten away with high to perfect scores based on the gameplay or mp alone. However, for whatever reason or agenda, this game right here is being torn apart. I understand that the story elements aren't perfect, but the hypocrisy from reviewers stinks to high heaven where one can get away with it and the other can't. This is by no means an excuse to say Destiny should get away wit hit, or that it shouldn't. Nor is it to say that the other games are bad or should be marked down; this simply is a point made to highlight the problem we have with some gaming journalists when it comes to reviews.

Content:

- 5 planets that each have over half a dozen side missions and are fully explorable in your own time.

- 32 main story missions.

- each planet has one or more strike missions with one or more boss fights that are badass (32 in total).

- the game has a bounty system where you can pick up extra missions that will give you further rewards for completing certain tasks during sp, co-op or mp. e.g. do 6 missions on x planet or collect x amount of resources from x enemy type.

- there is a fully fledged mp with several modes and 11 maps, with everything you would expect from a mp game with the addition of the likes of Iron Banner matches which are like regular mp matches, but where your character fights with his sp player stats.

- several public events on each planet. How do I best describe these? Imagine you are playing GTA V online, walking around beating people or whatever it is you do and all of a sudden the sky would turn dark and a massive drop ship would arrive deploying hordes of gangsters followed by a huge Army Tank that you and everyone in the area have to take out? Sounds awesome? It damn right is and they never get boring as there is nothing better than getting together with a bunch of strangers who happen to be playing with you and kicking ass in an all out gunblazing firefight.

- 2 raids

Grinding and repetitiveness:
I think my friend said it the best when he was playing Titanfall. He said something down the lines off, "I need to level up to the next gen. It is grinding and tough and a pisstake, but the gameplay is so perfect, I don't mind doing it and I can't stop. This is why Titanfall is a 10/10 game for me even with its flaws."

The point here is, it is okay to grind in Diablo, or Titanfall, or COD MP, or BF MP, or KZ MP, or any other mmo or rpg, or Forza or Gran Turismo. It is okay since it is fun to do so and this is why we will give rave reviews. However, for Destiny, the same rules do not apply. All of a sudden leveling up and grinding is bad. It doesn't matter that the gameplay is just as good or that there is more content and more ways to level up to make it less of a grind, which by the way makes it a better grind than any of the above mentioned games. No! For some of the reviewers today it makes it a negative - which logically is absurd at the very least.

Other comparisons or conflicting reviews:

- Games like God of War, Flower, Journey, Resogun, Vanquish, Transistor and many others have very short sp campaigns. Essentially you are buying a game for a price and getting 4-10 hours of gameplay from a single run. Many people won't go into it again and yet these are games which have received some of the best reviews. Reasons are given saying it is about high scores, or the epicness of the story, the scale, the gameplay etc. Some of these games are fully priced at £45-50 and yet they only offer a 8 hour campaign. Here is a game where if you were to rush through it, you would be looking at putting in 12-15 hours. By this I mean ignoring the mp and most other content outside of the sp.

- Unlike the likes of Titanfall and God of War, there is a fully fledged sp, mp and co-op campaign with enough content to last you dozens of hours if not more, and unlike both of them, you get all of it for the same price - meaning you are getting more for your money.

- Unlike many games which have had game breaking glitches at launch yet still received better reviews, this game has non and it pulls these huge worlds and battles off fluidly in 1080p 30fps.

- The argument of, " it does not innovate." Possibly the silliest reason ever to mark a game down. If it isn't broke there is no need to fix it, but furthermore, there are things which Destiny does which are new and are different. The fact Bungie has made these seamless open worlds that can be played the way they are played is one of the new things it does for consoles. At the sametime, Mario for the most of it has been churning out and recycling the same game for a longtime, so has COD, even with Titanfall, people often forget that Brink done parkour first and Killzone done mechs first. Again, the question is raised why is it okay for some and not for others? Why are excuses made for some and not for others?

Destiny is by no means a perfect game, but even with the imperfections it delivers a solid game with some of the best addictive gameplay I have come across in my 26 years of gaming. There aren't many games out there like this and if there are, you will be paying a monthly subscription for them (ps+ and xbl do not count as the money goes to MS and Sony not to Bungie, and you get free games with both unlike with mmo subscriptions). It is a shame that many reviewers have torn into this game with their teeth and I perfectly understand that people have different tastes, but this is not about a difference in taste as it is about hypocrisy, flawed logic and straight up bullcrap. As for now, I am heading back into Destiny for those long grinding all out firefights and epic boss battles

Last but no least, IMO it is important that I highlight these comparisons as reference points to help readers understand, but further it is important because developers will not take complaints / shortcomings seriously if there is so much discrepancy from journalists and the some of the straight up yo-yoing they do from game to game.