Unless you've been sleeping for the last fifteen years or so, it should be a point of common knowledge that Bungie makes some really excellent shooters. They did it with the Marathon series, they did it again with the Halo series, and they're looking to make the hat trick with Destiny. Bungie faithful have been following the project closely and with their public beta test coming up, it's shaping up very impressively.
First, let's get the bad news out of the way: there is not going to be a PC release come September. Both PlayStations, both Xboxes, no PC. Bungie has gone on record as saying they're not averse to a PC release or that they hate PC gamers, but they're concerned primarily about the experience. As it stands, the four consoles will be sharing one common environment (possibly through the use of a megaserver architecture), and Bungie has not yet found a way to make all four consoles and the PC all play together nicely. I'm just as upset as the rest of the PC community, but then again, I'm still bitter that the full Halo series isn't being brought out to PC.
During a hands-on play session with a giant 64 player PvP match, I found I didn't mind that it's on a console and it's not a stretch to say that Destiny certainly plays smoothly using a console controller. It was probably the shortest 20 minutes of the show, but also some of the most enjoyable minutes. Crisp controls, lush visuals, excellent sound. It's Bungie doing what they do best. Part of me hopes that they can maintain or even exceed this level of energy when it comes to the other elements of the game which we didn't get time for.
So far, Bungie has shied away from the “MMO” label for Destiny, preferring instead the term “shared world shooter.” I didn't get a lot of information indicating how access is going to be controlled, what sort of priorities matching will follow, or anything like that. An Internet connection is a requirement, so you're clearly going to be online all the time. Whether that means you're going to be stuck with mouthbreathers or not may well be luck of the draw. But just because you're sharing the world doesn't mean you always have to stick together. The impression given is that it's a big world and you're free to explore as much of it as you like however you like. If you run into a particularly hairy situation, though, it might not be a bad idea to have some people around you.
There's sure to be more details to come when the beta test starts this month, but just from what Bungie has put out so far, Destiny looks to be continuing a tradition of excellent shooters. This one should be worth looking at seriously if you haven't already committed to purchasing it.
- Axel Cushing
