After three years of the unique being one of many greatest and most-discussed video games on the planet, Destiny 2 has few excuses to make the identical errors twice. Bungie need us all to know they’ve listened: their very own assurances on that time are nothing subsequent to the marketing campaign’s bombastic opening mission, Homecoming, which I’d performed no fewer than seven occasions earlier than the sport’s console launch final week (at E3, and through two betas on three characters every).
Curious to see what got here subsequent, I picked up the console model. Forty-two hours later – not all of which was active gameplay, it have to be mentioned – this is what I believe.
Here’s everything we know about Destiny 2 to date.
Let’s begin with the story. Compared to the terrible missions of the unique, Homecoming is a blessed aid. It varies its pacing with pleasant NPCs and a standoff within the Tower plaza through which you’re seamlessly matched with different gamers. It raises hopes that the remainder of the marketing campaign might be nearly as good, and the visually gorgeous follow-up mission, as your depowered Guardian flees an alien assault, maintains these hopes (even when it often hits melodrama when taking pictures for poignancy).
Sadly, the center half of the marketing campaign slumps. You by no means once more share the battlefield with pleasant NPCs, and I used to be solely matched with different gamers within the final mission. Difficulty is usually trivial, enemy AI principally simplistic. There’s extra operating from A to B, extra wave defence, extra choosing this up and placing it over right here, then doing the identical factor once more twice extra. It’s nice that a number of cutscenes and voiceover give these rote actions a story context – actually, this can be a welcome enchancment on the unique – however the spell they weave can’t assist however unravel when the duties themselves are so repetitive.
One step ahead, one step nowhere
In equity, I’m beginning to assume that a few of this superficiality in your interactions with the world is a limitation of the MMO style that video games as a complete might by no means overcome. Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft – final time I performed, anyway – endure from comparable issues. Everything must be replayable, the setting can by no means be allowed to alter considerably, enemies have to respawn frequently, and they should act in a extra open context than the corridors of COD, which should restrict their behaviour. I can see Bungie try: the addition of Heroic mode in public occasions provides an vital feeling of company, in that you could attempt to pursue a more durable secondary goal for higher loot.
Nonetheless, Destiny 2’s gameplay is at its finest when it’s not within the static open world. The marketing campaign’s opening and climactic missions are examples of this, and the spotlight of the single-player content material. Without spoiling something, the ultimate two missions are simply jaw-dropping. I want I may say extra concerning the penultimate stage, specifically, as a result of it’s one among my favorite sci-fi settings ever.
Elsewhere, although, my curiosity within the story was sustained primarily by the environments (plus a few dumbly enjoyable tank missions). Seriously, Bungie’s artists have excelled themselves: Titan is a tangle of oceanic rigs in a stormy sea, concealing alien nests and cities that trace mournfully at misplaced grandeur. Io is a lonely, sulfur-stained expanse of mesas and canyons, choked by fossils and tree roots, its horizon dominated by the colossus of Jupiter. Nessus may be my favorite: a stunning distinction of white waterfalls and crimson grass, set in opposition to jarringly angular, sculpted cliffs. Having explored these locations on console, they’re one more argument for getting this recreation on PC, the place they’ll look their finest.
And because of Bungie’s integration of story missions, public occasions, and remoted adventures throughout the open world, we are able to play in these environments for hours with none jarring load screens. This may be an important quality-of-life change the sequel has obtained, and it’s totally welcome.
My solely grievance on this division is that authoritative leaks from Kotaku and industry tipster Shinobi had led me to count on extra. While it’s technically true that you could encounter pleasant NPCs on the planet, they take the type of a single, static overseer on every planet. Though somewhat clichéd, they’re enjoyable to spend time with – Failsafe specifically is a delight – however there’s no stumbling on AI Guardians within the wild, no integration of social areas with the remainder of the setting, regardless that the Farm is supposed to be part of the EDZ. This appears like one thing Bungie needed to do, however in some way couldn’t.
Endgame
As with the unique, in order for you a problem, you’ll discover it lengthy after the marketing campaign is finished. I’m excited to be first into the raid, however till then, the Nightfall strike is my spotlight to date. When the unique launched, Bungie appeared to have confused ‘challenge the player’ with ‘make enemies stronger’, creating overpowered however simply as dumb bullet sponges that have been as enjoyable to struggle as sculpting ice by headbutting it.
The sponginess hasn’t solely vanished, however this week’s prism modifier gave us the ability to beat it: the sport’s three parts are cycled, and you may deal big injury should you assault with the energetic one. After chipping slowly away on the boss, ready on tenterhooks for the Void part to kick in, the sensation of pasting the git with a Nova Bomb and seeing a complete chunk of his well being vanish is immensely satisfying, and the elation after bringing him down is Souls-esque.
Finally, PvP has been one other optimistic expertise, partly due to some smart adjustments from the unique, partly as a result of matchmaking hasn’t discovered my true talent stage but and I’ve been “going off” in each different match (I’m certain this can change sooner or later). Where grenades, Supers, and overpowered secondary weapons scuppered the unique’s potential, changes to weapon classes and talent cooldowns have created a much more balanced, skilful recreation this time.
I actually like its pacing, which is like nothing else on PC: it’s not a dumbly frantic one-shot killfest like COD, nor an old-school enviornment shooter like Doom or Quake. The headshot bias is significant, however not decisive, as in CS:GO. Class synergies provides you with an edge, however the recreation isn’t solely constructed round them, as in Overwatch. I may discuss rather more about PvP, however that’s for the evaluation. Suffice it to say that should you get pleasure from aggressive multiplayer, Destiny 2 has one thing to supply, regardless of the baffling lack of devoted servers. On a efficiency observe, uncapped body fee is another excuse to get it on PC.
Being a Destiny participant has at all times been a irritating expertise. It’s onerous to see such potential being so erratically fulfilled; when the unique launched, its solely flash of brilliance was its raid. Its first growth, The Taken King, shone somewhat extra typically. Destiny 2 is brighter once more, however Bungie nonetheless haven’t wholly ironed out the repetitiveness of its duller components. They and Activision are additionally enjoying quick and free with the group’s goodwill with recent changes to shaders and microtransactions, which do go away a foul style within the mouth.
However, if you possibly can tolerate a prolonged grind – and you may dedicate a lot of free time to a brand new passion recreation – then it’s best to regulate Destiny 2. We’ll have a fuller verdict round its PC launch on October 24.
Source
