Destiny 2

With Destiny 2 comes the official start of the busy game season for 2017 and the mad, exciting rush that is playing a lot of great new games, sometimes all at once [what a time to be alive!]

Also with Destiny 2 comes the hopeful game that keeps its promises, somewhat unlike its predecessor. In hindsight, I admittedly rated that original game too high because of the hype from this new, huge game from Bungie that, once the dust settled, wasn't all that huge to begin with. After several expansions, it seemed to morph into something grander, better organized, and with more of an endgame in mind (or so my friends who continued to play it told me), but that was many months and an extra $40 afterward. 

Destiny 2 likely has many expansions in its future, but it also sets out to provide that more complete version of a game that $60 deserves by taking some of the lessons learned from the first game and applying them to this core experience. 

With that focus still comes an imperfect game, but one that is a significant step further than the original in keeping things interesting and keeping gamers playing. 

Some amazing color palettes

Where Destiny 2's immediate improvement comes is with the campaign and the story. It actually makes sense this time (ouch!) and helps to build this world far more than before. Whereas the first game felt like a bunch of generic blends of previous sci-fi shooters, Destiny 2 has a decently exciting, and easy to follow story with a clear villain and purpose while also building out the lore of this world. If I'm being completely honest, it's still feels a tad generic overall and, at least to me, there isn't much that stands out as being incredibly unique. This isn't like the Mass Effect series that has memorable items, weapons, and characters at every turn, but it does go a lot further than the last game to build the Destiny world as something special. The game also takes careful efforts to make certain levels, both side quests and main campaign missions, to be exciting and memorable. I can and will remember a handful of missions from here that were really intriguing, mainly because of their lore, that I was eager to complete and find out the secrets of the world. Granted, none of them match the insane genius of Titanfall 2's campaign (one of the best ever, IMO) but that's a high standard to hold it to.

A lot more horror elements this time around. Either that or I'm just a wimp.

Destiny on drugs!! Wahooo!

A significant detail that assists in the creation of the game's lore -- and definitely areas where the game tries to escape the generic sci-fi realm -- would be the worlds it creates. Each one is specific, not only by enemy type, but also by it's general aesthetics and tone. For example, Earth is a cavernous experience while on the surface it has ruins of cities and a few wide open areas. Another planet is built entirely on shipping platforms because the entire surface is large, gravitation waves and oceans (think Interstellar). Each one comes coupled with specific events, concentrations of enemies, tasks to complete, and color schemes. Perhaps most impressive however is the incredible vistas that each planet has. Destiny 2 has great graphics -- not the best -- but still very good. One area where they're unrivaled in is all the things you see in the distance. Finding a cliff and looking out in to the expanses of the planet and space or just looking up from time to time provide some jaw-dropping scenery. Sure, you may not be able to actually travel there, but the amount of color, detail, and science put into each outer landscape is a thing to behold. The game's remaining graphics are strong too and, perhaps more importantly, stay smooth and consistent. I had maybe 3-4 times of slowdown during my playthrough and those were usually in very hectic times with a lot of human players all at once so it's a bit to be expected. Outside of the far-away vistas, guns are perhaps my favorite other visual due to the inventiveness and detail of some of the game's more memorable weapons. Without going into their uses at all (that's for later), they all look great and distinct and some of the legendary ones are a sight to behold in action. Rounding out the technical aspects, Destiny 2 also completely nails its sound design both from an effects perspective, voice acting, and original score. Guns are fun and loud, as are environmental noises and enemy threats, while the music that accompanies it is fantastic and does a lot to set the mood and tone of each moment of the game.

All this would be for naught if Destiny 2's gameplay wasn't there but that's pretty much a non option given that Bungie is at the helm. The gameplay continues to be consistently smooth and responsive providing a Halo-esque feel while also being slightly unique from other shooters. It's fast paced, has great hit detection, features distinct guns and gun types, and allows for a variety of power-ups and special abilities. Really the only area that took me a while to get used to was the jumping but that's because you can choose your jump type and amidst my experimentation with different ones I found that it really does make a difference. I was a fool with most of them, but with one of the ones that allows for a bit more control I could be fairly lethal. There are separate classes like last time, but they don't alter the play style as much as I think Bungie hopes for other than strategies around which powers to use and when. Outside of the slick, core gameplay, there's "The Grind" to level up your character and their gear. This is an area where the first Destiny came to a screeching halt for the most part and I don't quite sense that happening as dramatic with Destiny 2, though it does make it easy to lose interest in it once you've actually stopped leveling and are only trying to increase your gear/light score (especially with a slew of other games out now). Once I fully leveled up (probably around 15 hours of playtime or less) I'd say I felt like ~ 85-90% of my time in Destiny 2 was well spent. I felt like I A) had fun B) made progress and/or C) got a worthwhile piece of gear. That's pretty damn good, but I could definitely sense the diminishing returns starting. 

Can't go there, but damn doesn't it look pretty!

A surprisingly really fun
platforming side mission

Luckily, the post-launch support has been exciting and Bungie has done a good job to host events and special aspects (for free) that keep the game worth playing. If I didn't have two insanely large, open-world games sucking my time now -- not to mention the Nintendo Switch calling my name -- I could easily see myself still playing Destiny 2. Things like raids, crucible events, specific planet tasks, guilds, etc. have all extended the game past Day 1 and it goes to show some of the lessons that were learned from the first title. 

One final area that changed for me between Destiny and Destiny 2 was the ability to play with friends. I purchased the original on PS4 (before I had the XBone) and none of my other friends had a PS4 at the time. It was a largely solo affair. Destiny 2 I transitioned over to the Xbox and it was a dramatic improvement -- hence one of the reasons I, in hindsight, overrated the original. Exploring and progressing through Destiny 2 with friends is a valuable process because it's fun, can be funny, and makes the game more challenging but subsequently rewarding. There are obvious omissions (like why on earth can't I trade items?!), but in general partying up and playing through missions or a raid or player vs player crucible games is a blast. In fact, I'd even say it's necessary. You can do all those things without friends, but you lose out on a lot of the benefits. Even the Crucible, somewhere where I sucked at and avoided last time around, was [usually] fun to play and I actually did quite good. Whether that's because it's more user friendly or because my FPS talent has improved, I'm not quite sure but I definitely had my moments and was MVP a fair share of times. 

Fast and Furious 27: The Arrow of the Sparrow

In the end, I'm still slightly more than luke-warm to Destiny as a franchise outside of its technical achievements. This second iteration learned a lot from the first and the game is all the better because of it and playing with friends made a huge difference in my journey and experience. But I also still get stuck on how generic Destiny feels as a series -- like a bunch of sci-fi ideas mashed together -- and how much it becomes a grindfest after the initial blast of content. Still tons of fun, don't misunderstand me, but when I think of some of the FPS classics to emerge from last year (Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1) and how I still would love to go back and play them, I don't imagine I'll feel the same about Destiny 2 in a year's time, despite how much I've loved it during this first couple months.

CONS

• Despite their best efforts, Destiny 2's lore and mythology still feels a bit generic and unoriginal, though great strides were made to make it its own in this game
• Better story than the first, but still slightly forgettable especially compared to some of the fantastic campaigns we got lost year
• There are diminishing returns once you reach "The Grind"

PROS

• Overall the campaign is improved and the worlds + side missions help to build this world out more
• A far greater sense of exploration this time around
• Awesome planet and world design. Highly memorable and the vistas of each planet are things of absolute art
• Strong graphics overall that stay consistently smooth. Guns look unique and cool
• Well organized online UI. I found it was easy to get to what I needed to and none of the menus felt overly cumbersome
• Fantastic sound design, effects, voice acting, and original music
• Unsurprisingly awesome, fast paced gameplay. Bungie knows how to make shooters and they do it well
• Does a far better job this time around keeping players interested. I felt like most of my play sessions were worthwhile because of what I achieved, acquired, or gained
• A blast to play with friends -- highly recommended. And that's coming from someone who soloed the first game
• Has moments of greatness and is consistently fun and packed with content, even on Day 1. Took many lessons from the first game and applied them here

Rath's Review Score | 8.5/10