After a short presentation, it was downstairs for a Destiny multiplayer session. Activision had set up a seperate area for the game, with the game mode Control on offer. It was all about survival, loot and earning some in-game currency in the form of Glimmer. And the game did not disappoint.
The first thing that needs to be mentioned, is just how gorgeous Destiny happens to be on the visual front. YouTube trailers don’t do it justice, and if you’ve spent a weekend on the alpha, I’m sure you’d agree with me.
So how does it play then? There’s no mistaking the fact that it has that Halo DNA inside of it, but the key difference here is that whereas Halo made you feel like an everyman super-soldier, Destiny emphasises that tagline of building your own legend when you craft a character.
We never got the chance to build our future legend, with preset characters available instead. I grabbed a Hunter and got to work in some six on six multiplayer action in Control. This is where Destiny really shone, as Bungie’s continued efforts on making the game feel better when social actually do work.
In Control, players need to get their teams to fight it out for territory over several points, with the core shooter mechanics feeling polished in the Rusted Lands maps. It’s very tight action, with Sparrows zipping everywhere and legends dying over and over again as the battle raged on. In other words, damn good fun from Bungie who know a thing or two about addictive multiplayer sessions.
Deep down, Destiny feels very nostalgic, but with enough of a new-gen shine to feel at home with other shooters on the market, and maybe even outclass them. Time will still tell if this is indeed the future of shooter games, as it attempts to transcend the genre.
But as a social hub where the action is thick and the universe is massive? Destiny could very well be the game that starts a new benchmarking genre and franchise as we head off into uncharted territory on new consoles and hardware. The game is out on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4 and PS3 on September 9th, but don’t forget to pre-order so that you can get an early taste with the upcoming Beta.
Geoff’s write up on the alpha will be coming along later today.
Last Updated: June 18, 2014
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
June 18, 2014 at 12:09
The alpha was sooo good! SOOO GOODD!!!
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:16
Gonna preorder, next payday. Goodbye Planetside. It was fun while it lasted.
Monado
June 18, 2014 at 12:17
Whats the internet requirements?
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:18
Oh yeah,no one seemingly want’s to talk about the elephant in the room…….
Monado
June 18, 2014 at 12:19
Lol I would play, but I doubt my 2mb line would suffice for this…Oh well, back to my 3gp porn
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:20
Also have a 2MB and I’ll be damned if it isn’t sufficient for this game.
Monado
June 18, 2014 at 12:25
I hope so too, otherwise, fork out more money 🙁
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:29
Ah yes, the solution to seemingly all problems.
Nikola
June 18, 2014 at 13:41
I played alpha this weekend and I have a 2mb line had no problem’s whatsoever never got disconnected once no lag or any latency I could pick up worked pretty smooth for me with 0 issues!!
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
June 18, 2014 at 13:15
I didn’t lag at all, but I’ve got a 4meg line. My buddy has a 2meg line and he had a bit of lag, but nothing I’d consider too much.
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 13:16
Good to know
Monado
June 18, 2014 at 12:09
Bungie said…with reagards to no PC version
“What is also true is that, as you might imagine, we’re all hardcore PC players. We play everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s a phone, PC or console, we play it. And there are 500 people up there. So we care a lot about the PC.”
“But this is a huge and ambitious project for us, and just getting it on one console would be a momentous challenge. Getting it on four on the same day is something we’ve never even tried before. We wanted to get it right, and we didn’t want to add in tonnes more risk.”
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 12:20
…
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:21
Well played
http://d3dsacqprgcsqh.cloudfront.net/photo/aLKZKox_460sa_v1.gif
Monado
June 18, 2014 at 12:24
Sounds very weird though, that they wouldn’t add PC to the list for such a game. No female avatar..too much work.No PC version, too much work (I know I sound judgemental)
Game is prime for PC
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 18, 2014 at 12:33
I don’t have a problem with Xbox or PS exclusives. They sell the hardware. I get irritated, like in this case, when they release console exclusives across both & exclude PC. Because it’s only ever about money, nothing else – but they come up with all kinds of BS reasons. That irritates me, not the fact I can’t play it on PC.
Monado
June 18, 2014 at 12:35
Yeah, it’s quite kak. It’s even on new and old gen consoles, which further adds salt to the wound. I’m not feeling their PR reasoning
KingKappie
June 18, 2014 at 12:32
The Alpha blow my mind!!! after the 7GIG download i fell in love with the game all over again! and the PVP was insane fun
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:41
What ADSL line do you have?
KingKappie
June 18, 2014 at 12:42
2mb uncapped with Mweb did not have lag once (I swear) I saw one guy that lagged one in the pvp but it was relay smooth
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:43
Gonna preorder. Let’s hope it has a smoother launch than some other games.
Jonah Cash
June 18, 2014 at 13:10
Agreed!! I had so much fun over the weekend!! I am having withdrawal symptoms for the game!!
KingKappie
June 18, 2014 at 13:26
you might be able to still play the alpha I see it got extended dont know for how long
Jonah Cash
June 18, 2014 at 13:30
It died early on Tuesday!! I checked…. But I played the whole of Monday non stop!! It was just so good!!
Kensei Seraph
June 18, 2014 at 13:33
I’m curios, how was the controller compared to a proper mouse & keyboard setup?
Or are you one of those people who prefer using a controller on a shooter?
Jonah Cash
June 18, 2014 at 13:50
I have never played a FPS shooter online before this Destiny Alpha so probably not the right person to ask :-). But in my opinion the controls work and is responsive, I got in some decent hits!! And you can change the speed of everything to fit the way you want to play….
KingKappie
June 18, 2014 at 13:56
I dont know about pc controls as i am one of those console gamer’s but the controls are allot like COD just a lot smoother
Rince&exhale
June 18, 2014 at 12:35
Awesome!
Kensei Seraph
June 18, 2014 at 12:43
The more I hear about Destiny the more I feel sad that it isn’t coming to PC. Yet.
Hammersteyn
June 18, 2014 at 12:44
Yet is correct.
Consumer of Little Rabbits
June 18, 2014 at 13:10
I fucking LOVED the alpha. Hands down the best test environment ive ever had the pleasure to game on. Somebody at bungie had ALL their kellogs that morning.
Jonah Cash
June 18, 2014 at 13:12
I am having withdrawal!! I even tried to start the Alpha yesterday and was informed the servers are down, I cried a little!!
Consumer of Little Rabbits
June 18, 2014 at 14:50
*strokes hair* its okay bud, itll be ok, just hang in there!
Jonah Cash
June 18, 2014 at 15:45
Gonna be a long 30 days till Beta though!! Will have to lose myself in my Fifa again…..
Consumer of Little Rabbits
June 19, 2014 at 11:21
ew, sperts
Stanley Watson
June 19, 2014 at 06:22
Did you guys play on an international server? (sorry don’t know much yet of what the alpha involved). If you’re saying that you experienced no lag and were very satisfied, I am frikkin’ buying this game!