Platforms: PS4, PS3, XB1, 360 Genre: Online First Person Shooter Publisher: Activision
DESTINY
Another highly anticipated game for 2014 was Destiny. Destiny takes everything developer Bungie has previously learnt from all their other games, and combines with fresh ideas, and the features of an MMO. We say “features of an MMO” because Destiny is not an MMO, but is instead being called a “shared-world” shooter. There won’t be thousands of other players running around and butchering the game’s frame rate, but there is dynamic events, drop-in drop-out co-op missions and events and loot. So much loot. Destiny is set 700 years after a catastrophic event has pushed mankind to the brink of extinction. During the “Golden Age”, mankind was able to colonize different planets in the solar system, which led to a great time of prosperity and exploration. All of this was made possible with the aid of The Traveler, a mysterious sphere-shaped entity. The Golden Age was interrupted by an enemy of The Traveler known as the Darkness, which attacked and destroyed all of mankind’s colonies except for Earth, which only has one city left. Destiny‘s greatest strength is the sheer amount of activities that it has on offer. Sure they all revolve around shooting things, but never before has a game been so amalgamative of all its influences. Not only that, but the rewards of each activity will aid the player in another area of the game. A gun that can be obtained only in multiplayer might help you survive a level 20 Strike, or it might need to reach a certain amount of kills before it can be upgraded, which might be a task fulfilled outside of competitive multiplayer modes. In addition to the story, players can enter the Crucible, go on Patrol, complete Strikes, or go on Raids. The Crucible is your competitive multiplayer mode, which has a number of different modes of its own. I was excited when I saw a number of different modes, but some of them are just different takes on Team Deathmatch. Clash is classic 6-on-6 Deathmatch, Rumble is a 6 player free-for-all (every man for himself) and Skirmish is a 3 player deathmatch on small maps with revives. There’s also Control, where players hold key locations on a map (think Call of Duty‘s Domination) and Salvage, where players compete to hold different relics. All in all the multiplayer is fun, but the game’s loot system can come back to bite players on the butt here. You might have a great story mode loadout for your character, but it might not do well at all in competitive multiplayer. While you can compete from a very low level in the Crucible, I wouldn’t recommend doing so until you have a complete set of uncommon gear, and even then you will need to be at least level 15 before you can take on most opponents at low-level modes like Control. Once you level up though, you will be having a ball as everybody having unique weapons and armour makes for very unpredictable matches. You will have to learn who is the biggest threat and why, and adapt your tactics with each game. Will your game become legend this Christmas?