Game Preview: Destiny

Bungie was ahead of the pack when they created Halo, and now they are about to release their follow-up game titled Destiny. Expect to see a game that is a mix between an RPG and an FPS, with a MMO-like multiplayer experience. Imagine putting out Halo and then trying to make a game that can live up to your reputation, this is what Bungie is going through as they hope to make a game that will conquer the consoles for another decade or so.

Right now Destiny has been confirmed for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, although it is expected to be announced for the Xbox One and PS4 in the near future. It does seem odd that they are releasing a game of this magnitude on the older consoles, especially if its a game that they hope to build upon with expansions or even sequels.
 


Destiny is another sci-fi game, like Halo, set in the future with aliens and explorable planets. Yes, it will be possible for players to visit different planets by using a starship, which can also be customized. Basically, the game takes place after Earth has been attacked by aliens, and even the moon is being occupied by something unknown to us, yet.

But that's not all, Mars is now occupied by “The Cabal”, so it does not look like mankind has many friends in the solar system. However, mankind was saved by “The Traveler”, so there are some friends! The Traveler is a huge celestial sphere that you will see hovering over a city in this mythic science fiction game. So who are the good guys? The Guardians, with their futuristic armor and weapons, are the heroes of mankind. There armor is completely customizable and the weapons are very futuristic like in Halo and other sci-fi games placed in the future.

There's a great deal of mystery in Destiny, even the moon has an ancient base on it (although its now occupied by an unkown force) and there are even time-traveling robots and “tomb ships” floating around that you will come across as you travel through space. Aside from that, we hear there are even space zombies! So, the excitement is definitely there, but the more we find out about this game the more questions we seem to have.
 


Right now the storyline is a little murky and it's hard to tell exactly how this game will play out, but it does seem like they plan on releasing sequels if it does well. Halo did great, but it was just a first-person-shooter game, while Destiny seems to be taking a brave step into the unknown. Sure, games like Fallout mix FPS gameplay into the RPG world, but it seems that Destiny is taking it even further than that.

Three of the character classes have been announced at a briefing by Bungie, and they are the Hunter, Warlock and Titan classes. So there is not just armor and weapon customization, but there will also be character class upgrades as each class will have its own specific skills. It looks as if they are making the customization features more advanced than most RPG games, and they say the customization will go “as deep as you want”, sounding really confident about the game.



They have already mentioned a mobile app, which is expected to help players socialize, check stats, and customize weapons or armor. The exact features of the mobile app are not known yet but more details are likely to emerge soon. It's great that they are releasing it on the Xbox 360 and PS3 for those who haven't purchased one of the newer consoles yet, so it kind of gives everyone something to look forward to.

We know that Bungie has hired more employees to create Destiny than they did for Halo, so they are definitely putting their money and resources into this game with high expectations. Will they meet, exceed or fail to reach expectations? We will have to wait and see... For now, you can watch the video preview below to learn more about the game.