Developer: Bungie

Publisher: Activision

Platforms: PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360

Modes: Singe-Player / Multiplayer

Distribution: Physical CD / Download

ESRB: T

Content Warning: Animated Blood, Violence

A Hollowed Earth

Destiny is a beautiful, beautiful bauble. Glittering gently in the light, its physical continence is unmistakable. But put it to a keener eye, and you begin to see that it’s as hollow as the earthen moon; marred and shattered by its own empty ambition. It is an egregious error in design sure, but what harps upon the notion is the repetitive nature in which Destiny becomes after about the three-hour mark. It is a tough slog, yes, but an over-long grind makes it unfathomably unlikeable by then. Taken in parts, the game is well-balanced gun player. But when you link together the threadbare, almost non-existent storyline, you’re left with a bag filled with too many questions and not enough answers.

It is a shame that though I was enchanted by the wondrous splendor of a decaying Earth, by the rusted carapace of Mars, and by the violent auroras of Venus, I realized that it was merely a surface beauty, and no real content rested in its empty visage. Would things be different, I wonder, in the near future as Bungie (more specifically, Activision) releases slice after slice of extra content for new and old players alike to mull over and “flesh out” the story? It’s difficult to predict the future. But if the story is being diced and sliced to keep players vested in the game longer than they should, I fear the trend disturbing. If vital lore and wondrous narrative is being chained down by money. Am I expected, then, to fully grasp the context and histories of Destiny by buying what would equivocate to buying paragraphs and punctuation marks in a book, just to read how it all ends. How it all makes sense to the overall aesthetic of the story.

A game that is, purportedly, the “stepping stone” to a greater narrative. And therein lies Destiny’s biggest problem. Because in order to build the universe and the lore and the history to keep players invested in to Destiny, you need to have a compelling story first. Not subjective speculation. Leave some mysteries, of course, but explain enough to make it worth a return trip. And that, sadly, is where Destiny stumbles the most.

Truth be told, I was never expecting Destiny’s narrative to suddenly excel and exceed its digital limitations as to have it stand next to such notable existential auteurs as Keats, Plato, or Nietzsche. Bungie, in my opinion, has never had possession of a tightly woven narrative in any of their games. Even in the Halo games (and I consider myself a die-hard fan of the series). But I was hoping for something more substantial, something with more…. subsistence… than what Destiny allowed me to experience during its storyline.

While the audio is beautiful, mesmerizing in parts even, it is haunted by the ghost of its own past. More specifically by the controversies that, much like the game, carry baggage filled with more questions than adequate answers. We still do not know the full story as to why Bungie let Marty O’Donnell go. We still do not know why the tunes being sung between the man and the developer were so disparagingly opposite. Perhaps we’ll never know. Maybe we shouldn’t know. It’s the unknowing, I think, that bothers me the most.

Speaking of controversial subject matters, Peter Dinklage still comes across as the perfunctorily bored-sounding actor that he was in the beta memes still worming their way across the internet. It’s as if the man was forced to accept the position at the behest of Bungie who found some damaging evidence of a controversial nature against him to make him perform. Because his lifeless, drolling sound bytes have absolutely no life, no gravitas, to its delivery. This is what adds even more to the soulless and empty nature of the game; this unnaturally dull performance that you have to rely on the most to get the most out of the game’s story.  In his defense, however, the man is a far more talented actor than Destiny gives him credit for. It’s a shame his talents were wasted here.

But while the story and the Dinkle-bot moments are a minor obtuse obstruction, the gameplay mechanics are sound. Solid even. On par, and even exceeding, previous Bungie experiences. I found myself enjoying the action, the tightness of completion of a quest by the skin of my teeth. By the make or break twitch flick of a reload separating me from death. Where one last stray bullet or plasma blast would’ve ended my tale prematurely. And that feeling carries over to the very pillar of Destiny’s support structure; the multiplayer. This is what the game is designed for. A communion of gamers spent fragging, blasting, eviscerating, and vaporizing not only one another, but experiencing the larger and more robust raids together as a team. With friends or strangers new, this feeling of taking down the towering evils that the game allows you experience is exceptionally self-fulfilling. And having friends by your side is extremely rewarding.

Why then, does this same sense of community never translate into the story? Because for the most part this game’s conglomerate extrapolation of various DNA strands spliced from the hearts of MMO, RPG, and single-player console experiences don’t always gel well together. It is and isn’t a multiplayer game. It is and isn’t an RPG. And it is and isn’t a simple and solo-fed console campaign designed for the single-player experience. I suppose it starts at the beginning, at the base limitations of choice that is more a stifling setback for replayability than anything else . You see, while the games tries to differentiate between the three classes (more or less), essentially they’re all the same; armored super soldiers with special powers. And these powersets are pretty much the only outlying differentiations between them. That’s it. For some, these are enough to cater to the less discerning player just fine. But for others, given time and personal study, you begin to see nothing substantially appealing between the classes.

From there, you enter into a light-on-dialogue, ill-paced narrative that fails to engage the player. You’ll find yourself in short time doing the same thing over and over again: Go somewhere, shoot something, go somewhere else, shoot more things. And many of the questions that tend to pop up are never really addressed by your own character. A character that says little or expresses no real emotion throughout the entire game. And I think that’s a shame. In Halo I remember memorable characters like Master Chief, Cortana, and Sgt. Johnson. But here in Destiny, I felt nothing for my own character or for those around him. It was if I was simply a hand, a floating gun, and nothing more.

Final Thoughts: Destiny, if taken in parts, is a beautiful, solid FPS. But when you see the great expanses of Earth and Venus and Mars in all their empty, hollowed out glory, you realize that, as it is, Destiny is a soulless experience. The vapid shell of a story doesn’t really fulfill, and its a shame that too many empty spaces exist between the good parts and the bad. Is this worth the time and money spent on it? More specifically, is it a game that justifies itself for you to got out and spend your own hard-earned money on? Well, that’s a difficult question to answer. It changes from person to person. You might find moments that are exceptional to you. And you might see the things I see and start to question your purchase. A review is simply one man’s opinion. If it’s shared by you, then it’s a valid opinion. If it’s not, well, you’ll find the evidence to disagree and question my methods.

And that’s perfectly fine with me. But as far as this gamer is concerned, unless the future proves otherwise, I really do not see the long-lasting appeal of a hollowed out Halo-clone. Destiny is a beautiful bauble. Nothing less.

And sadly nothing more.