Destiny - The Critics Are Spot On

Despite Destiny launching 4 days ago, critical verdicts on Bungie's $500 million (allegedly) online shooter extravaganza are only just beginning to surface. This is largely because either Bungie or Activision chose not to offer pundits early access for review purposes, riding the line that, as a primarily online game, it could not be fairly judged until the servers were adequately populated. But now the opinions are finally beginning to drop, it turns out that many of them are not quite as replete with gushing praise as you might expect. 

During the alpha and beta previews earlier in the year, concerns about the finished product began to surface, particularly with regards to how much actual content would be on offer. Naturally, Bungie were keen allay such misgivings, but it did make me wonder if the Destiny hype machine had run away with itself, and given eager fans hugely inflated expectations that no mere 'game' could possibly hope to meet. Having played a fair amount of it now, I'd agree with the general critical consensus that while Destiny does fall a little short of expectations, a lack longevity is not the root cause. 

When considered in a vacuum, stripping away all the extraneous pomp and circumstance, the amount of raw content Destiny offers is, I would say, in perfect lockstep with what we've come to expect from triple-A releases. The real problem here is that the game's setting lacks the gravitas, and narrative complexity as things progress, to maintain the illusion of size that Bungie were aiming for. In other words, the game just doesn't feel like the solar system-spanning odyssey that was laid out by the company in five years of implicit promises.

Of course, no matter how immersive the game world, there will always be a line on the horizon. The real trick is to make players forget that such limits exist. Destiny is left wanting in this regard, but - and I cannot stress this enough - it is a resounding success in every other way. The game is as honed an example of the FPS-come-RPG-lite paradigm you could ever hope to play; the gunplay feels like Assault On The Control Room (Halo's best bit) ad infinitum, character progression is satisfyingly paced and the competitive multiplayer is far from a tacked-on afterthought.

So by all means buy Destiny, savour it and enjoy it, but expect to finally hang up your fusion rifle in a few months time utterly nonchalant to the world Bungie have spent so much time creating.