Ludus-ing! Destiny Beta.

Are you a member of PS+? Then I bet I knew what you were doing last weekend if you had any sense!

Destiny hits the shelves on the 9^th of September 2014. It’s an online only (I think) game which incorporates a free roam online universe with missions and stories as well as PVP events like the usual Capture the Flag game types.  The Destiny Beta hit the PS store for PS+ members this weekend and thank you to whoever made this decision. It was just for the weekend sadly.

I’ll admit, over the last two E3 conferences I've viewed this game with increasing interest but I had no idea how impressed I would be with it.

I’ll start with what I believe can be improved, and please bear in mind that what I’m saying is already probably been sorted in the full game release. I know for a fact that this has been sorted, but more varied enemy design will be great. The enemies look great; intense and scary. So more differing enemies would be good, like a pink Dreg (I’m only kidding, but you see what I mean).

I’d also like to see the game be like an ever-evolving universe. Well until a sequel comes out in a few years. Like GTA, I hope that there is an effort for us to see free DLC bought in throughout time to keep the game interesting and fun. It can be as small as 2 more PVP maps every now and then. A few new missions and varied random events would be amazing every now and again.

More actions then just dancing, waving and pointing would also be good, but the talk about what can be done is a bit trivial. Not only is the game still in beta stage, but it’s already great!

I think I was actually impressed by every single thing so far. I’ll start with the graphics and tell you that sadly, I haven’t got my hands on a PS4 yet so my beta stage was sadly stuck on the PS3. I’m incredibly jealous of how good it looks on the PS4 but I was still blown away by the PS3 graphics. The game looks vast, the sky is incredible detailed and the little specs on things like the trees, the water and the land are incredible. It shocked me that there is still life in the system as I don’t think there is another game that looks as good as Destiny.

The gameplay was also fantastic. The opening mission/tutorial was good fun in that you learnt what you had to do with regards to buttons and stuff without it feeling like a tutorial. It is seamless in the movement from tutorial to full blown gameplay. The story is actually really interesting, but I won’t delve into that as everyone’s talking about it. The missions are very fun, they’re all different and fun and it’s great when you’re playing alongside a friend. What I really enjoyed was the random events during the missions. Walking across Old Russia when suddenly the sky goes dark and you can hear strange noises someway to the left. You’re told to get over there and fight off enemies for 5 minutes whilst Ghost does something. I had no idea what was going on but it was great to be going to my mission then all of a sudden be pulled away to fight some enemies. Really immersive and it left me swearing in shock after!

Another great thing was that there was seamless connectivity. I think my firesquad lost connection once all weekend, and to say that during Sunday the servers were under stress tests was ridiculous. Even in beta stage the online mode is already better than the GTA online mode!

Last but not least I think it’s important to mention Peter Dinklage. His voice acting as the Ghost is great. He has the perfect voice for your floating companion and adds so much to the game for such a little part.

This game went from mild interest to definite purchase purely because of the beta. I can’t remember the last time I took to a game that well and felt so immersed into what the game was. I’ll probably end up with the game on the PS3 despite how good it is on the PS4 because I just can’t wait til I can afford the current gen module.

Go and watch some videos and be prepared to part with your cash for Destiny.

It’s your destiny (ha!)

Peace.

SJ.