I like it. I just wish I cared about it.
There is really no point in trying to review
something that was painstakingly created with such care on the technical level:
the shooting feels great, the graphics are good, the sound design is spot on,
the servers seem to be holding up for an MMO –lite, and they have already made
a ton of money through sales. Mechanically everything is solid, well, except
for there not really being a viewable map for the combat areas.
I wish the game was put together better on a high
functioning level. I know that I have been revived by the ghost of Peter
Dinklage because I am one of the people able to wield the light against the
darkness. Video game plot setup, I get it not too complex. I know who I am but
have no clue as who anyone else is. I think the Vanguard I report to in the
Tower is a much better space warlock than I am or maybe she’s just an upper
level clerk? The stranger that shows up a handful of times is so mysterious that
I still know nothing about her after I finished all of the story missions.
Bungie has already admitted to stringing us along for 10 years but the opening
chapter isn’t engaging beyond satisfying head shots. You could easily blow
through the story missions in a couple of sittings, look forward to the events,
and brawl in multiplayer; but you’ll get stuck in the same old MMO tropes of
doing the same thing over and over for better loot or rare currency.
The current answer for the lack of story is the
companion app that displays all of your grimoire cards that you earn through
various milestones during gameplay. The Destiny
app does what it should and augments the experience. You can show your friends
your loadout no matter where you are! You can finally learn about what might
actually be going on in the universe by reading your cards. Wait, remember Final Fantasy XIII and the thousands of
lines of lore and fluff that you read in the menu to learn as much as you could
about Gran Pulse? No? Those were in the same game and I have not heard of
anyone who dove into that hard core.
There is something that could be great here. The
nuts and bolts are working wonderfully with more than adequate window dressing
it just needs that substance to keep the non multiplayer focused user around.
