Bungie's latest sci-fi shooter epic 'Destiny' has been out for over a week now and it's a game that has the internet divided down the middle. I haven't seen such a divide since last year's 'Man of Steel' movie. Is it good, is it bad, is it mediocre? The game surely doesn't look or feel bad so what is that has everyone so critical?

Let's first discuss the history of 'Destiny' before release. Activision really hyped this game up and Bungie seemed proud of the work they were currently doing and it was at the same level of confidence as their 'Halo' series. I didn't really keep up much with the game before release because the couple things I did see before Alpha and Beta didn't exactly impress me.

But that didn't stop Activision from saying how it was going to be "the next big thing" or "the next epic classic." Still not impressed, my gaming buddies and I decided to give this game a pass, that was until the free Beta weekend.

When the Beta was up, we decided to give it a shot, afterall it was free and free is something you don't really argue with. Next thing you know, we're actually having fun with it. We were liking everything we were seeing and the gameplay felt solid and the little tidbit of story we got to play through certainly seemed interesting enough to keep us engaged. So after Beta we decided to actually buy the game and mark it as our jump to the next gen systems.

Fast forward a couple months and the full retail game is released and we start to slowly peel back the curtains of the rest of the game after we cleared Earth. Our first destination was the Moon and that was when our first disappointment hit, the Moon had gravity.

Bungie (What?! No Moon Bounce?!)
Bungie (What?! No Moon Bounce?!)
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It sounds trivial, stupid and even nitpicky at first, but there's also a valid reason for it. In 'Halo 2', on the first mission there's a point where Master Chief has to go out in space. When you jump around gravity is weaker, which allows you to jump a little higher and come back down slower. In 'Destiny', with no evidence that the Moon was terraformed like Venus or Mars in the game's story, it shouldn't have normal gravity, it should have weaker gravity yet it's the same as Earth's. From a developer that paid attention to this detail in the past, it seems weird that they would choose to ignore it now.

The story of 'Destiny' is this, a big giant orb known as The Traveler came to Earth and it brought in a technological Golden Age for the human race which increased their lifespan and gave them the ability to terraform Mercury, Venus and Mars. Then 'The Darkness' came and brought on an event known as 'The Collapse' which ended the Golden Age. Now Guardians have risen up to stand against 'The Darkness' to bring back the former glory days of Earth.

An interesting premise at first - but it leaves a few gaps. For example, 'The Darkness' consists of four different alien races Fallen, Vex, Hive and Cabal; these races however don't team up with one another to take you down, but rather fight each other. Although it does bring an interesting element of strategy into firefights, it doesn't explain why they hate each other if they fight for 'The Darkness.' Also, while the story has a strong opening, it falls short during the Moon missions and just gets weirder from that point.

Bungie
Bungie
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Your Ghost, an AI companion for your journeys - voiced by 'Game of Thrones' star Peter Dinklage - otherwise known as 'Dinklebot or Mecha Dinklage' to players, doesn't really do much into keeping you attached to the story as Dinklage's performance of the character feels weak and even moments that should be memorable don't have that impact.

The other characters introduced into the story don't leave a good impression either as not much is known about their goals or objectives which doesn't give the player a reason to care about them.

Bungie has put more story elements on their websites when you collect Grimoire cards. It feels silly to have to fill in the narrative gaps that should already be in the story itself by having to interrupt the action to go to their website or companion mobile app for more information on what's going on in this new universe.

Although the story is weak, everything else in the game is rather enjoyable for the most part. Visuals are stunning and breathtaking and definitely up to Bungie standards. Game mechanics feel solid and great. Gunplay is smooth and fun with a little element of strategy as well. Each enemy has their own critical point and precision is key for maximum damage to take enemies down quickly to move forward.

The three classes, while mostly similar for the most part do have a few differences. Titans are heavily armored and have abilities that allow them to excel in close combat. Hunters prefer mid to close range with abilities that will allow them to get the drop on their enemies before they suspect anything. Lastly, Warlocks have abilities that allow them to control the battlefield to their liking and using their spells to hurt as many enemies as possible.

Strike missions, which are similar to dungeons in MMOs have teams of three going in and taking on tougher enemies and tougher bosses. Although the maps are well designed and some firefights have excellent execution, its the boss fights that fall short. Bosses are nothing but bigger versions of enemy soldiers with a ton of health and even their behaviors and attacks are the same as their smaller counterparts. No strategy is really required in boss fights, just point and shoot, take out adds for more ammo and point and shoot again and repeat until downed.

The Crucible, the PvP mode of 'Destiny', is great and has more potential for more game modes later on. Think 'Halo' mechanics mixed with 'Call of Duty' perks. Character levels don't matter and all weapons and armor have a base stat. However, any upgrades you make to your weapons and armor carry through so maxed out level players who have their gear fully upgraded will still have a little bit of an edge over lower level players, but not much. A level 2 player can still very well take down a level 20 player if they are skilled enough in competitive multiplayer.

Activision and Bungie was aiming over the Moon with 'Destiny.' I feel rather than overshooting it to awesomeness, it just landed on the Moon with a little bit of a rough entry, but has a solid foundation to create a colony and aim for bigger goals.

'Destiny' receives a 4/5

Bungie
Bungie
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