With the launch of Destiny 2 last week and the hype train finally coming into the stations of console players around the world, at long last we get the game we were promised back when Destiny launched in 2014.
Of course, if you are looking for a deeply engaging story, with great beat, engaging characters and a dynamic cast… go play something else. But if you want to farm countless space aliens for better weapons and feel like some sort of sci-fi Deity, then Destiny 2 is a game for you. Something about the feeling of popping heads off of bad guys with a well-placed sniper shot or getting that clutch grenade to stick to a boss’s head that just warms my heart on cold nights.
While the game has been polished to an amazing degree, the story however is somewhat lacking. I enjoyed it, of that there is no question, but new visitors to this universe or even casual players of the series who didn’t invest themselves into what little lore existed in the first game, might be a little lost with who everyone is and why they are there.
Really though, you don’t need to know why your destroying small towns worth of aliens on a daily basis to enjoy the activity itself. Especially in a game that has such a firm combat system in place. Many lessons were obviously learnt by the team at Bungie and the overarching parent company of Activision-Blizzard I think had a few hands involved in its development as well. Especially the Blizzard side of things.
Blizzard are just about the undisputed masters of the loot grind and Destiny 2 is all about the loot. We commit borderline war crimes on our enemies for shiny new weapons and armor, only for them to respawn so we can do it all over again with even greater prejudice. But while the game has a large element of combat and violence, it would be remiss of me to not mention how amazingly beautiful it is.
Destiny was a good-looking game but Destiny 2 has cranked the dial up a few more notches, no longer restrained by the architecture of the previous console generation, Destiny 2 pushes my own Xbox One to its limits and look incredible. I have even just sat there for my breaks sometime, just watching the skyline beyond the city.
If you have been on the fence about Destiny 2, not sure if you want to invest the $100 for a game that you don’t know much about there is a simple series of questions to figure out if its for you or not.
Do you like to kill your enemies?
Do you like to get shiny new weapons and armor?
Do you like epic battles with dozens of enemies and only a handful of friends by your side?
If your answer is yes to all of the above, or even only a couple of them, then Destiny 2 is the game for you. So, go out and get playing.