There are few games that have braved growing pains like Bungie’s “Destiny.” The online adventure shooter faced a much-hyped, yet subpar, launch three years ago, but managed to regain its player base with expansions that consistently added to and improved the experience.
Price: $59.99.
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC (10/24/17)
Rated: T for Teen.
The once sterile, stale shooter grew into a compelling world with plenty to do with a friendly fire team.
After three years and four paid expansions, Bungie is hitting the reset button with “Destiny 2.”
The hundreds of hours that were poured into characters (called guardians) have been wiped away. Starting “Destiny 2” means starting from square one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“Destiny’s” progression system went through so many changes over the years that a new start works well for the game. Each expansion added new rare and exotic gear, which bloated the potential arsenal for a character.
“Destiny 2” is really what “Destiny” should’ve been from the start. Bungie took all of the player complaints and shortcomings from the first game and corrected nearly all of them. Telling an entertaining story was at the top of the list.
“Destiny 2” discovered a useful tool to keep players interested in the story: a sense of humor.
Cayde-6, played by Nathan Fillion (“Castle,” “Serenity”), is a breath of comedic life in the series.
His quick quips, natural delivery and timing make the dialogue worth paying attention to mid-mission. What was once a dry, yet confusing tale of science fiction is now a fun story where characters personalities and motivations are finally fleshed out.
As for the gameplay, “Destiny 2” feels like it’s caught between an expansion and a full-fledged sequel. For those who played the original, “Destiny 2” will feel familiar. Character classes, controls and gear types have been largely untouched, except for some new special abilities.
“Destiny 2” mostly consists of “quality of life” improvements. All of the areas to explore are new and much more lively and better designed than their predecessors. Worlds feel lived in with less wasted open space, which was the case in the original. There’s finally a map to reference that lays out random public events, treasures, missions and people to talk to. Accessing a map with a push of a button will make players wonder how they played without one.
“Destiny 2” suffers from the problem brought by expectations. Should “Destiny 2” be compared to “Destiny” in its original form, or should it be compared to the end of the original “Destiny”; a game that benefited from four expansions and updates? Those expansions fixed problems that no longer need to be fixed. So, one should expect the same amount of content that was available at the end of the original “Destiny.” “Destiny 2” doesn’t quite hit that mark.
“Destiny 2’s” biggest problem is its quantity of content. There was no shortage of activities to engage players in “Destiny” among multiplayer modes like Prison of Elders, Trials of Osiris and several raids. “Destiny 2” doesn’t have any of that except for one raid that wasn’t available at the time of this review. New activities called Adventures scatter each planet map, but there isn’t a sense of urgency or a call to action to complete them. They just feel like optional quests.
The difficult weekly Nightfall mission is still the big draw that will keep players returning. New modes will presumably be added by expansions throughout the lifetime of this game, but that doesn’t do anything for this launch version.
Longtime “Destiny” fans will appreciate the familiarity of “Destiny 2.” There’s a quality-over-quantity approach to this sequel. Story missions, environments and characters have all been improved, but players have become accustomed to expecting more content from “Destiny.” This sequel fixes nearly all of the annoyances of the original game, but it still has some growing to do to match the best moments of the original and its expansions.
Max Parker writes as The Game Guy at www.communityvoices.post-gazette.com. Twitter: @PGHGameGuy.
First Published: September 13, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
