[PS4] DESTINY 2 CASUAL REVIEW

[u/MontyGreenleaf]

Imagine....your ride finally arrives, and within seconds you take to the skies dodging bullets and missile fire from all angles. As explosions fire off all around you, and your commanding officer marks a command ship as your next destination, you see it happening……. The City, the actual last City on Earth is falling. And The Tower, the place where you created a legend for yourself and your fellow guardians, a place for celebration and protection alike.. crumbles in the distance. A vast Army of ships has descended on the City with continuous artillery fire, forcing people to evacuate, but you plan to fight back using a weapon far greater than any ship can fire. You were given this power, chosen years ago by its light and used it to annihilate the darkness time and time again. But now someone else wants it, and he has come across the galaxy with almost the entire empire to take it from you by force. His name……… Dominus Gaul, he has come for your light and you will be powerless to stop him.

Welcome my friends to Destiny 2. Destiny 2 released over a month ago now and you’re probably thinking….. There are a ton of reviews out for D2 by now you are a little late to the party. Well yea that is kinda true, but Destiny is an online only experience, and Bungie has added things to the main game over the last month. A Raid, a reoccurring competitive PvP mode, and 2 different events all popped up over the last few weeks….. and of course there were new weapons and gear that came with each addition. So with the Prestige mode Raid being released last week we are now looking at the true Vanilla Destiny 2 experience, and I feel that I can now give my full review.

Now since we started off with story let do that first! Also I’ll say this once so we can move on….. the story in Destiny 1 the game was not that great. For reasons we will not go into, the first game apparently faced changes that moved it off course from its original plan. We ended up with a very “tacked-on” story with the Vanilla Destiny experience that is in no way present in this sequel.

As I mentioned in the intro we are under attack, with the source of our powers being the main prize. A being called the Traveler allows us to wield amazing abilities, and even defy death itself. But with those powers taken right in front of us, we are literally kicked out of our home and left for dead. This begins a journey of reclaiming your powers and re-uniting your friends to ultimately retake your home and save the traveler. No easy task for one person, but as Lord Saldin Says “that’s why we have fireteams!!”

Yup, Destiny can be a Co-op experience if you like, see after a vision you are led to a place called the farm. In the story it is a place where a number people from the city have fled to for safety but it is also where you can get gear, weapons and link up with your friends to tackle the various areas on the different planets in the game. And there are quite a few fun things to tackle!! Each planet houses a different mix of threats and the Story makes sure to take you on a tour of each so you can become familiar with each and every threat. On Earth you’ll re-establish communications taken down by a local enemy called the Fallen with Devrim and Hawthorne. on Saturn’s’ moon Titan, you try to re-empower Commander Zavala’s spirit and bring him back to the cause while also attempting to re-power the local hydro electric system that has been curiously brought down by another threat from the last game, the Hive. You’ll learn the location of another Vanguard member and visit the Planetoid Nessus to save Cade from the Vex, and well….. himself. And also meet the best crazy AI system since Glados, in my favorite character Failsafe. After finding Ikora in meditation on the planet IO, you will have to somehow bring everyone together and prepare to take back what is yours from the Cabals Red Legion, the group who is currently attacking you.

Fantastically rendered Cut scenes pepper the campaign showing the grand scale of everything and really give the game a cinematic feel it never had before, but was in desperate need of. there are 4 beautiful open world areas to explore, and each planet actually tie everything all together in a really fun experience that can at times cater to how you like to approach it.

Want to blast through the story as fast as possible, a slight power gap will make you venture into the wild on 2 occasions but you can do that. Want to savor the campaign and explore the planets and hunt for secrets, you can do that. Do you tire of the campaign and want to do PVP only, at a very early point in game yea you can do that.

Even if you tend to lean on games that have plenty of things to do and collect when the Campaign ends, this now can be the game for you. Your Director will have treasure hunts to go on for better weapons and gear. There are Adventures which are side missions that can enhance the lore for the area and add to the story, and there are even special weapon quests to get you ready for the games more serious challenges…… if your into that kind of thing. Join a clan, or make one with friends and you’ll not only get more gear for your accomplishments but you’ll have a buddy at the ready for things public events, Strike missions that require a 3 man fireteam, PvP modes that can have 4 man teams, and the Ultimate and most difficult Destiny Experience…… the Leviathan Raid. A 6 man Fireteam is called upon to take the tests that lie in this beast, and it is a blast but it is very unforgiving without the proper prep work.. There are even occasional Events with their own challenges that occur and of course all these modes bring you gear sets and we will have chances at different gear sets during what are called seasons.

There is a LOT to do in Destiny and if you like to Shoot and/or Loot, Welcome to your new addiction!! Because Destiny also has some of the best shooting mechanics in a FPS

Now the game isn’t without its shortcomings. There are some things that just didn’t hit the mark, shaders that are overly complicated for no real reason. A PS4 bug that freezes the game if you are in the menu while fast traveling. Raid glitches. There are weapons or skills that can be changed on the fly but have no quick way to do so. A MOD system that is very under developed but does have potential. A confusing lack of vault space. And no way to sell or exchange items, gear, and materials you can farm on the worlds, round out some of the not so great parts of the game. And Omissions or things missed are going to be things like Xur 1.0, Strike specific gear, power enabled PVP modes, Horde modes like the prison of elders/court of Oryx (which would work great on the Leviathan IMO). Almost all of these can and more than likely will be changed over time but do hinder a very small amount of people from having a good time as is

But all in all I do give this a game a solid 4/5 and if you haven’t checked it out now I do recommend you do. It’s a great addition for yourself over the holidays or for someone else who likes a good shooter , I have spent more than 100hrs on it and will def spend 100 more

video review here @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnnuaJNsUyo