MSRP: £49.99
Destined for failure?
Destiny has generated a lot of discussion, and rightly so; it’s a good game. Not brilliant, not terrible just good.
Technically, it’s a masterpiece and the infrastructure required to make the game possible must be immense. However, other areas of the game seem to be lacking in depth, proving disappointing to some Halo fans, and in some cases it could be argued to be lacking in creativity.
Bungie's latest outing is in it for the long haul, and they expect players to be too. Having stated they’ll keep supporting it for ten years, it’s clear that we will be drip-fed new content and features. Whilst we wait for the next lot of content to drop and we fulfil the Queen’s bounties, let’s take a moment to consider what features Destiny might benefit from in the future.
Bungie's latest outing is in it for the long haul, and they expect players to be too. Having stated they’ll keep supporting it for ten years, it’s clear that we will be drip-fed new content and features. Whilst we wait for the next lot of content to drop and we fulfil the Queen’s bounties, let’s take a moment to consider what features Destiny might benefit from in the future.
Vehicular improvements
Considering the number of vehicles available in Halo, it’s surprising to see that Bungie have offered us little in the way of vehicles thus far in Destiny. Having given away Sparrows as pre-order bonuses, initial impressions seemed to suggest they may play a significant part in the overall gameplay experience. As it stands, there is very little use for vehicles other than getting from point A-to-B, with many hoping that vehicular combat will come at a later date. What could be a more exciting proposition for many is space combat, after its inclusion in Halo 4, and it would make better use of the different ships available to purchase in The Tower.
A library or archive
A lot of criticism for Destiny has been derived from its lack of detail and surrounding story for each race and the human endeavour to survive after ‘The Collapse’. Rather than shoving the details online with the grimoire cards, or avoiding it at all, it would be nice to study it at your own leisure. Halo had a sense of scale and surrounding lore (just look at the catalogue of books and comics available), yet Destiny falls far behind this. Nobody wants to break off from their game session, to boot up their computer or smartphone, in order to read something that could be included within the game in one form or another.
A lot of criticism for Destiny has been derived from its lack of detail and surrounding story for each race and the human endeavour to survive after ‘The Collapse’. Rather than shoving the details online with the grimoire cards, or avoiding it at all, it would be nice to study it at your own leisure. Halo had a sense of scale and surrounding lore (just look at the catalogue of books and comics available), yet Destiny falls far behind this. Nobody wants to break off from their game session, to boot up their computer or smartphone, in order to read something that could be included within the game in one form or another.
A trading system
This one may seem a little more contentious than the others outlined in this article, but it is worth considering. If Destiny truly wants to follow parts of the MMO model, and in doing so retain its user base, it needs to find a hook which will keep people absorbed. With engram drops often proving to be worthless, or unusable by your class, it would be beneficial to be able to trade or gift these unwanted items to other players. Naturally, this would need to be regulated to stop new players from levelling up too quickly or people profiting from selling items at a high price. Perhaps if the number of items sold per day and the prices of which were capped then maybe it could work.
More weaponry
There are a limited number of weapons available in Destiny, revolving around the staple guns we have become accustomed to over many years. Bungie have wrapped themselves in a safety blanket and gone for a fairly standard human arsenal. Given all the technology and futuristic advancements on show, it’s surprising - and a little confusing - that there are no alien weapons on offer. It’d be nice to see some Hive, Fallen or Vex guns being equippable, or even the Vanguards to have their own technical weapons. Bungie have gone to the effort to detail enemy weapons when you’re killed by said enemy, which seems odd if you can’t use them at any point. It's all a bit underwhelming having the same stream of weapons, with just slightly higher damage ratings, to sift through constantly.
There are a limited number of weapons available in Destiny, revolving around the staple guns we have become accustomed to over many years. Bungie have wrapped themselves in a safety blanket and gone for a fairly standard human arsenal. Given all the technology and futuristic advancements on show, it’s surprising - and a little confusing - that there are no alien weapons on offer. It’d be nice to see some Hive, Fallen or Vex guns being equippable, or even the Vanguards to have their own technical weapons. Bungie have gone to the effort to detail enemy weapons when you’re killed by said enemy, which seems odd if you can’t use them at any point. It's all a bit underwhelming having the same stream of weapons, with just slightly higher damage ratings, to sift through constantly.
RPG-like elements
There are some choices to be made when you first start Destiny; what race you are and then what class you are. Typically, you expect this to have some sort of impact on how your experience will unfold, what items you can equip, or what abilities you may have. This is evident, but not in a significant way that makes you pore over this decision or want to create more than one character at a time. All weapons can be equipped by any class, with no benefit from Hunters using sniper rifles or Titans using assault rifles. The game needed to be accessible to all, but if they wanted a hook for each class, then surely it would have made sense to have specific weapons for them.
If Bungie want to retain as many players as possible for Destiny, and keep them on board for this potential decade-long ride, then you'd hope that the developers would update the game continually. Ideally there'd be plenty of free additions too, in order not to divide the community, and also keep the game ticking along nicely.
Hopefully we might see some of the above, or some other features too. But what do you think? Is Destiny missing one key feature? Do you feel it would benefit from one not listed here? Let us know below.
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