Destiny 2 Review

Review

Destiny 2: Looks great from a distance but gets messy the closer you get.

By Josiah Sapp

    Destiny has prided itself on being a jack of all trades. So naturally there is a lot to do and lot to cover when you think about reviewing it. I’ve given this game a solid month of time to stew and settle into my brain as to what it’s trying to accomplish. Giving Destiny a final score only a week out from release seems too quick especially since Bungie released a road map showing a month’s worth of content. The raid, faction rally event, trials of the nine and iron banner were all released within a month. So here’s how my review of Destiny 2 is going to work; I’ve comprised three lists. What I enjoyed, tolerated and what frustrated me about the game. D2 gets a lot right upon entry into the world but once you get into the nitty gritty of the mechanics, it get’s messy really quick.

Enjoyed

    Let’s start off with some positivity! Destiny 2 is absolutely gorgeous. From the massive methane waves on Titan or the subtle vacant eeriness of the EDZ, Bungie has perfected the art of engrossing the player in their surroundings. Each location is so beautifully crafted to fit what is going on in the story. The world feels lived in and you’re discovering all this lore and history each time you step into a playable space but looks don’t mean anything unless a story is being told well. Bungie just so happens to have stepped up their storytelling game this time around.

Destiny 1 famously lacks a comprehensible story. Nothing made sense and you weren’t really sure why you were fighting. Destiny 2 opens up by defining who you’re up against and sets a clear cut conflict in motion that has a satisfying conclusion. Ghaul, leader of the Cabal Red Legion and main antagonist, has reasons for doing what he’s doing. We get to witness a conflict between leaders within the Cabal and as the main story unfolds, a lot of actions of the enemies start to make sense. Now it’s a simple story that’s been done before but I think that’s what D2 needed. Where the story really shines, though, is within the lore and background of the game. In D1, all extra lore or details about your enemies could only be accessed through Bungie’s main website. All lore in D2 has been baked into the game via “lore tabs” on specific pieces of gear and also through scannable objects throughout the playable areas. This provides much need background and clearly explains who you’re shooting.

With over ten years of first-person-shooter experience under Bungie’s belt, it should come as no surprise that the gameplay in D2 is second to none. Each weapon has it’s own personality and style. The powers feel impactful and useful. Each subclass build brings out a new flavor to the game. With three classes and each class essentially having six different ways of playing, there’s plenty of ways to engage the sandbox and that sandbox is huge. There are so many different things for different playstyles. Hardcore competitive? Yup. Chill solo play? Yup. Intense raid and strikes? Yup. It’s accessible and easy to hop in for thirty minutes and hop out. It’s also really easy to stay in for hours and lose all track of time. There’s something for everyone and I think that is its crowning achievement.

(Quick sidenote. The music is outstanding and is a character on it’s own. Do yourself a favor and listen to this song. I’ve got this soundtrack on repeat.)

Tolerated

    Unfortunately, Destiny 2 isn’t perfect. There are mechanics and designs at work that are tolerable but should be tweaked to make the overall experience better. For example; the level climb. As you play, you unlock new pieces of gear that raise up your light level. The higher the light level, the tougher the enemies get which in turn drop higher light gear and so on. This is the main game loop or the “hook” of Destiny. The highest you can get right now is 305 but once you hit 265, the whole thing comes to a grinding halt. Up until this point, all activities (competitive, playing solo, strikes, story missions, side quests) all dropped gear that would slowly raise your light level but once you hit 265 only a handful of activities will do that. From a design standpoint, I can understand why the game has to slow down a bit. Companies want people to play their game as long as possible so highlighting tougher weekly activities makes sense.

    What also slows down tremendously is the weapon hunt. In D1 each gun had a random set of perks. Some perks worked well with some weapon types and some not so much. There was a constant grind to find the “god roll” scout rifle or hand cannon. You never knew what you were gonna get so each time you got a new weapon it was exhilarating! In D2, each weapon has a static roll so you know exactly what each gun will be as soon as you get it. After about a month of playing, I have a feel for just about each gun in the game. Now there are hundreds of guns so I probably don’t know the full extent of every weapon but weapon drops aren’t exciting unless it’s something I know I want.

Frustrated

    My biggest gripe with Destiny 2 has to be how vague the loot system is. As I mentioned before, the main hook to this series is how much loot there is and that doing activities rewards you with better gear. The system in which you receive weapons and armor is completely random. You don’t get to work towards any specific set. You just have to play a specific area or set of missions over and over again to one day *maybe* receive that helmet you’ve been wanting. Each activity or playable area has an NPC (non-playable character) where you turn in tokens that you receive after doing tasks. It takes twenty tokens to unlock a package and each package has a chance to drop themed pieces of armor or weapons that are locked to that activity or area. Following me so far? This system seems fine when you first start playing but once you begin building out your preferences and dig into the meat of the game, you tend to avoid certain activities because you don’t like the loot it provides. For example; I haven’t even touched the strike playlist because I don’t prefer any of the loot it rewards me with. I have no reason to engage with that style of play but I know I’m missing out on some story beats and immersive world building sections. For a game that screams “explore this and explore that!” it certainly locks you down to just a couple things that you are wanting to do. It’s all controlled by rewards and unfortunately the competitive side of Destiny 2 isn’t safe from this misstep.

    The competitive PvP (player versus player) mode or the “crucible” as it’s called, has always had it’s fair share of balancing issues. This gun is too strong. These guns are too weak. That one subclass is dominating. It’s a tough job to balance all this out considering there are so many different variables but the state of the crucible is mess. For starters, there are only two arenas to choose from if you’re feeling competitive. Each arena, quickplay and competitive, have four game modes each but the mode is chosen for you. Want to play control mode? Nope you’re playing supremacy...Again! It’s completely random and it deters me and other players from engaging in PvP. It’s beyond annoying and there isn’t ANY punishment for dropping out mid game. That means players that like to finish matches, are the ones getting punished while other players leave to queue up for a different game. It’s mind blowing. Bungie is famous for their no nonsense style of banning quitters and cheaters and they simply aren’t present to combat this behavior. Even if you do stick around to finish a match, the reward is still a handful of tokens that you turn in later to maybe receive something you want. It’s underwhelming, unfulfilling, and an utter disappointment considering what we got used to in Destiny 1.

Conclusion

    It may seem like I’m refering back to Destiny 1 a lot in this review but I’m getting flashbacks to when that game first launched and that’s the most confusing part of all this. Destiny 1 had a rough first year but was refined and learned to adapt with what the players were asking for. By year three, we had a solid game that made sense not just with new story elements but improved mechanics as well. You’d think going into a brand new title that Bungie would have learned from their three years of experience. Some aspects of Destiny 2 seem to shine with new life like their story, characters and music but fall flat when you look deeper at the core mechanics. There’s a great game here and I’m having fun with what we’ve got but there are a lot of areas of improvement. I’ve signed on for their two upcoming expansions that’ll come out next year so I’m excited to see what they change. Let’s hope those changes improve the mechanics that make this game frustrating.