Destiny Beta (PS4)

This is it, this is your last chance to try Destiny before the Beta ends this Saturday night! Even if you tried the Alpha build a month ago, additional story cut-scenes and voice overs have given much needed presentation and production values to the Beta. Bungie occasionally allows players the chance to try “Gold Banner” matches that weren’t available during the Alpha, and they have promised that everyone that logs in and plays on Saturday will unlock a special emblem to use in the full version.

These additions help answer a few questions I had with the story, and remove some concerns I had with multi-player. The story parts are very interesting, and I can’t wait to learn more about the Traveler, the Darkness, and the rest of Destiny’s lore. As for multi-player, I’ve grown very fond of it. The mechanics Bungie has crafted for both PvE (Player versus Environment or “story” content) and PvP (Player versus Player) and how they work together is quite genius. Players can level up their characters, gain loot from enemy “drops” or for completing quests, and buy weapons, armor, and equipment from vendors. But, when competing in PvP matches, all the player levels and equipment levels are reduced to the same “base” level. Individual qualities of equipment, such as fire rates and accuracy still apply, but an assault rifle does the same damage as any other assault rifle, all the sniper rifles do the same damage, and so on.

That is, unless players dare to compete in “Gold Banner” matches, where all the player levels and varied stats of weapons and armor are actually kept at their PvE value!

What I really appreciate about PvP, however, is how the ammo, special ammo, grenades, and special ability “cooldowns” work to keep everything very balanced. It’s such a clever system, I’m surprised nobody has thought of it before. Bring all the gear you want into a PvP match, choose to equip your shotgun or your sniper rifle whenever you want, but keep in mind that they are in the “special” weapon category, and you’ll only spawn and respawn with a small amount of ammo – and then you’ll have to loot special ammo crates throughout the match to replenish that ammo. The “heavy” weapon category – light machine guns and rocket launchers – will have ZERO ammo available until special “heavy” ammo crates appear on the map, several minutes after the matches start! Even if you’ve found some heavy ammo and reloaded your rocket launcher, don’t die, because you’ll respawn with no heavy ammo again!

There are a lot more details to discuss about Destiny, but the best thing to do is find your closest eBash Video Game Center and try it for yourself!

Destiny is rated ‘T’ for Teen for Animated Blood and Violence. Destiny launches September 9th for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. 

Destiny Sneak Preview

The PS4 exclusive “Alpha” build sneak preview for Destiny has come and gone, and now it’s time to weigh in with opinions. What IS Destiny? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Welcome to the “Destiny Sneak Preview” on eBash Bits and Bytes!

Overall, I think Destiny will be worthy of the hype when it releases later this year, though some expectations may need to be tempered – this isn’t a revolution for first person shooters, just an evolution. In the capable hands of third party studio Bungie, Destiny is a high quality AAA title: the mechanics are solid, the atmosphere is established, the soundtrack rocks, and the art style is impressive. After getting my hands on this early preview of Destiny, I can appreciate why it is hard for Bungie to describe what kind of game it is.

Since this Alpha build was very limited in content, it is hard to predict what players can expect when the full game is released. The Alpha included three distinct “pillars” or game modes: Story/free roam content, Co-Op “Strike” missions, and the “Crucible” or player versus player matches. Presentation was minimal, in other words, there were no cut-scenes and very few non-player-characters (NPCs) to describe the story or setting. Transitioning from one mode to one of the other two modes required a fairly lengthy load time – represented only by an outside view of the player’s space ship in flight. The limited presentation made even more disconnect between each mode. In fact, beyond the unifying structure of player progression, Destiny doesn’t seem to be anything we haven’t seen before:

Players can free-roam a decent size area by themselves (or with their friends) and shoot enemies, complete random objectives, collect “loot” or weapon and armor drops, and gain experience to level up.

The “Strike” or Co-Op missions require a group, and players can form a party with their friends or join a matchmaking queue for random players. The Strike mission in the Alpha was pretty challenging, and featured some unique boss fights – and much better loot than free-roam mode.

The third “pillar” of Destiny, the “Crucible,” was surprisingly well made and it was very fun to play in player versus player matches. There are three “classes” to choose from in Destiny, and at least at these lower levels (the Alpha capped player progress to only level eight) their main differences were only in their special abilities. The “Titan” class, for example, can punch the ground and send powerful shockwaves to kill nearby enemies, but the “Warlock” class jumps up into the air and hurls a ball of magical energy at the ground from a distance. One of the maps even had futuristic vehicles to drive and shoot at opponents with, giving the experience a strong “Halo” vibe – and that is a very good thing.

As good as these three modes are, it does feel strange that they are so dis-connected. The “player’s ship flying” loading screen is maybe just a placeholder for something more dynamic, but as it is, it seems really odd that I can’t be running around in free-roam mode and waiting in a “Strike” mission queue at the same time. Having to physically “fly off” the planet to join the co-op or versus modes’ queues is sort of old fashioned and tedious.

I’m also concerned that, as addicting as player progression and light-RPG elements can be, they can also be very limiting. Will high level characters be able to group up with their lower-leveled friends? Or will they only be able to play with each other if they are at the exact same level? I am always looking for more games that offer co-op mission and/or campaign content, but locking the “next level” down until players reach a certain player level feels too restrictive.

Until we learn what the finished game is like, I can only guess and hope for the best. Aside from the potential pitfalls of player-progression, a game like Destiny that features story/free-roam modes, Co-Op modes, and Versus modes should be a great fit for eBash Video Game Centers!

Destiny is a third party game developed by Bungie and published by Activision. It is scheduled to be released September 9th, only for the PS4 and Xbox One, and is predicted to be rated ‘M’ for Mature.

Mega Bits

Here are some interesting news bits from Wednesday, April 16th, 2014:

Marty O’Donnell has been fired from Bungie. Marty was the sound director/composer for the Halo franchise, and was working on the sound for Bungie’s newest game, Destiny. He worked for Bungie for 14 years. For the Destiny soundtrack, Marty was even working with the legendary Sir Paul McCartney.

Call of Duty fans will soon be able to download “voice packs” for $2.99 that will change the in-game announcer’s voice. The first pack features Snoop Dogg. A voice pack featuring R. Lee Ermey is also planned. These voice packs will be available first on Xbox 360 and Xbox One on April 22nd, release dates for other platforms are coming soon.