Destiny
£40-£45, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3. Age 16 ★★★★★
With a budget said to be hundreds of millions of pounds and a record number of pre-orders, Destiny will be this year’s biggest gaming blockbuster. It’s an ambitious first-person shooter that wants to blend epic sci-fi blasting with multiplayer online role-playing. We’ve spent dozens of hours playing the preview version ahead of the official launch this week. Has it got that killer combination right?
Destiny is set in the far future, when mankind faces extinction from an alien force. A few human survivors huddle in our last safe city, protected by Guardians. Each player takes on the role of a Guardian and uses hi-tech weapons to tackle the aliens and their armies. You could find yourself in the ruins of a Russian spaceport or in a sinister temple on the moon, trading shots with six-limbed enemies. They’ll do their best to swarm and outflank you, while you dash for cover to enable your shields to recharge. Depending on what type of Guardian you’ve chosen, you can counter with special attacks that can, for example, disintegrate enemies or create an electrifying vortex, dragging them in.
Importantly, you’re rarely alone. While you can play through some of the game’s missions solo or simply explore an area, the game encourages you to work with other players, either friends online or random team-mates. You might join forces for a few quick missions or train as a team to take on a challenging quest; there’s a huge sense of comradeship either way. Many players are put off online gaming because of the torrent of abuse that voice chat can bring; Destiny avoids this by using in-game gestures such as salutes instead.
Destiny is packed with drama, while the HD graphics on the PS4 and Xbox One versions are among the best in console gaming. Yet it’s the character development that makes the game hard to put down. The more you play, the more powerful your Guardian becomes, decked out with kit that shows fellow players you’re a warrior to be reckoned with.
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With an estimated 10m players going online to play this week, much will depend on the game’s servers standing up — a lot of that money has been spent on a “server farm” in Las Vegas — and you’ll need to be an Xbox Live or PS Plus subscriber to play, but all the signs are that Destiny will live up to its promise.
