Destiny- GOTY, Possibly?

I might be giving praise too early and where it's unwarranted but over the course of the last 36+ hours I have systematically played through almost all of the story, as well as almost reaching the lvl 20 soft cap (currently lvl 19). I have fallen in love with the game literally. We've even had our first lover's quarrel where I threw my controller down in protest.Sit down, grab some popcorn and enjoy you're in for one hell of a review. (A long one at that)

Story: Eh? Well it's not bad, but I'm not a fan. Why am I not a complete fan you ask? Because, it feels and sounds like medieval space war. I mean for Christ's sake we have the main guidance and speaker refer to impending evil as the "Darkness" couldn't you have come up with something better than that Bungie? Then we also have this weird sense of hey let's include lines like "That Wizard came from the moon," "an evil more evil than all other evils." It feels poorly written in that sense. Hell even some levels reflect some weird medieval space theme (Hive bridges look like old metal rope bridges). Here's what I love about the lore. The integrated Grimoire cards. Seriously in a game that would otherwise be devoid of good lore these bit-sized pieces of story are easy to digest and add tons of depth to a rather ambiguous story and cliche trope. It's far from a perfect 10, I was actually expecting more from the Destiny story team since they gave us Halo. The lore there is vast wide and encompassing with a solid future feel. Here I feel like I'm taking a trip to a distant past before "humanity" as we know it ever existed.  7/10

Gameplay: Some of the best and worst of this game are here. My opinions have also changed within the last 36+ hours. The best part of this game is the leveling mechanic. It's simplistic yet enjoyable giving you a 2 tiered tree to grow you character. Eventually you'll max everything but the growth period is a fun one. It ties both the story and multiplayer customizations to one tree which I find quite attractive since it prevents me from having to replay the multiplayer to unlock "perks". Similarly, I find this system enjoyable for weapons; finding legendary and exotic weapons in the story is already a pain in the butt, I wouldn't really want to have to unlock them again in multiplayer.

Questing feels intuitive but unfortunately repetitive I often find myself on patrol missions redoing missions and hearing the same audio log twice. That's alright since there's a limited amount of data but, It wouldn't hurt to have different audio logs. On the note of repetition is where this game fails the hardest. There's this sort of rinse and repeat method of facing bosses and doing strike raids. That all result in the same tired mechanic of being trapped with a boss in this tiny room running in circle while doing tiny damage. I get it bosses are supposed to be tough but the problem I have here is the boss fights all feel the same. They need to vary this up with future dlc patches. Like instead of just running around dealing damage. Give bosses some actual mmo type skills force players to dodge one hit KO skillshots. (Even though I hate this mechanic in other MMOs I feel like destiny needs to spice things up)

The weapons system isn't perfect either, it's simplistic and intuitive, but, It feels dumb at the same time. You upgrade weapons and add stats by giving resources. But, that's all there is to upgrading weapons. I don't feel good about it since ultimately I'm not customizing my weapon I'm just enhancing it with powerups making it feel like any old MMO. I wish Destiny had taken the Ghost Recon method of guncrafting and employed it in their game. Would have fit the theme and deepened the weapons systems.

Overall the gameplay is still very solid. Character classes all feel unique, with uniquely fun subclasses. Shooter mechanics are rock solid and incredibly balanced although some weapons feel wholly overpowered in multiplayer coughshotguncough. For producing a solid experience with only real faults regarding repetitive gameplay, the game still garners a score of 8/10.

Graphics: Mmmm. The graphics for a console exclusive game right now these are quite fantastic. Defininently living up to the next gen hype. Water effects respond correctly and crisply. Textures are well done and models while limited are impressive. Here's where I have the most problem with the graphics, the models are SOOOOOO limited. I played the beta and was like, oh ok these are just choices for beta hopefully they'll have more for live. Eh, not really, what we saw in character models from the beta was basically what we got with a few improvements to overall character design. Hairstyles are extremely, limited to short styles with very little emphasis on future. Seriously cornrows? I'm pretty sure we all evolved out of that hairstyle ages ago. The facial animations and everything are fine but customization being limited and what not really made me sad. I was expecting to get something just a little less than Mass Effect level customization. Hell we couldn't even customize the height of our character and how hard is that? Sorry Jason, I lied at GDC, promising good reviews :(. That being said the models that are in the game are all incredibly well done. The animation doesn't break any of the characters and 90% of the time you don't even see your hair or face so it's ok. 

Environments feel varied and lush with nothing feeling overly repetitive (Thank the stars). Unfortunately "dungeons" tend to be repetitive, but it actually ties in with the lore so I'm not so critical of this. Enemy types and models are extremely well done with lots of differentiation and easily extinguishable characteristics.

Giving us extremely well polished characters and environments while skimping out on some really good possible additions I give Graphics a solid 8/10. (Jason I will give you a better score if you guys give us more cosmetic options in future DLC, Longer hair, more markings,etc...)

Sound: I quite love the soundtrack. It brings me into each fight and makes me feel like I'm a certified alien killing badass. Gun firing sound FX reel could use some more variation. (I'm hoping that will improve with more weapons via DLC). Environmental Sound FX are amazing and I'm pretty sure I shit myself whenever I face the Hive. Those ear piercing shrieks are terrifying in the dark. Explosions sounds powerful and commanding and all minute details for reloading and masterfully done.

Seriously also having a commercial with Led Zeppelin totally awesome, amiright?

The sound department gets a 9/10 for almost perfect audio and including a led zeppelin song in the commercials.

Overall the game as an entire package only scores a 8/10 right now, still pretty solid if you ask me. With future DLC this awaits to be seen as it could fix some of my complaints. This game is a definite must have for all next gen console owners. Waiting to see how it pans out over the course of the next "10 years" will be a pleasure all its own.


Social System: For a game that wanted people to do co-op and interact and as an MMO aficionado I find this area rather lacking, but it doesn't factor into my score. I wanted to state it's incredibly difficult to communicate with other players and find friends and instead of being a social game played with others, I've found myself burning through the story alone. That in itself is troubling. There needs to be a system of communication available for players to easily interact with one another, if not in the actual maps then at least at the Guardian's Tower (The only main "town" in an MMO). Especially as the game gets harder and harder.