Haters Gonna Hate: Destiny

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, Halo developer Bungie dropped a bombshell at Sony’s PS4 reveal event in 2013, by announcing that they were teaming with Activision to bring to consoles a FPS/MMO hybrid called Destiny.

From the moment of the reveal the hype machine began, and the focus was on Destiny for the PS4, and while it was also launched for the Xbox One, the marketing for the game definitely gave consumers the impression that the game was best played on the PS4, and after seeing the alpha, and beta tests of the game played on a PS4, Toaster agreed, and added the console to the electronic village that has sprung up in his entertainment center.

[chrissx]

Destiny is a clear example of over hype. The game is ok, nothing spectacular.

[Ghost_Nappa]

I expected more from Bungie.

[airdragonzz]

@chrissx, LOL at your disagrees.some people just can't accept the truth. Destiny is just OK,nothing like what it was hyped to be.Destiny is not even the best game this year...

[Saito]

Gamers of today praise mediocrity.

[poppinslops]

It's becoming the Justin Beiber of videogames...
Big budget, Pretty to look at and technically proficient.
Unoriginal and soulless. Not to mention the horde of fanatics waiting in the wings to rant about how wrong I am...

[Gamer4life888]

i will never ever trust a review on the internet ever again. how the fvck a game like this gets 6 ?! it's just baffles me. it's the best FPS we've had in years a breath of fresh air from CoD and BF...i hope it sells sh!t tons of copies so we can have a sequel.

[PONTIAC08G8GT]

The best FPS in years? I think any true FPS fan would admit the shooting mechanics are not that great. The guns are seriously disappointing. And what's the "breath of fresh air"? Isn't this just Borderlands with better graphics? I think Titanfall owns the title of "best new FPS." I wouldn't even put this in the same category with COD, BF, and TF. Those are true FPS, this is a mix of a bunch of things and unfortunately doesn't do any of them that great. A 6 is low, but the game shouldn't be higher than a 7.

[Gamer4life888]

can't tell if this guy serious or....you just stated that destiny is borderlands with better graphics than you claimed that titanfall witch is basically CoD with mechs is the best new FPS?! this is what i like to call the definition of a blind fanboy hater. do me a favour and get hell out of the internet you just lost all credibility

[PONTIAC08G8GT]

Blind fanboy because I said Titanfall was good? You need to learn what the word means. How many other FPS have come out this year? With a username like yours I would think you'd know something about games. Destiny is a breath of fresh air? Haha I hope YOUR not serious. Tell me, what does Destiny do thats revolutionary?

I'm sorry I didn't know you were the internet guru. Typical internet tough guy with a big mouth. Do ME a favor and change your tampon.

[hello12]

1 reviewer might get it wrong but most of the reviewers have given it a low score. I don't think they got it wrong.

Its 7/10 game at most.

6/10 i think is bit low. But the game does deserve a low score. I have not played it in a day and half, and if it was great, i'd be playing it now.

[DeadlyOreo]

What do you mean "I don't think they got it wrong". Got what wrong? It's just some random person's opinion, there is no right or wrong lol.

I give this game an 8.5. But does that make me wrong?

[phoenixfire2912]

I feel that a scored review was given far to early for this game. It's an MMO, there is so much more playthrough before an actual score should be given

[Einhert]

"The critics and majority opinion do not line up with mine....therefore they are just haters"

Please don't bother posting that immature tripe.

[Soldierone]

I don't think people understand that level 20 really does change the game. Level 20 is when the real grind comes in, slower leveling, more dynamic drops, etc...

People "beat the story" and got to level 20 and thought "well that was easy." Look at the trophies, less than 5 percent of players have a legendary or exotic item equipped, let alone a full set.... that itself proves these whiners are not really going far in the game.

[Blues Cowboy]

"Level 20 is when the real grind comes in"

And that's a... good thing... in a first person shooter?

Real talk: I don't own Destiny, but everything I hear is telling me that it's shoehorning MMORPG elements where they don't belong, and in ways that water down the primary genre (FPS). Someone tell me otherwise!

[BattleTorn]

People complain that max level is reached within days....
People complain that they must rank up to experience more content....

I think Bungie, rather ingeniously, planned for all this.
I think this is their way of ensuring everyone has met the base-level requirements of becoming Guardian, that way they can better cater more content for all of us.
We're nitpicking the game, as if it is what we played lvl 1-20, when really what Bungie has planned for us is what we'll do together as lvl20+.

Hitting lvl20 is not meant to be the end, but the beginning.

To the last bit, only players who don't want MMORPG elements in their competitive-shooter would say such things.

[Soldierone]

It's like going through a tutorial in any other game, beating that, and going "well this game was too easy..."

You get to level 20 because you get to try out all kinds of different armor's, guns, and different play styles. By level 20 you have that variety and can change the game to play the way you want. It also puts you on a better playing field to keep up with other people. Otherwise you'd have noobs at level 5 playing max rank level 20's within two days.

The environment not being alive, I can understand that complaint. The leveling and "beating the game" stuff, no that's just not right. How many of these complainers even bother to do the level 26 strike? Heck how many are even capable of doing it?

[Sayai jin]

Well thats a problem that some gamers are having with this game; having to wait that long for things to get interesting.

[ShadowKing-]

this is the problem, if a game does not meet halo or COD standards, the game is bad. all gamers do is compare game to other games. Destiny comes brings something a little different to the table, and oh it not halo, its not COD, therefore its a bad game. people need to get off halo and COD _____________ (Insert Word Here)

[BX81]

Yeah , agree. I came at this game expecting a new ip that was fun. I found what I was looking for. It's a solid game and worth the $60 and then some.

[Ridiick]

Very good article, the game has something that make me play hours and hours, I enjoy a lot this game that is the important thing, sorry for the ones that doesn't enjoy the game probably is not for everybody but I believe that additionally there is a lot bitterness from press and xboxers/halo fans.

[No_Limit]

I find it funny that the first review for Destiny posted on N4G came from Polygon with a 6 and people automatically proclaimed Polygon is always bias and score PS4 exclusives low and is own by MS so they can't be trusted. They are literally acting like Destiny is a PS exclusive. LOL

Then as more sixes and sevens came in from neutral sites like Gamespot, Giant Bomb, and others, their new excuses is those sites are mad that Bungie is partnering with Sony and have exclusive DLCs and other BS excuses to justify that these other sites can't also be trusted.

I don't have the game and from these reviews I won't be getting it. I was set to buy it on my PS4 but with all these avg review from so many reputable publications coming in and from gamers on both platforms, thank you for saving me $60.

[DigitalRaptor]

Wanna keep the conspiracy alive?

Why does Titanfall, a game that has ALL the same weaknesses as Destiny does, and more, have 8s, 9s and 10s coming out the arse? Early generation hype paid for by Microsoft? Probably.

But also… let's just ignore the fact that Destiny is actually pretty damn good, has its merits and has plenty of review scores ranging from 75-90 (not average), as well as a handful of 60-70 (average) scores. It's more funny… people are looking at a handful of average scores and using that to spearhead their bitterness that Bungie is no longer an Xbox exclusive.

[ALLWRONG]

PS fans hyped Destiny because they thought they finally had a Halo killer on PS. From the creators of Halo, they though they had a winner. What they got was a mediocre game, exclusive content for a mediocre game, and a PS4 bundle with a mediocre game. In the end the only ones who lost here are PS fans, and Bungie. PS fans lost because they still have nothing to compete with Halo. Bungie lost Halo fans.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

yay I think they used my comment, good job guys, yet another fantastic article :)

[Killzoner99]

This is justified hate though. The game is awful. I've never been more bored with a game. I can't believe so many fell for the hype.

[marloc_x]

Reminds me of the hype that turned out to be 1080i..

[Ripco_Keller]

I don't understand what people expected? Destiny has had the smoothest launch I've ever experienced, with the largest day one user base for a new IP, which is an achievement in and of itself.

I haven't encountered a single bug so far, and the graphics are lovely. They've got Peter Dinklage, Nathan Fillion, Peter Stormare, Bill Nighy, and Lance Reddick voice acting, which is fun to hear in game. I don't get the hate for Dinklage's voice acting, not every robot is going to be as quirky as Wheatley, Glados or Shodan.

Each class and has its own feel, and they're all pretty well balanced within their roles. There's plenty of weapon diversity, each of the archetypes handles differently than the others, each with their own niche, and then when you get to the rarer weapons with their diverse upgrades, you get even more room to pin down your own particular style. The armor diversity is fine, each class has a pretty consistent look, but there are plenty of different models even within each class, not to mention the different texture patterns and color options, even before getting into the different shaders. The armor upgrades allow you to specialize in a certain combat style as well, with different bonuses to different skills and such.

The enemies are smart and varied, reacting differently to solo and grouped players, and semi-able to compliment each other in combat. Each faction feels unique and has different approaches to combat, and is ready to throw down against each other enemy faction organically. The bosses feel weighty enough and have their own approach to combat.

You can run through early content with a late game character and still have some challenge to it, you never feel invincible, though you certainly feel more powerful. This has allowed me to run through content with friends who have had to play catch up without spoiling the experience, indeed co-op was more fun than single-player, as it changed my approach to each encounter as the enemy reacted differently.

There's enough PVE content here for a long amount of playtime (I personally dislike PVP in general, though I had fun in the crucible in the beta with friends), I've been playing it for hours every day. I'm looking forward to future additions and expansions, and ultimately could not be happier with my purchase.