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Ahead of launch, Red Bull was granted lengthy access to a complete version of Destiny 2 (sans Raid content). Here's Adam 'Griz' Mathew's thoughts on the first 16-plus hours of Bungie's mega-release!
Much like your beloved guardian protagonist in this game, I'm one of the chosen. Bungie allowed a small contingent of media to play through Destiny 2 weeks ahead of launch, and I blink-jumped at the chance. I've already have 12 hours of single-player under my belt, and five more in PvP (plus, I'd say 12 more spent in the great Beta slaughter). As for the original Destiny, my old save file says 40 days spent. This short resume exists only to let you know that I'm no kinderguardian – rest assured I don't bring up any of this at dinner parties...
It's also worth noting that every single minute of those 12 hours was needed to reach the final mission of this solo campaign, at which point my controller had to be put down. That's a decent runtime for a PvE experience – especially compared to the original Destiny – but though the narrative is a great ride, I still lack closure. I also firmly believe that no Destiny game should be judged until the reviewer has beaten the Raid content. Let's be honest, it's the best part of the package.
What's the story?
First of all, let's quickly recap the story that Bungie has been spruiking for months in trailers. Your beloved Tower is in ruins and the guardians have been scattered to the wind, thanks to the invasion of Dominus Ghaul and his Red Legion Cabal (think the grunts from Halo, but on horse steroids and cosplaying as Warhammer Space Marines). The main leaders of the human Vanguard (Zavala, Cayde-6 and Ikora) have disbanded and retreated to three very different moons (Titan, Nessus, Io) and so your main quest is essentially to 'get the band back together' to make Ghaul fall.
The writers use wise-cracking Nathan Fillion to great effect, and there's an established camaraderie here that makes it feel like a homecoming to characters you can genuinely care about...
Back to sub-class
Problem: the Traveller has been corrupted, which is just a bullcrap contrivance that lets Bungie wipe all of your progress and make you re-earn the three (ever-so-slightly different) sub-classes for your Hunter/Warlock/Titan.
Yes, that phenomenally kinetic and fun gunplay still persists, but connoisseurs like myself will be irritated by a few changes. Grenade and melee cooldowns take ages now, and that didn't really feel like it improved by the time I levelled into end game.
Sparrows aren't introduced until mid-to-late game (and even then you have to get lucky with an RNG engram to earn one) so expect lots of needless trudging up hills. Thanks to a sub-class rejig, stealth options for the Hunter are greatly reduced, too. Personally, I think that murders a lot of the Hunter's appeal and drains the tactics pool too much.
Find your level
The fairly useless player level returns (goes to a maximum of 20) but the much more meaningful Light level system has been streamlined. It's now called Power Level and it represents the average Attack and Defence values of your equipped gear items. By playing through regular missions you’ll be able to hit a maximum Power Level of 260, at which point, high-level enemies won't be able to wreck you... as much. However, there are 40 more levels to gain beyond this, and these will be crucial for the raid content. Weekly Milestones are the best (and currently only) way to push beyond this 260 plateau.
My opinion of the narrative (conclusion aside) is skewing towards the franchise high that was The Taken King. The writers use wise-cracking Nathan Fillion to great effect, and there's an established camaraderie here that makes it feel like a homecoming to characters you can genuinely care about. None of this Stranger waffle about having “no time to explain”. Hell, The Speaker even speaks a whole bunch (in pre-rendered cutscenes).
Follow the sub-leader
That said, those three faction leaders are objectives to earn rather than constant voices, which means your day-to-day comms are handled by four new sub-leaders. I found three of them to be mildly irritating in their own way.
The best of the worst is Hawthorne, a nomad mercenary who watches over the European Dead Zone playspace. He quite obviously has the exact same voice actor as the Cryptarch from The Reef (so I can't help but associate him with a snooty jerk).
Nessus introduces a split-personality AI who, fittingly I guess, has a 50% strike rate when it comes to comedy. Lastly, on Io you have to take orders from Asher Mir, a scientist who's supposed to be whimsical and eccentric, but comes off as a condescending, techno-babbling tosser. They're ok in short doses, but Destiny is all about replaying content ad nauseam – I can see this advancing into full-blown hate.
PvP modes
PvP-wise, a few new modes have been dropped in, plus a switcheroo to the weapons system ramps up player choice, which means you don't know what you'll be up against. Whereas vanilla Destiny had strict rules over what type of guns could exist within your Primary, Secondary and Heavy weapon slots, Destiny 2 is very much a mix and match with its renamed Kinetic, Elemental, and Power slots. You can now have a beast of a shotgun, or a sniper rifle, that needs to be fed by those rare heavy ammo bricks. You might want to double up with two differently-handling pulse rifles in your first two slots. I also approve of the new weapon types, the SMG (close-ranger shredder) and the grenade launcher (great for arcing lethal rounds over obstacles).
You might want to double up with two differently-handling pulse rifles in your first two slots.
PvP itself has witnessed only a handful of changes. I loved the 4 vs 4 trials/bomb defuse hybrid mode (Countdown) and a system beneath the radar that effectively tells you what suburb of the map you're in – something that makes team call-outs a cinch. I like that matches are shorter now, and that capturing Control points is no longer sped up by multiple people, thus allowing other teammates to go secure more (which will earn points faster now). With the right fireteam I can also see myself getting addicted to the new Survival mode (think: finite lives, permadeath, and coordinated team tactics).
On the whole, all the changes seem to favour a more primary-based Crucible with less power weapons/super/grenade spam. Movement and gun-skill is in vogue, the flashier table-turning stuff is rarer. I don't mind this meta holiday, but I honestly felt underpowered too often and prefer what we had in vanilla. Only more hours will tell if I continue to feel this way.
It's stellar
Which, really, is the theme of this review-in-progress. I've already got a lot of answers to my burning questions, but not quite the full picture. Aside from some misguided VO casting, PvE is markedly longer, and at least as strong as what I played and loved in TTK. That's bolstered by a vastly improved public events system which dynamically mixes in other players questing on meatier heroic events / adventures. I can see myself happily free-roaming in those emergent and chaotic overworlds for months – same deal with popping heads and teabagging helmets across Bungie's best-in-class multiplayer maps. Oh, and the game looks g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s now – something I'll let you see for yourself with these embedded vids.
My instincts are telling me that Destiny 2 is stellar enough to buy already. For those of you who prefer to fence-sit for news on the Raid, by all means watch this space.
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