Love it or hate it, Destiny is addicting. It has some of the best first person shooting mechanics available, and while the campaign structure is limited, its drive for loot is exciting. Unfortunately, if players ignore the Raids all together they will be left with an unfortunate experience that’s marred by a virtually non-existent plot. Regardless, Destiny is a fun game to play with friends, having you dig through hours of dungeons and lengthy strikes. There’s a lot for Bungie to do (an actual story would be nice, more varied locations for missions and less repetitive mission tasks), but they have established something to build off of that will hopefully be expanded upon in future iterations.
Whether you’re a grown adult or a child, who doesn’t love Pokémon? The release of the Gameboy Advance began arguably the best era for handheld games, and leading the march was Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. These twelve year old games brought us the third generation of Pokémon we love today, so it seemed only fit for Nintendo to remake the duo. With their new 3D engine, Nostalgia hits hard for those who grew up in the late 90s and early 00s, as Game Freak was able to recreate everything you’ve come to love, while at the same time adding on top of it. While it would still be great to see new Pokémon adventures, this is one of the few cases a remake was warranted. Now all we need a second remake of Red and Blue.
Considering how Destiny’s campaign was universally panned, Bungie took extra care to craft a proper campaign for the sequel. Destiny 2 does have a campaign, one where each missions has unique objectives and doesn’t always end with a battle against some large, bullet-sponge boss.
In terms of maps, only six have been announced so far: Midtown, Javelin-4, Altar of Flame, Vostok, Endless Vale and Retribution, which is PS4-timed exclusive. The final count has yet to be revealed, but no maps from the original game and expansions are returning.
The Taken are a fightable enemy in Destiny 2 in both the story and out in the open areas. There aren’t any new enemy types within the Taken race, but it’s still entertaining to fight them. The different tactics they use compared to their non-Taken counterparts make them a more unpredictable foe.
The most mysterious force anyone has ever discovered, the Vex are a machine race that are beyond ancient. They aren’t even from Destiny’s current universe. Crota, son of Hive God Oryx, accidentally unleashed the Vex into their universe by cutting a hole between dimensions. This unleashed the beings into their universe as they began to understand a method to move between worlds. They are incredibly intelligent and aggressive beings that have ruins within Venus dating back billions of years. They were first found by humans during the Golden Age, and ever since, have been nothing but a thorn in the side of every race.
The most significant aspect of Destiny 2’s campaign is that it has an actual campaign. After Destiny and Rise of Iron’s cookie-cutter missions, it’s nice to have something with more variety and https://www.destiny2focus.com/ substance than "bad guy over there, go kill it." That's not saying Destiny 2’s campaign is anything deep. Characters jump in and out of the campaign quickly as the story moves you from world-to-world. While the quick pacing keeps things moving, it never slows down enough to create any connections between the player and the world. Worst yet is the player’s Guardian who, in Destiny 2, is relegated to a silent protagonist. Ghost ends up speaking the entire time for the player and comes off as annoying. The current set up with the Ghost quickly becomes grating, and even more annoying when other characters point out your silence. This was purposefully done so that players can become invested in their Guardian, but in execution comes off as cartoonish.
The campaign kicks off with a bang. Returning home to The Last City, you and your Ghost discover that the city has come under siege by the Cabal Empire’s Red Legion. Led by Dominus Gaul, the Legion successfully captures the Traveler, cutting off all Guardian’s connection to the Light. Without Light, you must become the rallying point for all surviving Guardians, re-unite the Vanguard and retake what Gaul has taken from you.
Following your defeat at the hand of Ghaul, it is your duty to rekindle the light, reform the Vanguard and take back what is yours. To do so, you’ll travel to new worlds, meet new allies and make some unexpected discoveries.
The other ill feeling aside from Destiny 2’s launch is knowing we're following a path already taken that doesn't seem totally trustworthy. In fact, it's the same merry-go-round many have already been talking about. We've been here before, we've seen it. Yes, Destiny 2 will drop some Taken King sized expansion and it probably will fix a lot, but it just doesn't feel like enough or that Bungie or Activision are trying. Give us guardians something fresh, show us something shiny and new; not a lackluster experience that continually rides on the coat-tails (hardly any to begin with) of the previous title. The gimmick can work for anyone experiencing Destiny for the first time, but it's not going to work for the players that have been with Destiny since the beginning and the newcomers will pick up on that. When creating a space to play in together, it's creating a social dialogue, which happens inside the game and out.
