It's Here! It's Finally Here!
*Possible spoilers ahead*
Fans awaiting the launch of Bungie's Destiny 2 can finally put their itching trigger fingers to rest... or not. The much anticipated sequel is everything that all fans, including dedicated players like myself, have been waiting for. After the success of the first Destiny game, you would think a sequel would change it up. Maybe take some risks to appease players appetites for killing aliens, mix in some new planets or alien species, new weapons, and polish over the artistic play style that is unique to the Destiny franchise. It has masterfully combined platforming and first person shooting in a way that many gamers have come to love. But the truth is, Bungie does not need to reinvent the wheel here.
Fans of the first game have already provided troves of input to the developers, mostly through channels such as the Reddit Destiny community, where developers go to look for suggestions, advice, and even complaints. For the last few years, fans have seen their input taken into account as expansions for the first game included many improvements and tweaks. What more could gamers ask for than for their input to be heard? With studios like EA and Ubisoft, fans giving input on how to improve their favorite games are usually overlooked or ignored altogether. This is why Bungie has become so successful (popular), in my opinion. Think of EA as Wal-Mart and Bungie as your local mom and pop shop with the best customer service around (I'm looking at you DeeJ).
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| Courtesy Bungie.net |
Destiny 2 feels more like a continuation right where the first game left off, and that is a great thing. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here, after all. Destiny already boasts more weapons, customization, and lore than most games do, and it is nice to see a sequel that didn't need a giant face-lift to keep fans interested. The main characters have been polished over, and the introduction of new characters is refreshing. The new main villain(s) are wonderfully intense and frightening. As soon as you step into the combat zones, like EDZ (European Dead Zone) you come face to face with familiar groups like The Fallen. The new social area, "The Farm" is small and quaint, and doesn't require you to run across the space for 5 minutes looking for the Speaker (Spoiler: he isn't there). I am only 3 hours in, but I am surprised at how little progress I have made in the game at this point, hinting at a lengthy and compelling story. Public Events are back, as well as patrol missions that have also received some polish to make the rewards feel more deserved for the amount of grinding involved. The cut-scenes are beautiful, as always, as is the orchestral music used to score the game. It really is the small things that make Destiny 2 rise above the rest. Did I mention I received a bad-ass statue of Cayde-6 as a pre-order bonus? You should feel jealous. Also, you should go pick up a copy.
