What is Destiny?
It is very difficult to avoid Destiny. Destiny is fast shaping up to be one of the biggest games of 2014 for which publisher Activision spent a massive $500 million to promote and develop. Destiny is a sci-fi first-person shooter game which borrows elements from a variety of other adventure games and multiplayer online RPGs. In this game you can explore planets, create a custom character, unravel a story and even compete against the world.
What is the game’s story?
The story revolves around the “Golden Age” in which a strange moon sized sphere called the Traveler turns planets like Mars and Venus into worlds full of life. Humanity colonizes those areas quickly, until an enemy of the Traveler traces the mysterious structure back to Earth and destroys it. You are cast by Destiny as one of the Guardians who defends Earth and eliminates the planet’s enemies across the solar system.
The character classes
There are three character types in Destiny, namely Titan, Warlock and Hunter. The Titan is the all-round soldier who focuses on power and thick defense. Warlocks use their supernatural powers to bring the Jedi Knights of Star Wars to mind and the Hunters are alert and agile fighters.
What modes are there?
There are many ways to play Destiny. Story missions allow you and your friends to unravel the narrative of the game, and the Strike missions are challenges that task you to destroy an enemy base. The Explore mode permits you to visit the areas again that were previously completed, where you will collect resources and tackle side missions. If you want to fight with the world, the Crucible offers various competitive multiplayer modes. You might want to have a break from all those killings and shooting and in that case you can even hang out in the Tower. The Tower is a social area where one can purchase weapons and upgrades or even dance with his buddies.
Is a demo available for Destiny?
The Destiny Beta started on July 17 for the Playstation platforms and on July 23 for Xbox. It was previously only for those who had an access code. But now, the Beta is open to all who have an Xbox 360, PS3 or PS4, as long as he has either a Playstation Plus or an Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Is it possible to play it alone or offline?
In order to play Destiny, one needs to have an internet connection. You won’t be playing the game always with other people. Destiny has been designed by Bungie to be a living open world and this means that you will often face strangers while you are exploring a new planet or taking story missions. This adds to Destiny’s dynamic nature, and is surely not for the type of FPS fan wanting to play a solo, offline game.
Differences between the versions of Destiny
The only difference between the current gen (PS4, Xbox One) and the previous gen (PS3, Xbox 360) versions of the game is visual quality. Destiny does not support cross-platform play and it is possible to carry over the same character across different generations. Therefore, if one starts the game on Xbox 360 and then upgrades to an Xbox One, he won’t lose any of his weapons, stats or upgrades.
Is it possible to have a PC version?
Bungie is yet to launch a PC version of Destiny. Activision Publishing CEO Erik Hirshberg has called Destiny a “natural fit” for PC, but also observed that the current focus of the company is to ensure that the console version is as polished as possible.
