Console Corner: With hype comes pressure

I cannot even begin to review Destiny in the traditional sense in this limited space but looking at the initial reception one thing is clear, with great hype comes great expectation.
We will still be enjoying Destiny in 2024. Photo suppliedWe will still be enjoying Destiny in 2024. Photo supplied
We will still be enjoying Destiny in 2024. Photo supplied

Living up to that expectation is another thing entirely and reviews so far have certainly been mixed.

Coming from the Bungie stable Destiny seemed ... destined (sorry) to be a blockbuster hit. After all these were the guys that brought us Halo.

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But I think it has tried to be too many things to too many different gamers, too soon. For those that don’t know, the game is described as an online persistent world first-person shooter in a “mythic science fiction” open world setting.

We will still be enjoying Destiny in 2024. Photo suppliedWe will still be enjoying Destiny in 2024. Photo supplied
We will still be enjoying Destiny in 2024. Photo supplied

To me Destiny is Halo mixed with Mass Effect while introducing social gaming in a big way in the hope of creating a success story in a similar vein to World of Warcraft.

The game has been published by Activision as part of a 10-year publishing deal with Bungie and after some early criticism, the companies have reiterated this fact.

I don’t think I have seen a game with such big billing polarise opinion so much. Some reviews rate it at a measly 6/10 with others scoring it 4.5/5. Surely it can’t be both?

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On initial playthrough it took me around 12 hours to complete the main game. The graphics, gameplay and mechanics are fantastic, exactly what you expect from a next gen title.

I was a tad disappointed with the playing time, I had expected at least 20 hours plus and it seems this has been one of the main things criticised by other reviewers.

But as I said there is much more to Destiny than that. Downloadable content is already on the way, the companies have committed to a 10-year plan and I think we are only seeing the very beginnings of what will turn out to be a vast Universe that we will still be exploring and enjoying in 2024.

Destiny is out now on PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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