Destiny - My initial thoughts

I figure, on Day 3 since the Destiny launch, I can provide some initial feedback. My first impression is that this is a very good game. Is it fantastic? It's too early to say and there are irritating parts to it. But I have enjoyed it and it has already strained my relationship, which means it must be pretty good.

I am not great at doing reviews so I won't try. I'll just go quickly over the parts I like and the things I find irritating.

I really like the lobby, or 'Last City on Earth' and the game calls it. Catchy.

Although it is large and spread out, to allows for an interesting interaction between the NPCs and other players that are in the lobby with you. You can see them, but you need not interact with them unless you wish. It has a feel of being an actual meeting place. I consider this very well done.

The gameplay on the 360 is surprisingly good. I have not seen it on the XBox One so I can't compare, but I have never seen a smoother multiplayer game on the 360, especially at launch. The seamless transition between story and mutiplayer is really quite amazing. So is the fact that your experience applies throughout the game.

The maps are few and large. Much of the story takes place in different locations on the same map. Sometimes, you have to go back through the same locations you were through before. This means repeatedly fighting the same creatures to complete different missions.

Because you are sharing the maps with others, the creatures need to regenerate quickly so that everyone can complete their missions. This leads to the most irritating part of the game (so far). You constantly have to clear out areas you just recently cleared out. It also seems to be that creatures regenerate faster the more players there are on the map. Makes sense in a way, but freaking irritating when you are just trying to get back to somewhere you were just at and its overrun with bad guys again.

I tried the Crucible (deathmatch area) this morning, just for the hell of it. I mean, I'm level 10. I can smoke wizards and ogres. Deathmatch can't be that hard. I felt like a duck in a shooting gallery full of Marksmen. I got two kills. The next lowest total was 12. That's going to take some work.

This brings up the last positive point I will make right now. The game has mutiplayer deathmatch/capture the flag/etc, but isn't dependent on it. One of the biggest issues I have had with COD since WaW is that the mission part of the game became irrelevant. Everything was aimed at multiplayer deathmatch. While I enjoy that part of the game when there is a gang of us, I really don't like playing those modes by myself. Some people (i.e. Blackwalt) do, and that's fine, but I found there was little point investing in a game I would only play occasionally with others and therefore be 100 levels behind in a week.

My hope is that Destiny will allow me to play the lone hunter (a la Assassin's Creed) that I really enjoy, while being able to participate in the multiplayer stuff with the clan when I can.

Now to try to convince my better half I am not obsessing on video games again ...