As someone who was a day one Destiny player who felt jaded by the decision to kill off our much valued and worked for loot, I was extremely apprehensive about purchasing the second in the series. I was disappointed by this decision, as well as the constant changes to the systems in the original that slighted those of us who grinded hours into our characters; losing sleep, calling off work for event releases, and putting serious dedication into our guardian despite the game’s paper thin story and lack of respect for the players’ time.

Most of this has changed in the sequel, for better or worse. The most obvious change is the inclusion of a legitimate narrative. With the first iteration, I spent over 1500 hours in the game and still can’t tell you a damn thing about the story. Something about light, a traveler, and some things no one has time to explain. The sequel focuses on the villain Ghual, whom is a disgraced member of the Cabal that has managed to blow up the tower, capture the Traveler, and cause the grimoire to hit the fan. While the story is present and a welcome improvement, I found it somewhat lacking. While most of the voice actors bring their A game, Nathan Fillion’s Cayde-6 is the only character I was able to develop any attachment to and found the others to be poorly written or simply boorish; particularly Nolan North’s Ghost. He has probably 90% of the lines in the game, and almost all of them come across as a slightly less annoying Claptrap. I blame this partially on his annoying, confused inflection he adds to the lines as well as poor writing. While I am normally a huge fan of his work, the performance featured here made me miss Dinklebot even more.

If you want to discuss graphics, the game looks amazing, with an impressive level of detail. The textures, lighting, and water effects were a highlight of the experience. It really is a huge upgrade from the limitations put forth on the original due to the last generation’s hardware. The locales, armor and weapons all scream variety, with the exception of some of the level layouts looking like rehashes from the previous entry, albeit with a new name and color scheme. Even with this being said, the level designs are stellar, with expansive environments featuring a number of hidden areas, waiting to be looted for its randomly generated chests, which also return. The levels are so big, I found myself annoyed that I didn’t have a sparrow, which sits on the sidelines until you complete the main campaign. Yes, I just said that. I know, I was pissed too.

I feel like this is partially due to the incorporation of vehicular combat in the story. The story portion of the campaign covers approximately 12 levels, depending on how you look at them; and are much bigger in size and scope.  This is a double edged sword, as some of the later story missions take place back to back, which leads to the overly long levels to feel like a bit of a slog, especially with the absence of the sparrow.  In addition to the longer missions, there are approximately 50 side missions, as well as patrols, strikes, public events, and then the PVP mode. You can’t say there’s not a wealth of content here.

While the story has been expanded, Bungie has successfully trimmed the fat and eliminated a number of old, dated systems. The need to go to orbit between activities has been eliminated and the need to travel to a hub location to decrypt engrams has been decreased. While engrams are still present, you do not receive them, or other loot, at the same rate you did in the previous game. In my first complete character’s playthrough of the main story, I received about 10 engrams, with all other drops being weapon, armor or consumable without the need to see anyone to use your fresh equipment. You’ll also find a lot less options when it comes to the skill tree, with the previous option being a gradual upgrade through level 20 and beyond, you can easily max your characters stats for all 3 of the sub classes within the same level cap.

While it does appear from the outside that new sub classes are available, most of the options are just slight variations from their previous iterations. The only noteworthy changes are the solar ability for the Warlock now including a sword, similar to the one you can equip in your heavy slot, and the Titan has a Captain America-like shield that can be used in lieu of the bubble shield. The other abilities are not necessarily carbon copies from the previous game, but don’t offer a big enough change to discuss.

If I had to compare Destiny 2 to anything, it would be like trying to rekindle a relationship with an old flame. It might be fun for a while, and it could even work out, but at the end of the day it’s just more of the same. With this being said, if you enjoyed the first game, you’ll love (or at least enjoy) the second. While I don’t regret buying it by any means, Destiny 2 lacks the magic that kept me yearning for more on our first excursion.

7 out of 10

Pros

• Fun Abilities
• Visually Stunning
• Wealth of Content
• More Respectful of the Players’ Time

Cons

• Nolan North
• Not Getting Access to the Sparrow Until Late in the Game
• Recycled Content from the First Game

Destiny 2 was developed by Bungie and published by Activision. It was released on PS4 and X1 September 6th, 2017 and a PC release is planned for October. The game can be purchased for $59.99, with premium versions being offered at higher price points. The game was not provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Destiny 2, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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