Destiny Beta - 5 Point Review

I know it's just a beta, but Destiny is a different animal all together. Coupled with the fact that there hasn't been much released in the past few weeks, nor will there be in the next few, it fits pretty well into the formula. So, here we go.

Destiny Beta

Summary - The plot of Destiny as a whole is still a little unclear to me. Maybe because I don't want to have it spoiled, but I didn't pay attention much in the Beta in terms of story. What I do remember is you are a guardian, awoken at some point in time by your companion Ghost, voiced by Peter Dinklage, and asked to help solve the problem of a violent repressive alien species. I think. It is a little similar to Halo, but I'm not really going to complain. All in all, the Beta was a lot of fun. It feels like an MMO mixed into a Sci-Fi world. Intergalactic travel, fun and rewarded gun play, different classes and abilities, a slew of weapons, vehicle combat, great voice acting. If you didn't get to try out the Beta, I am a little sorry for you. It has me super excited for what's to come in September. 


Pros

• Everything feels fluid, and intended. Movement, recoil, vehicles, specials, environments
• Ability trees are everywhere, and it's a good thing
• Multiplayer is different enough to be fresh, and we only had one game type
• Story missions were repeatable, and easy to track where to go next
• The Tower gives you the feeling of an MMO without being too overwhelming
• It is genuinely a ton of fun, and puts an awesome spin on the FPS genre
• Hopping into a fire team with friends is a breeze

Cons

• The in game vehicles are slightly over powering
• Single player weapons carry into multiplayer, possibly giving an unfair advantage to specific players. It will hopefully be addressed in the full game
• Story was somewhat confusing, even for the few hours I spent trying to figure it out
• Wasn't much enemy variation, but I expect that to change come full release
• I wanted more!

Should you (have) played it? - I hope you did because it was just a really good time, and an amazing look of what's to come from Bungie. From what I've played, they deserve all the praise and attention they've been getting. So when it comes out, yes you should absolutely play it.

Should you buy it? - Reread the section about, yes you should 100% buy this game. It's an MMO that Bungie plans to support for years to come. Buy two if you have to.

Score - I'm not going to give it a score simply because it was a Beta. It plays like a more defined Halo, with multiplayer added in. Have a dash of Borderlands, Fallout, and any MMO. So whatever you think that equals out to, we'll go with that.

E3 Starts Today Part 2 - Ubisoft & Sony

I was going to continue the update from the previous post, but there was a lot of information to put into one post, and I ran out of character space in the labels, so I have started a new post for what I actually got to watch for Ubisoft and Sony's press conferences. You will notice that I will be writing more details for these stories, as I was able to actually watch Sony's conference in full, and about half of the Ubisoft conference.

Ubisoft

I caught their press conference as it was happening, as I just walked in from work, so I'll comment on what I have read and saw.

Rocksmith 2014 - I didn't catch this live, but it seems like an improved edition from the original, with more modes, and better feedback from the guitar to train you on how to actually play guitar. Seems cool if you're into this sort of thing.

Dance Central 2014 - The same game. I honestly really don't care about this one, nor do I know anyone that does. I just know there is a new one coming out. 

The Crew - A completely persistent, massive open world racing game that covers the entirety of the United States. I'm not a huge fan of racing games, but the attention to detail, the amount of vehicles and their possibilities, and the humongous open world map have me fully intrigued with this title. 

Trials Fusion/Frontier - There will be two new Trials games coming. Fusion will come to all platforms, excluding the PS3. There will be tricks added in for the first time in the series and seems to be set in a more future type setting. This may just be only what they showed in the trailer though. Frontier is an exclusive mobile game for Apple, and Android operating systems

Tom Clancy's: The Divison - In my opinion, this may have stolen the show as far as new games go. It is an RPG co-op shooter set in a post apocalyptic New York, or at least this was the only location they showed. There will be player versus player. You will encounter other survivors as you traverse the maps. Whether they're friendly or hostile is up to you. The attention to detail and the player style customization had me very interested in where this title is going. 


Sony

Playstation 3 - Sony started off by showing it's soon to be launched lineup with GTA: V, Last of US, and a couple other games, as well as mentioning their continued support for the system.

Playstation Vita - They had to talk about it, but they announced that the continued support for the Vita will, well, continue. Not a lot of huge info here but heres a quick list:      Counterspy, Destiny of Spirits, Doki Doki Universe, Killzone Mercenery, Tearaway, God of War HD 1 and 2, Final Fantasy X and X-2, Flower, Dead Nation, Transistor, and...

The Walking Dead Season 2 400 days - The second season of the episodic Walking Dead Telltale games are coming, and they will also be available on the Playstation Vita. This was the biggest news for the Vita.

PS4 - They showed the console. They named a price. No confirmed date however. It will retail at $399, and undoubtedly coming this holiday season. They also took some hay maker shots at Microsoft, and stated, the new console will not feature any video game restrictions in the form of trade ins, sharing, or other DRM. However, it has been confirmed now, that you will need Playstation Plus to play games online. As it stands, PS+ is $50. This is a similar model that Microsoft uses, but Sony offers free and discounted games with their service. Applications like Netflix will not be effected if you do not have PS+. You do not need to be connected online to play games either. 

Assassin's Creed 4 - More of the same from the AC series, but increased visuals, and less building climbing, and more stealth. There also seemed to be some seamless transition from on foot game play to high seas combat. The demo appeared to be glitching at times as well, which to be honest, seemed almost expected from the game as of late. 

The Order: 1886 - A new exclusive IP set on a different timeline where modern weaponry becomes available early on, a group of well dressed soldiers fight what looks like werewolves. I think it would be pretty awesome if it has a Van Helsing-multiple fantasy monster-coop thing going on. It's being made by ReadyAtDawn Studios, the guys behind the handheld PSP God Of War titles.

Indie Games - Sony wanted to make it clear that Indie studios can self publish their own games. I'm just gonna list them:
Don't Starve, Mercenary Kings, Octodad, Secret Ponchos, Ray's the Dead , Oddworld: New n Tasty, Galaxy (17-bit)

Final Fantasy Versus XIII/XV & XIV - In what was possibly the greatest news(only to be rivaled with my next bullet) Square Enix showed Final Fantasy Versus XII, the long awaited game in the "fabula nova crystallis" line set in the Final Fantasy XIII universe. Apparently, it has been in development for PS4 the entire time. It as since been renamed Final Fantasy XV, and it looks absolutely amazing. Also they announced the much maligned revamp of Final Fantasy XIV will be out soon for PS3, and PS4.

Kingdom Hearts 3 - The third game in the beloved Kingdom Hearts series is now in production. A quick trailer showed Sora, voiced by Haley Joel Osmont still, riding Heartless enemies and getting ready for battle. It is not clear whether or not these two Square Enix titles will be console exclusive, but it did appear that way.

Mad Max - I don't know what to make of this. It's a game set in the Mad Max universe, which seems like a cool idea, but why now? I guess it's going to be an open world, car combat, foot combat mash up. I don't know honestly. I'm sure we'll get more info soon.

The Elder Scrolls: Online - The MMO version of the Elder Scrolls will be coming to all next gen consoles, but a trailer was shown at the Sony conference. It will release sometime in 2014.

Destiny - The last bit of Sony's conference, we got hands on game play of Destiny. It looks absolutely stunning, and looks like a mashup of Halo, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Borderlands, and a few other games. If you ask me, that's a winning combination of games.