Video Game Review: "Destiny: The Taken King"

Hey, guys, sorry its taken so long for me to post again. For those of you who are not in touch with me in real life, I just got married to the love of my life, Dancy. While that whole event only excuses me from about a week or so of my absence, I can quote work and Skyrim as the other culprits. I do hope to post more often now that my schedule is a little more free, and also since in a couple days we have "Star Wars 7" being officially released onto Bluray and DVD, and "Batman Vs Superman" just hit theaters. We shall see how that works out.

Last year I worked for a short time for a small used and retro gaming store. It was a good job, I got to interact with a lot of interesting people and learned a bit about classic gaming and retro systems. As a marketing tool the store had a loop of video game commercials playing on a big flat-screen TV above the front counter. As I ran the counter I got the chance to view some of the commercials, usually multiple times. Two of them stood out to me, one was a Japanese horror/ghost thriller reminisce of "The Grudge" that involved you viewing ghosts through the eye of an old camera. That one was interesting, but isnt what I want to talk about today.

The other one reminded me of the "Halo: Combat Evolved" series with its main character's appearance and gameplay, with a touch of "Mass Effect" in its visuals and free-world story-line. The clip depicted a lone warrior clad in SPARTAN-esque armor and ragged robes fighting his way through a horde of demonic alien beings. Finally the character arrives in a large amphitheater and is joined by two other, similarly clad soldiers. A huge, monstrous demon wielding a massive sword appears in the center of what looks to be an observation platform on a spaceship. As the room around them fills with other, smaller demons, the three warriors silently brace themselves for battle before stepping resolutely forward to meet the Taken King head on.

Released September 9th of 2014, Destiny became an instant favorite among gamers. Approximately a year later Bungie released the third expansion pack to the game, "The Taken King". The game hinges around you, a being resurrected by a ecto-mechanical entity called a "Ghost" to be a Guardian. As a Guardian it is your responsibility to wield a mysterious power source called simply "The Light" in the defense and the eventual awakening of a interstellar being called The Traveler. Through the expansion, you take on the dark ethereal machinations of The Taken King.

The game is, as I said earlier, comes across as an interesting conglomeration of "Halo", "Mass Effect", and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic". The first-person character perspective and controls, along with the armor your character wears, all are a callback to Bungie's earlier majorly popular "Halo" franchise. The cinematic scenery, the aliens you encounter, even elements of the complex and not very self-explanatory plot line makes one think instantly to the like-elements found in the "Mass Effect" trilogy, while the character customization brings vaguely to mind the design and feel of "KOTOR".

The game, for me at least, was a little hard to get into at first. It struck me to be a little too much like "Halo" at first, but as I played more it kinda grew on me. Your means of travel consists of a small starfighter for travel in between planets and the Tower, where the other Guardians make their homes. While on the surface of a planet you always have your own booted feet, and on most occasions you have the use of a "Sparrow", a speeder-bike crossed with a crotch-rocket that your Ghost guide can materialize for you when asked.

You have the option of three character classes, Hunter, Warlock, or Titan. Each class, of course, comes with its own special set of skills and powers. Interestingly enough, each class also comes with its own unique story-line and missions given out by their respective trainers. I started with a Titan character, and later when I restarted with a Warlock I was given an entirely different set of missions and planet progression than I did with my Titan character. I found this approach both intriguing and refreshing compared to the usual mission sets that only differ in skills and equipment between classes (Diablo or KOTOR, anyone?).

I have yet to complete the game, but after putting a good number of action-packed hours in (including a good day or so trying to beat 3 annoying Siphon Witches in one level's climax), I can definitely recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of sci-fi and/or first-person-shooters. There are a number of plot twists and details I left out of my little review, leaving them to be discovered by you on your travels throughout the worlds of Destiny. I dont have many games I strongly recommend or would be willing to suggest multiple replays of, but this is definitely near the top of my list.

So, until the power runs out or the Taken King finds us, this is Josh, Guardian of Earth, sighing off for now.