videogame | Craig's Movie Report

Well I have had a few days with the most hyped game this year, namely Bungie’s much anticipated open world shooter / MMORPG hybrid ‘Destiny’. Now I won’t review the game as such, as I am still touching the surface, but my experience playing this game has been fairly positive so far. I think the fact you are always around other players, playing their own missions and if you want you can just join in, or instead go about your own business is fairly revolutionary for a console game. Yes it has been done before, most notably in Sega’s Phantasy Star Online, which I played briefly Yet for the most part MMORPGs have been the stalwart of PC gaming … but with this online-focused generation, it’s becoming the norm more and more in many new games … see the forthcoming The Division.

As a game it blends aspects of space RPG Mass Effect, as in your character customization and the hub world of The Tower … but on missions it is more like Halo, with a large influence it seems from Borderlands. For me the general shooting is excellent. Upgrading weapons, adding to your character, meeting other players and discovering different locations and enemies makes for a great deal of immersive fun. I wouldn’t say it’s a game I play for the story – it’s vague at best but I am only just starting with that … I play it for the feel, the gorgeous vistas, the satisfying gunplay and the general slickness of it all. As with Phantasy Star it feels a little repetitive, basically going on a variety of horde-style encounters, surviving until they’re all dead, or your ‘ghost’ scans something and an exit opens up. Your ghost is an a.i. companion that generally leads the way and comments during the story-based missions, but also comes in handy for scanning the environments for interesting locations or summoning your hover-bike which is another cool aspect and a welcome mode of transport considering the often immense environments.

Outside of the main game there is also The Crucible, a more traditional multiplayer mode not unlike Halo or Call of Duty but I haven’t played that mode yet. Probably dip into it later. I have the Xbox One version of the game and am very impressed with it. It feels like one of the smoothest games I have played with a rock steady 30fps and a gorgeous 1080p full HD resolution, putting it on pretty-much equal parity with the PS4 version (yes, I’ve read up on that to confirm). I think anyone who enjoys social-based games or even Halo or decent first person shooters, Destiny is worth a go. It will only grown in time with Bungie’s ambitious plans for the game, and can see the initial universe expanding to a larger selection of planets … meaning more to explore and more enemies to send back to their makers … most likely at an additional cost.

The game is out on both Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – so what you waiting for?

Well avid readers, I’ve only gone and done it. No turning back now…

First impressions? Well I managed to get hold of the fabled ‘day one’ edition of the XBOX ONE, which for no other reason than the pure fun of it, comes with a limited edition day one controller, and you also get a day one achievement. Add to this Forza Motor Sport 5 as a free download … and I’d say I got a pretty good deal.

Having spent the evening and part of the morning playing around with it … I am amazed just how much fun the hyped Kinect sensor is … I actually now couldn’t imagine the console without it and its voice commands, gestures etc. all work very well indeed, after a moderate learning curve. It never gets boring telling the XBOX to switch to things, to pause Netflix, to record gameplay, to turn off and on – and it’s just so quick and fluid. So yes a hearty recommendation there for Kinect from me.

The machine itself in operation is very quiet, although a little louder when a disk is playing. But all very smooth – and this smoothness translates into gameplay, which seemed noticeably silkier than on say, the XBOX 360 or PS3 – maybe it’s that 60 frames per second thing. Of the games I have played, I am currently enjoying Battlfield 4 – graphics are not a night and day leap from last generation, but very crisp and detailed with plenty of flashy effects – a good example of starting blocks for the power of XBOX ONE, which will reveal itself even more with future releases. Killer Instinct which can be downloaded as a free demo is also fun, fast and very Street Fighter IV.

This is all very early days with the console … I have yet to quite get the hang of the game dvr functionality, and some apps like BBC iPlayer and Twitch are yet to fully materialize. But so far, very pleased with my shiny new purchase!