“Destiny” ushers in new video game genre

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Evan Amos

The newest platform released by Sony in November of 2013.

Casey Metcalf, Staff Writer

There has not been much action in the world of Sony lately – after the release of the PS4, the fourth installment of the console, it has taken a little longer than usual for the games to catch up. In the first few months of its release, the games have been slow to come to buyers. The first few games to come out were the standards that come out every three weeks anyway, such as “Call of Duty” and the (Seventh? Eighth? Twentieth? Is anyone counting?) “Assassins Creed” installment. But a shining beacon of hope for the new platform is the just released, which is “Destiny.”

“Destiny” borrows some elements from the first person shooters we all know and love, appealing to the people who actually like mindlessly shooting down enemies without really even knowing why they’re pulling the trigger in the first place. But unlike so many first person shooters that came before it, “Destiny” actually has a story. I know, I know, hard to believe, right? But it’s true, and boy is it wonderful. You play as a Guardian, a trained soldier that’s pretty much the spawn of Chuck Norris and Neo from the Matrix and has just been revived on Earth. Only Earth is not exactly how we know it in 2014. In this dystopian future setting, Earth is a ghost town on a large scale. You are woken up by your Ghost, a flying robot-esque companion who is sarcastic and full of dry humour. He off-handedly mentions apathetically that you’re going to be dead soon unless you get a move on and find safety. Before you know it, you’re attacked by what your zesty sidekick explains as Fallen – essentially killer robots who have now inhabited Earth. You have to find your way out of their turf and get to a ship so you can get off the planet.

Once you accomplish this, you arrive at the tower, which I personally viewed as a homage to our favorite online games. I might have been the only one, and I probably was, but all I could see when I got there was Club Penguin. Instead of hawaiian shirts and flippers there are futuristic armored gear and machine guns, which we can all agree is infinitely more awesome. The interface of the Tower is similar at the core to these online games, most like old school World of Warcraft, but better than you’re imagining in your mind’s eye. You play in third person for the only time in the game, and can interact with essentially infinite other players on the station. You can buy armor and weapons, and get jobs to complete on your interstellar adventures.

Any more information would reveal too much of the story, but I can say this: what you may have at first dismissed as another first person shooter is not just another first person shooter. “Destiny” effectively mixes the two worlds of RPGs (role playing games; third person interface where you take the role of a character and interact in the fantasy world) and mundane monotoned shooters, a combination that is vastly ignored and hasn’t been introduced (at least not well) to players in much too long. What’s more, “Destiny” actually succeeds in mixing the two genres. Combine the incredible gameplay and interface with the deeper than the surface storyline and the beautifully stunning vistas and you get the next level of gaming – and thank goodness it’s finally here.