wpauserhW8w3wjRDestiny 2 PC Review – A Different Destiny
Porting important games from consoles to PCs is never an easy thing. Is the computer version of Destiny 2 worth the wait and the money?
A Game Worth Waiting For?
Destiny was a great game. It was bad at telling its story, introducing characters, creating a cohesive vision of the world, explaining its system and its end-game (initially). But gameplay-wise it was superb. The shooting was spot on. The movement options were great. The title looked great. How could it not? After all, it was a Bungie game. But at the same time, the beloved creators of the Halo franchise made so many mistakes that it was hard to believe that it was the same team that the gamers respected. The developer didn’t communicate information properly, made many mistakes along the way with tournaments and events. But console gamers gave the company the benefit of the doubt and waited patiently (at the same time expressing their dissatisfaction in the social media) and in the end, Destiny was great. After more than a year.
It is a different story with the second part. Bungie still has some problems, like scheduling server maintenance adapted to their US gamers, leaving European players with an unavailable game during daily hours, but hey, you can’t have everything now, can you?
A Known Story
Destiny 2 is, like its predecessor, a hybrid online shooter. It presents the players with a shared world, where you can meet other Guardians (superhero characters, basically), interact with them, fight a common enemy or just go looking for secret stashes of money and equipment. And there’s a story, too, but it is mainly used to immerse the gamers into the world, give them a chance to level up their characters before delving into the more complex parts of its systems.
You are the only Guardian that can help mankind. You see, some very bad aliens attack your city and the Traveler, a supernatural machine that floats above the surface of the Earth and grants some individuals special powers. The aliens take that away from the Guardian corps, but somehow you can regain some of its force and thus, embark on an epic adventure through four worlds to restore the universe to its rightful state. Meaning – taking back the city and the powers.
It is not about the story itself, however, but about the characters that inhabit it. The Guardian you are playing as is of course mute. But the additional heroes that pop in and out of the narrative are, above all, smartly written. Cayde-6, the Hunter played by Nathan Fillion, is, of course, the fan favorite, but there are some great performances in the game that you will surely enjoy. Most of all, however, it’s not as bad as the first part. There are no wizards coming from the moon and other elements that made all the players cringe in front of their computers.
We Are Many
PC players may have a harder time having fun in the multiplayer than in the shared world. Destiny 2 online matches are limited both in their scope and maps. You won’t find any vehicles here, no large areas nor unlocks. It’s just straight Guardian on Guardian action. The limited number of players on each team means that skill and teamwork are greatly appreciated. You will not be able to win a match all by yourself as most of the firefights with even a single enemy end up in them being dead, and your health hanging on a thread.
There’s a great, different tempo to the multiplayer, however. Destiny 2 is nothing like the Battlefields of the PC scene, you must understand the maps and the powers, know when to hide and when to fight. It’s a great addition to the otherwise superb game and if you don’t try to invest too much time in it, it will work just fine.
A Great Transition
What is important that Destiny 2 does not feel like a simple port. When you are playing the game, it seems that it has been developed with the PC in mind. I’m not just talking about the superb controls and handling of movement, but about the performance of the game. Destiny 2 runs smoothly on low-grade computers and looks simply stunning on medium-grade equipment, which in these times is an achievement. Console players can only envy the fluidity and expanded graphic options that Bungie is offering to the PC community.
And it seems that the company has delved deep into its communication issues when it comes to informing the gamers what is going on with the game. All the downtimes, problems, server issues are reported instantly, so you don’t have to delve too deep into the official forums to understand why something is not working properly. Battle.net, the Blizzard online service Bungie is using for its flagship title, also works very well, but this is nothing new.
All in all, Destiny 2 is even a better game on the PC than on console. The expanded movement options, the fluidity of the gameplay, the level of detail and the online service is just superb. It delivers all the content that players fell in love with, at the same time expanding the formula with platform-specific features.
This is one of the best games to play with your friends. It’s loaded with content, equipment, small stories. Its gameplay is second to none and feels more at home now that you can use a mouse and a keyboard. Destiny 2 is one of the best shooters of 2017 and it was worth waiting for it.
