Destiny Beta Begins In Early 2014, Gameplay Trailer Begins Now

[Andy Chalk]

Destiny Beta Begins In Early 2014, Gameplay Trailer Begins Now

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Bungie and Activision are marking the announcement of the forthcoming Destiny beta with a brand-new trailer featuring one of the game's four enemy races.

Bungie's big new shooter Destiny is expected to be ready for prime time sometime in 2014 and in fine videogame tradition, the launch will be preceded by a public beta test that will begin in the very non-specific early 2014. And how will you get into this beta, you ask? That, too, is a process that follows tradition: Preorder the game at a participating retailer - Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop or Walmart - and access will be yours.

In Destiny, players take on the role of Guardians of the last city on Earth who must battle humanity's enemies in what I imagine is a desperate (yet surprisingly successful) struggle to survive and reclaim all that was lost in the collapse of mankind's Golden Age. Bungie says it will be a story-driven game, with "grand tales and epic adventures... immersing players in a bold new universe filled with cooperative, competitive, public, and social activities, all seamlessly connected."

This lovely new Destiny gameplay trailer really sets the tone for an epic tale about humanity's last, best hope against a powerful cabal of marauding alien races who seek to bring about our extinction for reasons unknown. The YouTube entry promises that it will be an adventure unlike anything you have experienced, brought to you by the people who brought you Halo and Call of Duty. I may not be entirely convinced by that last bit, but at least the trailer is better than the cover art [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128282-Destiny-Cover-Art-Sticks-With-the-Formula].

Destiny beta test access will be offered "while supplies last" on all announced platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. To find out more and get in on the action, hit up destinythegame.com [http://www.destinythegame.com/wheretobuy].


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[mirage202]

So.. it's Halo.

Halo if the Spartan program hadn't existed to save humanity. Not sure what I was hoping for from Destiny/Bungie but a Halo clone wasn't it.

 

[Ishal]

Can't wait for this. The visuals look amazing and I find it rare that we get to explore our own solar system in depth like in Destiny. Usually its made up stuff like in Mass Effect. I thought the Cabal or the Fallen would be the ones on the moon. But it looks like its the Hive. Interesting. I think lots of pvp will happen there too if what they've said is any indication. Looks like I'm all aboard the hype train. Choo choo

 

[Rad Party God]

It looks exactly as I expected, it looks very Halo-ish. I cringed at the last bit of "And the company that brought you Call of Duty", but at least it looks like a decent gameplay trailer, if a bit standard.

I'm still skeptical about this, I'll wait until it gets released and everyone has made an opinion about it.

 

[Kyrdra]

Where the hell is the gameplay in that trailer?

I think there where a few 4 seconds long sequences that could qualify as gameplay but the rest? Cutscenes and a bit voiceover to make it sound epic.

 

[Korten12]

So.. it's Halo.

Halo if the Spartan program hadn't existed to save humanity. Not sure what I was hoping for from Destiny/Bungie but a Halo clone wasn't it.

The Spartan program wasn't made to save Humanity, it was simply to put down Insurrectionist, it just happened to double fighting the Covenant when they came around.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Looking very nice. Sure it looks very Halo-esque but, to be totally honest, that's sort of what I want from Bungie right now. Maybe the future of the Destiny universe will expand beyond just "Halo meets Borderlands" but I'm cool with this being the first game we get from the IP.

I was planning to pick this up anyway but I will probably pre-order now given the Beta access.

 

[Ishal]

So.. it's Halo.

Halo if the Spartan program hadn't existed to save humanity. Not sure what I was hoping for from Destiny/Bungie but a Halo clone wasn't it.

Halo meets Borderlands essentially, from everything I've seen of it. Which is nice, but rather undermines Bungie's rather pretentious claims of being out in uncharted territory with this game.

It's actually moving away from that now. Procedural weapon generating is out and the co-op design features more players. Add that to the number of players roaming around and MMO-like raids and other things.

Dunno about uncharted territory. That's going to depend on how the social aspect plays out.

 

[Kyrdra]

It's actually moving away from that now. Procedural weapon generating is out and the co-op design features more players. Add that to the number of players roaming around and MMO-like raids and other things.

Dunno about uncharted territory. That's going to depend on how the social aspect plays out.

So Destiny with prettier lightning?

I think the only thing this has going for is the Setting and even that is a little bit meh

Edit: I didnt ment Destiny I ment Defiance. Sorry about that mix up

 

[Ishal]

It's actually moving away from that now. Procedural weapon generating is out and the co-op design features more players. Add that to the number of players roaming around and MMO-like raids and other things.

Dunno about uncharted territory. That's going to depend on how the social aspect plays out.

So Destiny with prettier lightning?

I think the only thing this has going for is the Setting and even that is a little bit meh

Cynicism harder... please.

Look, you won't find me saying that this thing is going to be the next Star Wars or whatever Bungie has said to gaming press. I have no clue what it's going to be. Is it a retread of Halo? Thematically speaking both in setting and aesthetic, I don't see how anyone could deny it. But Halo worked. It carried a goddamn console. Mario worked, Halo worked. They don't need to deviate from the form to find an audience.

Again, don't know if its going to be groundbreaking. The thing I'm curious about is how they approach the MMO elements. The term "raid" or "dungeon" has baggage with it. To play an MMO correctly is to play it with a guild of ideally competent players who can perform well enough to clear content at a profit. That profit being the gear drops. That's how it should be, thats how its fun. It's fun because dungeons are challenging and in some MMO's it can't be done without a good group of players who communicate. Unfortunately, that comes with drawbacks. Drawbacks such as time commitments, dealing with shitty people and their petty drama, fights over gear drops it just goes on. This is something that keeps people away from MMO's and stops former MMO players from returning to the games they once played. If there is a game that can make subtle changes to that system without taking away from the experiences like making a dungeon difficult. If you make the dungeon easy, then you don't need a well coordinated group to clear it. That isn't what people want. Taking away the bullshit and finding that perfect balance is what certain devs have been trying to do for a long time. And you know what? Eventually someones is going to do it. Is that Bungie? No idea. But the last time Bungie stepped on the scene with some new project they carried a console and created a matchmaking system that is used in 99% of multiplayer fps games today. I'm not saying they'll do it again. I'm saying I'm watching with interest to see how it plays out, and that'll I'll probably buy the game regardless because I like Bungie.

edit: Defiance makes a bit more sense, but it's still more MMO than Destiny seems to be.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

I'd be quite happy with this being a retread of Halo considering 343 Industries and Microsoft have fucked up Halo. Still it looks like great fun to play with a few mates which is what I'll be doing

 

[Arawn]

Like many I see the comparison of Destiny to Borderlands. Seems pretty accurate a description for a FPS with co-op. Multiple weapons (and items?) dropped from bosses and exploration. A decent formula to be sure. It does have a more serious tone and hella more pretty. One thing I hope they get the same is the variety. BL (1&2) had RPG elements like a skill tree that you could customize your character to fit your play style single or co-op. That being said I've only see the 3 characters for Destiny being show in the various play videos. Aside from the random guns I'm not sure if they've used that many special abilities or traits. Will the only thing to set me apart from the other guy just be the guns I use? Luck of a drop or hours of farming to get the equipment I want(need)? That's pretty much what every MMO is like. Even still it's one of the games on my "To buy" list. I like what I see regardless of the questions.

 

[KaZuYa]

So Bungie have made a clone of one of the biggest titles on the PC but won't make a PC version.

That's either a huge facepalm or they got a brown envelope from Sony and Microsoft.