‘Destiny’ Review Roundup: Sales Numbers High, But Critics Say It Fails As A MMO

The Destiny reviews from critics are just starting to come pouring in, but Bungie’s first big game since separating from Microsoft is receiving ratings a bit lower than you might expect, especially considering the sales numbers have already shot past $500 million.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, the Destiny PC version release date has the PC master race crowd grumbling that their version wasn’t launched with the others. But if you’re gaming on a console, then you might be interested in the locations of the Destiny gold chest and dead ghosts.

Way before the Destiny beta, the critics were lavishing praise on Bungie, and even the launch trailer highlights the 180 awards they received. Leading up to the launch, Bungie was quick to point out that Destiny could not be reviewed like the typical FPS since it is necessary to level up to a certain point in order to unlock much of the content. Perhaps that is part of the problem, but so far the Destiny reviews have been middling, receiving only a 78% on GameRankings and 81 on Metacritic. That hardly makes it a bad game, but neither does it make for a stellar launch.

For example, WorthPlaying highlights how the missions tend to be very straight-forward. Halo typically brought with it combat variety, while Destiny‘s missions tend to be blend in together.

“Destiny suffers from a serious case of rough edges. A number of elements, from the repetitive mission design to a weak early game, are a lot rougher than expected from an otherwise polished game. There isn’t one glaring problem that detracts from the experience, but a number of minor issues hurt the game. Beneath those flaws lies an extremely enjoyable MMO-styled shooter that plays excellently, looks great, is extremely addictive, and has a strong and varied endgame. Destiny makes a strong impression on anyone who’s willing to give it the time. It may not be the game-changer that Halo was, but Destiny is a strong game in its own right.”

The Destiny review from Guardian points out that its MMO-like features should extend the game, but unfortunately the Guardian–that is, the in-game player character–is more robot-like than Master Chief in his/her characterization, and your Ghost is hardly as funny or interesting as Guilty Spark, never mind Cortana.

“People say World of Warcraft only gets good after 50 hours, but this isn’t World of Warcraft, this is supposed to be the future – and many gamers won’t make it that far through this dryly earnest narrative universe; a universe that amazes us at times, but regards us with clinical abstraction.”

For quite a while now, Bungie has not liked Destiny being called a MMO since they knew it created preconceptions of how the game should be. Perhaps it’s a marketing issue, but NZGamer believes Destiny failed in those MMO aspects.

“Destiny isn’t a bad game, by any means. If you like sci-fi shooters, you’ll get a good 20 hours of enjoyment out of this. But that’s really all it is; a fun, forgettable shooter that plays it safe and sticks to what’s been proven, with nothing to really set it apart from it’s peers. But maybe that’s for the best, because Destiny’s one area of attempted innovation – it’s hyped up social elements, persistent world, and multiplayer gameplay, are it’s biggest failing.”

What do you think of Destiny so far?