Bungie Games’ Destiny has become one of the biggest releases of the year, within a day of its release on Tuesday.
Destiny marries fast-paced first-person shooter action with massively multiplayer roleplaying game elements and a plot that will keep people on the edge of their seat.
The game casts players as one of the last defenders of the human race, a Guardian. After barely stopping an alien invasion of humanity’s far-flung space colonies, Guardians are tasked with defending the last safe refuge of mankind—Earth. Guardians fight off hordes of enemies that threaten both the planet and the Traveler, a giant celestial orb that helped humanity reach the stars and achieve technologic advances never seen before.
Since its debut, Destiny has become one of the most anticipated games of the year. Gamers lined up outside their local video game and electronics stores in hopes of grabbing a copy of the game before anyone else. Expectations were high and everyone around was full of excitement for the adventures that awaited them.
Mike Akers was one of the many people standing outside a local GameStop awaiting the midnight release. For him, the main draw of Destiny was its multiplayer mode, which takes the form of three-player cooperative gaming against the AI.
“I can finally have a great co-op experience, while traveling the around shooting up aliens,” Akers said. “I just can’t wait to get home and sink my teeth in what will be one of my favorite games this year.”
Marketing major at the University of Memphis Chad Spodek shared Akers’ excitement for the game.
“I can’t wait to party up with all my friends and explore the game,” Spodek said. “It’s the only reason I really still play video games, just because I can roll around with my friends destroying stuff.”
GameStop employee Joey Carpenter was also excited for the game’s long-awaited release.
“It’s going to be a refreshing experience,” Carpenter said. “With an industry filled with year after year of repetitive shooters, it’s going to be a great break from normal shooters.”
Destiny is the first game by Bungie, the creators of the wildly popular Halo series, in four years, and was developed by many of the same people. Because of its pedigree, many gamers have high hopes and expectations for the game. Some believe that it will set new standards for both first-person shooter and massively multiplayer online games.
It was the Bungie legacy and the expectations that came with it that drew Halo fan Marcus Coleman to Destiny.
“Bungie hasn’t come out with a game since Halo: Reach, which was 4 years ago,” Coleman said. “I’ve been a fan of the Halo franchise ever since the first, and I’m hoping this game brings back the memories of all the hours I sunk into that franchise.”
