Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls were easily two of my favorite games to have hit the last generation of consoles, so when From Software announced a “direct” sequel, my anticipation was palpable. Somehow, From Software is able to create some of the most grueling, most depressing worlds out there, while at the same time urges us to venture forth. While there are some hitbox issues that can add to the frustration, the bosses, environments and enemies are all well throughout, along with an incredibly intriguing hidden storyline that ties directly into the past game. It’s almost as if the developers deliberately set up scenarios to screw over players, but we took it and enjoy every minute of it.
Destiny nailed its gameplay mechanics perfectly out of the gate and those carry beautifully into Destiny 2. Aiming and shooting feel fantastic, while platforming has been tightened up with Guardians now able to clamber over ledges. Jumping is still a little floaty, but the clambering should help players avoid some unnecessary deaths.
There are a total of eight maps (nine if you’re playing on PS4), and five game modes. Supremacy, Clash, and Control are part of the Quickplay option, and new modes Countdown and Survival are part of Competitive. Unfortunately, there is no option to select the game mode you want once you select Quickplay or Competitive. If you really want to play Control, you have to hope that the game’s matchmaking doesn’t randomly throw you into Supremacy or Clash.
Outside of The Hive, The Cabal are arguably the biggest threat to Humanity. Similar to the Fallen, because apparently aliens like to follow one another, these hulking beasts came after The Collapse, but the difference comes in the form of rank and organization. While the Fallen are more multiple competing tribes, the Cabal are a consolidated race that doesn’t reason with other species; they only take what they want and do what they believe is best for their empire. Sure, there are mutinies, but they’re a militarized civilization. Unfortunately, not a whole lot is known about them prior to the events of Destiny outside of their constant advance of colonization within the solar system, namely taking over Mars and its moon, Phobos.
Much of the gameplay changes lie under the hood. Primary, Special and Heavy weapon classifications have been replaced with Kinetic, Energy and Power weapon classifications. While many may lament the fact that Sniper Rifles, Fusion Rifles and Shotguns have been moved to the Power Weapon slot, the changes made to the classifications are ultimately smart. Players now have more viable weapons to choose from, making it easier to melt enemy shields with Energy Weapons, pound unshielded enemies with Kinectic Weaponry and better control crowds with Power Weapons. New gun types like the submachine gun and grenade launcher are thrown in to add more variety and are quite fun to use.
That’s Protheon’s big mechanic. Once you get him down to a certain damage point, he drops out the floor beneath you and lands you in a new arena. He does this three times throughout the fight. The difficult part about Protheon is that he plays floor’s lava with you. When he gets pissed enough, he’ll slam his fist on the ground and burn the entirety of the floor, which forces you to jump up on some small platforms. All this does, however, is put you in the line of sight of Protheon, who has two different weapons with which to take you down. It’s a tough fight, but it’s interesting and different, and that’s what we want. I will say, however, that the rest of the strike is pretty mundane. Save for the couple of interesting set pieces I mentioned earlier, it’s kind of simple. It doesn’t have many interesting mechanics, but it is short, so running it over and over as you grind will at least be quick. So again, if all of the strikes in Destiny 2 are short and simple but also take you through a new and interesting setting with a neat boss at the end, then sign me up for more.
I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the guns in the Destiny 2 Beta, although I’m usually picky and stick with the ones I really like, but they do seem different and cater to different needs. You’re also given a lot of options in the Beta which is nice, including the ability to test out all of the different kinds of guns. They’ve changed the organization of guns as well, and I’m not too much of a fan, although I could see it working once you have a whole host of guns to choose from. Instead of Primary, Secondary, and Heavy, it’s Kinetic, Energy, and Power. Heavy and Power are synonymous, while Kinetic means regular weapons with no energy ability attached and Energy simply means that they do. Energies, remember, are the Solar, Void and Arc powers that a weapon might come with. So now, if one is Kinetic and one is Energy, you could have two assault rifles, two hand cannons or any mix of what we think of now as Primary and Secondary weapons in those slots. What I ended up using, though, was a sidearm in the Kinetic slot and an assault rifle in the Energy slot, which meant I spawned with the sidearm, which was weird. It’s different, https://www.destiny2focus.Com/ but I think that when I actually start using it it will make more sense.