Do Destiny reviews make sense relative to Titanfall? (Destiny)

by Durandal, Sunday, September 14, 2014, 07:19 (3522 days ago) @ CINCL

I would disagree heartily with this take.

Titanfall has a few features, like the wall running and Titan interaction and mechanics, but that is really it. Without titans it is a generic FPS with some mobility features.

The levels are not really set up well for movement, either by the titans or the pilots. Levels with large open areas for Titan play are too open for pilots to traverse safely. Likewise in the city sections there is no room to maneuver with your titan to dodge and the pilots can fire on you with impunity. Plus each level doesn't feel larger then one area of a single planet on Destiny. You would think that when you have these 30 ft robots you could have a bit larger level, but each one looks about the same size as a COD map.

The boarding mechanics are simple and the titan has only one recourse, a special weapon that they have to choose to equip. Halo 3 had better animations and more options when it came to vehicles then Titanfall, which has Titans and interacting with them the central feature.

Class customization in titan fall is really insignificant. The sidearms have little differentiation, and the perks don't change gameplay significantly. Oh, I can shoot while wall running, or now I can hack 5% faster! Why would you ever hack anything other then turrets? The perks really don't change player decisions at all.

It's story, what little there exists, is delivered by a bunch of forgettable voice overs while the players are too distracted to pay attention.

Both Destiny and Titanfall have grinds, and Destiny has a much larger and broader grind but doesn't hide behind the "prestige" conceit that COD clones like Titanfall do to pad out the end game. Titanfall is a bit more arbitrary, in that each unlock has very specific random criteria, like "shoot 100 robots" to unlock this scope.

Destiny is much more forgiving in that any XP goes to unlock all your equipment and class equipped at a given time. You are not forced to kill 100 rats just to get that scope on the one gun you are still trying to decide if you like. Also, Destiny's guns start with sights. I can't tell you how much this means to me. I hate iron sights, I can't use them in FPS games. Not having to start with a gun that is crippled is a huge bonus to me.

Yes, Destiny does't have wall running and wall hanging, but it has more movement modes, supers, far more customization, a better story (yes, even what little I've seen), and actual PVP and PVE game modes. The mechanics in Destiny, are easily as varied and are more impactful. You can significantly change your play style with a change up of the perks in the same class, let alone the sub classes. This is the sign of good mechanics.

Ultimately, the low scores on Destiny are due to the MMO hype. People thought they were getting the Halo MMO under a different name, and are dissapointed that it didn't happen. Bungie hyped too much without more concrete info upfront, and made some odd and frustrating choices like the limit of 3 people per team and no proximity chat. The latter two, along with the dull boss fights are probably the main drawbacks for this game.