Destiny Alpha: Impressions, Information and Expectations

Alpha has come and gone…

Well the Alpha version of Bungie’s Destiny on the PS$ has now officially closed. Safe to say even in its Alpha form, Destiny is quite the spectacle. I was lucky enough to be able to get access to it and it was a lot of fun! I was interested interested in it after seeing trailers and videos of it at E3, but this Alpha version really sold me on it!! I would play for hours completing quests and fighting the Fallen and Hive, the enemy unites in the Alpha.

Your Character, Customization and You

At the beginning you have, like in most RPG/MMORPG’s, to create your character. There are three major classes: Titan, Hunter and Warlock. They are basically high tech futuristic forms of the traditional Warrior, Thief and Mage classes. However the abilities that come with the classes are ones that require strategy and can’t just be used at random. The character customization options are decently elaborate, similar to Skyrim or Mass Effect. Everything about the face and body can be customized. There were three specific races available: Human, Awoken and Exo. In the Alpha, none of the races had any additions to stats or abilities but that hopefully will change for the final product, as well as more different races. The gameplay handled like most FPS shooters, which is not a surprise as this game is a product of Activision, and was very stable, sensitive and fun to play. Powers level up over time and can be unlocked over time, not every time you level up. This is a refreshing new style of leveling up abilities and stats, which made level farming not a solution or tactic.

Worlds Available to Visit

In the Alpha, there were three locations available: The Arena, The Tower and Earth. Earth, which only had one main area known as Old Russia, was the main area where enemies spawned around every corner and a few quests to take care of. The terrain is huge, but luckily you have a handy speeder to help navigate the enemy ridden territory. The Tower is mostly a hub world where you can resupply and upgrade your armor and weapons. Finally the Arena was a location to fight against fellow players. There wasn’t a variety of quests available, one or two story missions and a handful of retrieving items and assassinations of various higher level Fallen.

Enemies and Other Players

While traversing the wild of Old Russia, the gorgeous landscape is dotted with beautiful scenery, horrible alien foes and fellow Guardians. Players in the Alpha version were able to go in groups to defeat the various re-spawning Fallen. Some of which were very hard to handle single-highhandedly but a cinch when in a group. There were also occasional events, when a huge enemy would spawn in one of the areas with various weaker Fallen supporting it. Players had to work together to take down a giant Fallen enemy the size of a building under a time limit nonetheless. It was exhilierating, intense and the experience and items dropped by the behemoth weren’t too shabby either.

Final Words

Destiny Alpha was an amazing first hand look into the gameplay, look and style of Activision and Bungie’s creation. The gameplay was solid, the progression of powers was unique and really got me invested in the Destiny universe. If you want to get an early look into the world of Destiny, if you pre-order Destiny it comes with access to the Beta version. Either way, Destiny is very unique and fun experience.