Destiny will push Dust

 We watched the Destiny gameplay reveal last night and wow, what a truly beautiful game. Bungie nailed its look, feel, even the little things like how the weapon was placed in first-person [so that it felt like you were truly holding it] or the great environments and even the birds. A game with this much detail isn't often massive, but what Destiny may lack in size it easily makes up for in visuals. Amazing how a game with so little lore already makes you almost feel its backstory. For all its lore, Dust does so little to capitalize on it or make the user care.

CCP has to be careful here. Bungie is effectively the rookie playing the same position as them who just took one back to the house.



Ive never played a Bungie game before but the emotes, the little things [like character details, great lighting, shadows, water effects and walking thorough brush] sold me instantly. It felt alive. And Bungie showed off a bit too didnt they? Taking the time to look at their environments, showing us the wonderful detail and verticality. It was awesome. Adding things like the persistent crosshair marker [to show you where hipfire will hit] along with functional red dot sights should provide great examples to CCP of how much their core game still needs to improve.

The scene where lights revealed the previously pitch black environment was magical. And showed everyone what a true AAA title is supposed to look like. For the first time that I can recall, a title made Dust 514 look like a free game. It was hard to admit that to myself as a big fan of what CCP is trying to accomplish. But it had to be said nonetheless, we do the devs a disservice when we arent honest with them regarding their shortcomings. Blind fanboysim never helped anything.

Then PVE combat was on display, The Fallen were quick and looked intimidating. Combat was fast, framerate was excellent and even the weapon & power effects were great. Was I the only one who thought 'Thats what a nova knife should look like.' I doubt it. The first boss battle was also well done, and the killshot was amazing. It was also nice to see a revive mechanic that actually worked. Destiny showed us that loot, rare drops, persistence and customization arent things that are specific to any title. They are basic parts of any game claiming to be an MMOFPS.

The beginning of the public event was nothing short of breathtaking from the ground shaking to the darkening of the environment and ship 'warping in' to the blast wave that spewed dust everywhere. We've always assumed Dusts visuals were a result of being massive, but is 16v16 really that different from 16 vs the environment? We sure cant tell. Its fine if Dust wants to keep the level of its visuals but the game will have to become truly massive to make up for it. The Fallen Assault was an example of true immersion, and it made you felt like you were there. It felt real when the Fallen ship was overhead didnt it? The Devil Walker and its weapon effects were even better. We're not going to stop supporting CCP & Dust 514 anytime soon, but we hope they acknowledged the arrival of Destiny and are prepared to counter it by competing.