Bungie’s Destiny could vastly boost the cooperative game landscape just as its Halo franchise did to competitive games. Halo brought shooters to consoles in a revolutionary way and Destiny looks to do the same with massive, cooperative gaming.
Will Bungie’s Destiny redefine cooperative games like Halo did for competitive shooters?
Competitive games had always been around, but with a focus on PCs rather than consoles. Once Halo was introduced, it redefined the multiplayer experience on consoles, especially with Halo 2’s inclusion of online play through Xbox Live. Halo 2’s advancements to matchmaking helped to progress online competitive multiplayer, paving the way for games like Call of Duty to reach their online potential. In the same way, co-op has also been around for some time, but a massive co-op game is lacking on consoles. There have been dabbles in the massively multiplayer market on consoles here and there, but never obvious successes. Let’s not forget that “Defiance”, which launches in April, looks to also tap this market. This new, more traditional MMO coming to consoles could help open the window for more massively multiplayer games such as Destiny, or it could shut the window and latch it down even tighter.
However,regardless of Defiance’s success, Destiny, from the little information we have, looks to be the bridge between MMO and FPS, the hardcore raiders and the headshotting trashtalkers. Bungie’s “shared world shooter” looks to integrate gamers together in their world seamlessly through social co-op. Their approach of not forcing players to play cooperatively, but allowing it to naturally happen, I believe, is the right way to go. Allow the world to engross the player first, but give them the option to share it with their friends; both experiences being encompassing, engaging, and enjoyable. If someone is looking for an MMO experience, but with a little more personal flare, Destiny looks to be that if the promises hold true.
Though the maximum number of players in a game session hasn’t been announced, if it is is anywhere above 50 players, it should be fun. Also the size of each playable space has not been specified either, so this number is likely to fluctuate. The inclusion of competitive modes will also prove to affect this number. Remember, I’m only speculating based on what I hope to see in the game at its very least. The lack of information about Destiny leaves much up to speculation, but Bungie’s choice to show concept first and gameplay later opens gamers imagination to the possibilities of what this game can be and brings forth a childlike excitement. I for one, can not wait to see what the masterminds at Bungie will bring to us in the future. That being said, Bungie, PLEASE show an ALL gameplay video! Anything but concept art! Though the art is cool, this tease is giving the proverbial “blue balls.” If you know what I mean.
