Happy Thursday my fellow Pixlbits!
What follows is the ramblings of a man all coffee’d up and eagerly anticipating the release of Destiny. Try note to be too judgmental.
I’ve sat patiently these past seven months. Patiently enduring podcasts, blogs & tweets full of opinions regarding the next/current generation of consoles. Conversations regarding 60 frames per second and 1080p were but water to my duck’s back as I made do with my PS3, Vita & Wii.
But now, my friends, the time is nigh to enter the next gen arena (so to speak). September 9th is the date. The Destiny PS4 bundle is the ticket. I’m in. Soon.
Back in February, when we were all in a furor of blogging for BaD, I posted my list of most anticipated games. Five games which back in February were making my mouth water in anticipation of their sharp visuals and crisp gameplay. Five games which did not include Destiny.
Let me take a moment here to mention my love/hate relationship with the FPS genre and specifically Bungie.
To the best of my knowledge, my introduction to the FPS genre was Duke Nuken 3D at an approximate age of eleven. From the get go the genre both exhilarated and scared me with its up close and personal visuals and its requirement for fast reactions. I was hooked. I remember my buddy and I playing well into the morning trying to get punt the final bosses head over the goalposts but wasting far too much time handing dollars to the pole dancers. Oh the joys of youth. The next games which really stood out to me were the original Medal of Honor games and Unreal Tournament. Both games offered very different takes on the genre and both had a rather large impact on my gaming growth.
The game that takes the biscuit though is Halo: Combat Evolved.
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Without a shadow of a doubt, the original Halo claimed more of my time than any other game. I literally played if for an entire calendar year. That’s twelve months of wanting to do nothing more than play co-op with my friends and kill as many Grunts as possible. We tried speed runs, we found all the secret places, we played with the physics, we even played our own made up games in the multiplayer maps (with our own commentary). We genuinely gained as much as is possible from that game and enjoyed every second of it. Then the unthinkable happened. Halo 2. Halo fucking 2. I’m more than likely alone here but there is not a game on this planet today that disappointed me more than Halo 2. Sure the gameplay was crisp. Sure there were more weapons. Sure they introduced new features (& online) to the multiplayer. And sure enough, I didn’t care. Looking back on it now, as tends to happen for gamers with sequels, my anticipation and excitement for the game could never have been fully satisfied. I wanted not just a game, I wanted an experience. I wanted to feel what Halo: Combat Evolved had made me feel when I first played it. I wanted to be awed, I wanted to be amazed. I wanted it all. And thus, in one fell swoop, my FPS desire was quenched. Killed even. I lost all excitement in the genre and although in later years I purchased & played games such as Halo 3, Bioshock & Killzone 3, it was more to check if maybe, just maybe, I could reclaim that feeling. Alas, no.
Enter Destiny.
I won’t lie here folks, against my better judgment, I’m damn excited for this game. I’ve watched dozens of gameplay videos this past week and it feels “right”. The game looks to have heart, ambition and most importantly, it seems to have a true sense of what it wants to be. Combine this with truly gorgeous graphics (just look at the hair!) and a FUCKING WHITE PS4!! and I’m gung ho. Totally fucking gung ho.
PS4, you may have had my heart from the get go, but it is your sexy lover Destiny which has pulled me under the covers.
September 9th cannot come quickly enough.
Later!
Halo 2 is my favorite, but i didn't play it as much as Halo 1. The other Halos just bored me though. I think the height of the halo series was in Halo 2 when you're the alien, descending into that level cloaked. That was awesome. IT's all been downhill from there.
I haven't played 4, because I've lost interest in the series. But like you, I'm eager to see Bungie try something new. Destiny excites me too, and I do want one of those white PS4's. We'll see.
Halo 2 just didn't click for me. I really wanted to like it but I think I overspent myself on the original.
me too, except i wasn't burnt out on it until after 2. I don't know if I'd say Halo was the best FPS, I've played many that were better, but the key was for the first time i could play co-op on the same TV with my brother, and man, that was such a thrill. I'll never forget those times.
I want that White PS4 too. I'm not sure Destiny is going to be something I'd play but that's beside the point.
You sound like me with the Assassins Creed white Vita bundle. I think I may have played the game three times but the console itself looks amazing
I hope they do a Crackdown bundle. I'm going to be all over that. Destiny? I'm excited for it, but for some reason I'm not all gaga about it yet. Maybe it's that it seems to be focused on multiplayer even in the campaign, but maybe I've just not read enough about it yet. Also, it's coming to Xbox 360, and I know my gaming friend isn't going to get a Xbox One for it. I think I just need to know more about it. I want a single player campaign with co-op like Halo 1. Multiplayer all the time doesn't excite me.
The more I read into it and see peoples reactions from playing the Alpha, the more I like it. It seems that it will have some MMO aspects to it but for the most part, you can lone wolf all you want. I'm ok with other players being in my gameplay experience as long as I have options to go alone.
I honestly might prefer the black PS4. I'd have to see them up close though.
Once you go white, you never go back. Something like that anyway.
Your well written blog Alex shames my hastily put together ramble but dammit, a man is entitled to his own opinion 
I know, just wanted to bring some balance 
I'm with you on the Destiny Bundle, but I'm going more for the White PS4. It isn't a requirement for me to have something that is a different color, but if it's available why now? If the local stores run out of pre orders, then I'll just stick with the normal black PS4.
Yeah it's pretty damn awesome looking though for me Destiny is definitely my reason for buying
The Halo series went off the rails for me at Halo 2 and I haven't been able to climb back on since.
As for Destiny, damn does it look cool. It kind of makes me want to go pre-order so I can get into the beta next month. But I heard some of the lines of dialogue that Peter Dinklage did for the game and its sounds phoned in as hell.
Man, that guy Peter Dinklage is showing up everywhere lately. I heard this on Wired's Game/Life Podcast recently. Can't get it out of my head now.
I didn't realise he cut audio for it. That's great!
Not taking the dive on a PS4 just yet but I will be playing Destiny on PS3 and thats good enough for me. I'm just counting the days till the Beta starts.
I wonder if there will be much difference between the two. I'm always cautious with games that run cross generation. I'm really looking forward to it too though.
Not suprising that you'd be into Destiny if you fell in love with the original Halo. No matter how hard I try to get interested in Destiny it just looks like an alternate version of Halo. the alien baddies kinda look like elites, the armor you have looks like a lesser bulkier version of the Master Chief's armor, even that one floating orb charcter looks like a monitor from the forerunner era!
I'm sure it'll be good since I hear it's suppose to handle better and offer unique ways to play the game (i remember that four player game of Destiny back in last year's E3). Not sure if it's enough for me to buy the bundle pack but it's good that they are offering it.
To be honest, it's been so long since I played a Halo game at this stage that the similarities don't bother me. Gameplay looks clean and I'm looking forward to seeing how the Beta looks when it's opened.