The Destiny 2 Beta was this weekend just gone, so we downloaded it and started playing on our PS4s. Sorry PC gamers, you’ll have to wait until August for your turn, although this is only a rumour at the moment. Nothing’s been confirmed. There is still however plenty to talk about, so here are our thoughts on the Destiny 2 beta!

When you first load in, you need to select your character. You are given the decision of Titan, Warlock or Hunter as your playable character. Following this, you are greeted by beautiful cinematic scenes and as soon as it ends you’re thrown straight into the action. The tower is in ruin, the traveller has some device attached to it, the speaker’s missing and the Red Legion are everywhere!

The mission lasts for around 30 minutes and is the only story mission available in the beta. The rest of the content comes from two multiplayer games: Control and Countdown, and a Strike (3 man dungeon), named The Inverted Spire. For those of you not familiar with Destiny; Control is a standard capture the flag game type where teams have to earn a set amount of points. Get there first, your team wins. Countdown on the other hand is a type of Search and Destroy. Your team, if attacking needs to activate the charge and wait for it to blow. If you’re defending, then you attempt to stop the enemy team from destroying their objective.

Along with the two game modes comes two new maps, Midtown for Countdown and Endless Vale for Control. Midtown has the three standard lanes. One left, one right and one centre, with as you would expect, your normal flanking offshoots. It has a mix of both long range, sniper lanes and up close n’ personal areas. Endless Valve is quite the opposite with from what I can gather has been built for up close, fast moment to moment games, with different levels and hallways leading round the back, side and front of the enemy.

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Midtown – Countdown

The Inverted Spire

If you’ve played Destiny before you’ll probably draw some similarities from The Undying Mind strike released with The Dark Below Expansion. You start high, work you way down fighting mobs, mobs, mobs and some more mobs. The last boss is kind of similar too, just with legs, There are three phases to this fight. Each one is shown by the elemental damage of his major attacks; Void, Fire and Arc. At each phase the floor will disappear and you will fall down on to the next one. The second phase is where I found most of my similarities. Protheon will stand in the centre while hobgoblins and goblins spawn. He will set the ground on fire and knock you back if you’re standing too close. If you’re not careful, his knock back will send you flying off the ledge to your death. At about 35/40%, the floor is off again and you’re falling down to the third and final section of this fight this time your in the centre and he’s running round the outside, until about 15/20% which is when he loses his head. He will then run into the centre and go ham on everyone. This is what I class as a burn phase. What ever you have, use it to take him down quickly, or he will take you down quickly.

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Protheon – The Inverted Spire

My Thoughts:

Anyone that knows me knows how much I love Destiny, and how much I hate it. The beta showed some real promise in regards to the story, if the Homecoming mission is a taster of what we have to come. The crucible is the crucible for me. I liked Countdown, I liked the maps but it’s nothing I have ever sunk a huge amount of time into unless it was Iron Banner Week. The Inverted Spire was great. I really felt like the boss had substance and wasn’t just a sponge. I liked the mini bosses dotted throughout the strike and that’s about it. Initial impressions are good, it’s Destiny 1 with an improved look and a narrative.

Nick’s Thoughts:

I never played the first Destiny, though I know it has been a very popular game between friends. I wasn’t sure what to expect when playing the beta, I assumed something a little like Halo and I guess I was right. I enjoyed the beta. Betas to me feel like a taster of whats to come and I came away wanting more. I thought there was enough content to entice me to pre order and showed real promise for the game. I liked the difficulty of the Strike, the customisation of the your character and the the guns… so many guns! What I didn’t like was the triple jump, bunny hop thing. I mean, it’s needed, it saved me from dying many times but it just felt odd. I guess that’s because I’m new to the series and haven’t bunny hopped in a long time! Overall, a solid 8/10 for me.