Do Destiny 2: Forsaken and new Call of Duty battle-royale mode live up to the hype?
It has been an exciting few weeks for fans of first-person shooters, with the release of the much-anticipated Destiny 2: Forsaken and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s battle-royale mode. Did Forsaken succeed in its ambition to revitalise the Destiny experience? Does Blackout make up for the lack of a single-player campaign and can it go toe to toe with the likes of the all-conquering Fortnite? Read on to find out.
Destiny 2: Forsaken
Cayde-6 dies. This isn’t a spoiler because it has been heavily featured in the marketing for this, the first full expansion for Destiny 2. The death of this fan favourite – voiced by Firefly and Castle’s Nathan Fillion in previous instalments, but by veteran voice actor Nolan North this time round – is the catalyst for a new story campaign in which you hunt down those responsible for the mouthy robot’s death.
Destiny 2 was released to rave reviews, but many players, especially veterans of the first Destiny, complained there were a few serious issues: no random rolls on weapons and armour, meaning there was no real reason to keep grinding for more gear after a certain point; the feeling that you just were not quite as powerful a gun-wielding “space wizard” as you were in the original game; and a new weapon slot system that severely limited gunplay options. Does Forsaken manage to do for Destiny 2 what The Taken King did for its predecessor, turning it into the game that it should have been at launch?
Yes. All of the above problems have been addressed, resulting in a game that has never been more fun or engaging. Random weapon perks give you a reason to keep hunting for the perfect gun, and the new weapon slot system means you can finally have a sniper rifle and rocket launcher equipped at the same time. There are new super abilities, and you once again feel like a character with the sort of power at your disposal that should have all but the most foolhardy foes quaking in their space boots.
The addition of bows to your arsenal is a revelation: running around pulling off headshots like some sort of futuristic Legolas from The Lord of the Rings is my gaming highlight of the year thus far.
The new campaign is excellent, lacking the tonal inconsistency that cropped up in the past, and the new strikes, adventures and the massive new raid all mean you will never be out of things to do. And that is what Destiny fans want: a game that you can play for hours every day, but still leaves you wanting more. The developers Bungie have delivered the experience they should have a year ago. But with Forsaken being as good as it is, it’s hard to hold that against them for too long. Destiny 2: Forsaken is out now on PS4, Xbox One and Windows
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode
If you can’t beat them, join them: the success of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) inspired Epic Games to add a battle-royale mode to Fortnite, and the rest is gaming history. Now, the two first-personshooter heavyweights, Battlefield and Call of Duty, are also keen for a slice of the action, but is it too little, too late? Not if the beta of Black Ops 4’s Blackout is any indication. The first thing you notice as the size of the map: it’s a strange feeling to see such a large gameplay area in a CoD title. The second is how smooth and crisp everything is. In many ways, Blackout looks and feels like a much-more
polished version of PUBG. It goes for PUBG’s more “realistic” approach, as opposed to the more cartoony Fortnite, but does it all better. The excellent weapon handling CoD is known for is present here, and it’s a joy to experience it in a huge, open world that comes with kill times much longer than usually associated with this series. If you’re the sort of gamer who enjoys most aspects of CoD, except the short kill times in multiplayer, this could realise of your most fervent first-person-shooter fantasies.
Blackout is a fun experience that could sell Black Ops 4 on its own, especially with the exposure it’s bound to get through streaming – during the beta, footballer Jamal Bajandouh from Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad FC a live stream with compatriot YouTuber oPiiLz, who has almost 1.7 million subscribers. Having a game that’s fun to watch has become as important as one that’s fun to play, and Blackout delivers on both fronts.
The lack of a campaign is hard to get to grips with, but it looks like Activision’s gamble is going to pay off.
CoD: Black Ops 4 releases on October 12 for PS4, Xbox One and Windows