The cheese is finally over!
The first piece of DLC for Destiny is out, well, has been out for a couple of weeks, but I didn't feel comfortable to push out a rushed review. I mean, it's Destiny man, a special game and it deserves special attention. It's a game I have been playing nonstop for the last couple of months, really playing it not like these other so called "reviewers" have done. Yep, I am pissed at the majority of the "game journalists" or "reviewers" that have reviewed The Dark Below these past couple of weeks giving extremely low scores and bashing it completely.
What do these guys expect? It's more of Destiny! More missions, more strikes, a new badass raid, new playlists, new PVP maps and a sh*t ton of new weapons and gear. How can you not love that? I don't really understand why these people are crying out loud about this DLC all over the internet. Destiny, as I said, is a special game and if you really get into it becomes really really addictive, believe me. The gunplay is pitch-perfect, the movement and overall feel is fantastic and it looks bloody gorgeous to look at.
Sure the story sucked, but it didn't really matter, it was just a filler or a way to justify killing thousands of aliens aka have fun. The same trend continues with the story part of this DLC, it is just not there, but you don't really care. Some lady, maybe one of the first guardians, fought and failed against the Hive god, Crota, and now it is your job to make things right. So you have to accomplish some tasks aka kill hundreds of aliens in order to succeed. But again, same as the main story, what you do have really no impact on the world, story or outcome, things just stay the same... you just get more new and badass loot.
And there is nothing wrong about that. In contrary that is what makes Destiny a special game. The new Vanguard Roc strike playlist with the one or two, for PS3/PS4 users, strikes helps a ton with that, handing out legendary weapons, engrams and even exotic weapons upon completion. These two new strikes while keeping the same strike formula, run and gun, offer a quite challenging and extremely satisfying gameplay. But as I said the new loot kicks it up a notch. New legendary shotguns, ARs, scout and pulse rifles, armor, shaders etc. you name it, Bungie has added it. Along with the vastness of new legendaries, there is a myriad of new and extremely satisfying exotic weapons and gear with some cool and unique stats and effects.
Which you'll definitely need if you think of taking down Crota in the new Crota's End Raid. Oh the new raid is so much fun. Much like Vault of Glass, it's feels like a separate experience within Destiny, with new unique mechanics thrown in to make shake things up. It is a pure co-op experience... if you played it for the first time like three days ago. See the new raid had quite a rocky start, where you can "cheese" or glitch the f*ck out of it solo reaping all of the rewards it had to offer. HEY, I am not complaining, I quite liked it, the new raid set looks sweet on my Warlock and Hunter so yeah. Many people complained about it and I am (not) pleased to say that that "cheese" has gone for good and has made the raid an extremely satisfying experience to go through with a team of 31's and 32's players the proper way, Icebreaking and Gjallarhorning the sh*t out of Crota while he is begging on his knees so the badass Hunter won't cut him down with the mighty sword... damn it's so satisfying!
This DLC does not do anything dramatically new for Destiny, it's just more of the grind you grew to love or hate, more beautifully executed gameplay and new levels of satisfaction. I can go long on this review, describing in details the missions, story, how the strikes play out and why the raid is so great, but that would take way too long and will bore the f*ck out of you. So I am just going to wrap it up by saying that if you love and understand Destiny, it's must buy no matter what, but if you are a casual player well, it's a pass. Thanks for reading!
