1. Dusk (PC)(FPS)2. Project: Snowblind (PC)(FPS)3. Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition (PC)(FPS)4. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)5. Wolfenstein 3D: Ultimate Challenge (PC)(FPS)6. Destiny 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
7. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (PC)(FPS/RPG)
8. Destiny 2: Warmind (PC)(FPS/RPG)Destiny 2 is Bungie's continuation of their hybrid MMORPG/FPS Destiny. It's very much a Bungie game, so you'll find a lot that feels like Halo, except I can hold three guns instead of two. I'm not a big fan of Halo, but the open world and MMO approach drew me in, and while the plot comes off as ridiculous, there were enough interesting set pieces and ideas to keep me interested.
Basically I play some kind of unkillable super soldier who's been blessed by a massive alien object and given a little robot that makes me immortal. Now I get to go kill stuff. But no, a big nasty group of aliens show up, take control of the massive alien object, and strip immortality from folks. I manage to get mine back, so now I jetset around the solar system, solving problems and kicking butt until I finally get to return and deliver a big ol' beat down, Earth-style. Once that's done, it's off to the expansions and doing sidequests for better gear and additional content that's been put into the game, including PvP, PvPvE, and raid dungeon type things.
How does it feel? Well, you pick one of three classes, then earn elemental archtypes for each class which are further subdivided into specialties with some variations for grenade types, character abilities, jumping style, and how some of your abilities work together or what benefit they provide. Some are definitely more PvP focused, which is a little annoying since you can enjoy most of the content without bothering, but hey, I suppose I should be glad it's in the game. Jumping feels like Halo, grenades feel like Halo, gunplay feels like Halo, melee feels like Halo...you get the idea. Bungie doesn't stray far from what brought them success, and even the enemies feel like something that could be in the Halo universe. For example, there is an enemy group called the Hive that is more than a little reminiscent of the Flood, while the main enemies of the base game, Cabal, feel like Covenant. Not that these enemies don't get some interesting ideas thrown in, (Hive have a weird fantasy-hero naming convention, while another group, the Vex, have fantasy-villain names). The locations also vary in size and appearance, some of which I like, some of which doesn't work as well, but it provides variety.
There are a few things that annoy me. For one, grenades regen very slowly at the start, which is frustrating. The most annoying thing is that some guns rely on special ammo and are always equipped without any at the start, so you're stuck hoping you get ammo drops for it. This means shotguns and sniper rifles, thus limiting their usefulness a bit. The bigger sin is that shotguns have a range of next to nothing, so they're mainly relegated to PvP and that's it; using one in the PvE setting means you're probably not going to use it since very rarely will you be so close that simply stabbing the enemy to death isn't a better choice. Sure, you could use it to spike damage on bosses, but nearly every boss has some means to keep you away or will devastate you in close range, so it's not really worth the risk. Oh, and there is a speeder you unlock to held you fly around large areas quickly, but you won't get it until you finish the storyline, so...expect to do a lot of walking at first.
That said, there is a lot of variety and a lot to do in most locations. Things are also spread out on a daily or weekly basis, and some events can't be performed until you reach the highest tiers of gear. There are also near constant special public events going on, so you can easily hop into these for loot and for a quick firefight. End result, I like the game.
Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris is the weakest part of the game, mainly because it takes so much of the best stuff and chucks it out the window. Curse of Osiris takes place in a tiny area on Mercury with only one public event. Most of the missions it offers are in a VR world engine that requires you run through extremely samey pathways and bogs down quickly. It also spends a lot of time in loading screens as you leave Mercury, come back to Mercury, leave Mercury, come back, etc. This has made Mercury into the black sheep of the Destiny 2 series. It's bland and boring, and as much as I like the idea of a planet-sized computer constantly running VR simulations of various timelines, it just doesn't work out in execution.
Thankfully,
Destiny 2: Warmind showed Bungie can learn from their missteps. Warmind takes place on Mars and involves a super powerful AI weapon system and a tunneling worm god straight outta
Dune. You're moving between Martian polar landscape and industrial facilities, the area is much bigger than the Osiris section, and there is a ton more to do. Warmind is really refreshing after Osiris, and the plot for this expansion ends on a worrying "What have we done" note that isn't necessarily bad...but isn't necessarily good either. Basically the super powerful AI launches a satellite array to protect humanity in the solar system, but it's no longer taking any orders as to how it should go about doing this, so who knows what kinds of things it might get up to. Plus it's called Rasputin. That never bodes well.
Warmind offers ongoing fights with Hive in an escalating string of waves, a bunch of new quests and boss fight set pieces that are really cool, and a planet that's fun to explore. It's probably my third favorite locale up to this point, after the oil rigs on Titan and the EDZ, an overrun set of ruins on Earth. I say up to this point, because now I'm exploring
Destiny 2: Forsaken, and that starts with a fight in an intergalactic prison and then takes me to an asteroid belt with all kinds of skeezy characters. I got to get in a gun fight in an alien bar while techno music played. More, please.