It's day one for "Destiny," the most hotly anticipated online video game since the release of "Halo," and would-be buyers are looking out for launch-day reviews to help them decide whether to pick up a copy of the game or not. The game's developer, however, discourages gamers from relying on early reviews.
Bungie, which was also responsible for developing "Halo" for Microsoft, warns players to be on the watch for "pageant judges," or first-day reviewers, saying that the best way to experience the game is when its virtual world is fully populated.
"Destiny," which takes place in the last city on Earth in a post-apocalyptic world 700 years from now, is not "a typical shooter" game, says David "Deej" Dague, community manager at Bungie, in a blog post. Dague went on to enumerate other things players could do during the game, such as experience the storyline, play a few multiplayer rounds and brave the weekly Strike challenges, but also says that these activities are merely "a foundation for so much more." This "so much more" apparently begins at Level 20.
"Destiny really begins at Level 20," says Bungie's head of design Luke Smith. "Afterwards, each player's power is displayed as their Light Level - this is the yellow number in their nameplate post-20 in the Tower."
Bungie estimates that for each public space in "Destiny" to be fully populated, at least a thousand gamers must be online playing with or against one another. Players will not be pitted against a thousand others at once, though. There are free-for-all spaces where they can play with everyone and smaller zones where they are matched with other players in the same level.
"After thousands of internal playtests, an internal Alpha, and a public Beta, we've also learned that Destiny isn't Destiny without the most crucial component to our living, social world: You," says Dague.
Bungie apparently tried to create ways to populate the game from the beginning but ultimately decided for the public to pick up their own copy of "Destiny" and allow the "vibrant population" needed for players to fully experience what the game has to offer to build itself organically.
"We fully anticipate seeing day one reviews from folks who decide to kick the tires, but don't have the time or patience to take our ride for a nice, long road trip," says Dague. "Some of you might wait to pick up a copy until you read the final verdict from your most trusted review house. We're okay with that. We've created something we're proud of."
