Destiny: 10 Missing Features It Desperately Needs

From that first bit of hype and the prodigal bit of pre-rendered footage Bungie's latest project Destiny has been called everything from a quasi-MMO, an online shooter, and of course the console industry's eternally backward interpretation of MMORPG; a 'persistent online world'. Let's add another moniker to that list: Destiny is a staircase. Unfortunately, every third stair is missing. As you may have guessed, this makes ascending - progressing, you might call it - quite the challenge, even a chore. But those first two steps? Phenomenal. If you manage to stand in the right places, it stays that way, but few players have been so lucky. Destiny starts out strong; barring the shockingly limited character creator, you truly do get dessert first. The FPS gameplay at its core delivers the polish and experience you would expect from the makers of Halo, but with further elements of verticality and manoeuvrability added in like double-jumps and cover-sliding. The visuals, too, have style dripping off the screen (if only for new-gen players) and have been expertly paired with a thumping and iconic soundtrack which mixes orchestral symphony with its equally rhythmic action. It's addicting and fun, but unquestionably flawed. For all its charm and promise, and notably despite its oft-boasted $500 million budget, Destiny has more holes than Julius Caesar. Frankly embarrassing repetition in mission design, minimal endgame content, a blatant lack of storytelling that treats its charitably described canon like something it won by sending in 25 marked box-tops - the list is frighteningly long. Admirably, Bungie has admitted to some of their more multiplayer-focussed blunders, but better still, many of Destiny's gaps could be patched up relatively easily.