A Firsthand Look at Destiny's Multiplayer

After dealing with the crazy line at Activision's booth,  I finally caught a first glimpse at Destiny's multiplayer mode, titled Crucible. The strong Halo feel the game exuded in movement, reloading and vehicle maneuvering flowed with the original feeling of the Halo series.

Before even entering the coveted room filled with rows of Destiny-demoing monitors, each player was given an RFID wristband to register themselves with the Destiny Experience. The experience provides codes for those who continue to follow Destiny related content for the rest of E3, and served no real purpose for the demo itself.

Players were instructed to get behind a monitor with a preset character behind it. I sat behind the hunter, a lighter, more agile class. The two other classes, the spell-wielding warlock and bulkier titan, were also playable during the E3 demo. 

Two 6v6 capture point game, called Control, were set up for our play session, with a pair of the three classes forming one team. Team members had to both neutralize and capture points by standing within close radius of the flagged point. Points were tallied for controlling the three designated areas, and the winner is announced after the five-minute time session ended. Two rounds were played for each demo session.

Unique multiplayer features included vehicles in multiplayer, as well as a super ability. Enabling your character's super ability simply made you more powerful, capable of ambushing other teams and forcing your way into an enemy capture point. It became pretty simple to conquer and caputre

Destiny's controls flowed surprisingly like Halo in movement. Running, reloading and aiming all had an indescribable Halo feel, which felt comforting when you are jumping right into a game, despite the demo running on PS4s.

The playthrough's focus on multiplayer muffled much diversity with the three classes. Most characters had access to various types of weapons, including some that may not properly fit a class' play style. I alternatively couldn't distinguish from an enemy warlock, titan and hunter class, which appears to be how Bungie is framing Destiny in general. They claim to create strong diversity despite the three classes, which would explain why one of my weapon loadout options was a shotgun for my Hunter.

It was clear some players had a rougher time diving into the game than others, as you could tell by the scoreboard. It wasn't uncommon to regularly see multiple players with 0 points on both teams. 

Despite the short play time with multiplayer, I'm ready for more. Destiny has primarily promoted their single player, so more opinions will solidify as single player as beta coverage expands. Until then, we'll all be waiting patiently to define our own badass stories in Destiny.