User blog comment:T3CHNOCIDE/What makes Destiny unique in the FPS genre?/@comment-24057866-20140818195646

I was very impressed by Destiny. Few developers are creative or ballsy enough to stray from the beaten paths created by CoD and Halo, and not only did Bungie do so, they did it well. Bungie has said many times that Destiny is "first and foremost an action game," and they were not misleading at all. The action is very solid--so solid that if its Campaign was just the usual beginning-middle-end story-driven shooter, I would still like it just as much. However, since those types of games are severely lacking in replay value, I probably would just rent it and not buy it. What makes Destiny a "buy" game and not a "rent" game for me is the MMO leveling elements. I actually do enjoy the MMO grind, but I've never been into MMOs because the core gameplay is always shallow, like simple hack-and-slash (PSO2) or point-and-click (WoW, RuneScape). So you combine the MMO leveling with solid FPS gameplay (my favorite genre), it's difficult for me to not like it.

But I digress. I think that what makes Destiny unique in the FPS genre is that its core gameplay actually unique. To put it another way, it is unlike Titanfall in that though Titanfall may have its own unique features and mechanics, the core gameplay--how you move, aim, shoot, and how all of that feels--is nearly identical to CoD. Although Destiny incorporates aim-down-sights, the long kill times introduce a metagame not unlike what Halo has. Although Destiny incorporates headshots, they are simply damage bonuses and not instant-kills. Although Destiny incorporates many movement modes (e.g. double-jumping), you cannot use them in combat.

To me, it is this core gameplay that is what truly makes Destiny unique among other shooters. Anyone could take CoD or Halo or Battlefield and add in an MMO-like leveling system. But designing completely new and fun core gameplay is something that takes more talent and creativity than most developers have.