In a society where freedom of speech seems to be a privilege rather than a right, the internet is a god send. Back in the day, you would have to watch the news or god forbid, read a newspaper or book for information. This is all well and good, however back then you were stuck to whatever sources the government allowed or thought was suitable. We like to think we have freedom of speech in terms of things like books, but that’s far from the truth. I mean if you wrote a book entitled “David Cameron is a cunt.” I’m pretty sure they would have something to say about it. After all, it never matters what you have to say, rather what the rich and powerful have to say.
So before the internet we were only exposed to information that the government and media allowed. Most opinionated content was and still is watered down as to not be controversial. The media support what ever views are in their best interest and makes them money. As a result we are left with biased information and restricting censorship. Whether we like it or not, we are conditioned to believe and perceive thing the way our country wants us to.
In comes the internet. Suddenly, an endless sea of uncensored and raw information at our fingertips. Generally speaking, the internet is anonymous. People posting content were unlike the media. They weren’t scared of how the public view them or what politicians ass their kissing. It’s an open playing field. Anything goes. Finally, people weren’t limited to society pre-conceived notions and views. They had a place to bask in unregulated knowledge and vent their controversial views.
Of cause, the powerful couldn’t stomach this. Citizens with their own opinions? There’s nothing worse. A lack of information breeds narrow-minded and stupid people. The government likes stupid people because they comply and don’t question how fucked up the system is.
You can almost sense it in the air. Politicians are scared. No longer are peopled forced to be force fed the same biased shit day in and day out. Lead to believe their own lives are so miserable, the only thing to make it better is to buy and consume. We are evolving intellectually due to the internet. The rich and powerful stay in power within this corrupt system due to a lack of intellect and self proclaimed freewill. However, if you look for it you will notice people are getting smarter. Their realizing that they’re living in a prison. You only need to browse message boards such as Reddit to see the sheer number of people beginning to take a more libertarian stance against society. Times are changing. Views are changing.
Like I said, the powers above don’t like our new found intellectual and creative freedom. We are currently treading on a digital battlefield. Governments are trying to censor the internet through various tactics such as David Camerons pornography block. Some countries such as Egypt will just out right abolish it. However, for once people are fighting back. Their are many movements and a general negative census towards regulation. People are waking up, and soon enough politicians may be fighting a losing battle. If you want the human race to evolve, I urge you. Turn of the television, Fight back against censorship, don’t buy into consumerism, learn, question and discover. If we give our all against this blatant control of perception then maybe one day, we will live in a utopia rather than dystopia. A world free of censorship and consumerism where the human race can evolve and flourish.
After somewhat losing hope in the gaming industry, I stopped religiously playing games a long time ago. I tried to rekindle my love by buying Halo 4. This just increased my cynicism further. It wasn’t the same as it was back in the golden days. Halo 4 lacked the fun, excitement and just general epicness of it’s predecessors. After realizing Bungie had not developed this particular Halo, I was very eager to try the Destiny beta when it came out. After all, this may be what we sacrificed the Halo franchise for.
Oh how I miss these days…
First Impressions
Okay, so once the game loads up you are presented with the character creation screen. Which, lets be honest, is pretty limited. Don’t get me wrong the textures look pretty great and I am already loving the color pallet, but there just isn’t much choice. Hopefully when the game is completed we will have more options.
You get a choice of three different races. Awoken, which are these weird blue avatar looking people, humans and Exo. Exo’s are probably the most bad ass looking of the classes. With their almost terminator like looks and piercing eyes their hard to resist. You aren’t really given any description or information about these races which I feel would of added a nice touch.
To be honest the classes are pretty standard, cliche and unimaginative. They way they look is great, and I feel they paid a lot of attention to detail. However, I couldn’t help but get that generic RPG feel from it.
First you get your tanked up power house. You know, shoot first ask questions later. The titan, although slow is all about taking damage and giving damage. Overall, this is a pretty bog-standard and boring class with nothing really that notable about it. If I were you, I would go for the Hunter or Warlock.
Next up is the Hunter. Yep you guessed it. A stealthy character who uses long range weapons. I like being a sneaky little bastard so I chose this guy. However, I found that their was little option for stealth in this game. It’s like halo in a sense that if you piss one enemy of, they all will come to eat your face. The hunter has a sub class called blade dancer which specializes in using his knife. I found great joy in lunging at enemies faces from half a mile away with my blade. A really nice and effective feature. One thing I did find however is that the Hunters special ability is way overpowered. When you activate it you are giving a hand cannon, which is generally speaking, a one hit kill. This can get extremely annoying in PVP (It didn’t stop me from using it though…)
Finally you get your standard magic sort of guy, who in destiny, is the warlock. This is a VERY fun class to use. The design is pretty nice and you get to glide around. You just feel genuinely powerful when using this character and I honestly think it is one of the best mage-like classes in a game like this to date.
Truth be told I was not expecting much after character creation. However, as soon as I heard the Halo-esque music and saw that shuttle hurdling through space, I just knew. Somehow, I just knew that this would be a game of epic proportion. The first cut-scene is extremely beautiful and cinematic. It brings back that nostalgia and wonder from the first time you ever played the long awaited Halo 3. I’m not a fan of cut-scenes you can’t skip, but why would you want to skip this. It is truly epic and a perfect start to the game.
The first mission starts classic Bungie style. Guy falls from the sky, dosen’t know who or what he his, time to shoot at some shit. Simple, but it works. This game dosen’t really let you in on much back story or plot-line, which I guess is good as it prevents exposition. However, all I really got is that I’m this guy in the future and I have to shoot at ugly stuff. FPS’s are known for weak story-lines so I’ll let Bungie of on this one.
The first mission is surprisingly pretty fun and intense. There’s no long winded tutorial, you can get straight into the action. I loved the scenery of post-apocalyptic old Russia. Also the desolate buildings you enter feel pretty sinister. The game is great at creating an atmosphere. There is darkened corridors with shadows of enemies flying past which really put you on edge.
When you bump into some enemies it can get pretty hectic. However, I found the controls and mechanics very fluid which added a well needed flow to the firefights, which many games don’t have. Aiming down the sights is quick and efficient, which puts an emphasize on accuracy and strives you to try and get good precise shots. The only initial qualm I had was that there was no real consequence for dying, and the game itself was pretty easy. However, in the missions there are parts with no respawn sections which can get pretty chaotic and frustrating. This adds a much need level of difficulty and skill to the game. The later missions also start to get pretty difficult as you progress, and their is the option to increase the difficulty which rewards you more XP.
Multiplayer – 9/10
After completing the first mission you now have access to you “hub” if you like. This is the place where you decide where you want to go, whether it is a mission, the social zone or PVP. I straight away went to “The tower” which is the social zone with all the other players on the server. After an epic cut scene to make up for long loading times you arrive in the MMO world.
The tower is a pretty picturesque place with beautiful scenery. You can do expressions to other players, so it is not uncommon to see various dance offs happening between users. These sort of social features bring back the fun factor which Halo 4 was severely missing. There’s not much to do in the tower at the moment other then mess around and buy items. However, I can see the MMO aspects becoming probably one of the funnest parts of the full game.
The co-op is just as fast-paced as the single player and with the option to play with other random players it can get pretty fun. I really think this is a game meant to be played with friends. With things such as loot Destiny reminds me a little of Borderlands, which too, is best played co-op. However, I was itching for more loot as so far there isn’t really much. I hope Bungie makes loot a more central part of the game later on.
Once you reach level 5 you can enter PVP known in Detiny as “The Crucible.” I found the multiplayer challenging, extremely competitive yet fair. You need to be a certain level to enter different game modes and many level advantages are removed for PVP so people don’t get an unfair advantage. The objective games are very competitive and the maps are well thought out, making people actually focus on the objective, and not just kills. I really loved the PVP and although hard, it keeps less skilled players interested by still being fun and fair.
Overall, it seems Bungie has tried to cram every type of multiplayer they could into this game. Surprisingly, they have tied it all up well, with neither too much or too little in each feature. I hope to see some more development of the MMO aspects within the tower and maybe some events and custom games to increase the fun factor.
Mechanics – 10/10
The controls and mechanics of this game, like I said are just so fluid. When in a firefight, you never really lose your flow and can really get immersed in the intensity. The health system is fair, but challenging and navigation, skill sets and just general getting around is simple and intuitive. Oh and I forgot to mention, the vehicles on this game are unbelievably fast and fun to drive.
Gameplay – 7/10
It acts like a pretty basic FPS with a very borderland-esque touch to it. The gunfights can get extremely hectic and difficult, which is fun, but can get frustrating at times. Especially when you are in a no respawn zone. The missions did start getting pretty samey with pretty much identical scenery. However, I am keeping in mind it is not complete, and I hope to see more variety in the full game. Also, playing on your own isn’t near enough as fun as multiplayer so I would recommend getting some friends before you buy it.
Presentation – 9/10
Wow. Truly beautiful. The scenery at times is breathtaking and the graphics and color pallet used are just perfect and enticing. With a truly epic soundtrack to accompany it, the designers should really be proud of themselves.
Final Verdict
I think Bungie really nailed it this time. What I find remarkable is how they have managed to gather everything that makes a decent game and put it into one nice neat little package. If the beta is the pinnacle of the games greatness, then sure, it’s going to be a good game. However, if this is just a taster of whats to come then I have a feeling we have an iconic and incredible game in our midst.
The halo franchise may be dead and gone, but we have been offered destiny in it’s place. In my opinion it’s not that bad of a trade of. Halo was getting old anyway.
I think this poem speaks volumes to anyone that has tried to achieve or become great at something in their lives. Not just in terms of writing, but anyone who wants to become anything, whether it be a musician and actor or even a painter. Here Bukowski reminds us to work and persevere at our passions for the right reasons. For us remain authentic and not just try and replicate and leech of somebody else’s success. So many writers, musicians or artists try to copy other peoples styles. Style is everything and to make an impact I feel you need to put parts of yourself into your work. This can’t be done unless what you are doing creates energy, until you need your passion more than the air that breath.
What are you doing right now?
Like many people you may be stuck in a job that you hate. Doing the things that you think you should be doing. Rather than doing the things you want to be doing. Just stop for a moment. Think. Is this what I want to be doing? Is this what I am passionate about. If the answer is no then you need to throw away societies expectations and do what you love. Don’t wait for the right time. The right time is now. If it’s what you want, than the right time always and always has been now. Otherwise, you may find yourself at age 60 miserable and unfulfilled. With nothing to show for it but a nice house and a lifetime of regret.
After all, nobody sits on their death bed wishing they had spent more time working and doing things they don’t enjoy.
Hello fellow humans. Let me take some time out of your busy schedule of self-loathing and compliance, so I can welcome you to my blog. Well if you could call it that. I like to think of it more like a series of random thoughts flimsily held together by the imaginary blocks which make up your computer screen. There’s no real purpose for this I just think it is about time I dusted up my writing. If I get a couple of readers in the process… Well that’s a bonus. At least 90 % of these so-called ‘readers’ won’t give two flying fucks about what I say. This is the internet for Christ sake. The best I got when I used to blog was the odd generic comment saying something like “I found this article fruitful, please write more.” Oh great ! you think too yourself whilst violently masturbating your already inflated ego. completely oblivious of the fact that the comment suspiciously leads to a plumbing website and the profile has posted the exact same comment for countless other blogs. NO. That doesn’t matter. Now you can go and tell all your friends how you got a comment on your blog. Did I mention that I WRITE A BLOG. Yes you did for the nine-thousand-six-hundred and sixty-fifth time this week. Nobody cares that some obscure anonymous person who you will never meet enjoys reading about your life and “liking” your “selfies”.
“An accurate (And beautiful may I add) diagram that I created in order to explain how things go down in the blogging world”
Blogging sucks there is no doubt about it. Trying to make a living from writing is the most soul-destroying and disappointing endeavor known to man that’s for sure. But there is one thing that I know for a fact. There is hope out there. Once you plow through the shit storm that is the chauvinistic and sensationalist mainstream media, maybe you will see it too. That tiny light in the distance telling you that maybe, just maybe there are people out there who aren’t just complete idiots…
want the human race to evolve, I urge you. Turn of the television, Fight back against censorship, don’t buy into consumerism, learn, question and discover. If we give our all against this blatant control of perception then maybe one day, we will live in a utopia rather than dystopia. A world free of censorship and consumerism where the human race can evolve and flourish.
exposition. However, all I really got is that I’m this guy in the future and I have to shoot at ugly stuff. FPS’s are known for weak story-lines so I’ll let Bungie of on this one.
The Lonely West 