STACK #153 Jul 2017

GAMES FEATURE

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ACTIVISION

After Destiny 2 was announced and the hype train had slowed to a steadier pace, it was revealed that our original Destiny characters wouldn’t carry over to the sequel. The cause behind this, as it turns out, is a Cabal lord that looks a lot like Vilgax from Ben 10. His name is Ghaul, and for whatever reason, he’s pissed off with the Guardians taking up residency at the Tower. He and his large Cabal army have destroyed everything sacred to our community, and the world has been left without Light. Bungie’s sequel will feature new planets, new locations to explore, as well as revisiting a few places familiar to those that have played the original. Of course, there will also be new subclasses for your choice of Warlock, Titan, or (my personal favourite) Hunter, each with varying degrees of deadliness. Nolan North is back as your trusty Ghost companion, and veterans like Cayde-6 also show their faces again. While we were unable to go hands-on with any of the new subclasses at E3, we did get a chance to jump in for a quick multiplayer session. It still feels very much like Destiny , and that’s by no means a bad thing – why fix what isn’t broken? Movement is smoother – I noticed it especially when doing triple-jumping and sliding – and the rest of the mechanics are pretty true to the original. It remains to be seen what will come of the sequel’s campaign, and more importantly this

Considering the current climate, we thought it was an interesting decision made to set off multiple pyrotechnics during the Call of Duty: WWII multiplayer reveal at Sony's press conference. It looked (and sounded) brilliant,

but the more faint of heart may have been more than a little shocked. Pyrotechnics

Destiny 2

Second World War was earned. There’s a long way to go until November – and many more key beats, including more detailed information on the campaign – but after spending over 30 minutes with it, Call of Duty: World War II was undoubtedly one of the best games I played at E3 2017. and that is implicit in the first gameplay footage we’ve seen from the studio’s upcoming Destiny 2 – most notably in the Cabal's Tower landings and invasion. Destiny was a global sensation. An online first-person shooter, you can take to the galaxy solo (or with a couple of mates) to defend the Tower, the Traveller, and your people, from the Darkness. It thrived on its loot system, and in-game collectables known as Engrams that can be transformed into varying degrees of rare loot once you’ve completed a mission. You level based on experience and ‘Light’ – a sort of accumulated value of your gear, hence the popularity of a good find. The first game had a few substantial expansions, and Bungie made their plans known for Destiny to be a ’10 year game’. So the sequel, released almost exactly three years after the first game came out, appears to be keeping with these long term goals. Alesha: Bungie were the studio behind the Halo franchise,

set in the shattered ruins of Pointe du Hoc, a clifftop position captured on D-Day by US Rangers. A circular map consisted of deep trenches and battered gun emplacements, providing an emphasis on close quarters combat. We went with the BAR, a powerful automatic rifle that buries enemies at long and close range. From the off, it’s total bedlam. If you’re not in the thick of the fight yourself, you can constantly hear the peripheral crack and ricochet of gunfire around the map. Bullets fizz by your head, grenade explosions boom through the headset, and the controller rumbles aggressively as another clip of ammo is expended. The combat is chaotic, the weapons' audio phenomenal, and it looks magnificent, even at this early stage. But the best was yet to come. A new mode known as War brings a collaborative campaign feel to multiplayer. War consists of an overarching objective broken up into three stages. First up, our squad was tasked with holding a position within a mansion house against a constant pressing assault. Next, we had to fight and hold a divide over a river while a bridge is built, frantically trading fire and grenades with enemy soldiers holed up in buildings across the breach. Finally, with the bridge complete, our tank rolled onto an enemy mortar position. Each stage progression in the War mode was a small, gritty, hard-fought achievement, composite in an overall victory. This is of course the true story of how the Allies triumph in the

Image credit Rick Polk

generation’s entry into the PC domain (albeit a little while after the console launch), but I’m far from complaining when it comes to the multiplayer, at least. If Destiny ’s successor is anything like the original, we can expect a fun-filled foray into the far reaches of space, complete with a wise- cracking Nathan Fillion by our side; and at least one Strike on the weekly playlist that everyone absolutely hates. Here’s hoping they keep up the seasonal events, too.

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JULY 2017

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