REVIEW: Destiny: The Taken King

Introduction

Destiny: The Taken King is a major expansion to the original title that launched more than a year ago. It adds a new campaign and addresses many of the concerns players had when the base game released. It’s also one of those experiences that divides opinions. Two of our writers, Asher and John, reviewed the game and one loved it and the other disliked it considerably. This review will be in a unique and different format. We’ll share both of their experiences and arrive at a conclusion in the end.

Story

Where Destiny had a light coating of story, with sprinkles of lore added through the immersion-breaking grimoire cards, The Taken King is a fully baked cake. Yes, it still has grimoire cards, however, we never once felt that we had to go read them to understand why on Earth, Venus, or Mars, we were fighting. From the first moments of The Taken King, we knew who the enemy was, why he was there, and that we could do to find him without him being shipped in a future expansion set.

The Taken King kicks off with a bang, one that feels like it would have been a great ending to the year one story, a cliff-hanger. We never felt alone in this adventure, as the trusty Ghost–now voiced by Nolan North–was at my side, quipping away. Mr. North is arguably the highest profile voice actor in the business, yet he settles into the back seat nicely. Nathan Fillion steals the show, almost every scene he is in is great.

Cayde, Zavala, and Ikora, the Guardian leaders, are much more at the centre of the narrative this time around. They all interact with each other, and you, in ways that could only be dreamed off in year one. They help guide the story out of the gates, with Cayde being a mainstay for the majority of The Taken Kings five-hour main quest.

As you level up, more and more quests start to unlock. We have yet to finish all of the ones discovered, and we know there are more to do after those, too. Quests were introduced in Destiny 2.0, as well as a host of other changes. Almost all of them for the better.

The highlight of the main quest was was resolution. When we finished the final objective, we knew we had done something, we knew what the outcome was, and we knew I’d see it come full circle in this expansion set.

Endgame

So, you have levelled to 40. You have finished the main quest. Unlocked your new subclass. What now?

Well, The Taken King has a wealth of content. On the surface it’s very similar to the base game: daily heroics, PvP, story missions, and bounties. However, they have all be tuned in such a way as to not feel fresh. The heroic strike, and one form of PvP, can be replayed five times in one week without losing rewards. This is great, as if you can’t make it on for a day, you can still get some, but not all, of the rewards. The weekly Knightfall, a random strike that is dialled up to insane difficulty, has had one major change: you no longer return to orbit upon your fire team dying. Instead, you return to the last checkpoint.

John: I have had a chance to experience the raid, though I didn’t get to slay the final boss. It’s a noticeable step up in quality from the year one content, no fight felt unfair. The fights had mechanics that are in the rest of the game, so you feel at home.

I have spent most of my time with The Taken King patrolling, as I have had over a half-dozen quests requiring me to take out certain targets, gather rare items, and bring back information on the new enemy, The Taken. Now, I won’t spoil them–as there is more to them than meets the eye–so enjoy their encounters, as they are almost everywhere…even in old strikes, making them feel fresh.

Gear

The Taken King introduces a new way to gear up, it feels like you’re progressing at a solid rate. No more waiting on rare materials to get that last inch of light. It’s clear on what to do, gear is very flexible now, as you can infuse legendary items and above. It can sting a little when you get a rare item that is several ratings higher than your exotic, but you know what? You can infuse them together, taking a percentage, if not all, of the rating from the blue item, and adding it to the exotic. This can be achieved for all items that are year two. The item you want to infuse must be at least legendary. Items you use to infuse, must be rare or above.

Each item, weapon, armour, and Ghost, can be levelled up to varying degrees. It’s still done through experience points gained by defeating enemies, completing bounties, or simply mashing the X button on your Motes of Light. However, getting the perks on each item, is a lot easier to accomplish. The materials needed aren’t a slog to get, though it will require some time to amass the total amount needed. You have to work for it, but this time it’s a predictable path.

Character

Bungie didn’t add anything new to the existing subclasses, sadly. So if you have a favourite role, you’ll probably not be changing that anytime soon. They did, however, add a new subclass to each Guardian role. These are unlocked via a small questline, where you get to test out the full power of the subclass, before it’s ripped from you, and you have to level it up. Now, this can be a little disjointing–as if you want to jump into competitive PvP, the Crucible, or high end PvE content, you’re going be way, way behind in the new class.

John: It took me considerably longer than the five hours of the main quest to max out my subclass. So when I was working towards heroics, I was constantly swapping to an older subclass, so I didn’t underperform. I’d have loved to see a system similar to the Death Knight starting area in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. There you unlocked talent points when completing quests, as well as via experience, this made sure you weren’t too far behind once you entered the open world.

Performance

Asher: One of the main issues with Destiny: The Taken King is that it runs at 30 frames per second. Now, a lot of individuals out there will say that this isn’t a big deal. I say that it is. When you bump up the frame rate to 60, shooting and aiming becomes more precise. Everything feels snappier and smoother. It also adds an additional level of intensity to matches. Just compare the original Halo games on Xbox 360 to the ones that came in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. There’s a noticeable improvement at 60 frames per second. I had a hard time adjusting especially when I played a few multiplayer matches in The Master Chief Collection and went back to The Taken King.

John: Let’s get the frame rate out the way first. It’s 30 frames per second which, given its world, and connective infrastructure, is an acceptable sacrifice to me at least. There are titles out there that run at higher frame rates, yet they are more self-contained. The game loads the required assets, then you go and play. The levels are usually one or two stories deep. With Destiny, you have so many areas to explore, from caverns to ancient alien structures, all that renders when you phase in. Now, I am not discrediting the games that run faster–I am an avid fan of Halo, and The Master Chief Collection was a great product. Showcasing what can and should be achieved, though we’ll know for sure when Halo 5: Guardians launches in October.

Gameplay

Asher: Another issue Destiny: The Taken King suffers from is a lack of thrilling moments. Other shooters are just more stirring and intense. Take a look at a game like Borderlands: The Handsome Collection or Wolfenstein: The New Order. The boss battles are frantic and the games itself have so much personality and character. Destiny: The Taken King, even with its changes, feels soulless. It’s monotonous and casual. The opening scene is fantastic and exhilarating, but that’s the highlight. Everything goes downhill from there.

John: No matter how well a game runs, it has to tick other boxes–dependent on genre–and The Taken King is a game that is a crown jewel for publisher, Activision, and the bandage to heal the wounds of the base game, for Bungie. The Taken King handles just like the base version, no surprises there. Gunplay is snappy, the pap, pap of bullets riddling the bodies of your enemies is as rewarding now as it was back in 2014. You feel in danger more, I experienced, so taking advantage of cover and the cover mechanic is a must for taking on the higher tiers of challenges. Jumping, however, still feels as unsure, I have played over a hundred hours of The Taken King, most of that with the same two people, and we all have varying degrees of success with jumping. It feels like Titans have the short end of the stick, judging by watching other players.

Thankfully though, the platforming is a lot better paced, you can pull out your Ghost to help you. There is one great addition to the gameplay side of Destiny that is swordplay. That’s right, you can wield a sword, then slice up AI or players, as you see fit. It’s incredibly rewarding, and if I may say so, a little unbalanced at the moment.

Your sparrow, well, it still goes vroom.

Pricing

Asher: The most significant point of contention I have with the game is the contemptible pricing. The Taken King almost costs the same as a standalone title. It’s the same price as Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. If you want to buy exclusive shaders and emotes, you’ll have to spend even more. If you bought the game at retail, you were only given the choice to purchase the Legendary or Collector’s editions which included the base game and previous expansions. Since we obtained a retail copy of the game, we’ll have to judge it based on the entire package. While the Taken King might be the best part of Destiny, the expansions and base game are mediocre to say the least.

John: Sadly, Bungie and Activision have taken a ravenous approach to the delivery of The Taken King. To play it, you need to own the base game plus the two previous expansion sets, The Dark Below, and House of Wolves. So, a £40 game suddenly becomes over £100. What makes it worse is that The Taken King has considerably more content than the year one version of the game.

Conclusion

In summation, Destiny: The Taken King builds upon the experience of the original game and expansions. The game is not perfect, yet it goes a long way to bring us the game that it seemed like we were getting all those months ago. The story is good, the character progression is a lot friendly and to the point. Most importantly, the endgame feels like it’s worth visiting a few times a week, to see what else can be discovered. Had the first two expansion sets been included with The Taken King, we would have no issue in recommending this to owners of any version of Destiny. Alas, the mismatched purchasing system really leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.