Destiny: Rising Mobile Review - A New Milestone in Shameless Grinding

Mobile games now account for approximately half of the entire gaming market — on par with PC and console games combined. At the same time, these two worlds — mobile games and projects for "adult" platforms — rarely intersect. Mobile games rarely transition to PC and consoles: this is hindered by the gameplay features tailored for short sessions and touch controls. And franchises known from PC, until recently, if they appeared on mobile devices, it was either in the form of old ports or games "based on" them with mechanics that did not meet the expectations of fans of the originals at all.

However, NetEase, the company responsible for Diablo Immortal, already has significant experience in adapting major Western franchises for the mobile platform. They have released EVE Echoes on smartphones, made games based on Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade, The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, and other projects where it was important not only to use the name but also to convey the spirit of the original. Recent successes include the hit Marvel Rivals for PC and consoles, which our author Eduard Epstein rightly called a worthy competitor to Overwatch and a real gift for Marvel fans.

Destiny: Rising is also positioned as a game based on a major franchise. It so happened that before getting acquainted with this game, I only knew about the Destiny universe by hearsay — mainly as "Diablo with guns," which, of course, is an oversimplification, but quite indicative for someone whose main gaming platform is a smartphone. When taking on Rising to write a review, I started almost from scratch. And, I must admit, I was looking forward to it: Diablo is the standard for ARPGs; first- or third-person shooters are one of my favorite genres; NetEase has already proven that it can make high-quality action games. Just remember Lost Light or the same Marvel Rivals.

The introduction was intriguing. The developers clearly spared no expense on the presentation: expensive introductory videos, detailed graphics, and a musical accompaniment of an AAA project level. We are introduced to a science fiction universe where human civilization is almost destroyed by the invasion of ancient cosmic forces — hostile life forms seeking to erase the light of reason. The survivors gather around the Last City, and the hope for salvation is associated with warriors — the Guardians. They do not die: having died, they return, resurrected by the Light itself. These are the main characters we join.

First, we are presented with our first hero, Wolf, whose body is found on an already deserted battlefield by a flying support drone with a female voice, ZEV, who becomes our guide to the game world.

Together with her, we go to the Last City, where we meet with key figures of surviving humanity and the first tasks that reveal the basic mechanics.

More on the gameplay later, but for now, a few words about the plot. The game is not translated into Russian, so knowledge of English (or another available localization language) will still be required. Fortunately, the texts are not overloaded with complex vocabulary: even a basic level is enough to understand where the story is going and what is happening around.

It is immediately clear that the developers have invested in the presentation. Story scenes in real time are voiced, and they are periodically replaced by high-quality cinematic videos — everything is executed stylishly, on a grand scale, at the level of AAA projects. However… the story itself remains lifeless.

Throughout the first chapters, the narrative tries to be heroic — inserting notes of tragedy in the right places, of course (mainly through secondary characters) and rare moments of humor. But all this is so predictable and written according to a template that you want to yawn already in the second chapter. If you have ever encountered similar universes — whether it's Mass Effect, Halo, or Destiny itself — you will predict every turn a few minutes before it appears. There are no discoveries and no tension here. Everything goes smoothly: correctly, technically, but damn boring.

The heroes are presented to us according to a single template — not surprisingly, because the game has a gacha mechanic, where each character is an "unpacking" of another archetype. We quickly understand who is who. And if we don't understand, then the players have long compiled tier lists, at the top of which, predictably, are paid "golden" characters.

So, watching him in the story campaign "with the last of his strength" deal with a cunning and strong boss is not very interesting. Really cool characters are hidden behind gacha banners.

At the same time, it cannot be said that the story campaign is absolutely a failure. The locations are detailed, visually interesting, and the first hours of the game are really captivating: there is a sense of scale and dynamics. However, it soon becomes clear: the gameplay has frozen in place. The levels are built on the principle of a narrow "corridor" — run from point A to point B, deal with waves of mobs in mini-arenas at each section, sometimes overcome platforming or defeat a mini-boss to face a large enemy in the final.

There is nothing reprehensible in corridor shooters — provided that they are made with high quality. You can compensate for the linearity with a dense combat environment, well-thought-out AI, or interesting level architecture. Sometimes such attempts slip through in Destiny: Rising: verticality appears, elements of platforming, our hero masters the double jump. But most often these opportunities are ignored, and the level is again reduced to flat shooting at targets.

The artificial intelligence of enemies rarely shows signs of intelligence — instead of tactics, they overwhelm with numbers. Hordes of weak mobs come at you, which are more annoying with their mass than posing a real challenge.

The combat system, as befits mobile combat "role-playing games", is based on elements and the "rock-paper-scissors" mechanic: one type of enemy is vulnerable to electricity, another to fire, and a third to cold. Accordingly, it is most effective to kill them with the appropriate weapon: an electric shotgun here, a fire machine gun there. Elements of strategy? If only. You'll have to grind machine guns of all elements.

The hero is supposed to have two weapons. The main one, with infinite ammo, and the secondary one — more powerful. In addition to weapons, heroes can use their super-abilities based on the elements, and an ultra-strike after accumulating energy. The animations of the ult and super-strikes are beautiful, but shooters are not played for that.

The problem with Destiny Rising is that the feeling of shooting is non-existent. There is no feeling of shooting, no feeling of possessing a powerful weapon in your hands. Usually there should be at least some feeling of recoil, the power of the weapon, the sounds of the shot should have depth, the weapon should feel like a mechanism and have mass. In Rising — not a weapon. There are no such sensations here. But there are sensations of plastic from the arcade.

For a shooter — this is a death sentence. Against this background, it is no longer so important that the visual indication of hits on the hero is not as clear as in other mobile projects (and this is very important for mobile shooters), that the sound is flat and uninteresting. There is no feeling of shooting in the shooter. Sad, really.

As a result, we have a "non-existent" plot and a "non-existent" main game mechanic. What about other elements?

Destiny: Rising has hub levels where we trade, receive and complete quests, and go on raids. Everything is designed in the typical style of mobile MMOs. Alas, too typical. New games are sometimes designed much more modernly now. And Destiny: Rising looks like it came out several years ago.

There are no particular complaints about the graphics, the game works quickly. But the main questions are not about the graphics themselves, but about the design. Both the guns and the heroes are ugly. I had to turn to search engines to look at the characters of Destiny 2. Maybe there are also such unattractive heroes there? No. They became "ugly" specifically in Rising. The appearance of the weapon, with external similarities to Destiny 2, is also better!

Naturally, the "golden", top weapon is well detailed. Since we have a looter-shooter, raids for loot become one of the most important components of the game. Maybe raids will save us? But here we have typical mobile mechanics turned on. Raids consume energy that needs to be accumulated. It won't be possible to take what you want with patience.

The technical condition of the game is normal. There were no obvious bugs or crashes during the game. There are some implementation features, such as story campaign levels loaded from the Internet (they are not loaded immediately during installation) and the requirement for a Wi-Fi connection for these purposes. But for some, this may even be a plus.

And in conclusion — a few words about gacha. In a game with PvP elements, this almost inevitably turns into pay-to-win: pay to win. Yes, the developers generously distribute local currency in events, for completing tasks and completing the main content. But players who are not willing to spend real money will sooner or later be at a disadvantage. It's not just about paying for convenience — there is a risk that you will not have enough accumulated resources for the desired hero from the temporary banner, especially if it requires many spins.

If the gacha mechanic itself is considered manipulative, capable of extracting more money from the player than he planned, then pay-to-win is the next level. This is one of the most controversial and negative trends in the modern gaming industry. Yes, you are formally not forced to play PvP modes, and they have balancing modifiers designed to smooth out the difference between paying and non-paying players. But even these measures do not negate the feeling of inequality.

Thus, even with all the efforts to disguise it, gacha in Destiny: Rising with its PvP component remains a powerful tool of pressure on the player. The monetization mechanisms work like clockwork — and their main goal is obvious: to encourage you to open your wallet.

Diagnosis

Destiny: Rising — a technically sound project. But behind the impressive blockbuster-level videos — emptiness. The plot is clichéd, the heroes are templates from the gacha catalog, and the shooting, which should be the heart of the shooter — is mechanical and soulless. Destiny: Rising is a machine for extracting money from franchise fans and new players who may be hooked by a looter-shooter on mobile.

Any modern mobile battle royale, whether in the spirit of PUBG, or an extraction shooter, such as Arena Breakout or the aforementioned Lost Light (from the same NetEase!) is much fairer to players and at the same time provides fun from loot, and adrenaline from PvP. They have emotions.

Destiny: Rising — is a grind, not a shooter. It's a decent time killer. It's an MMO where you can join a clan and chat with friends every day, completing dailies and going on raids. Perhaps there's some fun in that too. Fans of the series say in reviews that Destiny: Rising is the best Destiny. Maybe.

But as a mobile shooter, Destiny: Rising is a failure, and not a shooter as such, but a casino in the form of a mobile RPG.

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