For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Destiny: Rising from developers NetEase Games on my iPhone 14 Pro.
I've played both console Destiny games, tho admittedly not for a long time, and what i enjoyed about them the most was the gun combat. i really enjoyed online multiplayer, too. the game's story wasn't something i was concerned about. i have completed the story on disc for both, but i don't really remember it. for me, i wanted to try Destiny: Rising to see if they could replicate that gun feel the console games had.
After a good hour with the game i can say that they don't quite get there. that's not to say what's in Destiny: Rising is bad, it's actually good. but it doesn't quite reach the highs of the console versions. i played this hour in hand held mode, but Destiny: Rising is playable with a controller too. there's a lack of feedback from the phone when shooting, the rumble the console controllers have is far better and precise than anything my phone has. Playing on my phone also meant i needed much more aim assist that i would on console, to the point where Destiny: Rising kinda feels a little weird to play at first. that feeling went away after some time, but what really kept tripping me up were the on screen buttons.
On the right side, you control the camera and on the left you control your movement. the left side isn't much of an issue, but the right side has many buttons of differing sizes and throughout this video i kept on touching buttons by accident when i was trying to move the camera. for the start of the game, it's not an issue. but by the end and the boss battle i did, it really got frustrating that i was pressing buttons by accident and not having enough camera control for what was happening on screen. There are two possible solutions in the game, use a controller or adjust the placement and size of the buttons on the screen.
At the start, i wondered if Destiny: Rising would have additional downloads. the game's size is near 4GB so it could've gone either way. unfortunately, there were two additional downloads and the game never asked for permission to do the download. the combined size of them was less than 1GB but still, it's using data and not everyone has an unlimited data plan.
There are plenty of positives from Destiny: Rising. the presentation makes it feel like part of the Destiny universe. the graphics, like last week's Kaiju No.8 game, are great on the characters and fine everywhere else. i found the tutorial useful, and if you have played this elsewhere there's even an option to skip it. i felt like graphically, the game is closer to the PS3 generation, but there are aspects of it that do feel modern. it's up there as one of the better looking games on iOS.
I would recommend people give Destiny: Rising a try. whilst it's part of that universe, it still introduces the world and what's happening in a way that new players will have a good idea of what's happening whilst existing Destiny fans will be able to get more lore and expand on what they already know. i found it quite accessible and there are plenty of ways to customise the experience for how you want to play. the basic controls without any changes are fine but i do feel like they're better suited for larger phones than mine. But it's always online and over time that'll eat into your data limits so perhaps it's best played over wi-fi.
Version 1.0.6 Played
