Review of Destiny: The Taken King (DLC)

This review is based on my experience with the PS4 version of The Taken King.

Note: This review  and its score are based on the content of The Taken King. I will speak about changes made to Destiny for "Year 2," but they do not factor into the score. This is because even people who have not purchased any of the DLC will see these changes as well.

Score: 3/5

Destiny has been able to spread its wings for just over a year now, which means that as of the release of The Taken King we are officially in year two of the game's supposed ten year plan. With the release of the Taken King a whopping 17GB patch was released to change all kinds of things about the game. Quest lines were added, the voice actor of the Ghost was changed to Nolan North, the leveling system was changed entirely, item drops have become more frequent, storage was doubled, you can hold more bounties, and a myriad of other changes have now graced the game. To someone who hasn't played Destiny since a month after launch they might think that these changes are a part of The Taken King, which is certainly not the case. In fact, just like the previous two DLC expansions it adds new story missions, new strikes, and a raid. However, unlike the previous two expansions it tells a cohesive story that's actually interesting, while adding a brand new area to explore.

The Taken King keeps the core of the game the same. It's still a first person shooter fused with a pseudo-MMO. Even a year later I still enjoy the gameplay of Destiny, so I had no problem getting right back into the game. Bungie knows how to make a solid first person shooter. While the gameplay stays the same the story changes it up a bit, because it's actually interesting. Destiny and its previous two expansions showed a cool world, but didn't really explore it at all. All you had to go on were random voices giving you loose context for a mission. It seemed to be an empty world filled with lifeless characters who only existed for you to get weapons from. Year two has helped that issue out a bit with quest information, but The Taken King actually gives some characters a personality by inserting them into cutscenes and actually having them introduce themselves to you.

The Taken King is still all about dumping on your enemies.

The story follows up an event from the first expansion The Dark Below. During the raid, which most players never even get to do, you find yourself defeating the Hive Prince Crota. The Taken King picks up with his father Oryx coming for revenge. He pilots a huge ship called the drednaught, which is the new area to explore. You don't get to go to it right away though, because going in blind would be suicide. First you have to spend some time learning about Oryx and the threat he has brought with him. He introduces a new enemy type called the Taken. Oryx essentially asserts his control over the Fallen, and the Cabal in order to make them work for him. So you see familiar enemy types that have turned into a funky mix of white and black. If they were just another pallet swap I would have been disappointed, but each one has brand new animations and abilities. This means they add some much needed variety to the enemy encounters.

The crux of the story revolves around you finding a way onto the Drednaught so that you can take down Oryx and restore order to the galaxy. In order to do so you need to interact with the three class trainers in the tower. The one who gets the most prominent role is the hunter Cayde-6. He's a sarcastic robot man, who doesn't really respect the authority of the other council members. It's odd, because he's actually pretty funny while everyone else is super dry and serious. In the original your Ghost would make quips to lighten the mood, but those moments were few and far between. Now that Nolan North has replaced Peter Dinlage as the Ghost, your little robot friend speaks a lot more as well. The Ghost and Cade play off of each other quite well, which is good to see. Having these characters guide you through missions makes it feel less like a linear killfest than it did before.

This is Cade-6. It's only taken a year for him to get a personality!

While the missions still almost always involve shooting everyone to death, the objectives in this expansion are occasionally different. In  the original game almost every mission saw you holding off waves of enemies while your Ghost scanned an object or tried to unlock something. Even if I didn't like all of the newly introduced mechanics, it was still nice to see something new. In one of the missions there is a wide gap that's far too big to jump across. If you pull up your ghost he outlines invisible platforms for you to jump on. In another mission you're invisible while infiltrating a hive burial ground. The game forces you into third person, and you have to avoid the red vision cones of enemies like a proper stealth game.

Outside of the story there are a few more additions as well. The competitive multiplayer mode Crucible has gotten three new multiplayer modes and eight new maps. The new multiplayer modes are actually very fun, especially Mayhem. All you're really supposed to do is use your super since it's constantly recharging. This mode is perfect for the three new subclasses added to the game. Warlocks can become Stormcallers to shoot lighting from their hands, Titans can become Sunbreakers and beat everyone down with fire hammers, and Hunters can become Nightstalkers to trap enemies in place with their void bow. These three new classes are cool, and once again add more diversity to a game with very few class options.

The three new subclasses are all interesting.

The Taken King puts Destiny on the precipice of being an amazing game, but it falls just short of that goal. Yes, there was excellent story content and a new area, but is that enough? Sure there's a new area to explore, but just like everything else in the game once you get through the story content you're going to be running the same missions for all of eternity trying to grind rep and get the rare item drops you so desperately crave. It took me just over two hours to run through the main story missions, which feels far too short. Yes, I could do all kinds of stuff to grind for better gear, but then there is nothing new to tackle after beating the new raid. Sadly, I probably won't even get that far, because I'll never be able to complete a raid without in game matchmaking.

People who love Destiny will love what they find here, but if you didn't like it before there isn't a whole lot that's going to change your mind. The Taken King shows that Bungie is trying to take steps towards making the game as good as it can be and that they're willing to make changes based on fan feedback. I think that the problem with Destiny for me starts at its core, so I hope that throughout the next few years they can continue to tweak the game in order to make it realize its true potential. However, if they keep adding expansions on top of what they already have as opposed to making a full fledged Destiny 2, we may never see this franchise blossom into the amazing game I feel it could be.

DLC Review of Mt. Eddie and Classic Characters Bundle Pack for SSX

This is a DLC review of the Mt. Eddie and Classic Characters Bundle Pack for SSX.

Score: 4/5


I really enjoyed the new SSX, but there were a fair number of people who wanted it to be more like Tricky and SSX 3. Lucky for them the development team heard their cries and decided to release Mt. Eddie, which is a clear homage to the SSX days of old.

One of the major complaints of the new SSX was that the drops were filled with too many random holes. At first it’s not that big a deal, but the further you delve into the game the worse it gets. This makes it so that you can’t truly focus on racing, or tricking. You constantly have to watch yourself in order to stay on the track, but Mt. Eddie gets rid of that. It’s either pure tricking, or pure racing. No longer are there gaping chasms to fall into.

As you can see there are tons of jumps.

Mt. Eddie is the ultimate spot for tricking. There are rails, jumps, and half-pipes everywhere. This gives the whole course a great flow. The only thing you have to figure out is where your next trick is coming from, and it ends up feeling great. To make things even better it’s always nighttime and fireworks are perpetually going off. The mountain has a lot more color than the rest of the game and it looks really cool.

The whole mountain has 9 different drops, which are distributed between trick and race events. The race events are okay, but just like in the main game they lose out to the trick events. It just seems weird to try and get down the mountain has fast as possible when there are so many opportunities for tricking. As you’d expect the trick events on Mt. Eddie are awesome. As I said there are places to trick everywhere and on top of that the events are all fairly long. The trick event at the top of the mountain can take 15-20 minutes to complete, which makes it more like the single mountains that old SSX games had.

Imagine something like this, but for 20 minutes.

In an attempt to cram more nostalgia into the game they also decided to add Classic Characters. This is the part of the DLC that totally lost me. It adds seven new characters to play as, but they’re not really new at all. Instead they’re just 7 different versions of characters the game already has. The only difference is that they look like they used to in SSX Tricky. This means that there are only technically 6 retro characters, because both versions of Eddie look almost exactly the same. What’s really lame is that since they’re separate characters you have to level them up again. It takes a really long time to level a character up to 11, so it’s not exactly worth it for that.

In order to offset the need to re-level each character they each get their own unique retro boards. They’re really good and most of them look pretty cool. It’s a nice attempt, but it still doesn’t make it worth re-leveling an alternate version of the same character. It may have been better if they added retro costumes instead of making separate characters.

I don't really prefer any of the classic looks to the new ones, but I'm sure some people feel differently.

The bundle is certainly worth it, because it’s only $7.99. If you buy the characters and Mt. Eddie separately they’re $5.99 a piece, which seems a little steep. Whether you’re looking for some old school SSX nostalgia or just looking to have more SSX content in your life then this pack is going to fit your needs. With the quality of Mt. Eddie there’s hope that all future DLC will be just as entertaining.

Review of DLC for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

This is a review of the DLC Rise from the Ashes for the Wiiware release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Score: 5/5

The original Phoenix Wright games were for Gameboy Advance in Japan. They were eventually ported to Nintendo DS and released across all regions. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney received an extra case when it was ported to the DS called Rise from the Ashes. This bonus case utilized the additional capabilities of the DS to add a bunch of new gameplay elements. This case was not included with the Wiiware release of the game, but was added later as an optional download.

Rise from the Ashes may be one of the best cases in the series, if not the best. I may be mistaken, but I feel safe in saying that it’s the longest case in the whole series. It takes place after the final case of the original game. Phoenix has proven victorious and Maya has left for spirit training. The case begins when Ema Skye visits Wright and Co. Law offices. Her sister has been accused of Murder and she needs a defense attorney. The interesting part about this case is that two murders happened in the exact same fashion in two places. In this case you’ll meet many exciting characters, but that’s standard fare for the Ace Attorney series. Where this case differs the most is in the gameplay.

Just like the rest of the game Phoenix will need to investigate areas and speak with people involved with the case in order to gain information and evidence. This is done the same as in the main game, but Phoenix has some new evidence gathering tricks up his sleeve. Ema Skye takes Maya’s place as Phoenix’s assistant in this case and it just so happens she’s a forensic scientist. Early on in the case she’ll give Phoenix luminal fluid, which can be used to search for washed away blood stains. Using the fluid allows for the player to spray around the crime scene with the Wii-mote until a blood stain appears. This allows for more information to be gathered at the crime scene.

Another new gameplay element is the ability to search for fingerprints. In certain story sequences you will have to choose an area to search for fingerprints. Using the Wii-mote powder can be sprinkled over the area. Shaking the Wii-mote will get rid of the powder, leaving a fingerprint behind. Once you have the fingerprint you will need to try to match it against everyone you’ve met so far. This allows for even more evidence.

These two new investigation techniques may not seem like much, but they vary the gameplay quite a bit. The Phoenix Wright games were very similar in gameplay, so it’s refreshing to see some new content in this case. It gives the player more interaction with the game in fun ways. I find it odd that they only added this type of interaction to the first game though. It seems like a missed opportunity for the series.

This case also utilizes the improved graphical capabilities of the DS. At one point in the case there is a videotape that must be reviewed. Everything that happens is rendered in full 3d and animates quite well. It would have been cool to see this in the following Phoenix Wright games, but I was content to see it here.

Rise from the Ashes is an excellent case. It has memorable characters and a great overarching plot. The addition of the new gameplay mechanics make this case even better. If you have Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney on Wiiware it’s hard to pass up this add-on when it only costs a dollar.


Note: This review is also posted on giantbomb.com

     -Manny