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Exclusive Destiny Pictures

Exclusive Destiny Pictures

Exclusive Destiny Pictures

The new franchise from the folks behind Halo

How do you follow five Halo games spanning a decade that did more than any other series to launch Microsoft’s console business? For Bungie, the answer is Destiny.

Halo was built on the mantra of “30 seconds of fun”. Not across the entire game, of course, but in bursts as you take out a squadron of enemies and move on. Destiny is a similar sci-fi shooter, but where Halo was split into single and multiplayer, this is always online.

It’s set on a post-apocalyptic Earth years after humanity has been wiped out. As rebuilding begins, the alien races reveal themselves and the fight begins.

Each location has a number of ways to explore it. ‘Patrol’ is the free-roaming option. The story-driven ‘Campaign’ can be played solo, but doesn’t have to be. ‘Strikes’ is 30-minute combat-led missions, and ‘Skirmish’ mode is where you’ll face other players.

Bungie is shying away from calling this a first-person shooter version of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). But that’s essentially what it is, which appears to be a very good thing.

Destiny will be released on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on 9 September