I played the first playtest a long time ago, and I really liked it because I felt the game had a lot of potential, and surely the best features were still to come. Upon release, I was heartbroken to see no real progress had been made. The amount of wasted potential in this game genuinely breaks my heart. I'm mostly going to focus on the negatives here, but honestly, it's not all bad. People who give this game a 1/10 are being hyperbolic. In that same vein, people who give the game a 10/10 are also being dishonest. The art and music direction are both pretty good. But without anything else, the game feels more like an elaborate visual arts project than a video game. On the surface there's a lot of glamor and sheen, but once you cut into it, it's hollow. The gameplay lacks immersion, depth, and originality. The movement is somehow both too fast and too slow. The user interface is lackluster and not very nice to look at. The first two maps (Perimeter and Dire Marsh) are poorly designed and boring. (Maybe better ones will come, but this is what the game released with.)
There’s a general lack of content. Something as simple as adding a shooting range or neutral hub would go a long way. Every opportunity to introduce a unique or engaging mechanic was missed. Instead, the game sticks solely to safe, predictable formulas, all of which are done better by contemporaries. The game comes off as unsure of what it really wants to achieve and ultimately doesn't do anything well. I think a lot of the assets would be better served in a different game mode. TDM, Search and Destroy, battle royale, or horde modes would all have been better formats if Bungie knew they didn’t want to take any risks. Maybe more game modes will come later on, but it's unlikely given how immediately they would outshine the extraction mode. This game will hit the mark for some, but it's not there yet for me.
