Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

**UPDATE March 22, 2015** I'm adjusting my previous rating of two stars to one star after some investigation into the state the game of the game. The main signifier that I needed to do so was a recent article which suggests that Bungie is lying to their community when it comes to certain aspects of the game. The article will do a better job of explaining than I can, so here it is (just copy/paste the link): [...] These implications are serious. Do not support this game, and do not support the developer with your money. This is not the Bungie that made Halo. This is an empty shell that has created a money-grab based on their historical reputation. **Original Review:** Enter the experience of this game with the intentions of enjoying it for the very brief amount of time it will hold your attention along with enjoying the money sink that is their DLC scheme, and you'll be fine. The important thing is to not buy into the hype, which I can attest from personal experience is not easy to do. This game apparently had some of the biggest funding in recent gaming history, and I have to ask- where did the money go? There's a few things that immediately stood out to me as flaws when I began playing, and those things quickly became frustrating, and here they are listed out and expanded upon: 1. Lack of ability to truly connect to other players: As a game that seemed to emphasize team play through Fireteams, actually finding people to play with outside of your friends is nearly impossible. I remember when I first made it to the central hub of the game, "The Tower," which was indicated as the social center of the game. Upon arriving, instead of finding it a place where I felt connected to the other players of the game, I felt incredibly lonely. Imagine being surrounded by others, and attempting to communicate with them and failing, over and over as the reality of your muteness became known to you. The only way to interact with other players in the game is to use a set of emotes- primarily pointing, waving, and dancing. There's no way to vocally communicate with anyone unless they are in your Fireteam, and joining other players is near impossible unless you go through the efforts of leaving the game to send an invite to them. Other than that, you can view a roster from within your character window that shows other players who are in that area, but the default setting makes it so only their friends can join- the setting to make it public is automatically reset to "friends only" upon logging out. For a game that emphasized team play and community, I can't help but feel that I'm being swayed to do the opposite. 2. Lack of matchmaking: Taking my first concern into consideration, the only way to experience the game's content with other players while being able to voice communicate with them is to start missions as a Fireteam together. I disregard the ability to join other Fireteams once a mission has started as a viable option due to the game kicking you out of your current progress, taking you back to Orbit, and forcing you to re-enter the game and start from the beginning to catch up to your other Fireteam members. This never actually happens within the game, especially due to the issue that you can't just join other people because they have most likely forgotten to reset their Fireteam joining options to Public. I was very disappointed to find that there was no ability to actually queue up for a Fireteam for specific game content, like story missions or patrols. *EDIT: I wanted to note that there is one PvE content type that does have matchmaking, to be transparent. That game type is "Strikes," which are three person missions that are more challenging. I will note, however, that even though you are grouped with two other players for these missions, you're still unable to voice communicate with them because they aren't in your personal Fireteam. Again, with that lack of ability to connect, you might as well just view the other players as NPCs.* 3. Lack of proximity chat in open world: So you've finally found someone in the game and you're enjoying killing mobs together, and perhaps will stick around until your personal goals cause both of you to separate? Great, don't expect to be able to voice chat with them unless they join your Fireteam. This makes taking on the "public" events not only more of a chore since there is lack of coordination, but incredibly boring since you can't talk with anyone around you. If people are worried about "trolls," just implement an option to turn off proximity chat. Problem solved. 4. Boss fights: Everything feels very linear while playing. Think rail shooter. Boss fights have pretty much one mechanic: Large health pool, some teleport capabilities, and a special attack. Once you get the mechanic of hiding behind cover down after the first ten minutes of game play, the only thing that will keep you from defeating bosses in this game is lack of appropriate level or gear. 5. Do *not* come into this game expecting a beautiful story to follow and get immersed in. The lore of the game is indeed beautiful, and expansive, deep, and rich. The storytelling in-game, however, leaves much to be desired. I believe fixing the first three concerns I listed would easily bump my rating from 2 stars to 4 stars out of 5. The content itself would be much more enjoyable if finding other people to play with was actually easy. I'm positive I had an easier time finding people to play with in Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 than I have in this game. A last note: The MMORPG/Borderlands 2 comparison is inaccurate. There is a type of game that the principles perfectly apply to this one- the dungeon crawler. Think something along the lines of Torchlight 2 or Diablo in a sci-fi fantasy setting and the mechanics of an FPS. This game is banking on the fact that you will redo content over and over to get better gear, and doesn't provide much else other than PvP and "raids."