IGN has released an exclusive video outlining the companion app for Bungie’s upcoming game: Destiny. It’s probably the most-anticipated game around right now, promising a sweeping story arch and a huge universe from the developers that created the beloved Halo franchize.
Companion apps for big-name games aren’t a new thing, but they are still in their infancy. Until now the best one we’ve used has been the Battlefield 4 app, which let you customize your loadout and do a large amount of organizing and profile customization while out and about.
The Destiny companion looks like everything we loved about the BF4 app and more. It should be especially great for avid gamers who have less free time than they would like. This way you can get your character management done and jump straight in to the game when you get home to maximize your play time.
Sexy 3D models
In Destiny, your character’s look changes with every new piece of gear you equip. This is an old game feature, but it gets better with every passing generation as graphics improve and new tweaks to the form enter the fray.
You’ll be able to access a fully 3D-rendered model of your character on your phone or tablet that looks exactly as it would in-game. You can rotate the view, edit what is equipped, or play around with new looks while you’re on the bus instead of wasting precious gaming time.
Of course, this also means you can show-off your new gear to your gamer friends and watch the delicious, haunted look of desire creep over their faces, followed by crushing defeat and envy when you tell them how small a drop-percentage it has.
Equip and manage your weapons and skills
Finding weapon unlocks is one of the more simple joys of the modern shooter genre, but it can be a serious pain to set up a new item with all the gadgets and gizmos you have at your dispersal. It can take several minutes to read through all of the stats and figure out what the optimal combination of sights, amo clips and stabilizers are for your new boomstick.
Handling all of this outside of the game is much more fun. This way you’re not worrying about lost play time and instead getting a piece of the game where otherwise you would have none.
The BF4 app did this particularly well and the Destiny version actually looks like it could be a bit better. We all know that there will be RPG elements in the game, so managing your skills and weapon setup could potentially get pretty deep.
Better still, you can play around and mull over a new setup that benefits a totally different play-style if you feel like shaking your game up a little. When next you log in you’ll have everything already equipped and ready to go.
Plan your next move
The app also keeps tabs of all of your active and available quests. In the words of Chriss Gossett, the Destiny App Project Lead: “because the game is so expansive… you don’t always know exactly what you should be doing”. Now you can check what quests you can pick up, which you should do next and what is ready to hand in and where.
Probably our favorite bit of all of this is the vendor tie-ins that let you see what the vendors in the Tower currently have for sale. This means you can essentially do all of your browsing before you decide to visit the stores in-game and make your purchases.
I personally can't imagine how much time this is going to save me. I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time running between merchants and trying to get the most gear for my gold. This will be sort of like shopping online, except for in-game purchases with fake money. Of course it seems like you'll still have to physically get to the vendors to buy your gear, but at least you don't have to waste time running around. Brilliant.
Extending the narrative
If you’ve ever played an Elder Scrolls game you’d be familiar with the books you find lying around the world. An admirable number of them have deep and intriguing story lines or bits of bonus information that add a wealth of gravity to your actions.
Destiny doesn’t have books (as far as we know), but it does have Grimoires. Each time you face a new enemy or weapon you’ll get a sort of playing card that gives you a bit of detail about strengths and weaknesses. Better still, flip it over and there’s a short bit of narrative or back-story to add to your experience. There’s not a large amount of text, but there’s the potential for a whole lot of extra info if you go through them all.
Gossett even hinted that they’ll be very useful to you in-game, although he wouldn’t go in to how or why.
The Destiny companion app will be available from the beginning of the beta for Android and iOS (sorry, Windows Phone), and will work with all playable versions of the game.
Find a better phone plan
Thousands of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
Related Articles
Find Better Phones and Plans
Hundreds of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
