After years of hype and speculation, a fairly impressive BETA, and a rather epic live-action TV spot to celebrate its launch, Bungie Software's next-gen opus has descended upon the planet, polarizing the gaming world with the same effect of light and darkness found in the game itself.

Positives Great graphics; awesome music; solid controls; fun social experience

Negatives Long load times; lack of any competent storytelling; repetitious grinding; poor boss fights; abrupt ending clearly indicates DLC was always the plan; broken matchmaking creates unbalanced multiplayer; Peter Dinklage phones it in

Not sure if you heard about the new game called Destiny, available now for current and last generation consoles only, meaning the Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One and PS4 (if you did not hear about this game, chances are you are not from this solar system – Vader Ed.).

Well-polished shooter/MMO hybrid with addictive loot hunt properties; great visuals on next gen consoles; fun multiplayer experience with co-op and PvP options

Some dialog cheese; party search and creation could be improved; episodic missions can endlessly be replayed but with long term effect on the world

Destiny does nothing to innovate or move the FPS genre forward beyond adding flourishes to gameplay elements that already exist in other games. The science-fiction story has potential, but the conflict between light and darkness is laughably banal, and Destiny does a poor job of making your actions...

Solid FPS mechanics; Fun sci-fi special abilities and scenarios; Great visuals

Weak story; Horrid load times; Little end-game content; Connection issues

One decade later, Bungie finally breaks away from the Halo franchise to bring us Destiny: an online, first-person sci-fi shooter that promises to be alive in the way MMOs are. Now that it's out, however, all we're left with is the sting of disappointment.

It's a looker; especially in terms of colour compared to recent shooters; "Crucible" PvP modes a good contender for competitive folks

Recycled maps; repetitive mission design and uninvolved story makes campaign a bore; Not the large; eventful multiplayer shooter we were promised (at this time)

GiN Guest Reviewers Craig Charles and Chris Wolf have been playing Destiny since the beginning. They've stuck with it through its various ups and downs, and now are jumping into the brand new Destiny DLC: House of Wolves. Each will offer their thoughts on the new DLC.

The day has finally come, ladies and gentlemen. Bungie has finally released its highly anticipated MMO-shooter and nothing could be more exciting than to get hands-on with it. It's still weird to think that Bungie isn't working on the beloved Halo series anymore, but hey, times change.

Why do some games make it so hard to love them

Easy to pick up controls; gorgeous on next gen consoles; a number of great story elements

The PvP is atrociously "balanced"'; almost no content to the game itself; everything feels very samey; missions grow repetitive quickly; an ungodly amount of grinding for post-level 20 content; many elements of the game aren't present in said game; spits in the face of Xbox owners

It's been the talk of the gaming world ever since it was introduced. Some say it was overhyped, others say the hype was justified. Now it's finally here and everyone has had the chance to get some hours logged.

From the Creators of Halo and the company that brought you Call of Duty. In Destiny you are a Guardian of the last city on Earth, able to wield incredible power. Explore the ancient ruins of our solar system, from the red dunes of Mars to the lush jungles of Venus. Defeat Earth's enemies.

After creating a game with as much impact as Halo, there was always going to be high expectations for whatever developer Bungie did next. The developer moved on from their most famous work long ago but it's only now we get to properly see what they've been working on since.