Destiny's Last Gameplay Trailer Prepares For Launch

It's hard to imagine that the steady bombardment of the Internet with Destiny gameplay footage is over. However, this is supposedly the last trailer we'll see before the game's launch next month.

The trailer begins with footage of the Tower, the social hub of the game. Then it shows an opening mission from the the beta, in which players get their first spaceship. After that, we're off on a journey through the solar system to kill some aliens.

All of the various alien races in our crosshairs are seen here. The Vex are robotic time-travelers. The Fallen are four-armed pirates and thugs. Those enormous with big guts are the Cabal. The Hive, meanwhile, satisfy the "at least one zombie race per shooter" requirement.

Embedded throughout the gameplay footage are some glowing quotes from the press. Here are a few examples:

• "Masterful game-making"
• "Activision and Bungie have a massive new hit."
• "A more ambitious game than anything that has come before it."

This gives you a sense of where the expectations are for Destiny. They're not just through the roof. They're currently rocketing past Pluto, presumably the site of the third DLC pack (Tagline: "It's not a planet...it's a warzone!").

I haven't seen this level of hype in years. Actually, wait, GTA 5 came out last fall, didn't it? A year, then. Destiny is this holiday season's Big Hope For Gaming and is somewhat uncontested in that role thanks to all of the games delayed to 2015.

You might be getting the vibe from this article that I'm not head-over-heels with Destiny. That's the thing, though. Based on my playtime from the alpha and beta, I think I'm going to enjoy the full game. I've been writing about games for more than a few holiday seasons at this point, though, so I'm a little numb to claims that this game is more ambitious than anything ever made before. I've heard the same thing said about way too many games.

I just don't know that the game's going to deliver the sort of revolution that you'd expect from all the pre-release accolades ("Over 180 awards and nominations," according to the trailer). How could it live up to that level of excitement? With such lofty opinions even before the game launches, it seems like our impression of the game can only go down from here. Everyone might be better off if they went into the game with the expectation that it's going to be a fun co-op shooter rather than the assumption it's going to herald some new era of gaming.

Promising new eras and revolutions sells, though. Analysts are projecting Destiny to sell between 10 and 15 million copies this fall. In the process, they'd probably outsell high-powered sequels like Assassin's Creed Unity and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.