Destiny Would Be So Much Better With Samuel L. Jackson

One of Destiny's most lackluster features is Peter Dinklage's voice acting. In a new video, a fan imagines what the game would've been like if Samuel L. Jackson had been playing Ghost instead.

t0nin0t inserted Samuel L. Jackson movie quotes into many of the cutscenes from Destiny. This makes these scenes about 500% more bearable. Here's a sample bit of dialogue:

Speaker: In its dying breath, the Traveler created the Ghosts, to seek out...Ghost: This ain't none of your goddamn business.Speaker: Your ghost will guide you.Ghost: (looking at Guardian) He is the toughest son of a bitch I've ever met.Speaker: I only hope he chose wisely.Ghost: Get the fuck out of my face with that shit.

It goes on like this for about three minutes. Sam the Man spouts lines from Pulp Fiction, Snakes on a Plane and a few other films. Some of the lines used by t0nin0t are a bit random but he makes a convincing case for replacing Peter Dinklage's voice acting. with a Samuel L. Jackson soundboard

It's really sad that even if Bungie had simply recycled Samuel L. Jackson lines from other movies, Ghost would be a more compelling character than he is right now. The combination of stale writing and a bored Peter Dinklage made Ghost a non-entity in the game. He's about as lively as text prompts.

The problems aren't limited to one character, though. Destiny just suffers from a complete lack of personality. Every NPC - whether it's the Speaker, Cryptarch or the Stranger - is devoid of emotion. Their enemies are faceless hordes that never bother saying a word before trying to kill them. A robot spouting a random collection of Sam Jackson sound bytes isn't exactly a three-dimensional character but at least there's a discernible character there.

While there are plenty of other things to complain about in Destiny - and we've done more than our fair share of grousing - the story is the most baffling shortcoming. While you might not enjoy, say, the Crucible modes or the raids, it's at least clear that Bungie put some serious time and effort into them. When it came to plot and character development, though, they didn't seem to bother at all. It's almost like they decided to knock out all the writing and voice acting in a weekend. What other impression can you get from a game in which you have to find out the story by reading virtual trading cards not even available within the game?

The Dark Below expansion was a step in the right direction, replacing Dinklage's voiceover with a new character. It's pretty clear from this video, though, that the game needs a foul-mouthed robot ASAP.