I'm not one for conspiracy, really I'm not. But when every major review outlet gives the exact same low score to a quality game just a week after Gaming Journalism has been under fire, it kind of reeks like bullspit to me. I'm not going to re-tread the whole #GamerGate debacle, but whats easy to see is that ALOT of journalists were very very pissed about it, despite a few token gestures here and there to look 'respectable and accountable'. What I find baffling, GENUINELY baffling, is how a game of Destiny's caliber can get the same score, a relatively low score, from every major outlet with almost exactly the same review description in every case. And all it ever boils down to is this: 'The story is a bit hackneyed, gameplay can sometimes be repetitive and I was expecting more' These are three valid points. Destiny's story is kind of bland compared to previous Bungie games and the missions are quite samey at times and DinkleBot DOES do a helluvalot of scanning things. But these three points are not of themselves a justifiable reason to give a game such a low score when everything else in the game is so well crafted and solid and enjoyable. Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting that every journo called every other journo and signed an affidavit agreeing to all give Destiny a 6/10 and follow the same script template for their reviews, but it certainly feels that way and maybe on some subconscious, unified, 'pissed off at #GamerGate level they all came out with their whiny, crappy reviews in one voice. Whatever the case, whatever the reason, regardless whether they colluded by email/text/phone or whether their minds melded in some weird spiritual borg-esque military fashion, THEY ARE ALL COMPLETELY WRONG Destiny is not an amazing game. It's certainly not a 10/10 (I hate scores anyway) but it is an extremely solid, well-crafted gaming experience that despite hinting at being a long-term experience in-potentia, is still in its own way a whole package. Artistically, it's beautiful. Shooting mechanics are very responsive (But an option to turn off auto-aim would be nice) The story, while light and occasionally meandering, is contained within itself as well as also hinting at a greater story arc The RPG elements are deep enough to have meaningful impact, but light enough to be user friendly to the vast majority of gamers Matchmaking in the campaign is one of the quickest I have seen in any online game and jump/in out is easy and smooth and extremely useful. The amount of content in story and PvP is well up to snuff for any of Destiny's counterparts All of the UIs are extremely easy to interpret and master It's LOADS OF FUN! I could make a much longer list of Destiny's plus points but I'm not going to labor my point. Despite a few short-comings such as the lack of individual audio sliders (Gamechat is often lost among all the music and SFX), the inability to turn auto-aim on/off, No clan roster on the pause menu to find & join clan members who aren't on your friends list; despite a few gripes like these, Destiny is all-in-all a really, really solid gameplay experience and hints at some great stuff to come over the next 10 years. If I stopped playing tomorrow, I'd still feel like I had my money's worth... and then some. Great Job Bungie! A solid start to a new franchise. I look forward to stronger deeper scripts, some tweaking to the mechanics, some social refinements and plenty of awesome additional content in the future. As for the 'Reviews'... Screw 'em!