GAME GUIDE&WALKTHROUGH

Destiny 2 succeeds where the original failed the most: its delivery of a story-driven campaign good enough to match its finely tuned first-person shooter gameplay and great looks. Gathering loot and upgrades through missions and activities with my Fireteam and then finally running the climactic Raid together was a blast. And every time I thought my friends and I were scraping the bottom of the content barrel, Destiny 2 teased us with more that was just a few Light levels away. [Note: See our PC version impressions at the bottom of this review.]

From the opening moments, Destiny 2 delivers Dominus Ghaul, an excellent antagonist whose cruelty earns our fury by taking away everything that had been built up in Destiny and its expansions, including our Guardians' Light. The campaign that follows is filled with brilliant cutscenes that give the cast an opportunity to show great emotional range, and you can hear the sadness and determination in their voices. Zavala (played by Lance Reddick) is unwavering in his plan to assault Ghaul, while Ikora (Gina Torres) seems distraught and near the point of giving up. That context gives both new and returning players a sensible reason to climb the Light-level based power ladder, whether for the first time or all over again. It kept me moving forward through fun missions set in eye-catching environments, including the exhilarating penultimate mission.