The stats of Destiny in a rounded, neat package.
As the collective eyes of the gaming community are fixed pretty heavily on Destiny this week, I thought I might have a look at its companion app to see how useful these things actually are.
It turns out Destiny Companion is a good download to have while you are attempting to fight Earth’s enemies across the stars, if not a completely necessary one. Unlike other Companions, it doesn’t seem to provide any in-game bonuses or extra features, but it does give you a well presented summary of stats, facts and updates for hardcore players to peruse.
After going through a brief sign-in process, you’re taken to a home screen detailing the latest news and updates for the game. From there, a side menu gives you a number of options, although your first stop will probably be checking in on your Warlock, Titan or Hunter to see them lovingly recreated in statistical form.
Everything from your current equipment to undertaken bounties and challenge progress is recorded, and navigating is as simple as swiping left and right. You can also look at an extensive run-down of your achievements across all of the game’s modes and missions, with the app even telling you your kill/death ratio across story levels as well as PvP matches .
All of this info can be compared with your friends’ campaigns, which should inspire some healthy competition as the game grows. Nonetheless, aside from a few features, most of this stuff is just as easily accessible in-game. It’s a testament to Destiny’s inventory screen that a dedicated companion app might actually slow you down, and its not going to have you pausing play to look at your phone any time soon.
However, this isn’t to say that the companion is completely obsolete. In particular, anyone interested in looking deeper into the game’s story and characters will be delighted to find the app collects and stores Grimoire cards you’ve found in-game. Grimoire cards are unlocked through progress in all of Destiny’s activities, with some of them providing extra info about the game’s post-apocalpytic setting you won’t find elsewhere. As a lot of reviews have claimed they felt the story was a bit anaemic, this app might be a good way to bolster the narrative slightly.
Moreover, Destiny’s outwardly social bent is reflected by its Companion, which does a lot to bring you into its community even if you aren’t a regular forum poster. The app is perfect for getting updates on what’s going on quickly, allows you to browse forums for tips and expertise from other gamers, and even join online groups and clans. Most importantly, it’ll tell you when your friends are playing, which gives you more than a little incentive to abandon whatever you’re up to and jump back into the fight.
Destiny’s companion app might not be a must-have, but it’s very well presented and does a great job of keeping you in the loop when you aren’t in front of your TV wiping out aliens. It’s free too, so there’s no reason not to give it a punt, if only for the statistical bragging rights.
Destiny Companion is out now on iOS. Developer: Bungie Website
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