A shooter is only as good as its sniper rifle. In Halo, the UNSC Sniper Rifle System 99 thunders with each pull of the trigger, as if Zeus himself has hurled a bolt of lightning down from the heavens and into the skull of your enemy. Zoom. Thundercrack. Headshot. Reload.

In Destiny, the sniper rifle - whatever its level, whatever its rarity, whatever its name - also thunders. Zoom. Thundercrack. Headshot. Reload. Except in Destiny, you see the word "Critical" pop up when you score that headshot. And you see a life bar evaporate. And you earn experience points. And maybe you see a message letting you know you've unlocked an upgrade for your sniper rifle, so you go into your character page, have a gander at the upgrade and buy it with the in-game currency, Glimmer.

But the feeling is the same. The common sense that governs Destiny's sniper rifle is the same that stood the SRS99 in such good stead for so long. It is the sense that the bullet really does travel across the map, hitting where and when it's supposed to, the sound of live fire echoing around a chasm, a virtual thud with real world impact. It's a familiar, reassuring feeling, and it's quintessentially Bungie.

Quintessentially Bungie: that's Destiny right there.

I shouldn't be surprised, really, to discover that Destiny plays like Halo. It is another sci-fi first-person shooter from the team that defined the genre on console, after all. You still have a reticule at the centre of the screen. You still have that console auto-aim that snaps towards the head of the enemy as you zoom in. You still have a red health bar and a shield that recharges, and so when the going gets tough it's still a good idea to find a rock somewhere, or a crate, or something - anything - solid, to hide behind for a few seconds. You still have a radar, with enemies displayed as red blobs and friendlies displayed as blue blobs. You still have space grenades that shriek for a second before exploding. You still have a melee attack. You still have massive levels and you still have vehicles. You still have a floaty jump (the Hunter class even has a double jump). And, crucially, you still have that 30 seconds of fun. Yes, I shouldn't be surprised to discover that Destiny looks and plays like Halo. And yet I am relieved.

I am relieved because I was worried, which is partly my fault and partly Bungie's, I think. 14 months ago I travelled to the Bellevue-based studio so excited to see it finally unveil its new game and left disappointed that it hadn't really unveiled anything. There's been a lot of talk since. I've heard Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg preach the way of the "shared world shooter". I've heard whispers of progression, murmurings about always-online, seamless co-operative play, magic matchmaking and the promise of competitive multiplayer and a single-player campaign up there with the best Halo had to offer.

But the mystery was in how this would all tie together. The excitement was in wondering how Destiny would keep you coming back for more even after scores of hours of play, in a way that other shooters before now haven't. Bungie has for a year been vague in explaining all of this, which I interpreted as evasiveness, and as a problem. It turns out this was just Bungie being Bungie, those cryptic cads. Amid the concern I took my eye off the ball. I forgot to wonder about the core: how does Destiny play? It turns out, Destiny plays like Halo. And that's wicked.

"Amid the concern I took my eye off the ball. I forgot to wonder about the core: how does Destiny play? It turns out, Destiny plays like Halo. And that's wicked."

Critical.

The Director, a kind of 2D galaxy map, is where Destiny's many modes are selected, and where my hour-and-a half of hands-on time with the PlayStation 4 version begins. We're skipping the Tower, then, which is unfortunate, because I quite like the sound of Destiny's social hub area. This is where players meet and greet, show off new gear, buy and sell, repair, fuss over character builds and tweak loadouts. Most importantly, however, the Tower is where groups are formed. It's where players gather before venturing out into the world Bungie has spent the last four years building.

For our hands-on this has all been organised in advance, like a well-oiled school trip. Instead of starting from scratch, I'm given a level eight Hunter. I could have picked a Titan, or a Warlock, but my soft spot for sniper rifles meant the Hunter, which can double jump up to crafty vantage points, was the obvious choice. I'm already in a three person fireteam, ready to take off in my spaceship, the solar system my oyster.

Destiny has a mode for every mood, Bungie hopes, but in this pre-alpha build options are limited. The finished game will include many, based on your progression through the game. Select Skirmish for competitive multiplayer, Campaign for the story, Patrol for an undirected experience - perfect for exploration, the discovery of easter eggs and public events - and a Raid for that hardcore co-op challenge. In the final game they will all link, but for today, we're all going on a Strike.

A Strike is designed to offer a fireteam around 30 minutes of arcade-style shooter action, with one or two mini-bosses to contend with before a tougher boss fight at the finish. Ours is set in Russia - or at least in what was Russia before a four-armed spider pirate alien race called The Fallen arrived and made themselves comfortable. We're travelling to the ruins of the Cosmodrome, a post-apocalyptic cacophony of twisted metal, burnt out cars, gutted installations and colony ships that, an age ago, failed to launch. The land is a miasma of snow, barbecue dirt and rust. The sun is high in the sky, casting real-time shadows onto the stillness. Later, when my fireteam come back to this place for another run, it is night. For my two fellow Guardians and I, Old Russia is where humanity's fightback begins and our search for epic loot starts.

The Guardians have super powers, but what are they? Each class in Destiny has a focus, which carries your abilities within in. Think of your focus like your spec, or codex. The core ability of all focuses is the super. Take, for example, the Titan, which begins the game with the Striker codex. Its super is called Fist of Havoc, which is a melee range area of effect high damage attack. The Striker codex includes a number of abilities that link to Fist of Havoc, for example reduce melee damage received, improved sprint, and melee attacks feed into your grenades and your grenades feed into your supers. The Warlock has the Nova Bomb super, which is a stand-off AOE attack good for clearing groups of enemies. The Hunter's Gunslinger spec, on the other hand, is built around a targeted, high damage attack against a single enemy. It's super, the Golden Gun, makes something dead now. Across the board the rest of the abilities feed into those systems. The supers are what define the core role of their spec, but the abilities are more holistic. Destiny will launch with two codexes per class for a total of six. In addition to the Gunslinger, the Hunter has the Edgewalker build, which is built around stealth. The Titan's second build is the tank-focused Defender codex, which is based around the Void Barrier super (think of the Bubble Shield from Halo). That's about zone control, investment lead Tyson Green says. That build says, I control this part of the map right now, and if you want to come in here you've got to deal with me and the abilities I'm using and synergising with this barrier. The Warlock's second codex is called Solar, and is built around the Radiance super. This empowers the fireteam's melee attacks, grenades and abilities, offering more of a support role.