Battleborn Beta Review
Battle Bored?
What better way to announce a game review blog than to start with a Beta that was opened last night! First the overall score I would give the Battleborn Beta would be a 7/10.
First the bad.
1) The game is slow! Slow fire rate, slow movement rate (except when you get the speed boost).
2) It is definitely a multiplayer game and if you guys know me at all I'm not a huge multiplayer fan. I'm not amazing at games and I don't take them as seriously as others, but I do enjoy a little friendly competition.
3) The campaign aspect was plagued by slow fire rates, the inability to switch weapons, and the need for more than one player. Some areas required a more aggressive attack character where others needed a defensive player, if you didn't have these you died and eventually lost. Which brings me to number 4.
4) You have limited lives... I play the campaign to relax, enjoy a story line, and take some time and enjoy the finer details of the game (art, graphics, characters, etc.). Not to sign in and have a time limit and 5 lives and if I die too many times then I don't get to continue. It's like a bad throw back to Mario Bros. I could never, and still can't beat that game, and I don't like being rushed. If I did I'd play the multiplayer mode. Half the fun of fantasy games is that you get to explore the worlds you are in.
5) I played with 2 of the 5 or 6 characters that were offered. The soldier and the mushroom guy. Here is the issues judging just from those 2. They were too much the same, and too much different to be effective in single player. What I mean by this is 1/3 ammo is needed to kill one bad guy on both. Neither could attack distant targets well (soldier could minimally after leveling up), both had a grenade type feature that dealt damage over time but had a limited range until leveled up. Weapons never changed except for the upgrades. Meaning you couldn't pull out a sniper rifle and hit the snipers on the roof. You had to run over and take a jump pad up to them or spend 10 minutes throwing knives or shooting randomly at tiny dots.
Now the good!
1) It is beautiful! The colors, the worlds, the characters, and even the animations for the special skills and explosions are amazing and very stylized (which is a plus in my book)! I can't wait for the final product to be released so I can play it in all its detailed and crisp line glory.
2) The campaign actually has a story line that makes since and its villain characters are just as interesting as the hero characters that you get to play as. A slightly "eccentric" minion? Hilarious! Even if it's not a character they plan to use, it shows a nice sense of humor and character development I feel are lacking in many villains in today's games.
3) Each characters special skills are unique and can be used strategically to help a team complete the mission. If you can put together a half decent team you stand to have a much higher level of fun whether it's in coop or vs.
4) I hear the multiplayer aspect of the game in vs mode is the shining star of this game. Not my favorite aspect, but like I said that's not my type of game. However if multiplayer is your type of game, this is for you. Strategize with your teammates, go loan wolf, go coo coo bananas with your OP characters and knock yourself out. People with teams that dominate are the reason I don't play multiplayer, but for others it is their bread and butter. To reference highlander; "There can be only one" team that wins.
5) The thought that this was just another Borderlands game is a complete myth. The animation style is similar, but more cartoon-ish. There aren't bazillions of guns, the leveling up system is much different then in Borderlands, and the special skills even function differently. I find this to work for the game, and the story mode seems to be more seamless and less of an open world concept then in Borderlands. Here you aren't jumping between worlds completing menial missions that don't have anything to do with the story line. Rather you are on a map, which you have to navigate through hoards of minions to reach the end of the map, which to me, anyways, strengthens the story line and story telling.
So would I buy it? Not at full price, but if it went on sale for $20-$30 I would consider it. Maybe second hand purchase from my local gaming store. It does carry potential and I could possibly rent it, see if the changes made enough of a difference for me, and then maybe buy it.
Did you play the BETA? What did you think?
Now the good!
1) It is beautiful! The colors, the worlds, the characters, and even the animations for the special skills and explosions are amazing and very stylized (which is a plus in my book)! I can't wait for the final product to be released so I can play it in all its detailed and crisp line glory.
2) The campaign actually has a story line that makes since and its villain characters are just as interesting as the hero characters that you get to play as. A slightly "eccentric" minion? Hilarious! Even if it's not a character they plan to use, it shows a nice sense of humor and character development I feel are lacking in many villains in today's games.
3) Each characters special skills are unique and can be used strategically to help a team complete the mission. If you can put together a half decent team you stand to have a much higher level of fun whether it's in coop or vs.
4) I hear the multiplayer aspect of the game in vs mode is the shining star of this game. Not my favorite aspect, but like I said that's not my type of game. However if multiplayer is your type of game, this is for you. Strategize with your teammates, go loan wolf, go coo coo bananas with your OP characters and knock yourself out. People with teams that dominate are the reason I don't play multiplayer, but for others it is their bread and butter. To reference highlander; "There can be only one" team that wins.
5) The thought that this was just another Borderlands game is a complete myth. The animation style is similar, but more cartoon-ish. There aren't bazillions of guns, the leveling up system is much different then in Borderlands, and the special skills even function differently. I find this to work for the game, and the story mode seems to be more seamless and less of an open world concept then in Borderlands. Here you aren't jumping between worlds completing menial missions that don't have anything to do with the story line. Rather you are on a map, which you have to navigate through hoards of minions to reach the end of the map, which to me, anyways, strengthens the story line and story telling.
So would I buy it? Not at full price, but if it went on sale for $20-$30 I would consider it. Maybe second hand purchase from my local gaming store. It does carry potential and I could possibly rent it, see if the changes made enough of a difference for me, and then maybe buy it.
Did you play the BETA? What did you think?
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