To games Studio Gearbox Software, I am with great caution. Yes, these guys had once created a wonderful series of shooters about world war II Brothers in Arms, they made up a crazy universe of Borderlands, however, they gave rise to ugly long-term construction Duke Nukem Forever, and literally trampled into the mud of the feelings of the fans of the Alien franchise, releasing the game Aliens: Colonial Marines. New game Studio – Battleborn moreover, that is an online first-person shooter, and contains elements of today’s popular MOBA genre. On the one hand, the combination is very interesting, and with another – after all, this is the first new intellectual property the Studio already since 2009. Let’s see what they eventually turned out.
As you probably know, a strategic genre of MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) is focusing on unique characters, borrowing elements from traditional role-playing games. So Battleborn shooter largely focused on the characters with their individual abilities, as you progress through the game improving along with the characters. Of course, this is not another Dota, but if desired, between these games you can spend quite tangible Parallels. While Battleborn has inherited a lot from the popular Borderlands series, including the cartoon visual style and unusual characters. In General, Gearbox Software will not be easy for them in the new genre, it can’t compete with giants like Blizzard with their Overwatch, with Paragon, Epic Games and Bethesda BattleCry c – not an easy task.
The game’s plot tells about an ancient prophecy carved in stone. According to him, there will come the inevitable end of the world, when all will disappear, except for a single star – Solus. It is to this star will rush the survivors of civilization. But instead coexist in peace and harmony, they unleash a bloody war for resources. It so happened that in this chaos of warring factions appear much more serious problem – the mad villain named Lothar Rendan, intending to destroy whatever glimmer of life. Now, to save the universe, former enemies do not remain anything, except how to unite their efforts against the common threat. It is here that the game begins Battleborn.
As I said above, the game is based on colorful characters, or as them still name, “the warriors”, which in Battleborn, there are 25 people, five on each of the existing factions space. Each of them is endowed with unique character, unusual design, personal weapons and a number of useful abilities in battle. The philosophy of the developers of the game came down to the fact that each character need to do just incredibly tough and powerful, the style of play for each individual must be unique and give the player a completely new experience. In this regard, the guys at Gearbox have coped with the task 100%. But they coped with everything else?
Each character during the numerous battles increases your level, and with it develops a set of skills. Spiral the skill system allows you to receive a new level to select one of two (occasionally three) improvements to your taste. Due to the huge number of possible combinations, you can create a completely unique build for your character, encasing him under a particular style of play, and, of course, to fit your needs. You can pump your character so that he is virtually invincible in close combat, and you can make it a deadly arrow, which doesn’t have to approach the enemies. In parallel with the leveling and increasing the overall level of the player, for which you will receive additional bonuses.
Story campaign, consisting of 9 episodes (if you count the prologue), you can go through alone or cooperatively with friends. And with friends you can play through both online and in split-screen mode Split Screen. However, as far as I know, this regime is available only to owners of gaming consoles PS4 and Xbox One, but PC owners will have to play each other only over the Network. To fight shoulder to shoulder with friends is very fun, but after some time you realize that the gameplay is outrageously boring, and endless shooting enemies already starting to bore you. One in this game nothing to do at all, because you just fall asleep after a couple of hours of monotonous shooting. Nevertheless, to pass the storyline campaign you will in any case have, as it is the only way to unlock some additional characters and to particularly valuable items of equipment.
Unlock characters in the game – it is very tricky, and it can take weeks, and even months. If you get through the single player campaign, it does not guarantee you that you will get an immediate access to all 25 characters. No. For the full collection of characters have a difficult time performing various tasks. For example, killing hundreds of enemies of a particular race or any particular faction. The game contains many different tests, for which the player gets a nice bonus in the form of additional experience and local currency loans. For example, you need to find and open 100 chests the game with a gig or build 10 flak turrets. Management in Battleborn is very intuitive, so get used to it quickly enough. Even in the console versions of the game (and I’m writing the review is based on PS4 version) to shoot enemies with a gamepad is quite convenient, plus you can activate in the settings of the system auxiliary targeting.
Each character is endowed with two options Battleborn normal attack, two special skill and one super-duper-power. Pumping his characters, the player will be able to know them better, because as we pass we will reveal previously unknown details of the biographies of heroes. In addition, you will receive bonus skins for characters and new versions of “ridicule” over opponents, without which today is unthinkable not one multiplayer shooter. Characters can equip different items (maximum three items), which can improve individual characteristics during battles. However, in order to activate these items during the battle, you have to first collect the required number of energy crystals. But you can configure different builds such items to quickly equip your character with everything necessary before kickoff.
Battleborn multiplayer allows players to fight in matches 5 on 5 people in three different multiplayer modes on two maps for each. In the “Invasion” one team defends its base from the opposing team, attacking it with a minion controlled by AI. This mode is the most accurate embodiment of MOBA in this game. The “Capture” mode is a variation on capturing and holding key points on the map, but to play it in the presence of the great “Invasion”, is frankly boring. But “Melting” is a very fun mode where both teams lead their minions in the center of the map, where they are discharged into the melting furnace, adding points for his team. Unfortunately, in the game for some reason not added the mode “all against all” or “team Deathmatch”, but, in principle, is not so bad. In online matches all players will begin to be pumped from the first level, gradually evolving to the maximum of the tenth, so to enter the heat of battle on a war elephant and Bazooka at the ready you will not leave.
Visually the game looks familiar to anyone who loves the Borderlands series of the same developer. Cartoon graphics with grotesque characters and acid flowers – the case for everybody, but it all looks, nevertheless, very bright and even impressive. Gorgeous and a very long Intro is made in the form of a hybrid 2D graphics drawn by the animators hands, and 3D decorations. The style of drawing reminded me personally popular series of animated films Aeon Flux, which at one time played on MTV. During the story campaign instead of animated screen savers, we demonstrate the comics with partially animated objects, making impression of the narrative somewhat lubricated. One gets the impression that the developers were too lazy to perform all the narrative elements in the same style and decided to save them. But I was very pleased with the fact that most of the visual effects for the game (e.g. explosions) was painted by artists, which gives Battleborn even more distinctive appearance.
The characters look very colorful and unusual. Here you will find the two even remotely resemble each other’s characters. You can feel that the designers at Gearbox put a lot of effort in creating each of the 25 warriors. Here, you and the elven Archer Thorne, and cyborg-eagle Benedict, and a huge lumberjack Montana, and the woman-a mushroom Miko, and the robot Butler Marquis, and witch, Orendi, and Mexican wrestler El dragon, and a bunch of other motley characters. All of them, by the way, have a great sense of humor and whenever I throw a few jokes. The truth here is, it happens often in the midst of battle, when the screen is going hell with explosions and gunfire, so most of the jokes will drown in the roar and the flashes.
The developers at Gearbox are promised in the future to issue additional vivid warriors for their game. They can be bought individually or just buy the season pass and get access to all future DLC. Also the player since the threshold is suggested to download and install on your smartphone Tap game Battleborn (supported operating systems iOS and Android) for a game which will award you an additional “Golden image” for the character, Orendi and other bonus Goodies. However, in order to get your reward, you will have to register with the online service of Gearbox SHIFT. But the process is short-lived, and spent a couple of minutes, you will be able to participate in all future promotions from the developers and get various prizes.
Pros:
- Quite unusual and even daring hybrid of such genres as FPS and MOBA.
- 25 unique characters with individual abilities for every taste.
- Bright visual style of the game is simply gorgeous with 2D effects.
- Excellent sense of humor, inherited from the game series Borderlands.
- Excellent multiplayer modes “Invasion” and “Melting”.
- The presence of the wonderful Split Screen mode in the console versions of the game.
- Separate plus for penguin Toby, managing fighting robot.
Cons:
- To pass the storyline campaign without friends is dull lesson.
- To yawn repetitive tasks in single-player missions.
- Completely uninteresting multiplayer mode “Capture”.
- The game is still observed pronounced problems with balance.
- Game session 30-40 minutes for the first person shooter is overkill.
- The developers plan to sell the players new characters.
The Battleborn game is of particular interest for fans of team shooters and fans of MOBA-games. However, for the last in store here only two noteworthy regime, and the number of cards in them as limited. The weakest point of the game – single-player campaign. It is evident that the developers tried to please all the players without exception, but in the end undergo a monotonous half-hour mission to shoot thousands of enemies get boring pretty quickly, and you begin to involuntarily yawn. It turns out that playing Battleborn want just for the sake of the regime “Invasion”, but without a single can not do, because it unlocks new characters. Let’s see will it have a Gearbox to fix the shortcomings of its new game with the release of patches and updates, but until I put the game only 7 points out of 10.
Review game Battleborn
Sergey Grey