Needless to say the release of No Man’s Sky’s has been met with quite divisive opinions, both critically and publicly. But what does Analog Addiction’s finest think of the final product?

In the latest edition of The AA Analysis both Devon McCarty (PlayStation extraordinaire and reviewer of No Man’s Sky) and Jamie Briggs (Weary space traveler and Trophy fanatic) will explore No Man’s Sky vast array of systems, galaxies and more to find out where exactly developer Hello Games succeeded and failed.

Jamie Briggs – I believe I had a similar initial experience to No Man’s Sky as you did in your first impressions piece. After my initial 6 – 8 hours with No Man’s Sky I felt quite letdown with the finished product. I was expecting vast planets filled to the brim with exotic creatures, aliens that would offer quests that would take me across the galaxy, and the rush of exploring a never ending universe. But that wasn’t exactly what I experienced, instead it felt more like this giant empty space. Almost like someone was preparing to build this amazing playground, but forgot to order any playground equipment. Which honestly left me very disappointed.

However, I had an extended break from No Man’s Sky and when I returned I had a different mindset to the experience. In the best possible way, my hopes were not set extremely high as they once were. Instead of jumping in my ship and powering forward into uncharted worlds, I decided to explore one planet. I decided to take in what No Man’s Sky offered and explore this one planet to its full potential; and I won’t lie, my experience was a lot better for it.

Instead of considering what No Man’s Sky could have been, I enjoyed No Man’s Sky for what it was. It isn’t the revolution many expected, but it is a unique adventure that does not exist anywhere else.

Devon McCarty – I think a lot of gamers are sharing your initial reaction, and then internal correction to that line of thought. I had several expectations of what I wanted No Man’s Sky to be, and it wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be when I started playing it. Even reading your thoughts on meeting aliens that would offer quests across the galaxy, I can’t help but think of how much of a missed opportunity that was. How many life forms have I met on my journey? Not one of them asked me to do little more than trade a specific element just so I could continue trading. Isn’t that weird?

But once I broke from the thought that this game “could have” or ” should have” been whatever else, I started to enjoy it as much as you.

If you just became nothing more than a planet hopper, spending time only to refuel your hyper drive and warp to a new planet system, I would absolutely hate this repetitive game. However, by exploring the planets ecosystem and really digging into the Knowledge Stones and Obelisks on each planet, opened up a whole new level of lore I haven’t really experienced before.

Generally speaking, a game will let you understand the creatures and characters you need to understand. In No Man’s Sky you’ve got to learn every single word of a language to really be effective in trading. Sure you can guess and see what happens with little punishment and small reward, but I don’t think the purpose was to punish or reward, but to give you something to learn.

It still currently stands as some of my favorite moments of the game. Especially when you reach an obelisk and have a hallucination that tests your character. Do you feed the ancient evil that is trapped within so you can set it free? Do you put the damaged creature out of its misery? Those little stories are excellent!

Jamie Briggs – Those moments when you are given a small story as to the events that are occurring on screen brought me back to the original Mass Effect. There were side quests that would give small text based stories like that and they were always wonderful to read and let your imagine run wild on what could be happening on screen. Learning the lore and language of each alien race was certainly one of my favourite things to discover and finally being able to understand what certain aliens are asking felt like a great accomplishment.

The issue I did have with the main alien races is the lack of diversity. The best comparison is once again to the original Mass Effect, which suffered from the same lack of diversity issue when it came to alien locations and outposts. In No Man’s Sky almost every single trading post in space, and most locations on each planet had the exact same architectural design. Perhaps I am being a little picky, but I’m surprised these were not procedurally generated or slightly altered for each alien race. It did certainly take away from the unique lore of each alien, as they all seem to have the same decorator.

While the visual style of No Man’s Sky is off the charts, with gorgeous neon colours and a unique colourful design; I unfortunately experienced many of the same rocky baron planets throughout my adventure. Perhaps it was due to bad luck, but only a small percentage of planets were brimming with alien wildlife and different types of terrain. As Hello Games stated the planets would continue to get crazier the closer you get to the center of the galaxy, but it didn’t seem to be the case for me; which is most likely bound to happen with the insane amount of planets available.

Devon McCarty – There have already been several updates to No Man’s Sky that are focused on helping people stop struggling with game crashes. While I hadn’t experienced any during my play sessions, I did watch my friend’s girlfriend have a space ship land on her, and the game glitched so she couldn’t move. Sure, she shouldn’t have been standing there, but you figure a code should be in place to prevent landings when the only key user is on that platform.

I do hope they start adding updates that focus on more diversity of planet geology and life forms. Like you, I’ve encountered several of the same species already. For instance. Right before the aforementioned glitch, I saw a bunch of different crab life forms I had never seen in my own game. I’m wondering how much of the same content is specified to an individual user, and more integration could be beneficial to solve that.

I would also like to see updates focused on base building and customization. First off, WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE?!?! This ongoing issue I’ve been having is that I have no idea what race I am or what I look like. Have we just evolved beyond that? Probably not. It would be nice to to know what I look like and switch it around a little if I wanted too. Same thing with my ship. I don’t want to constantly switch ships. I would like to be able to customize the one I have if I like it a lot, and then move on from it when I’m ready.

Last thing would be to have a place of my own to put my gear. You’ve only got so many slots, and there is some stuff that I would like to keep around in my home base. I get how in a game like this, travel is the center focus as we are all going to the center of the galaxy. However, I can’t help but wish there was a place more than my ship to call my own. With these outposts and space stations on and between every planet, I think it would be cool to have a base of your own to build up and upgrade. Add weapons to protect from pirates, and a beacon for your friends to find it and see what you’ve seen and accomplished. Also to add a specific warp interface (black hole, whatever) that will let you warp back to your base whenever you want, and then go back to where you were exploring

With hardcore and heavy games like Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 on the horizon, Hello games has a lot of work to do if they want to keep their players engaged. And I am rooting for them because I like the game a lot as is, but would love to see some additions.

Jamie Briggs – Surprisingly, I never really experienced any crashes and/or technical issues; which regardless of the content within No Man’s Sky is quite a feat. While it is obvious the long times that appear when jumping between planets are essentially load times, the fact I can transition from on-foot travel, to the skies above, to the vastness of space and back down to a new planet within a matter of seconds is astounding. No Man’s Sky is a technical marvel and the fact it is essentially an “indie game”, sets an entirely new standard for similar studios going forward.

Base building personally doesn’t excite me, simply due to the fact I’ll constantly be traveling between planets and systems. I’d much rather either a constant store built into my ship which allowed me to sell items I have found; as the fact remains at the moment that vendors are few and far between. There is nothing more annoying than having your inventory loaded with essential survival items and not being able to collect other items due to being overloaded with minerals. While the upgrades to inventory space in your suit and ship are appreciated, the upgrades are not introduced fast enough to make the annoyance of such a small inventory become a thing of the past.

While the inventory issues are one thing, I’d most like Hello Games to introduce an alternative menu navigation system. I personally found the cursor system to be quite annoying and wish there was a most console-friendly system in place. Due to the small initial space and annoying menu navigation, managing your inventory is a lot more frustrating than it needed to be.

Devon McCarty – At the core of it, No Man’s Sky delivered on the promises Hello Games made. We have the ability to travel across the universe, discovering limitless amounts of creatures and lifeforms, in the endless pursuit of exploration. While there may be a few tweaks that may be beneficial, and a bunch of additions I would appreciate, No Man’s Sky is an impressive game, and I’m glad to have added it to my collection.

Now that you have heard what AA thinks of No Man’s Sky, we want to know what you think. Let us know in the comments below if you agree, disagree or believe we didn’t cover something you experienced in No Man’s Sky.

Did you get a chance to play the demo? What did you think?

Platform Played PlayStation 4 Developer/Publisher Introversion Software/Double Eleven

Prison Architect is an entry in the simulation genre that allows players to take up the mantle of a prison owner. Despite the simplistic visuals Prison Architect contains impressive customisation options, allowing players to fine-tune their prison creations with an insane amount of freedom. While the console release of Prison Architect does have a few control issues, the overall release is an entertaining and intricate prison simulator.

Before entering the sandbox creation modes in Prison Architect, I highly recommend players experience the 5 chapter story mode/tutorial levels available. Prison Architect offers a series of tutorial missions that do an excellent job of combining a thought provoking story, while also offering in-depth walkthroughs of the multitude of options players have at their disposal. Prison Architect’s story-based mode is easily one of my favourite tutorial walkthroughs I have ever played. Prison Architect expertly showcased the systems available, while offering an interconnected 5 chapter story that presented a thought provoking narrative on the justice system.

Prison Architect’s story mode consists of achieving goals your supervisor expects, before ultimately giving the player control to harness their new knowledge and create a functional prison complex. The narrative itself is delivered through dialogue conversations and small comic book styled images. While the narrative is basic at its core, the lasting story from each chapter left a thought provoking message regarding the pros and cons of the justice system. Prison Architect’s story mode is an excellent combination of story-based entertainment and tutorial-based missions, which has ultimately set a high standard for other entries in the genre going forward.

While other simulation genre entries offer realistic visuals (SimCity), or over the top cartoon imagery (The Sims) Prison Architect offers a barebones visual style. Each character in Prison Architect is simply a shape with a round head on top – and that’s it. Characters simply slide around the world to imitate the art of walking, but the visual style itself is unique and inviting. Due to the simple visual style Prison Architect never skips a beat during full scale 500 prisoner riots, and the basic design actually helps ease players into managing a sensitive real world issue. The simple visual design may make people believe Prison Architect doesn’t offer the same detailed customisation options of other simulation entries; but this is simply not the case.

Prison Architect’s building and managing systems are deeply intricate, and a sound understanding of each system is needed to create a successful prison. Building different structures is simple enough, requiring players to drag across their desired area and start the building process; but it goes much deeper. Each structure will require different items to be fully functional, like how cookers, fridges and bins will be needed to create a fully functioning kitchen. But then consider that each item will either require water or power, the fact cleaners and cooks will be needed to keep the food outtake efficient, and inmates will then need an area that can be used to eat. The smallest creation can mean players must focus on a multitude of other aspects in order to make their initial structure fully functional. It’s within these steps where I found myself losing countless hours of my day to Prison Architect as I tried to account for each next functional step to create an effective prison; which always kept me thinking and planning ahead to keep my prisoners happy.

I’ve barely begun to scratch the depth in-which Prison Architect allows players to explore, as there are also drug rehabilitation programs, education classes, inmate working courses, solitary confinement options, and a plethora of different structures to be built. These options do not even consider the fact players can micro-manage each prisoner to find out the reason they are incarcerated, punish them for breaching prison guidelines and perform prison-wide lockdowns and shakedowns for contraband material. There are so many different programs to maintain that it becomes an impressive juggling act to finally create a fully functioning and profitable complex that is not only rehabilitating prisoners, but also ensuring they don’t return to prison in the future

Originally released on PC the console release of Prison Architect is not without its control flaws, when compared to the ease of keyboard and mouse controls. The main gameplay issues that appear in the console release either relate to the camera, or the ability to place buildings and structures. The camera itself requires constant movement due to the sheer size of certain prisons, which means zoom functions and camera movements are vital. The problem is that the camera will either find itself fixated on a certain point or refuse to move. While the placement of buildings is fine for the most part, there are times where subtle movements will sent the cursor spiraling out of control which caused many bouts of frustration when trying to create well designed locations.

There were even times when after choosing an item I wanted to place the camera would move highlighting the wrong building, which then caused the item I selected to be altered. There were a number of times where this odd instance meant I created the wrong structure, which made a severe dent to my budget. There is also no easy undo option which meant that money was forever lost, and in one cased forced me to abandon my now financially incapacitated complex. Despite those issues, the console version of Prison Architect is a solid PC port; especially considering the sheer amount of options available to the player.

Prison Architect doesn’t expect each player to fall in love with the prison building system, which is why Prison Architect offers players a selection of 10 pre-built prisons to simply begin the simulation process straight away. The 10 prisons offer a great deal of variety and challenge, from smaller prisons built for luxury use, or large supermax prisons with over 500 inmates. But if those 10 options do not suffice Prison Architect also contains the option to download other player created prisons and manage them. Players can almost instantly search, download and investigate other player created designs. The system is flawless and impressively quick, allowing me to download, play and exit a prison in under 30 seconds. This allows for great freedom of exploration and allowed me to manage intricate prisons that I could have never created on my own.

Those wanting to create a prison from scratch can certainly do that in the Prison Architect mode, allowing players to choose the difficulty, size and other options. Prison Architect also allows players to choose from a selection of prison wardens that will offer minor bonuses or extra challenges, but the selection is completely up to you. I appreciated the freedom of control Prison Architect allowed, which meant that if I wanted to start with unlimited money and simply focus on the building elements I could; while I had the option to ramp up the challenge and test my prison managing skills if I so desired. This is a true sandbox mode that gives players the ability to player how they want to play.

There is one main drawback that Prison Architect has compared to other simulation genre entries and that is the lack of overall variety. Despite the prison theme of Prison Architect being extremely intricate, it becomes noticeable that most penitentiaries essentially require the same structures within the first few hours of creation. This is where Prison Architect differs in comparison to a Zoo Tycoon or SimCity release. While players can always experiment with particular animal-based zoos, or uniquely themed cities; Prison Architect is essentially always about people being in prison. While Prison Architect is extremely well made and delivers an immaculate prison simulation experience, without that overall variety the prison motif may become stagnant for simulation genre enthusiasts.

Prison Architect is essentially one of the best simulation releases on current generation consoles. There are an insane amount of intricate options players can customise and manage in order to create their own unique prison system. Players can focus on creating a well maintained prison where inmates are rehabilitated for their future or one where the inmates are forced to change due to poor conditions and fear. In the end Prison Architect does not tell you which is the better option, but instead invites players to make that choice themselves.

Prison Architect is an impressively thought provoking release in the simulation genre, one that is truly delivered in the excellent 5 chapter story/tutorial mode. While the simplistically designed narrative drives players to learn the building and management systems available, the overarching story left me with a thought provoking message in regards to real world issues; which is something I never expected from Prison Architect.

Prison Architect may offer a few cumbersome gameplay issues when compared to the PC release, but the console port is a genuinely enjoyable and entertaining entry in the simulation genre.

The Good

• Expertly presented story/tutorial mode, with a thought provoking message.
• Sandbox mode.
• Intricate managing systems.
• Excellent range of building options.

The Bad

• Issues with camera and placement controls.
• Lacks overall variety when compared to other entries in the genre.

The Score: 8.5

LEGO® STAR WARS™: The Force Awakens, PlayStation 4

If you got the chance to play the Demo for TFA, you would have experienced a small sampling of melee combat, the multi-build system, cover-based shooting and flight mechanics all set in Episode VII. It was a pleasant surprise for me to find that in the Prologue, which places you at the very end of Episode VI Return of the Jedi, to finish the fight against the Emperor, take out the generator on Endor, and blow up the Death Star.

It is these moments specifically that shine brightest in this universe. Fighting alongside Darth Vader as Luke Skywalker, against the Emperor, brought back so many nostalgic nerd feels that I think I spent more time smiling at the cut scenes, and taking a few moments to reminisce, than actually playing. But where the Lego series does a great job of taking real audio, blended with new audio, to craft a new and fun story to fill in the gaps of the movie property in question, it also fails to nail down a lot of the necessary mechanics for it to be the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.

The Power of Flight

Arguably, the best feature in the game is the flight mechanic. So far I’ve piloted both the Millennium Falcon and the black Tie Fighter, and those are some of my favorite moments. They’re fast, responsive, intuitive, chaotic, and everything I want from a dog fight both in a planets atmosphere or in deep space. If anything, I haven’t had enough time to spend in the air and patiently await my next opportunity to take flight.

If you build it…

The multi-build mechanic also serves well for some fun puzzle solving. Rarely have I built the correct Lego set on the first go. But fortunately all I need to do is break it a part,and try one of the other versions to figure out which one works best or needs to be built first. I’ve encountered several of these on various plants and have yet to feel irritated by it.

Fist to Face Style

Melee combat is back and pretty straight forward. Lego has introduced this special “finisher” style move for the characters that have the option to use it. The combat overall is pretty repetitive, but the switching to different characters and using different finishers feels pretty satisfying throughout.

Gun Control

My main concern after playing the Demo, was how wonky I felt the controls were. Since the game was just a vertical slice, I knew there wouldn’t be any time to retool the mechanics, so the same issues in the demo are present in the full game. The aim seems sluggish and off, and I was hoping after spending a lot of time behind the barrel of a blaster, it would get better. It hasn’t. Figuring out how to use the controls doesn’t mean the controls are good, it just means you’re making the most of them so you don’t die .

The other issue is you can only use the cover-base shooter system when the game wants you too. Granted, the game is light and quick and doesn’t necessarily warrant you taking cover fire, as jumping in and mixing things up works easily enough. It just seemed strange to me to only allow certain styles of game play whenever the game wanted you to use it, as opposed to just building the cover system throughout the entire game.

The Journey Ahead

As I said in the beginning, I am only 10 hours into the game. Game mechanics are pretty consistent, so what you experience in the beginning, generally echos throughout the remainder of the game. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement to make this game become one of the best games in the galaxy, but I’m looking forward to the fun journey centered around some of my favorite intellectual property to prove me wrong. Yes, this is a Lego game. But it’s also built around one of the biggest franchises in pop culture, and warrants a certain amount of polish.

Analog Addiction’s full review of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be up as soon as possible.

Resident Evil has made a name by forcing you to look at things you don’t want to look at. So one of the biggest surprises from E3 2016, was that the entirety of Resident Evil 7, can be played through VR. An additional announcement was made that a new demo for the game was available for download now. I took it upon myself to take it for a spin and experience the multiple outcomes that take place throughout the short tech demo. Be warned, there are some spoilers from the first “layer” of the games playthrough. I take you through almost the entire thing, with the exception of the VHS tape that I want you to experience for yourself. If you want to remain spoiler free, ignore this and go play the demo. If not, enjoy the video.

I can say without question that this game is a short fun burst of horror. If you like anticipation, second guessing your decisions, and wishing you were in a full suit of armor as you turn every corner, this is a demo you should download and play. There are several outcomes depending on what you uncover throughout the game, primarily during a VHS tape you discover and watch. Which is really where this game shines the most. I haven’t had this much fun playing a horror game since Until Dawn.

“For us making the expansion is really something where we want to look at all areas of the game and then try to just improve everything that we can really,” says Jamie Bury, lead animator for The Witcher 3, “It’s one of the reasons we went through and did things like upgrading the user interface for the game – we had a lot of feedback about this stuff, where things may be a little bit clunky or confusing, and we just wanted to improve this stuff.”

Most of the changes are subtle, like separating weapons and armour in your inventory, or moving the position of your items in the quick menu, but going back and playing the base game highlights the benefit of the changes.

It’s not just minor changes coming to The Witcher 3’s final expansion, players will also be able to explore a new area called Toussaint, which rivals No Man’s Land or Novigrad in size. Geralt describes it best when he first arrives in Toussaint: it’s like something out of a fairytale. While there’s a certain beauty in The Witcher 3’s depiction of misery and war-torn landscapes, Toussaint is picturesque with its lush green grass, mountainous terrain, grand castles and established townships. That contrast was of great importance to the developer.

“We wanted to have this contrast with the new area so you can kind of see the difference. This is going to a place that isn’t under the threat of war constantly, the people there can lead pretty good lives. They just have a different living experience to the characters of The Witcher 3 base game,” says Bury.

Geralt is brought to the land of Toussaint after being summoned by Duchess Anna Henrietta to deal with a monster problem. The first two hours of the story see Geralt trying to track down the monster in what becomes a medieval murder-mystery. Thanks to the strong writing and performances that The Witcher 3 is known for, I was captivated the whole time. Time flies when playing The Witcher 3, and Blood and Wine appears to be no different. This is more of the same, and that’s fantastic.

I very much enjoyed the structure of the first couple of hours too. The story missions have a nice balance between dialogue and combat. In this case, combat largely involves four ‘boss’ battles. I was playing on the easiest difficulty because we were told the other difficulties had not been balanced properly yet, but the bosses were still very challenging. There was a giant with a swinging attack and a smash attack, a vampire-type monster which couldn’t be hit while invisible, a giant rock-crab monster called a shaehmaar which was only vulnerable when it was flipped on its back, and finally a different vampire who attacked very quickly and could dash around the room. Each boss required a different strategy to defeat, and Bury ensured me “you’ve not seen the best ones yet.”

It’s not just a new story that players will get to experience in Blood and Wine, new gameplay elements are also being implemented. Progressing through the story, Geralt will eventually be given a vineyard to stay in. While it looks run down when you first get it, you’ll be able to spend gold to upgrade the interior and exterior. While improving the vineyard cosmetically, the upgrades also give Geralt convenient access to plants for alchemy, a grindstone and anvil to get buffs, (finally) a bed for Geralt to sleep in, a stable for Roach, and – most importantly – access to the new mutation system (after you’ve completed the associated quest).

The mutation system is linked to character development, with players using skill points to unlock powerful mutations for Geralt. There are mutations for each of the three branches: combat, signs and alchemy. As an example of how powerful some of the mutations are, one of the mutations upgrades the Aard blast to freeze enemies, allowing Geralt to more easily fight large groups of enemies. You can only have one mutation active at any given time, but the more you unlock the more extra ability slots you unlock (up to a maximum of four). The twist is that each ability you place in these slots must match the colour of the active mutation – in this case blue. I chose to equip four Aard based abilities to improve my Aard skill. It makes Geralt feel like true threat, which is great fun.

Geralt’s vineyard

“We’ve raised the level cap from 60 to 100, and because of raising this level cap we just wanted to give you a few more tools to play with if you’re a high level player, but it also just adds so much more variety to the kind of build you can make for Geralt. We have the new mutation stuff and an extra four slots for that so it kind of vastly changes the combat based on how you’ll be able to make the builds now; it’s just a lot more toys to play with,” says Bury, who recommended I try out the Aard mutation because it was his favourite.

If you’re yet to finish The Witcher 3, but still want to experience Blood and Wine, the game can be played as a stand-alone experience, starting Geralt at the recommended level of 34, or you can use your save from the main game if you’re a high enough level.

For Bury, it’s emotional working on Blood and Wine because he knows it’s the last time he’s going to work with Geralt. “It’s tough. If this was any other project I worked on it would normally be like okay we’ve been on this for years I’m desperate to move on to something else, but it’s really not with The Witcher. It’s kind of a bitter sweet thing. I’m looking forward to moving on to the new challenges, but I love the games.”

Throughout my short time with Blood and Wine, CD Projekt Red continuously mentioned fan feedback and how much they appreciated the fans when talking about their reasons for making certain changes and adding gameplay elements. Blood and Wine is looking like more Witcher 3, and then some. It’s great to see CD Projekt Red’s desire to add new systems and refinements to an already amazing experience. Blood and Wine will be Geralt of Rivia’s final outing, and it’s shaping up to be a fantastic experience.

Update, 1:07 AM AEST: CD Projekt Red has confirmed to IGN that The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine will be available on May 30 in the United States, with pre-orders now available.

For me, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End marks the end of a journey I have been on for the better part of a decade, which is why the title may have more of an impact for me than anyone else. It also stands as the reason I didn’t second guess buying the Collector’s Edition of the game. If this be my last ride with Nathan Drake, may no stone go unturned, treasure left unfound, bad guy left unshot, and witty pun uncracked.

I definitely look forward to the journey that lay ahead, and I genuinely plan to Platinum this game to ensure I’ve experienced every part available to me. Good luck out there, and I hope to see you in the multiplayer!

Considering myself a veteran hero shooter and MOBA player, I decided to grab fellow editor and MOBA noob Devon McCarty to see what his experience with the Battleborn Open Beta was like compared to mine.

Story Missions

Nathan (the veteran): I’m not sure if there’s going to be much of a story joining Battleborn‘s story missions, but they are definitely fun to play. A group of up to five players jump in, choose their characters and run through a linear environment killing everything in their path. I loved that the environments in both missions looked very different to each other. One was set on an icy planet, while the other was set mainly inside a metallic structure. The mission structures were fairly similar for both missions, with a mini boss fight about halfway through, and then a final boss fight at the end. They were a lot of fun, and took roughly 30 minutes on the normal difficulty. There aren’t really any MOBA elements in the story missions, apart from levelling up your hero from level one each session, so I believe they will be perfect for newcomers to test out the different playable characters and their abilities.

You can tell that Battleborn is being developed by the minds behind Borderlands, with the same witty humor peeking its head up in the dialogue.

Devon (the noob): For my first foray into the game, a lot of the people that joined in on my campaign were just running around and blasting the hell out of everything. Everyone joined in easy enough and we all followed whatever path was available for us to take. For the Beta, there were only a handful of missions available, and obviously it was limited and left me wanting to see what else was in store. Saying that, the last few beta’s I’ve played left me with the same feeling, and when the game came out, far exceeded my expectations.

5v5 Multiplayer Game Modes

Nathan: This was the first time I’d played Battleborn‘s multiplayer modes, and I was interested to see how much they drew from MOBA games like League of Legends, DOTA 2 and SMITE. There were two game modes in Battleborn‘s open beta, Incursion and Meltdown (a third will be available at launch called capture).

Incursion sees each team moving minions along a single lane to try and destroy two enemy spider tanks. The spider tanks are essentially turrets from the MOBA genre. It keeps the action centered as each team meets in the middle of the map and participates in a tug of war. I’d say this is MOBA newcomer friendly, with novices not having to worry about protecting three lanes. There appears to be enough strategy for veteran MOBA players with three neutral camps to fight over which spawn powerful allied mercenaries that help push the lane. There are also turrets and health stations to purchase around the map with the game’s currency, shards, that players can collect from crystals on the map and from minion deaths. It’s very fast paced, and the 30 minute time limit kept games from dragging on.

It should be said that at first Incursion can be a little daunting, even for a veteran player like myself, because of how focused the action is. Battleborn is a very pretty game with lots of colourful explosions and attacks flying across the screen, and it can be confusing telling what’s what until you become more familiar.

Devon: Meltdown was my instant favourite. It was the only time where I knew exactly what was going on and had a blast with it. The goal was simply to escort your minions (little robot dudes) into the giant robot face of your opponent. The little dudes would run into their robot face and destroy it.

I know it sounds simplistic, but I had a blast defending my guys, and destroying the other teams. Of all the game modes available on the Beta, Meltdown was easily my favorite.

Nathan: Likewise, my favourite game mode was also Meltdown. Like Devon said, Meltdown is played on a smaller two-lane map and has teams pushing minions into an incinerator to score points, with the first to 500, or the most points after 30 minutes, winning. This map required more strategy because if one lane was left open, the other team could gain the advantage by pushing its minions into its incinerators. Like Incursion, there are turrets and health stations to purchase around the map to provide advantages for your team.

I like that Battleborn has taken MOBA elements, and changed the formula a bit to create game modes that are accessible for veterans and newcomers alike, but also have room for strategy. The 30 minute timer is a great edition, with most games over by the 20 minute mark anyway.

The Heroes

Devon: I’m still pretty new to MOBA style games. So I kept picking Oscar Mike, which turned my game into a first person shooter. There are so many different character classes to pick from, each with their own level tree to follow, that I would have probably been even more confused by picking something I didn’t understand. At least with Oscar Mike, I had a solid foundation to work from because a dude with a rifle is the same all over.

Nathan: Battleborn‘s hero selection appears to be quite impressive. There’s a nice variety of heroes to fit each playstyle, and most of them were fun to play as. Not every hero will be playable from the get-go, with players unlocking heroes by levelling up or by completing a challenge associated with the hero. Some are even unlocked by playing the main story missions.

Class wise, there are long range snipers, damage absorbing tanks, support characters that heal and shield, assassins with skills that hit hard and fast, and mages that deal steady damage. Each class has a different playstyle and they were all fun to use. My favourites were Rath, a melee based swordsman who’s attacks give him lifesteal, Orendi, a ranged mage who throws down an area of effect spell that is great for clearing minions, and Reyna, a ranged character who can apply an overshield to herself and an ally while launching homing missiles at enemies. With 25 playable characters, it will be interesting to see how balanced all of the characters are when the game launches, especially the characters unlocked at later levels.

The most important topic: Gameplay

Devon: Playing “Meltdown” was the only time I ever fully understood my objective. I played through the campaign with some people and we couldn’t figure out what was going on. We had already killed everything to kill, and then we couldn’t find a path or objective to pursue. It was frustrating because all of the sudden, a gate that was up dropped and we could continue. No one had done anything, it just decided to do so. I’m hoping little things like that are fixed for the full release of the game.

Nathan: Battleborn‘s gameplay was so much fun; I couldn’t stop playing. It’s a first person shooter at its core, and almost feels similar to Borderlands in this regard too. Each character gets a primary attack, a secondary attack, a couple of skills and an ultimate attack. The skills all run on a cooldown system, so you don’t have to worry about mana consumption which keeps the action fast paced.

I must admit that at first it was all very overwhelming because of how colourful Battleborn is, but, like most MOBAs and team-based shooters, once I worked out what each heroes’ skills looked like, it was easy to keep track of what was going on. Gearbox has made several great shooters, and Battleborn‘s Open Beta suggests Gearbox’s next venture could be no different.

Overall thoughts on the Battleborn Open Beta

Devon: Battleborn has a heck of a lot going for it. It’s fun, lighthearted, and easy to pick up and run around in even if you’re not exactly sure what to do. The most fun I had (like any game) was playing with some friends and having them coach me through our objectives. My main concern would be the connectivity issues with doing big parties. That’s the concern with any online heavy game and I always try to be a little easier on a Beta since it is just that. However, if I pick the game up and start having the same connectivity issues I had with the beta, I will be very disappointed. Overall I am looking forward to this title and look forward to hearing more about it.

Nathan: Unlike Devon, I had no connectivity issues during the Open Beta, playing across both Xbox One and PC. I’m extremely excited for Battleborn, and I’m glad it’s not too far away. From my brief weekend with the game, it appears to be shaping up to be a solid first person shooter with interesting re-imaginings of staple MOBA elements. The hero selection can make or break games like this, but it looks like Battleborn is on the right track. I was worried about Battleborn‘s multiplayer modes and thought they might be dumbing down the MOBA genre for shooter fans, but I actually really like the direction Gearbox Software is taking with the multiplayer.

Battleborn will be available worldwide next Tuesday, May 3rd.

Possibly one of the most noticeable features of the beta was the inclusion of loadouts for multiplayer. Taking inspiration from more modern shooter titles, players were forced to select which weapons they spawned with prior to actually spawning. This came as a shock to many of us here as the older titles placed emphasis on locating stronger weapons strewn about the levels rather than being given rocket launchers or sniper rifles at the outset of your life. Multiplayer gameplay obviously cannot be identical to single player, but spawning with such powerful weapons, even if their damage levels have been decreased from what you may expect, caused a disconnect between our past experienced with the franchise and this new title. Modifying and updating gameplay is to be expected, particularly when there has been a 12 year gap between titles, but simply being handed power weapons and allowing everyone to run rampant through the map with them did not feel like Doom, it felt like Halo or Call of Duty, particularly with loadouts being present. The other oddity pertaining to loadouts was the fact that players could only unlock custom loadouts and some of the better weapons by increasing their multiplayer level. This meant that if you were just starting to play the beta, you were at a disadvantage against more experienced players not only due to their familiarity with maps and gameplay, but because they also had access to more powerful weaponry and the ability to create their own loadouts. Awarding things such as perks to players as they level up is a great incentive for progression, as are skins and experience boosts, but keeping certain power weapons locked or preventing new players from customizing a loadout or two is absolutely ridiculous in any multiplayer game which wants to be viewed as competitive.

During the beta there were two game types available to play. One was a typical team deathmatch mode while the other was called Warpath, essentially a King of the Hill mode in which the hill changes its location over time. Warpath was a nice option for those seeking a slightly more strategic mode as every player converged on a single location, but regardless of which game type you found yourself in, running through the maps in groups was almost a necessity. Early on it became clear that attempting to be a lone wolf player in this game would not result in much success. Even if there is no communication between teammates, traveling in packs is the only way you won’t repeatedly find yourself outnumbered and outgunned. The available levels to play were large enough that you had time to run around without being instantly killed but small enough to guarantee you would encounter enemies on a consistent basis, once again reinforcing that there is indeed strength in numbers. In this regard, DOOM seems to have found the perfect balance given the team sizes.  You were kept on your toes at all times but very rarely felt cramped or limited in your options for mobility. With a plethora of pillars, cliff edges, and teleporters, you could find new ways to access areas or get the jump on an opponent. The maps had a great deal of verticality to them as well, allowing combat to span across various heights. Level design has always been Doom‘s strength and if these multiplayer maps are any indicator, the upcoming entry in the franchise will keep that trend going.

The weapon variety is another positive experienced in the beta, as every player style will have at least one weapon available to them. While the multiplayer could benefit from modifying how power weapons are obtained, as previously mentioned, the number of options open to players is fantastic. The Static Rifle is easily the most creative weapon, forcing players to constantly move around to charge up a round but dealing ludicrous amounts of damage with a single shot. When concepts like this are seen it provides some hope for what we might see in the finished title, but based strictly on the beta, it was the only weapon which stood out from the rest. The fan favourite Super Shotgun made its mandatory appearance, and was used by nearly every player we encountered, although many seemed shocked at how little damage it did in multiplayer. This is another example of how the loadouts have negatively affected the multiplayer, as leaving the Super Shotgun as a pick-up around the arena could have given some freedom to keep its damage output closer to what players experience during the franchise’s single player campaigns. Overall, the weapon selection is pretty good but if fewer weapons were readily available in loadouts and spawned throughout the level instead, there would be a much greater sense of cohesion with the rest of the franchise and there would not be such a drastic contrast in damage between single player and multiplayer.

By the time the beta came to a close, I was left with a feeling of indifference. There is no mistaking that the multiplayer games are filled with action and chaos, but unfortunately there are some glaring issues with the way in which the action is delivered. Without getting a glimpse of the single player component, there is no way of knowing if any of these problems have also found their way into the campaign and disrupted the traditional style of Doom‘s gameplay. We can only hope these controversial changes have been made solely on the multiplayer side of things in an attempt to capture the attention of gamers who have not played the earlier titles in the franchise and may be more accustomed to newer IP’s such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Halo. Reviving an old franchise such as this one will always come with a burden of trying to balance appealing to new players while providing a faithful sequel to long-standing fans. Based solely on the beta, I’m not certain either camp will be terribly pleased with the result in this case, but with the full retail release just around the corner, we will undoubtedly find out soon.

Its latest title, Blast ‘Em Bunnies appears to be no exception to this, with the two man development team deciding to have a shot at the tower defense/ endless shooter genre. With the launch of Blast ‘Em Bunnies imminent, Analog Addiction had a chance to speak to one of the creative minds behind these games, Nnooo Creative Director and Founder Nic Watt.

Blast ‘Em Bunnies is a wave-based shooter that tasks the player with fighting off an army of evil bunnies using a range of weaponry like carrot rifles and watermelon machine guns.

“I first came up with an idea about looking around and shooting things and we wanted to include cute, colourful characters,” says Watt, speaking of how the premise for the game was formulated. “The first idea was a space defence shooter where you were some form of orbiting space station which could move in 360 degrees looking through its sights. I felt that shooting aliens in space might be a little too niche and alienating for some users so I tried to think of a character type that would appeal to all users.”

“This is where the ideas of bunnies came from. Once we had that, we started to think of all the cool things both the player could do in the form of crazy types of weapons (exploding, heat-seeking pepper bombs!), and enemies (burrowers, blockers, throatslitters for example)!”

My first experience with Blast ‘Em Bunnies was back in 2013, at the EB Games Expo in Sydney, Australia. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One had just been announced, and Blast ‘Em Bunnies was being used to showcase the gyroscope in the PlayStation 4 controller.

“At the EB Expo in 2013 we were showing an early build on PlayStation 4 and we actually hadn’t been approved for Xbox at that time,” reflected Watt. “We still had a lot to add in the form of different arenas, bunny skins and even weapon and enemy types. We also added refreshable missions which renew on completion and daily, as well as lots of medals to complete too.”

Blast ‘Em Bunnies will be a strictly single player experience. “There isn’t multiplayer as mainly it would have required online play. The game is designed to be a first person shooter and the gameplay we went for really suits single player,” comments Watt. “Multiplayer would be a very different mode and, on at least PSVita and Nintendo 3DS, would have had to support either local or online multiplayer. This was too big an undertaking and something we hadn’t done before so we decided to focus our efforts on making sure the single player was the best it could be.”

Nnooo has been focused on Blast ‘Em Bunnies for quite some time. It’s been a little over two years since I first saw Blast ‘Em Bunnies in action, and several factors have played a part in the long development time frame. Largely, Watt tells me, it was because of the number of platforms the game was being developed for.

“We were always planning on PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS and added PlayStation 4 when we received development approval. Xbox One we added when we got approval to develop. We mainly wanted to release on multiple devices to reach more people and make the game as successful as we can.”

“When we finally got Xbox One approval we decided we wanted to aim for a simultaneous release, so it took a fair bit of time adding all of the support for each platform’s idiosyncrasies.”

Not only is a simultaneous release on this many platforms something new for the small developer, it also made the quality assurance testing a much longer process. “Given that there are only 3 of us and we are supporting 4 platforms, it took a big chunk of time to get it all super polished and bug free. The EB Expo 2013 build had a lot of crashes and other issues we were quite skilled at hiding!”

Another challenge the team faced was utilising each platform’s unique features in the game. The PlayStation and 3DS versions of the game make use of each platform’s gyroscope as an alternative control method to move the gun turret, but the Xbox presented more of a challenge that could not be overcome.

“We would have loved to support Kinect but it is such a different user interface we were concerned about how well we could give the feeling of controlling a gun turret and how much code would be shared between [the different platforms].”

Having absolutely no knowledge of developing games for different platforms, I was intrigued as to which platform Watt preferred.

“I really enjoy making games full stop. I think Nintendo probably provide the most interesting hardware in terms of things you can do with it, but for me working on PSVita, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo 3DS is super exciting. It has been challenging trying to get the game working on such different hardware, particularly from the power of the PS4 and Xbox One down to the relatively lesser power of the Nintendo 3DS. Nevertheless, I think the game shines and has been tailored to work well on them all.”

“In terms of development ease I wouldn’t say any are much easier than the others, other than (because they are more recent) that the PS4 and Xbox One have got more modern tools and systems. Each generation the hardware manufacturers learn from the things they liked and disliked the generation before and make adjustments accordingly. With PS4 and Xbox One being the newest they have a lot more prior learnings to draw on.”

If you hadn’t picked it up by now, Nnooo has a development team of just two people. “The benefits are we can make the games we want, how we want and to the quality we want,” says Watt. “The challenges are we can only work so many hours and because we like to really polish our games they can end up taking a lot longer than we expect. Balancing the time, budget and quality is always very hard.”

It’s no secret that the current Australian government has not been very supportive of local video game development, but Screen Australia’s limited funding went a long way in helping the development of Nnooo’s latest title. “To be honest Blast ‘Em Bunnies would not have been completed without their support,” reflects Watt. “Screen NSW have been amazing, particularly given the tough times they have faced with their budgets being cut. They have really supported everything we have done and we are really glad they can still help out developers!”

Blast ‘Em Bunnies, the latest game from Nnooo, is available digitally this week for $4.99 USD (or regional equivalent). The PlayStation 4 and Vita versions of the game are available on March 8 in North America (March 9 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand). The Nintendo 3DS version launches on March 10 in the Americas, Europe and Australia and New Zealand, and the Xbox One version will be available on March 11 in the Americas, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.