The Battleborn open beta has now been available for a little under a week on the PS4, with it also launching on the Xbox One and PC tomorrow (April 14th). After piling more than a handful of hours into it, I’ve now got a good handle on what to expect when the game launches early next month.
Considering the impending launch of Blizzard’s vastly more anticipated Overwatch, which also combines elements of both the MOBA and FPS genres, Gearbox’s shooter faces an uphill battle when it comes to removing itself from out of the shadow of its peer. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed the beta, and the future for this game now looks brighter than what I had expected.
However, it still wasn’t without its issues – some of which could prove to be very problematic come the game’s launch – so here’s a detailed rundown of what I liked and disliked about Battleborn:
Like: A unique and diverse cast of characters
Each and every “Hero” character in Battleborn has their own distinct personality, which Gearbox has carefully conveyed by way of their wonderful designs and unique animations. Surveying the battlefield from a vantage point and you’ll easily be able to differentiate between players from their movement alone, with the dapper robotic sniper Marquis kicking his gangly legs ahead of him while desperately keeping a hold of his trademark bowler hat, while Rath purposefully charges forward sword in hand, a blaze of electric red accompanying him. Even though the game sees players adopting a first-person perspective of the action, Gearbox doesn’t waste any opportunity to inject personality into proceedings, with the player able to see their chosen character’s arms stretching out in front of them.
This may only sound like a minor addition to the look of the game, but considering that MOBAs are very character-driven, seeing Orendi’s spindly four arms stretch out before you or Montana’s mammoth muscles taking up half of your screen allows for clear visual differentiation between Heroes. Even after only an hour of gameplay, I found myself referring to each character by their given name, which is a far cry from the treatment given to the interchangeable protagonists typically featured in shooters.
Dislike: Disconnections
Battleborn experienced some teething issues swiftly following the launch of its beta, which have now been rectified but were prevalent enough to raise a few eyebrows, given that the game will be released in full in just under a month. However, a recurring issue that has not been solved is the amount of players that will frequently abandon ship in the middle of a match. Rarely does a game go by in which a player hasn’t dropped out, and considering that the game doesn’t allow for mid-game drop-ins – a reasonable omission considering its leveling system (I’ll get to that later) – it becomes more than a little frustrating when you suddenly find yourself in a 4- or 3-on-5 situation. There is no punishment in the beta for players who drop out of a match, but it’s very likely that will change come the final release.
However, if Gearbox doesn’t enforce strict punishments for those who do so, this problem is going to continue presenting itself given that Battleborn matches are typically far lengthier than your average FPS match. Those who are unwilling to remain in a game they’re on the losing end of, or even those with incredibly short attention spans, will therefore continue to drop out of games on a whim and ruin the fun for the rest of us. Hopefully, they’ll receive more than a slap on the wrist for doing so come Battleborn’s retail release.
Like: MOBA leveling
The MOBA influence is prevalent throughout Battleborn, though it’s most glaringly apparent in its leveling system. Upgrading your arsenal of weaponry is a prominent feature in FPS games, though typically this leveling is carried over from match to match. However, Battleborn borrows a system established by the likes of League of Legends, with the XP you earn by killing enemy Heroes and Minions only able to be utilized within the same match in which you’ve acquired it, in order to increase the power of your character-specific abilities and weapons.
While Battleborn features a stripped-down version of this system, with players only able to select between two options after each Level Up, it does allow for various combinations and, when combined with the items and power-ups players can bring into a match in their loadouts, with allow for nigh-on endless tinkering in order to create the most powerful versions of each character. It serves as a good introduction for those who might otherwise be unfamiliar with the MOBA genre, while still adding just enough variety to ensure that fans of LoL such as myself won’t shake their hands at its relatively simplistic take on MOBA leveling.
Dislike: A jumbled battlefield
Even after spending quite some time with the beta, I still frequently found myself getting lost in the mess of Heroes and Minions each match devolves into. When first starting out in the game, there is so much thrown at you that it’s very difficult to ascertain exactly what you’re supposed to be doing, which isn’t helped by the beta’s lack of tutorial – I feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t had prior experience with a MOBA trying their hand with this game for the first time. However, even after becoming acclimatized to its mechanics and figuring out exactly what you’re supposed to be doing, and the sheer visual assault that takes place on-screen can catch players completely off guard at a moment’s notice.
Considering the maps are littered with crunch points for the Minions to traverse through, I also found myself frequently becoming stuck in particularly busy areas as a result of the large number of players and NPCs, leading to frustrating moments in which my attempts to escape enemy gunfire were thwarted not by my own inability to eject myself from a prickly situation, but by the large amount of bodies surrounding me and locking me in place. With MOBAs typically providing the player with an aerial view of the action, taking the chaos of this format and replicating it from a first-person perspective can be very confusing, with dealing out area of effect attacks and trying to ascertain players’ positioning on the map becoming more cumbersome and irritating as a result.
Like: Satisfying combat
The most important facet of any FPS is, of course, how enjoyable it is to shoot other players. Gearbox has made it very satisfying to do so in Battleborn, with each character’s arsenal and skillset presenting its own unique advantages and disadvantages, forcing the player to think tactfully and approach each situation strategically if they wish to get out alive. The weapons utilized by each character range from swords through to mini-guns and bow and arrows, with some being better at handling minions and providing greater crowd control, while others are more powerful when going up against a human player, but it’s up to the players to figure out their individual strengths and weaknesses.
Given the plentiful amount of health afforded to each character, killing a fellow player feels like a real achievement, and as is often the case with MOBAs some matches can go a whole 5 minutes without any player deaths whatsoever. As a result obtaining a kill or even an assist feels like a victory in and of itself, with a genuine sense of awe being elicited when a player manages to break through into double digits.
Dislike: Questionable amount of content
Though it’s impossible to make a fair judgement on the game’s level of replayability after playing its beta, the game looks set to have a notable lack of things for players to do, even by the typical lowly standards of the FPS genre. Two modes are available to play in the beta, with Incursion being vastly more enjoyable than the more mundane Meltdown. Incursions tasks players with invading the other team’s base and destroying the giant mech/sentry located within it, with each of these machines boasting shields that can be taken down by Minions you must guide through the map’s singular lane. While you’re attempting this, the opposing team are trying to do the same. On the other hand, Meltdown tasks with you with guiding Minions into giant incinerators located at the end of lanes on the map, though the level of player engagement in this process feels more limited given that you can often lose sight of this objective, focusing upon other plays while your Minions go ahead and do their thing. There’s a third mode, Devastation, but that isn’t accessible in the beta.
Three modes is a paltry offering for a shooter, and considering one of those modes isn’t much fun, it looks likely that this will present a problem. This issue is exacerbated when you consider that each mode only features two maps, which is par for the course with MOBAs considering that varied maps aren’t exactly their focal point, but it’s much more justifiable in free-to-play games such as LoL and Dota 2. Gearbox has obviously tried to offset this lack of multiplayer with a campaign mode, and although it provides a neat little distraction with its co-operative boss fights and wave-based shooting, it’s not the reason why people will buy this game. Gearbox is planning free DLC updates that will introduce a few new maps and modes, though the developer hasn’t specified how many, but it’s questionable whether or not it will be enough to keep players coming back for more.
