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Preview: Battleborn (PvE)

I really, really don’t like the PvE side of Battleborn.

Where its PvP mode, Incursion, was at least fun with friends, I had no such enjoyment with Battleborn’s story. Admittedly, we were thrown into the deep end with access to all 25 characters and very little context, but I was bored immediately.

PvP in Battleborn is essentially different rounds of Horde mode over several different locations in one map and a very flimsy story connecting it all. Playing two different story levels, that’s basically all we did: run somewhere, take out the occasional bad guy on the way, stand guard over something for a couple waves of enemies then run to the next place to do the same. Rinse, repeat.

At the end of the second level, we faced a boss instead of just mopping up normal enemies. Our team barely communicated and we still did alright, so something that I imagine that should have felt like successfully completing a Destiny Strike on hard mode ended up falling flat. Like more of the same.

Battleborn is certainly polished, but that doesn’t mean the end result is something to write home about. Combat itself feels weightless and disconnected, when you connect, you don’t feel it; rather, you see a waft of numbers bounce off your prey. The end result is glossy combat that feels like it belongs on the PS2.

https://youtu.be/P3BMuSKD0I0

Everything reeks of Gearbox. To me, that means everything is supposed to be hilarious, but never is. Gearbox’s sense of humour is quite base, with poo and pee jokes aplenty. Things are wacky seemingly for the sake of it, not because it suits characters or the environment. Like Borderlands, Battleborn is the perfect game for someone who has an attention span that lasts about ten seconds or less.

Playing into that are crazy colours, character designs and over-the-top weaponry and abilities. While those types of additions are great for variety, there’s simply too much going on at one time. A large part of that is colours and damage numbers flying at you during a battle, but it isn’t helped by Battleborn‘s character select screen. With twenty-five characters available at launch and five more confirmed, too much choice means most of us are just going to stick to one or two characters and be done with it all.

In the end, this title is decidedly not for me. That said, I’m sure I’ve just detailed a game half the world is quite keen on. If you’re in that group, good on you – have a great time amidst the chaos.

Battleborn will be available from 3 May on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.