18.5.2016

If any of you have read my biography then you’ll know that Borderlands 2 is on my list of all time favourite games (Around a lot of Final Fantasy games). Not only is it a shining example for how a game can be downright hilarious but it’s also a great game full of amazing graphics, action and shear excitement. My fanboy routine for 2k games started with the original Borderlands, then escalated with this gem and finally descended slightly with The Pre Sequel so you could say that I’m already a fan of the franchises.For this reason, Battleborn shone brightly, not only did it NOT contain 99.99999% of jokes that only Australians will find funny but it also incorporated all of the amazing features that Borderlands used in order to enslave the minds and hearts of millions of fans,including myself.As some of you may know, Battleborn is the new release by 2K games, Gearbox and Take-Two Interactive which was released on Windows, PS4 and the Xbox One back on May 3rd. It’s grown a fair amount of anticipation within the gaming community for being a massive online arena battleground and that doesn’t fail to deliver (but we’ll get into that a little bit later). With a whole heap of different characters, Battleborn plays like an online arena game, but the story begs to differ.Battleborn kicks off with a downright amazing video sequence which introduces the game in which 5 factions and 25 heroes are fighting against the evil Rendain and his army of bots to seize the last star. When I say this is amazing, I mean it truly is amazing to the point of giving me goosebumps. Battleborn (and Borderlands) share a pretty good feeling for me when it comes to opening sequences because they’re always amazing with suitable music and fantastic animation. Anyway back to the story, you’re first mission puts you in control of Mellka, a venomous rogue elf who is sent to escort one of Rendain’s henchmen to safety after defecting. It’s a pretty simple mission which introduces the whole mechanic of Battleborn. After you’ve completed the prologue mission, it’s on to unite the factions in an epic story line which is not only fun but is absolutely crazy and so funny at times.Combat is pretty straightforward, each of the characters has unique skills and abilities that will help them in combat. You’re main attack will usually be some sort of gun, or sword or something to smash people with and you’ll also have a secondary attack or an aim button of some sort. You have 3 abilities, 2 of which are available right from the start and one will be unlocked once you reach level 5 which is your ‘super ability’. Furthermore characters have some special traits which don’t have to be manually activated. For instance Mellka shoots off a venom bomb when she reloads her gun. A lot of the traits and abilities compliment each other, so with Mellka the more venom you can spew into people’s faces the more that you’re skills will damage.Battleborn begins to shine in the massive amount of character customisation and gear sets that you can choose from. Completing missions, tasks and challenges will net you with some sexy new costumes and some nice gear which can be used when you have built up a bit of currency within your current story or multiplayer games. Even though you have 25 characters, you have thousands of different combinations that can make up your team, skills, abilities and costumes so you’ll be able to find yourself a great combination.Speaking of the characters, each character is completely unique in their own way so you’ll be able to find the perfect hero to play as. For me it was a combination of a gunslinging robot with a damn good rifle shooting owls out of his hat or Thorn the agile, fast paced archer who sat behind enemy lines headshotting everything. There’s a huge range to choose from with swords, guns, and laser weapons so you’ll be able to find something to suit your playstyle whether you prefer the agile rogue, the silent camper, the master of swords or the brick wall tank taking all the damage. There’s really so many to choose from.Fortunately though, you’re not spoilt for choice as a lot of the characters take a bit of unlocking to do, whether this is playing through the great choice of interesting story missions or if it’s boosting yourself through the online arena’s to raise your commander level and unlock them. Each unlock requires you to do something special, so you’ll have to make the most with the ones you have to begin with until you can pick up some of the more badass ones.Battleborn shows further customisation when it comes to it’s levelling up function. In short, you start each story or online game at level 1 where you have a DNA skill tree. This allows you to pick 1 of 2 perks. Perks will usually allow you to deal more damage with an ability, leech the life of those around you, jump higher etc. So they are pretty useful as getting to level 10 will make you into a pure damage dealing machine. It’s something I’ve never seen before and frankly I thought I would hate it, but it has grown on me. The only downside to this is when playing with others. If you want to level up you will have to stop to pick your skill, and when you’re teammates have ran ahead and are now being destroyed it can take quite a bit of time to read through the perks you will be getting, especially when you’re as picky as me.Whilst it should never really make or break a game, I have to talk about the online community and the use of multiplayer gaming with this one. It’s just great in every way. Everyone is helpful, everyone wants to play and there’s no trolling (or not that I’ve seen). I managed to find quite a few people to play with who were a fun and friendly bunch and we played a couple of the story missions, even attempting some of the more impossible missions. It’s actually great fun to play something so laid back online where you don’t have some jackass flaming you because you’ve used a life and died.Whilst the matchmaking is a massive pro, there’s also a flaw which the online gaming community has been crying out for and that’s matchmaking your way into an advanced game with other players. It’s a bit of a shame since a lot of the trophies and achievements revolve around being able to play the advanced missions which are pretty much impossible when you try to solo them, especially later down the story missions when you will need a team of good players to help you take on the baddies.I slightly touched on it before, but I have to touch on it again because it’s such a huge pro when it comes to the game and that’s its shear sense of wackiness and craziness. There isn’t a mission that I’ve played that isn’t funny and great to play, from battling giant arachnids on frozen planes to watching a dwarf slice his way through robots with witty remarks. Borderlands taught us just how hilarious games can be again and Battleborn is no exception to this rule. Its comedy value far outweighs any negatives that it has.As far as graphics are concerned, there worthy. I wouldn’t say they’re anything special in particular but the arenas and the story missions are all made well. They’re very cartoony but that’s not really a bad thing because it adds to the whole light hearted feel of the game. The heroes are all very well designed and whilst the animations and skills are somewhat simplistic they do the trick. As a whole, Battleborn stands up in the graphics department. As I said it’s nothing particularly special but it’s hardly bad at all and I don’t really think anyone would play Battleborn to go watch a very well graphically designed tree.There are a couple of pros when it comes to the sound. The characters are all voiced very well, spouting quick witted remarks when taking down enemies or performing certain actions. The background music is suitable, as is the sound effects and everything about the sound is adequate. I found no issues with the effects whatsoever.As a whole, Battleborn stands tall and has quickly made me forget about the awful last game which is now gathering dust in my game case after getting the platinum. It’s a great reminder of just how amazing the combination of 2K Games, Gearbox and Two-Take Interactive can be when they put their all into a game and I truly hope there will be a Battleborn 2 with more heroes, action and hilarity than ever. I just hope the one flaw in the game becomes patched very quickly.But seriously, that opening sequence…

8.2.2017

For some reason, the geniuses over at 2K Games thought this could compete with Blizzard's hit fps, Overwatch. Misconceptions about Battleborn and a lack of engaging marketing led people to believe this is some sort of Overwatch clone - this couldn't be further from the truth. Battleborn distills the best mechanics of established MOBAs and adapts them to a first-person perspective, resulting in a brilliantly balanced product that is easy to learn and hard to master. Along with its polished gameplay, Battleborn has a cast of 25+ characters with their own unique styles of gameplay. You start every online match as level one, upgrading your skills as you earn XP.

18.7.2016

It's such a good game, and i don't know why people hate on it so much.Sure it came out alongside Overwatch but they play differently. Overwatch being like TF2 and Battleborn being more like First Person DOTA. Personally, i love both games and swap between them regularly.The characters are all very fun to swap between, you're not really told what role they play until you're actually using them though and you can't change during the game but that's good. You can't see what the opponents have chosen until the game starts and each team (unless you're playing custom or campaign) can only have 1 of each hero so you don't need to worry about the same character being used to gank you.There are three gametypes.

2.7.2016

Battleborn is so fun!I wanted to wait for their first big update before reviewing as they have now improved their PvP, it now splits competitive play from Casual play for PvP, if you want an even fight that's more serious then you search competitive and you get teams that are damn close to your own skill level! Whereas casual PvP just searches for players faster but the levels of skill vary. There's Capture which is like a 3 flag King of the hill kinda thing, Incursion which like a single lanes version of League of Legends where you escort minions to the enemies Sentries to destroy them and win, this one I play the most as it takes a good team to win. And finally there is Meltdown where,

16.7.2016

There's an aspect to this title which I've seen described as a meta-game, and here's how that part works: you're an unseen commander of sorts in charge of a squad of playable characters. Each of these characters have a skill set which are upgradable in each run-out. The more you play each character, the more upgrades available on subsequent runs. You can supplement this characters with modified load-outs. Again, the more you play the more options you have for these load-outs. Also unlockable are taunts and apparel. All this is worth mentioning.The (main) game itself consists of only 8 maps. This is the story. You chose a character, choose a load-out, a taunt, a costume, then play. Only 8 maps.

25.5.2016

I got this because I am a fan of Borderlands and the humour it provided. One thing that you should be aware of before buying it - this is not like Borderlands. It's a very different style of game, but the humour of the designers is still very prevalent.This game is designed to be more of a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) - so the idea is that you'll play online with your friends (or random players if you haven't got a full team) and compete against others in a tactical, team based game. It's a FPS, but in the arena, it's not the person with the most kills that decides the game, it's the communication and ability to know when to push through the opposition and take the appropriate objectives.Luckily there is a Co-operative campaign for those who want to get involved with it,

31.5.2016

Battleborn has been compared to Overwatch and playing both I can definitely say Overwatch is a fraction of Battleborn but unfortunately Overwatch has the Blizzard backing with huge advertising and over hyped fans, therefore Battleborn never got the attention it truly is entitled to.I must admit I grabbed the game during the sales event which I imagine was due to the launch of Overwatch. Playing Overwatch I assume Battleborn was the same and I had no intention of purchasing either game however due to the sale I fell for it and I am definitely not disappointing in my purchase.The tutorial will take you through the basic game play and is well narrated and put together, it feels like an FPS RPG.

7.5.2016

Ignore the the low star reviews. This game is fantastic. It has so much to unlock and learn it's great. You can play on your own, co op and different multiplayer variants. Once you get over the first couple of hours understanding it all it opens up and you really start to have fun.A couple of things need a tweak like a character balance or two and getting into a multiplayer match can take a little too long sometimes (1-2 mins) but these will be ironed out as they do with patches/updates.This game is SO MUCH FUN! It will take you AGES to unlock and level up all the characters to get their extra stuff and abilities. You will easily get your moneys worth from it.And MUCH, MUCH better than overwatch.

15.5.2016

Its fun, full of humour and clever gameplay. Battle born is like Borderlands making it very trust worthy and with the quantity of characters you will never get bored. The game can get overwhelming at times with the amount of enemies and whats going on, however the characters are well balanced making it not too hard but challenging enough. Also the art and style of the game is very original, creating a completely new game. The variety of characters who are very different makes the game even more entertaining where you can be a Luchador or a Vampire Samurai, there are interesting skill sets with simple loot and the ranking is in game whilst fighting so no one is outmatched.

12.6.2016

Great game that plays really well, with a host of diverse characters, loads of 'unlockables' to keep the game interesting for a long time.Only faults I can really find with the game is it needs a few tweaks and features added to improve matches but these are things that would definitely get added over time like in every game with a multiplayer mode. And story mode could be fleshed out more, although a story mode at all is more than you would expect from a clearly online game these days, I find myself wanting more just because of how interesting all of the characters are.Overall great game that's definitely more than worth buying.

26.5.2016

Loads of fun when playing with friends, but playing alone does lose its excitement very quickly. Getting to know each character is great, feels fresh each time, don't expect to be a master of each one immediately. Definitely a learning curve for each. Campaign is a good PvE experience, okay story, but great feel of satisfaction when you complete them with a higher score. Playing alone doesn't feel good even for the campaign . Online PvP requires communication or it probably won't go well and you won't have a good time. Overall I think it has a lot to offer if you have people to play with.

21.10.2016

I bought this game because the price was so low. I originally ignored it because I play Overwatch and assumed it was more of the same. It isnt. Overwatch and Battleborn are not the same. Battleborn has lots of PvE content and some customisation options: Taunts, skins and gear. The gear impacts how your hero works. I am very happy with it. Fun. Variety characters. Don't let all the noise distract you the core game is wonderful. The reason I give 4 and not 5 stars is based on the game not having a large enough player base to make online play seemless.

24.6.2016

Ok, it's not perfect, game play mechanics feel clunky, often feel hit and miss, and not particularly satisfying. Sometimes the game's glitchy. And although it's geared toward MOBA, battle can often descend into confusion. But that aside Battleborn is fun and challenging debacle, with a plethora of characters to unlock and play as - at its best embarked on 5 team raid (albeit at times patchy matchmaking). Battleborn's worthy and novel game to play, overall good, enjoyable gaming experience. Give it a try.

12.5.2016

A MASSIVE selection of heroes to play as, each with their own archetype / playstyle. It's filled with very funny humour, much like its predecessor (Borderlands). I'm questioning whether the story content within the game is long enough though. I have a feeling that this is moreso slanted towards multiplayer coop and PvP than the Borderlands franchise. Hopefully we will see more content in the future. The ultimate chill-out game (:

18.8.2016

Awesome game, fantastic fun to play, for the price at the moment it is so worth it, I was torn between this and overwatch and decided to go with Battleborn and I am really glad I did. The style, character rosta and tongue in cheek humour is superb, multiplayer, moba style matches are brilliant fun. Can't wait for some more dlc, they are also releasing some free dlc too, great.

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