No Man's Sky, PS4:
Where to begin? No Man's Sky is a game that's been touted as the largest, most intense space exploration game ever created. The hype surrounding this game has included
death-threats, interviews with the developer on the
Late Show,
more death threats and delays, delays, delays. The game had a huge fan base 2 years before release. After it's release last week, anyone critical of the game was subject to
harassment from fanboys.
Now that it's here, I'm going to give you a full rundown on this title.
Let's start with the story. Well, actually lets start with a red-flag before the story.
I was gifted the highly coveted, (sarcasm) "Limited Edition" by my local retailer.
Upon opening the case, I noticed no download code for my free "upgraded starship."
*Ding*
Our first red flag.
Now then, before I got the game home, I made sure I cleared at least 40 gigs of memory space on my PS4, (expecting the need to delete more). I figured that since I had to deal with what was touted as "the largest game ever created" I needed to be prepared. I seriously thought it would take at least 3 hours to fully download.
No!
Wrong! Should have done my research. Now I have to re-download Uncharted 4!
The game is 6 gigs. I've downloaded DLC that was much bigger. See Witcher 3.
*Ding*
Red Flag number 2
Ok then, I know the dev, (Hello Games) did say the galaxy was procedurely generated. I'm wondering what the hell the delays were all about, though.
Disk inserted, game loaded in less than 15 mins.
Ok, let's do this.
You begin with a beautiful opening sequence of the stars. Very detailed and very awe-inspiring. Apparently, you can go to each and every galaxy they represent.
The next thing you know, you are on planet whateverthefuk looking at your damaged starship with no assistance or clue on what to do.
In my opinion, that's actually kinda cool.
However, *Ding* another flag. No sleeve insert, directions or a guide on what to do or where to go. That's odd not to have at least a little bit of a tutorial, no?
Oh wait...
That's ok. You have a pop-up telling you to mine a resource with your multi tool.
Little did I know that when I mined that first column of 'Heridium' I'd have to repeat the process hundreds, no, thousands of times.
So, the ship is fixed and you're off the planet.
Time to play the game.
Let me say that the first time you fly your ship into orbit is an experience.
I made my way to the first space station and met my first alien. It sounded as though he has some serious indigestion. Gurgles and burps and such. Apparently, I'm to trade with this frog-bird thing and eventually learn its language during my journey to the center of the galaxy.
That's your story boys and girls. Learn languages, mine resources, warp to a new galaxy. So, the gameplay must be pretty fun, right?
I guess it all depends on what kind of gamer you are. If you enjoy exploring and mining and constantly screwing with your inventory screens and never really seeing anything new, this game is for you.
If you like a compelling story, action, new and different quests and goals, this game is not for you.
If you want a relaxing, stress free game, well this is your masterpiece.
Let's call it Spacecraft without the multiplayer. (alas, another story for another day regarding the multiplayer)
Don't get me wrong here, the game has it's moments. Yes, it can be very beautiful, the music is great, some of the creatures are pretty cool, (I have yet to run into a dinosaur like in the trailers, though) and at times the graphics are decent. But the game only runs at 30fps, the pop-in and shading are ridiculous and the game is just, well, boring.
So, I guess you can say that the game might be 18 quadrillion planets big but in my experience, it's only an inch deep.
I have no doubt that in a few months or so, updates and DLC will happen to make this game better. It's been reported that very soon, we'll be able to make our own stations/shelters on planets. You know, like all the other ones we see scattered all over the place? Yeah, those. Hopefully the game won't crash as much after the next patch. (I've had 8 hard-crashes thus far)
So in conclusion, this game has potential. I really think it was released in an unfinished state and the developer just doesn't have the gall to admit it.
I'm giving this one a solid 6.5 monoliths out of 10.
Now then, where the hell did I put my copy of Mass Effect?
