Battleborn

It’s a great-looking game that could use some work in the soundtrack department, but is well worth a pickup for fans of light-hearted adventures even if you weren’t a fan of the Borderlands franchise.

Battleborn does well in offering you both multiplayer modes and missions without pressuring you into concentrating on a certain mode. They're interesting and exciting, but do begin to get tedious when you have to play them continuously due to the small selection of modes and maps.

Battleborn is a game that could really benefit from offering a free demo that doesn’t expire like an open beta test. Battleborn is dense enough to be easier to sherpa someone through rather than try to explain how the game works, and giving away a free taste might be all it takes to convince a friend to hop on board.

If the idea of getting to play a wide range of distinct heroes each with their own abilities in a setting that captures the fun and humour of the Borderlands franchise then yeah, sure, [you'll enjoy it]. If you’re looking for a new co-op game, then yeah it’s good for that too. But it’s not Borderlands. It’s not even a MOBA, a genre that a lot of people know very little about. It’s Battleborn. And even with a number of problems, it’s still a lot of fun to play.

Battleborn looks and feels amazing, with unique characters and their upgrade systems. Though the PvP is awesome, the story missions are very monotonous and the storyline is hard to follow thanks to the weird online system.

The cast of Battleborn is fantastic; I've enjoyed exploring the ins and outs of characters like the steampunk sniper Marquis and fungal healer Miko, and every time I play I'm focused on earning further access to the unique roster. However, there’s no interesting story for them to take part in, and a lack of interesting stages and multiplayer modes inspiring me to power through the slow unlocking process.

It feels as though Battleborn wanted to be so much of everything including an RPG, a MOBA, an FPS, and the list goes on, but instead of trying to be good at everything, I would suggest that it should have been great at a few things.

Battleborn is an incredibly ambitious title, and beneath the issues, there beats the heart of a robust and strategic MOBA shooter – and it occasionally reveals itself in exciting moments throughout both PvP and PvE. Methodical, strategic players will potentially get a lot out of the game – particularly if you're playing with co-ordinated friends – but the clunky engine could dissuade traditional first-person shooter fans. It'll be interesting to see how Battleborn develops further over the coming months.

The Battleborn experiment has been largely successful. Fusing humour and shooting together with the mechanics from a MOBA sounds like it should be a recipe for disaster, but the charm of the graphical style and characterisation lifts the whole game.

Despite its good gameplay and the charming art style, Battleborn fails in giving players enough motivation to stay in its arenas once every hero and level has been tried.

Battleborn mixes the FPS and MOBA genres to produce a game that oozes character and original ideas. Just don’t expect to love it straightaway.

Battleborn has the potential to be delightful, but right now numerous small problems all added up make for a less enjoyable overall experience.

On the surface Battleborn is a lot like other competitive shooters we have seen in this generation: solid mechanics that provide a sweet honeymoon period, but are only held up by a stringy framework that brings down their replay value. I can see myself playing it a month from now, but six months, or a year? Anyone’s guess.

It's not hard to knock Battleborn, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that it can be a blast to play. It still gives you the variety, the sense of growing power and the competitive thrills of a good MOBA, while also dishing out the kind of madcap, crazy shooter action that Borderlands fans have come to know and love.

Battleborn's strong Saturday morning cartoon vibes might actually be the game's single most defining aspect. Outside of that consistent, permeating voice, the game feels like an elaborate patchwork of ideas that compete for attention without necessarily adding much to the experience.

A varied but over-engineered shooter that's a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothin'. [July 2016, p.84]

Battleborn has a strong cast of characters and exciting action, but suffers from a lack of content, frustrating server issues, and some questionable design choices.

Showing signs of early promise, Battleborn very quickly becomes a chore, its repetitive story and paltry selection of multiplayer content putting the nail in its coffin after about 10-15 hours or so. That's assuming you even have the perseverance to stick around for that long. Battleborn is a disappointment.