No Man’s Sky, First Hour Impression.
Finally got to have a play of No Man’s Sky for PlayStation 4, and I am quite impressed..
Graphics
Great style, nods to some classic sci fi with their own twist, smooth FPS and no glitches I’ve noticed as yet. So far have only explored two planets, one seemed a bit like Mars, another larger planet more like Earth with water and green islands. Space looks beautiful, you could probably wander around aimlessly just looking like the old Gran Turismo adverts boasted.
Sound
Great use of 5.1 system for immersion, you hear things behind and beside you, music has an original score too; some is procedural like the game universe, and some tracks are more standard or lead into the procedural themes.
Controls
Using the dual shock 4 was no big hassle, aiming and steering fairly intuitive and how you would expect.
Gameplay
I am a fan of unique games, and not a lover of your “standard COD FPS” style. At first I did not appreciate the Minecraft sort of elements where you have to smash rocks, collect special minerals… Honestly after the first 10 minutes of this I was starting to worry this would be Space Minecraft; then I noticed the sentinels and found some plot pieces.
Fighting the sentinels isn’t too hard, I think they may have weak spots to hit and kill them quicker if needed. They don’t mess around though! If you’re swarmed by the hovering drone kind and you’re not ready, you’re probably going to die. Dying is not a big loss so far as I’ve seen you just go back to the ship landing zone, and you can recover your inventory by going to the site you died at.
Plot
From what I’ve seen so far you can make your own way, like a sandbox game or there seems to be hints of robot helpers or beacons which guide you to the next planet or goal to advance the story. I noticed a few other space ships and stations around but have not seen how to interact with them yet.
Summary
I’m hoping that the first hour isn’t a Honeymoon sort of thing, I could see the game going a few ways; if it’s the same sort of galaxies and planets yet different colours or slightly different vegetation and layout, it won’t be too long before it’s a grind and not too replay able.
If the developers procedural universe generator worked as well as we all hope, it is going to be a great universe to explore. As long as everything isn’t named after Harambe — and some questions that are still not fully answered like.. Will we see PC players’ planet names, are we in a MUD, or is it more shared planet and galactic names.
Another note if you’re photosensitive like myself, it’s not too bad. Warp sequences might be worth looking away from, but it’s not too bad. As far as I’ve seen that is.
Hoping that developers keep making unique titles, my last two purchases were Dangerous Golf, and FireWatch; both were not your standard boring run of the mill game, and these three encompass some very different styles of game.
To read more of my work on Apple News please visit stirlospace
