I played the recent Battleborn beta test and enjoyed the game. I put a large amount of time into the game, and the amount of suckage on my part while playing it was also large. But while I did suck at it – I called myself the MVP of Digital Crack as a joke – I came away from Battleborn feeling I had a very good experience overall.
I should say first that I am not great at first-person shooters. I am also not too experienced in MOBAs. When I heard Battleborn was supposed to be a FPS/MOBA hybrid, I was worried. Well, I will say that this is not a MOBA in the real sense. It is primarily a squad-based FPS. There are light MOBA elements, like lanes and minor resource gathering, in the PvP modes, but they come second to the FPS.There is a large roster of characters, called heroes, which you can try out. At first, you are limited to only a handful of heroes, but you unlock more as you progress through the game and gain levels. The heroes themselves are not leveled up in any way; only your personal level goes up. That allows you to try out different characters without worrying about losing any progression or power. All the heroes have different styles and abilities, and the game allowed me to find heroes that fit my play style.
Battleborn is split into two styles of play, PvP and Story Mode. PvP is exactly as it sounds: team up with four other people and run into a battleground, where you shoot a team of five other people in the face. Here, the light MOBA elements creep in. There were two PvP battlegrounds available in the beta. The first I tried, Incursion, charges you with destroying the enemy’s two Spider Sentry Drones before they get to yours. This is where I did the majority of my PvP play, and it was intensely fun. It takes teamwork to get into the enemy’s side of the map and destroy their sentries. There are also turrets and a health station that you can activate on your side, or destroy on the enemy side. The MOBA elements are minor here, limited to funneling mobs into lanes in order to manage them.
The second PvP mode, Meltdown, focuses less on PvP and has a little more MOBA focus. In it, you send waves of minions to their death, having them throw themselves into incinerators and gaining scrap for your team as a result. The first team to reach 500 scrap wins. This mode was not my style personally.
Story mode is where the game truly shines in my opinion. Just like PvP, there are only two story campaigns: The Algorithm and Void’s Edge. In them, your five-man team runs through a large map and complete objectives in route to fighting a huge baddie at the end. Here is where I feel the game is at its best. The gameplay is very fun and engaging, and Gearbox’s Borderlands style of humor is present everywhere.
For those of you looking for a true FPS/MOBA hybrid, you may be disappointed. This is primarily an FPS game with very small MOBA elements. For those of you that enjoyed the Borderlands games and want more, this game will definitely be up your alley.
