No Man's Sky: Short Review

Is It Worth The Price?

I’ve been hesitant on writing this review (hence its timing) however I’ve been asked so many times about this game that I decided to just finally bite the bullet and release this review. You see, I find No Man’s Sky extremely hard to review and I’m going to break down the simple reasons why:

1. I didn’t follow the hype.
2. I found out that the developer was misleading about the game.
3. The game is how you take it. It’s different for everyone.
4. No Man’s Sky cannot be identified so easily.

Without further ado, I’ll begin and emphasize through the review and try to keep it brief as their is a lot to be said.

Gameplay:

When I mention I didn’t follow the hype, it’s true. The most I did was watch trailers and get slightly more eager to gameplay, but I did not listen to developer interviews or anything of the like. Gameplay to me was similar to what I would consider “Just chilling” type of game. You have three criteria initially to worry about, your spacesuit resistance, health, oxygen. You’ll get annoying warnings throughout the minutes about low levels, but don’t let that bug ya.

Keeping those essentials up, you need to start rebuilding your ship (this is where people are very excited as they feel the game has so many possibilities) by gathering materials around your initial world you landed on. You get a little pew pew gun and start chipping away at minerals from mother ear..I mean planet Vasquchio(or whatever random name they gave you) attaining ore allows you to craft, the biggest fault to the game is inventory space which each crafted item takes up and DOESN’T STACK. That means you have two iron sheets that won't go together in your backpack.

Gameplay handles nicely otherwise. The first person view is comfortable, while the backpack feels accurate. You gain access to your ship which you are allowed to take pretty much anywhere. You can fly around main lands on any planet and gain access to other alien forms and learn their language while gaining different schematics and skills from them. Flying around in space is a thrill and necessary in order to proceed forth in the game “to get to the center of the universe” you will need materials in order to use warp speed and continue to hop galaxy’s to get closer all while adding onto the progress of helping other aliens out to encase your advantage.

Now that I summarized, let’s get on with the rest of the primary review!

Graphics:

Well what can I say? The game has some amazing graphics going on for it but also not splendid at the same time. If you can accept the cartoony-realism then you are in good shape, if you were expecting more hyper realism, keep looking forward cause this may bug you too much. The immersion of the game hardly fails, as you are diving into a planet at rapid motion you will see no loading screen, at all. This is a really cool feat in it’s own right. Textures will pop up however, or load in, making the game ugly at moments, while sometimes you will encounter glitches and have access points you cannot go to. Or you’ll dive underwater for a good 3 minutes like I did, only to find the glyph the game said was there, WASN’T. Graphics can cause these little issues and can be heart breaking to some gamers, so again, keep in mind this game does need some work still if you are a fanatic about the little things.

The Drive:

What keeps you going in this game? Well not a whole lot. That’s why this is a game you get at your own discretion. You’ll need to continue planet hopping and depending on the type of person you are, being on one planet for too long could be a thrill or a burden. I think it’s a game you need to take at your own leisure. The compelling factor of the game to me is looking at all the cool different planets, but that is about it. Lack of inventory space and hunting for inventory increasing items is not my idea for fun. Alien life forms become repetitive and give you some items you won’t really need. Combat is practically pointless. You probably won’t need to rely on eradicating many life forms (I haven’t come across many aggressive ones, and I usually run to my ship if I do) so the compelling part of this game is very slim but if you like to leisurely explore and enjoy the immersion of traveling it can be really fun.

Pros:

Immersion, no loading times, constantly generated planets, unknown life forms, new experience

Cons:

Will wear down fast if you aren’t leisurely playing. Not much to really look forward to as far as character progression. Alien alliances never move from inside their huts, game can load funky or be deceitful. Maintaining support energy can be annoying, finding jet fuel can be tedious, game starts to lack any sole purpose except self driven motive.

In Short:

No Man’s Sky is ambitious but can be a little disappointing if you were looking for a full package. At retail price it’s a bit too high (I got mine off Amazon Prime for a discount along with Prime Day) otherwise I would hold on and wait for this game in the Black Friday bins. I would rent this game but that isn’t much of an option, I do think it’s a title worth playing and or having if you are truly into exploration.

FINAL VERDICT:

7/10