Battleborn - Xbox One

The premise of Battleborn is that the universe has largely been obliterated by a race called the Varelsi. The surviving races have converged onto the last remaining star system known as Solus. They have all banded together to rid the universe of the Varelsi by volunteering the best fighters each race has. These are known as the 'Battleborn' and the player takes on the role of these combatants whose sole mission is to eradicate the Varelsi.

Battleborn is unashamedly a hybrid title that borrows from FPS, tower defence and MOBA games. At its heart Battleborn is an FPS that relies on the player understanding the unique characteristics of the person they are controlling.

Each character in Battleborn has a unique set of skills and abilities that can be leveled up during play. It is at this point the influence of MOBA games becomes quite obvious as the player is required to distribute skills points within a two-pronged skill tree that is mercifully simple to understand during the thick of an intense battle.

As an example, the character Marquis has the ability to create time distortion bubbles that, once entered, slow time down, allowing the player to land well-aimed head shots at creatures within the distortion. The size and length of time this bubble exists increases every time it is chosen to be levelled up. There are 25 characters, each with their own personality, weapons and powers, for players to choose from and get to grips with.

The narrative story mode is playable with up to four friends either in splitscreen or online, if you want to play with friends. If you'd rather crush them, however, there's also a multiplayer mode that allows 5v5 matches across a range of modes. more