Reviews// No Man's Sky

When done right, that's not a problem. We've all found ourselves completely distracted in Red Dead Redemption and forgetting what it was we had planned in the first place, but that's because the distractions are interesting. In No Man's Sky they're not, and usually result in you wandering around aimlessly trying to find the materials you need to mine in order to continue back on the path you've begrudgingly left.

If you do manage to find an abandoned ship - your prize at the end of your goal - it'll need fixing, which means it's back to the aimless wandering and mining. Even when doing things you don't want to do you can find yourself peeling back another layer of unwanted gameplay as mining too much in one area will result in being chased down by sentinels, the game's police.

Then it's back to the dull combat. This time fighting lifeless enemies with no real danger or excitement. Just boring enemies that take little or no tactics to dispose of and move on. Another path you don't want to go down, but one you're forced to take before returning to what you want to do.

It's laborious, dull and repetitive, but somehow I managed to find myself hopelessly addicted.

The flaws are all there and it's important that we acknowledge them. There's no point in ignoring things that are wrong with the games we like. In this particular case there's enough of them to make me understand those who are instantly turned off by No Man's Sky, sympathise with those who feel cheated and agree with those who are disappointed.

But the fact is that in spite of everything it does wrong I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed my time with it. It's just hard to pin point what it does right and almost impossible to explain why I've put so many hours into it.

Maybe it's the idea that what I'm seeing is something completely unique. This is a game so big that not only have no players walked the same game-space as me, but the developers themselves haven't either. This makes those admittedly rare moments of discovery even more special.

When flying above a planet's surface on one of my many expeditions I noticed a change in the usual landscape below and immediately landed. What I found was something that took my breath away. A huge crater that had been there long enough for nature to grow within it. A pond in the centre surrounded by trees. An oasis in the middle of nowhere. I'd discovered a needle in a haystack.

I stopped what I was doing and circled the circumference of this little paradise before venturing down to experience it from within. Maybe it would have been nice if there was more than just a hole in the planet to find. A new mission, some upgrades for my ship or perhaps a rare creature type, but for a while that didn't even cross my mind. I was infatuated and as I flew away I had that feeling that I'd truly found something of my own.

The irony isn't lost on me. In a game that promised unlimited discoveries of new plants, animals and solar systems it's a big hole in the ground that sticks with me and made me take screenshots to share with my lucky twitter followers.

The rarity of these findings will either make or break you. The hours of nothing followed by a small gem won't be for everyone. Most will get bored of the spaces between these moments and I can't blame them. But somehow they managed to just fuel the concept of a universe being so big that you might find something that will stick out, and it drove me on.

The odd planet where the algorithms work to create a beautiful world, the scripted changes in normality and the moments where you find a rare item that genuinely aids your journey. No Man's Sky's biggest appeal is that it manages to make small rewards seem more significant. Like only being allowed to eat McDonald's for a month and finally being allowed one of your mum's Sunday roasts.

The way I see it is that as an experiment No Man's Sky is success. A small team of developers have managed to create something insanely big, allowing for players to see things that are genuinely unique. As basic as it all is, when you see something out of the norm it feels like yours. It's not something that can be spoiled, or experienced by anyone else. It's your little part of the game that you'll never forget and that no-one else can ever see.

It's important to remember how powerful that can be and that this has never been done in a game before. Nothing has ever come close.

However, as successful as this experiment is, it's a failure as a game. Every mechanic that's dressed around the original idea is below par and those going into No Man's Sky expecting fun combat, thrilling traversal and hundreds of quest lines to follow will feel let down.

The biggest disappointment here is that had this game been created by a more established developer, or if some of the marketing budget was put towards tightening the overall experience, we could have had a much richer game. Instead we're left with a deeply flawed experience that's core concept is enough to grab me tight and keep me returning. Just in case there's something else out there that no one will ever see.

Pros:
+ Moments of true discovery
+ The occasional breathtaking experience

Cons:
- Poor combat
- Dull survival mechanics
- A missed opportunity

SPOnG Score: 6/10