This game was expected to put all other games out of existence! A game that so many gamers around the world were impatiently waiting for! A game that according to Hello Games CEO, Sean Murray, would be an entire universe filled with endless possibilities.
This game was expected to put all other games out of existence! A game that so many gamers around the world were impatiently waiting for! A game that according to Hello Games CEO, Sean Murray, would be an entire universe filled with endless possibilities. Now, this game is called One Man’s Lie by most people who were unfortunate enough to purchase a copy.
Within the first few weeks of release, No Man’s Sky received so much hate that it forced the developers into hiding. What was supposed to be the future of video games for many turned out to be just another survival game. With almost 80 percent of the promised features missing in the final game, you know what a blunder the developers made.
Opening
Just like any other survival game, No Man’s Sky has no story. You are an unnamed space explorer, whose ship has crashed on a planet. You need to repair the ship so you can start exploring. That’s the entire game in a nutshell.
After visiting a few planets, you will realise just how weak the game design actually is. There is absolutely nothing in the universe to be excited about. During the first few minutes, the only thing you will be fighting are the game’s horrible menus. Being a game in which you have to craft items, having a horrible menu is a complete let down. You will also be fighting with the ship’s controls, because they are horrible.
Gameplay
In my opinion, there really is no game in No Man’s Sky. It feels like a glorified tech demo or a very poor simulator. It is very difficult to talk about the gameplay as there is nothing specific in the game to highlight.
I have to admit that the entire planet exit and entry system is quite cool, but just going around the universe and exploring planets is not a good enough reason to play this game. There is no multiplayer, as promised by the developers or a faction system. The stupid Atlas system, which is the game’s discovery database system, is no fun when you can’t play with your friends. So gathering resources to upgrade your ship also seems pointless.
The crafting system is so bad that crafting seems like a chore. It is no fun at all. You can’t build new ships or cool sci-fi weapons. Even if you find new weapons and ships, they all behave the same way. Even the gravity on all planets is the same!
Hello Games talked about how we are going to set foot on uncharted planets. The problem is that most planets already have bases! This means that they are by no means uncharted.
They talked about the billions of planets that will be procedurally generated. The problem is that the game doesn’t have enough assets to create completely different planets. The entire game is just six GB. So you will keep seeing the same things over and over again! This makes exploration very boring, as there simply isn’t enough alien life on the planets.
They have a trade system as well, which is again pointless. Why would you trade? What is the purpose of trading when you aren’t going to be part of any factions or take part in another player’s journey? Also, the aliens at the trading posts are always the same. There isn’t even enough variety of known aliens in the game. On space stations, you will find only one kind of alien pilots. You can’t interact with these aliens at all!
The planets have the same gravity and more importantly, they do not have an orbit system. Hello Games said that each planet will have its own orbit and will spin around its axis. This is untrue! The day night cycle in the game makes use of light boxes. That means that the planets are completely stationary.
There is an objective, although it isn’t anything to be excited about. You are supposed to reach the center of the galaxy. I won’t even think I am spoiling the game for you, because really this game shouldn’t be bought by anyone in the first place. When you reach the center of the galaxy, the game simply restarts. That is it! That’s the ending! It’s like you can hear Sean Murray laughing in the background when you complete this objective.
Story
This game definitely would be better if it had story. The lack of story and role playing elements make this game as dull as a white wall painted white. It is no fun exploring any planets when you don’t have anything to look forward to. All of the false advertisement makes the feeling even worse
Graphics and performance
The game’s graphics are just average, but it has serious performance issues on all platforms. The game crashes on the PS4 and has severe stuttering issues on PC. The framerates even on high end PCs are simply not good.
The game also has a lot of glitches. The alien AI sometimes goes berserk. The physics of the game break causing your ship to spin and crash land on the surface of a planet.
No Man’s Sky review summary
No Man’s Sky is by all means a disgrace to the gaming industry. It is an example of just how broken the video gaming industry is these days. There were lots of features that were promised, but were not included in the final game. There is no quality control. Even without all the false advertisement, the game is just a tech demo.
Score: 5/10
