Review: No Man's SKy - The Update

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An Update review of No Man’s Sky.

I’m going to start off by saying I fully support the NMS being not guilty of miss leading.  Sorry everyone but you created your own hype and look in the mirror to see whose fault it is.

I did read the list that got sent off as “complaints” and let’s have a little look shall we –

·         We saw big dinosaurs in the release video – where are they?

They exist, I know because I’ve seen them.

·         Where is the big water world or the lush green planet?

They exist, I know because I’ve seen them.

·         Factions, What? Where and how?

Again the factions exist and you gain influence on each one.

·         Ship customisation

You do have “customisation” just not on the level you wanted.

·         No animal behaviour

It’s there it’s simply basic, some attack you – some don’t.  Some will run in fear if you go near them while others will ignore you.

·         A trade fleet being attacked

One last time – I’ve seen it.  I once witnessed almost 20 fighters taking on a trade fleet.  Was actually fun to get involved with – got torn apart.

Now that comment is the issue “not on the level you wanted”.  You don’t get to see as many water worlds, lush green planets or giant dinosaurs that are like “wow” as often as you want.  In fact that is the problem.   The systems created in NMS are not as complicated or detailed as people wanted and again that reiterates the “hype train” people dreamed up.

The faction system is very simple and basic.  The dinosaurs, planets and systems all work under an algorithm which although is really good that one system is rarely too similar it creates a possibility that you may never see what you want to see.  And that is where the problem lies because people didn’t see it they immediately thought “it doesn’t exist“ or simply wasn’t complex enough.

The result? You created your own hype train and I have little sympathy.

So the recent update:

On one side I’m hugely disappointed because it feels like they’ve rewritten the algorithm and it’s really noticeable on a lot of small things.  Straight away the scanner doesn’t tell you everything.  You also find certain minerals are rare to find while others don’t exist on a planet.

You will find some really good changes though before I even get to the big one.  Fleet engagements seem to be much more impressive and I’m also witnessing a larger difference in capital ships.  Your own trade ship is a fantastic addition to the storage woes most people were fed-up with.  You will also find it a bit more punishing if you decide to shoot some innocent ships docking in to the space stations.  The scanner now tells you what minerals exists on planets (plus there is quite a few little touches here and there).

Base building – This is simply started off by a quest system.

I’ve got to say if this was released from day 1 we may have seen a lot less crying.  Not only can you build a base, bring NPCs to give you more quests and advice but you also get a huge amount of storage which you can take it all with you somewhere else.  Although you can’t actually carry it once you place those base parts on another planet you will find your NPCs and storage items tucked nicely in the new base.  Lovely.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of this, I only just finished building a wall with gates around my base with 4 NPCs or is it 5.  I’ve got multi levels on a base building which goes quite high but.. it’s becoming a bit of a mess.  Gathering the resources to create the basics is easy, but it’s collecting all the extras that becomes the nightmare.  Plus to earn the schematics for future constructs or material access you’ve got to do more quests.  Which involve traveling to other systems in search of that NPC or resource to take back to your own NPCs.

Another nice touch is the instant travel from the Starbase to your base (your ship will be sent too).  You still find a struggle for holding a lot of resources to support yourself and now with certain minerals being rare it becomes a bit annoying.  You can create a new game which has no survival factor – which to be honest I’m tempted to do just to build and have fun.

I’ve barely scratched the surface

That’s the honest part, there is much more for me to build and learn regarding this update.  Which is a very positive thing.  There’s also a way to gain tons of money in a short easy space of time regarding lubricant.  When I get to that point anyway.

One to watch out for if you have the money – Trade ship Star Destroyer which can be yours.  Okay it looks like Star Destroyer.

So the final note is this really is a very good update.  Remember this is a small team making this and they’ve probably been working on this segment for 8 months if not more.  Give them a break.  You’ve not just purchased a game it appears you’ve also purchased the updates.  Considering how many games give you 20 hours of play time at £40 while still charging £20 for DLC for another 2 hours’ worth of content.  I don’t think people can complain at all about the cost of No Man’s Sky.  This game is not Minecraft which has gain fundamental basics but allows you to build whatever you want – where you want.  In fact Minecraft is now years old and still the content itself from the original game is basic.  It’s the modders and custom servers that have created the majority of content for this game.

I’ll also add that the only thing I still have a problem regarding the team is their lack of information being sent to their customers or twitter followers.  Working in my current job I keep all staff in the loop of any new changes or possible developments.  I’ve even got a list of what changes I want/hope to make in the coming 2-3 years.