Beautiful, but so flawed: No Man's Sky review

[Julio Franco]

No Man’s Sky is an unusual and contradictory game, one that asks very little of its players while simultaneously demanding a great deal.

It is difficult to separate No Man’s Sky: The Video Game from No Man’s Sky: The Great Hype Experience. It’s not impossible, however, so: No Man’s Sky is a first-person game about looking at pretty things and crafting jet fuel. It starts with a straightforward crafting grind—break ten rocks to make four metal sheets to craft one shield upgrade, etc.— and sets it against an endless, procedurally generated universe full of procedurally generated planets.

You get in your spaceship and travel from place to place in search of materials to make more fuel and trade for a better spaceship so you can carry more materials and make more fuel and trade for an even better spaceship and on, and on.

Read the complete review.

 

[Jamesbrah]

Cool review. Making me want to buy it even though I know I may not appreciate it on the first play through.

 

[PinothyJ]

Well then, that was one hell of a review…

 

[TomSEA]

Nice review. However, I'm glad I didn't pre-order even though I really wanted to. A couple of my friends did and they are having no ends of technical problems which is really frustrating for them.

By this time next year I'll be able to pick it up for $20 on a sale and will grab it then. Hopefully all the bugs will be worked out and maybe some new content added.

I'm in no hurry...

 

[Uncle Al]

Yeah, I agree Tom .... it might be a spectacular game, but I'm just not yet ready to chunk down those coins. When it gets down into the $20 range I might be willing to take a change; after all, with some billion planets to explore, what a few more months going to matter anyway?

 

[thelatestmodel]

I agree completely. It has its moments that make you stop and stare, but it's kind of a pain to use.

 

[davislane1]

 

[Fobus]

What about performance issues? It's kinda irresponsible to review without expanding on the technical aspect, because if it's a stuttery mess, it doesn't even matter what's in the game.

 

[Nobina]

I suggest watching this video even though it's a little longer. It really shows the scumbaggery of the developers of this game. I would stay away.

 

[Uncle Al]

Yep .... first rule of business "bums exist"
second rule - "You'll meet more than your share"

 

[sauces1313]

What about performance issues? It's kinda irresponsible to review without expanding on the technical aspect, because if it's a stuttery mess, it doesn't even matter what's in the game.

My experience on PS4 had no issues. My experience on PC (most of my time played) has been that, after buying a new GPU to get the best results possible, regeneration settings on high does stutter, only while flying low and viewing the ground. Also, FPS drops when you scan a large mineral deposit due to the resource grid it displays.
But those two things can be adjusted for or avoided. I still stand by my desicion to get a 4k card and this $60 game. It's beautiful

 

[sauces1313]

Great review. Now having logged 30+ hours on PC, I agree with most all of these statements. It really makes it more interesting when the player enacts their own sort of objective or gameplan.
And the views, oh the views are amazing.

 

[toxicfiend]

What about performance issues? It's kinda irresponsible to review without expanding on the technical aspect, because if it's a stuttery mess, it doesn't even matter what's in the game.

My experience on PS4 had no issues. My experience on PC (most of my time played) has been that, after buying a new GPU to get the best results possible, regeneration settings on high does stutter, only while flying low and viewing the ground. Also, FPS drops when you scan a large mineral deposit due to the resource grid it displays.
But those two things can be adjusted for or avoided. I still stand by my desicion to get a 4k card and this $60 game. It's beautiful

and boring after watching 10 minutes of this game on Twitch paint drying is more entertaining.

 

[Fobus]

and boring after watching 10 minutes of this game on Twitch paint drying is more entertaining.

It's for a particular type of gamer. It's an exploration/walking simulator type of game. Also, some people think this game is pretty. So if you're one of them, and interface or purposeful busy work does not annoy you, it can be enjoyable.
Ofc, it infuriates me. Also, I can't stand how game devs marketed this game. Promised a bunch of features, with footage of them (all faked?) as late as a few months till release and were as vague as possible and not even denying false stories in the press. Disgusting behavior. Guess they wanted to benefit from the hype...

 

[Fobus]

My experience on PS4 had no issues. My experience on PC (most of my time played) has been that, after buying a new GPU to get the best results possible, regeneration settings on high does stutter, only while flying low and viewing the ground. Also, FPS drops when you scan a large mineral deposit due to the resource grid it displays.
But those two things can be adjusted for or avoided. I still stand by my desicion to get a 4k card and this $60 game. It's beautiful

This argument is the equivalent of saying: I have a doughnut, hence there's no hunger in world... Technical woes for a lot of people has been well documented, so it was just my amazement that review does not in fact review performance... Besides, plenty of people had been crashing on PS4. Just look at AngryJoe review...

 

[sauces1313]

This argument is the equivalent of saying: I have a doughnut, hence there's no hunger in world... Technical woes for a lot of people has been well documented, so it was just my amazement that review does not in fact review performance... Besides, plenty of people had been crashing on PS4. Just look at AngryJoe review...

This isn't my "argument". I'm aware one person's experience does not equal what everyone will experience. I was giving you my experience, because I thought you were here to discuss a newly released game, not argue with every comment posted.