{"id":102235,"date":"2016-08-26T13:19:01","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T11:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=102235"},"modified":"2016-08-26T14:04:13","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T12:04:13","slug":"no-mans-sky-review-an-awe-inspiring-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/pc\/102235-no-mans-sky-review-an-awe-inspiring-journey","title":{"rendered":"No Man\u2019s Sky review \u2014 an awe-inspiring journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

My No Man\u2019s Sky experience began a little differently.<\/p>\n

Yours may have begun with a download, by opening a Blu-Ray case, or, if you\u2019re lucky, through cracking open a collector\u2019s edition box.<\/p>\n

Mine started with a beautiful half-empty paperback book and a heartfelt letter from programmer and Hello Games co-founder, Sean Murray.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel sick writing this,\u201d it begins. \u201cYou are about to play No Man\u2019s Sky and I don\u2019t know what you\u2019ll think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Showing some self-awareness, Murray\u2019s goes on to mention the high expectations of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if we can ever live up to the hype we\u2019ve generated, sometimes knowingly, often not,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

One has to wonder whether he and the rest of the Hello Games team had any inkling of the backlash their hype machine had set them up for.<\/p>\n

\n

If you\u2019ve come to this review expecting another lashing over promised features that didn\u2019t make it into the game, you\u2019ve come to the wrong place.<\/p>\n

While the discrepancy between the game that was presented on TV and in trailers is relevant, you can read<\/strong><\/a> our<\/strong><\/a> extensive<\/strong><\/a> coverage<\/strong><\/a> on that in other<\/strong><\/a> articles<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hello Games has also promised that after it has sorted out all the bugs that remained in the game after launch, it will add the ability to build bases and own giant space freighters.<\/p>\n

Multiplayer may also make it into the game at some point, according to an FAQ in the book Sony gave to reviewers.<\/p>\n

For now, I just want to talk about the game as it actually is, not what it could have been, or even what it might be.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

I know my strongest memory growing up in the outback of Australia, seeing the stars at night, and feeling overwhelmed. Reading sci-fi and wishing I could escape into those worlds.<\/p>\n

If for one small moment I can make some people feel that they have stepped through a science fiction book cover, or to think briefly about the size of our universe\u2026 then I\u2019ll be happy with that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those were Murray\u2019s final words to reviewers before signing off his letter.<\/p>\n

\n

\"No<\/a><\/p>\n

I awakened on a strange planet surrounded by life forms completely foreign to me.<\/p>\n

Who am I? How did I get here?<\/p>\n

The only clue I can salvage from my ship\u2019s wreckage is a distress beacon.<\/p>\n

As I examine it, an entity, a vast red orb, communicates with me and offers direction, purpose. Do I accept its guidance, or spurn its offer?<\/p>\n

\n

\"My<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m more than 30 hours into No Man\u2019s Sky, and even though the gameplay is grindy and there are many repetitive elements on every planet you visit, I\u2019m not close to bored with it.<\/p>\n

In some ways, No Man\u2019s Sky is a lot like an open world game. Every new planet you explore contains all the same basic points of interest that offer some kind of reward if you complete the activity they host.<\/p>\n

However, most of the planets I visited have been visually diverse enough to keep my curiosity piqued.<\/p>\n

What geology, animals, and (to a lesser extent) plant life will I discover when I land?<\/p>\n

No Man\u2019s Sky is an exploration game first and foremost.<\/p>\n

The open world and survival game mechanics will bore you eventually, so if its basic exploration premise does not appeal to you, it is not the game for you.<\/p>\n

For example, in my travels I have found someone\u00a0whose Path of Atlas intersected my own, and I am incredibly curious to see what they found, if they came up with any interesting names, and where their path has led them.<\/p>\n

\"Kaito's<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

As I follow the path Atlas has laid before me, I come upon the most amazing world.<\/p>\n

The planet\u2019s sun blasts it with almost unbearable heat, with storms that would cook the meat from my bones if not for my protective exosuit.<\/p>\n

And yet it is teeming with life \u2014 the strangest, most beautiful flying creatures, terrifying pod-like beasts, and the most graceful giant quadrupeds.<\/p>\n

For one small moment No Man\u2019s Sky made me feel like I\u2019ve stepped through a science fiction book cover.<\/p>\n

It made me think of the size and diversity of just our little rock orbiting around the sun, and then left me in awe contemplating our ever-expanding universe.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m not even done with it yet.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/a><\/p>\n

\"No<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

More on No Man\u2019s Sky<\/h3>\n

This is what No Man\u2019s Sky\u2019s patches actually fixed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The massive list of missing features in No Man\u2019s Sky<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

No Man\u2019s Sky developer responds to gameplay issues<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

No Man\u2019s Sky PC launch is a bit of a mess<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I tried to set aside the controversy around No Man\u2019s Sky for a few hours and just experience the game for what it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":101456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11681,8],"tags":[11828,457],"class_list":["post-102235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc","category-playstation","category-reviews","tag-no-mans-sky","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102269,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102235\/revisions\/102269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}