Battleborn review, PS4, Xbox One, PC: 'Characters are fun but levels lack soul'

Despite the majority of great modern games focussing on single player campaigns (see Uncharted 4, Witcher 3, Skyrim), developers seem to be increasing their multiplayer-only output exponentially, likely down to the past success of Call of Duty. A recent example would be Star Wars Battlefront; a long awaited reboot that was let down by its lack of soul and single-player.

Following this trend is Battleborn. Having created the wonderful Borderlands series, Gearbox Software decided to create an online-only multiplayer shooter; one that focusses on a variety of colourful characters split into factions, each one trying to conquer the universe’s last star/planet while destroying the evil Varelsi - an alien race who caused the universe to implode.

There's a huge amount of variety - with characters ranging from robot butlers to walking mushrooms - yet each falls under a similar umbrella thanks to the game's cartoonish artistic style. Each one can be customised extensively, leading to a huge range of possibilities, overwhelming at first but very much appreciated. They also differ in play styles; while one will primarily be a sniper, another will focus on close range encounters.

It’s these variations that make Battleborn enjoyable; without this huge variety, this could get very dull, very quickly. Within a single campaign level (yes, there is a campaign), once the novelty of a new character has worn off, it can get boring. It’s not because this is a bad shooter necessarily, but there’s something lacking - despite the colours and the characters, playing with a random team through many of these levels feels dry, uninspired at times.

What these levels lack is a soul. Each one offers waves of repetitive enemies, spruced up by boss battles every so often. These are by far the highlights of these missions, but due to its eight-or-so hour length, the campaign lacks in content, not helped by a messy story that isn’t worth investing in.

Multiplayer is where this game shines, but only just. Battles are frantic, offering variety throughout the various game modes. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of investment to gain access to many of the characters and can begin to feel like grinding. On the plus side, the addition of split-screen multiplayer is fantastic. As with Borderlands, Battleborn is best played with a friend by your side, and often this feature is dearly missed on other games.

Yet, what Battleborn really reminds me of is a much lighter version of Timesplitters - a game that defined my multiplayer experience for some time. Where the Timesplitters series succeeded was in embracing its own ridiculousness, with challenge modes such a curling monkeys poking fun at itself and the genre as a whole. Sure, it was basic, but then again, you didn’t have to be constantly connected to the internet, you could jump in and go. And what Timplsitters did, it did well - something Battleborn needs to work on.