Hands-on Preview: Battleborn innovates and impresses

Multi​player

On the multiplayer side we saw three separate modes that will be in Battleborn; Incursion, Capture, Meltdown. We had the ability to play both Capture and Meltdown as Incursion was detailed but not playable in the current build. Incursion mode has a MOBA influence to it and  puts two teams of five human players and AI minions against each other. Each team will be tasked with protecting their own sentry while trying to destroy their opponents'. The AI minions also fight for your team and 2K stated they were ironing out "a good, round, suitable" number in order to keep gameplay balanced.

Capture is Battleborn's take on Hardpoint. Three areas on a map labeled A, B, and C will need to be held by your team in order to earn points. Although enemy kills count toward your in game leveling advancement, they do not count toward your overall team score. Only points earned from holding capture zones count toward your goal and of course, the more zones you  hold the faster you earn points. First team to 1,000 points wins.

Meltdown is the last mode and the most fun I've had in a multiplayer match in a long time. Each team of five will be tasked with appeasing their angry, robot volcano Minrec (Minion recycler) by delivering their own minions safely from one checkpoint to another for "recycling". It's a dual task mode as each team only gains points from the individual minions you get safely to your Minrec. Enemy kills do not count toward points and although killing your opponent's minions do not count directly, they do indirectly as it prevents them from scoring. Although it was frustrating to see a message pop up indicating "Battleborn09 is Dominating you" at the hands of Game Informer's Mike Futter because of three straight kills, the feeling of redemption with the "You have vindicated yourself" message as I got him back made up for it…..a little bit.

All three systems work in conjunction with each other and transfer across from both single player and multiplayer. All rewards unlocked in one transfer to the other and allow for a much more interactive approach to a shooter. The video you can see below is for a multiplayer match of Capture. In the match, I used Orendi and it gives you good breakdown of how the loot perks are activated as well as your cool downs for special moves. Remember, those assigned to buttons X and B have standard, relatively fast cool down periods. Your special move assigned to the Y button is a stronger move that activates at a higher level and therefore has a much higher cool down time.

Battleborn is out February 9th, 2016 on both Xbox One and PS4 as well as PC. There are currently 10 players announced of the 25 which you can see on Battleborn's main page. More will be revealed leading up to the release but 2K also promised there will be some surprises left for launch day. One of those which we got a first glimpse at during the event was Reyna, a female shooter with an eye reminiscent of Kano from Mortal Kombat. Although a shooter, she has relatively low health and power but functions highly well as a support character.

Overall Impressions

By all means Battleborn is extremely far along considering launch was four months away at the time of our preview. There were no visible flaws or bugs and functionality wise the game went off without a hitch. As far as overall game time goes, Ms. Miller indicated that they can't put a overall time on it now as they are still "testing things out in the backend" as well as always "adding and taking out some minor things as they go".

As far as the character unlocks and progression goes, Ms. Miller indicated that "We want it to be organic and make sense within the story. Like introduce you to a character, get to know them over the course of a session and then it's like 'oh cool! I can play this character now".

As you can tell, both Gearbox and 2K have gone to a lot of trouble to make Battleborn unique and not just simply "Borderlands 3 with a different name". A multi-faceted leveling system, unique new point scoring, broad character spectrum and loot rewards makes Battleborn the most original and stellar looking shooters to be released in years.

Enjoy the video and be sure to let us know what you think of Battleborn so far!

Earlier this month, we were able to go hands-on with 2K Games and Gearbox's newest hero-shooter, Battleborn. Our preview consisted of a 5-player, co-op multiplayer experience, as well as our first ever glimpse at the game's single player campaign. Yes, that's right, there's a single player campaign in Battleborn.  We played the PC version with Xbox One controllers which was running in full 1080P and 60PFS.

The color palette in Battleborn is immediately evident as it pops right off of the screen. Unique maps and areas allow you to use the environment to either your advantage or for protection as Battleborn isn't just the same game plopped in a different map. Unlike other shooters where you can maintain pretty much the same Run & Gun or Camp-aholic strategy, Battleborn forces you to incorporate the map into your decision making and results in one of the most  complete shooters to date. Right from the get go, it becomes obvious that although made by the developer of Borderlands, Battleborn is nothing of the sort and looks to create its own name in the realm of shooters.

Controls remain consistent throughout Battleborn and for the most part stick to the same button layouts you are used to in shooters. RT is shoot or strike depending on your character and LT allows you to narrow your sights and aim. A makes your character jump and your special attacks are mapped to X, Y and B. Each attack has a cooldown period that shows up on screen in the form of a countdown timer represented as an overlay on top of each button in the mini-HUD which is stationed in the bottom, right of the screen. These cooldowns can be adjusted with the use of loot perks and rewards, which we will cover more in depth later on.

Single-Player Campaign and 5-Person Co-Op

Of the game's 25 characters, 2K and Gearbox will be unlocking 10 of them at the outset of the game. The remaining 15 will require unlocking as you progress through the game's story mode. For example, one level we played in a 5-person co-op saw us attempting to infiltrate a base controlled by robots under the power of Isic (above), a once good robot that has evolved into a deathbringer that is sarcastic AF. As you play, he continually reminds you that he is going to kill you and explains how he's going to do it. It's incredibly funny and entertaining and all of us playing were laughing the entire match. Once you beat the level, the boss of that level (in this case Isaac) becomes unlocked as a playable character. You can switch characters throughout the campaign/co-op at the completion of every level and there is no limit to how many you can choose. Timewise, Isic's level took my team about 25 minutes or so to beat in order to advance. Now, although Isic is locked until you complete his level, he was playable for the purpose of our preview.

In the single player campaign, you play through the same levels in the order you would in co-op, but by yourself. I played the same Isic level in campaign in order to get a fair comparison and it was incredibly difficult. What is unique about Battleborn is that you must deploy completely separate strategies for both co-op and single player even while maintaining the same playable character. One may wish to focus your upgrades on support while using Orendi in co-op, but solo play will need a more full frontal attack and require you to use your cool down buffs instead.

In our preview, we played as Oscar Mike (above), a character with surprisingly low health for an assault player. To contrast, his damage output is fairly high as you can tell by the character select screen.