The Gearburn Podcast #1: Is No Man’s Sky the game it ought to be?

Here’s a question: are you happy with No Man’s Sky? We’re pretty much on the fence here at Gear HQ, and we know a lot of others are too.

But looking at the game solely on its merits — sentiment aside — is it the title it should’ve been? We’re we promised unicorns and rainbows only to get sentinels and plutonium?

That’s the question we try to answer in our very first Gearburn Podcast.

Is No Man’s Sky the game it ought to be? We try to answer that question

Although No Man’s Sky got off to a flying start, boasting a nifty procedurally-generated universe with stars, spaceships, planets and odd animals, it left a lot to be desired. As reviewer Matthew Alexander noted in his thorough play-by-play:

At times No Man’s Sky‘s procedural-generated worlds would get it completely right, creating an entirely new layout of visual aspects, land features, flora and fauna. But over time, the content on each planet began to look incredibly similar.

Read more: No Man’s Sky [PS4] review: infinite bore-fare

No Man’s Sky also currently wears Steam’s biggest launch of 2016, and rocketing the previously unknown Hello Games into video game developer stardom, it’s not exempt from criticism.

While you might have your own deft opinion of the game (if so, please let us know in the comments or tweet us at @gearburn), Andy Walker, Graham van der Made and Hadlee Simons arguing about Hello Games’ cult classic is worth a listen in any case (even if we do say so ourselves).

On that note, have a look at the very first fortnightly Gearburn Podcast below, and please do subscribe if you like what you hear.