Hands on with Battleborn pre-E3 2015

2K Games / Gearbox gave us the opportunity to try their new game Battleborn first hand during an event held in Los Angeles last month. Studio producers were anxious to show us new details of this first person shooter, so the presentation was brief and left the way clear for us to try it first.

Battleborn is a story of heroes that develops in the first person and is full of action. Indeed, as in any good MOBA, the role of the game lies in the selection of heroes. Gearbox announced at the event that the template will have 25 characters, and revealed ten characters. The other faces will be presented in the coming months and it is best to administer doses of information, especially taking into account that each character has dozens of skills. Gearbox makers stressed that "in the game's release will be available 25 heroes", so we can expect further increase staff.

Battleborn known for its selection of weaponry, which includes all kinds of options: from firearms, swords through, making spells without neglecting the axes and arrows. There will be a variety of options when it comes to play, thanks to all these weapons and abilities of each character, that may be improved as we go up in level.

What they have in common all these heroes? A single mission: to save the last star of the universe. Each space star has a life cycle, as is the case with humans. Born, grow and there comes a time when the star just fading to off Battleborn is based on the premise that in the distant future only It will be a star in the universe. Things go awry when a shadowy enemy, in another universe, Varelsi faction is allied with the other side of ours to steal the energy of the stars. Heroes will put aside past differences, existing between their factions, and will ally to save the cosmos.

Gearbox advance "that not only will have different ways to play Battleborn, but also discover new ways as we progress." In this sense, the development studio has collected some of the elements of the system levels Borderlands and moved to this new project. But the tweaks were needed, especially if we consider that this is a different genre. Every time we play a competitive or cooperative mission, depart from the first level and have the option to level up quickly. Every time we go up in level, the skills propeller shows new possibilities to customize attacks our heroes. This is evident that each character will provide new experiences to move up a level and Battleborn invite us to try all sorts of combinations. This will prevent the player to focus on improving a single character. In addition, we will have to sharpen your wits on every mission, because the choice of character to every moment is essential and strategic.

During the event, Gearbox mentioned the "Raid", "Devastation" and "collapse" of those who know more details in the future anyway but this time we know in depth the cooperative mission in story mode. Battleborn allow us to play alone or in combination with up to five other players.

Entering fully into action Battleborn: the first "playable" demo

In the hands-on event held by 2K Games we move to an icy moon of the story missions. The faction Varelsi have opened a portal on this moon that allows them to move up our universe. Our goal will move to the moon, search the portal and fly to pieces before Varelsi can reach our system.

This demo had ten characters available and played along with four other heroes. Each hero has a main weapon and abilities.

- Phoebe: gives you great flexibility with swords and one of his skills is teleportation.

- Caldarius: has a gun and a sword. It can blind enemy bases through their grenades.

- Oscar Mike: has an assault rifle and dozens of grenades that will kill many enemies at once.

- Thorn: the keeper of the team.

- Orendi: sorceress. Specialist in long-range attacks. It is striking that has four hands that makes their spells.

- Boldur: is equipped with axes. It moves rather slowly.

- Marquis: sniper rifle. Among its highlights a skills enabling us slow down enemies when they come within a field created by Marquis.

- Miko: a character is mostly supportive. He can throw poisonous clouds against rivals and brings health, quickly, to other colleagues to look in trouble.

- Montana: a big hero equipped with a "mini-gun".

- Rath: optimal handling the machetes. When one digs in the ground, enemies are flying through the air.

In our first encounter with the game we chose Montana, a burly soldier with a "mini-gun" which is optimal for long range combat, which will help our partners get more than a pinch. Among its options are skills to recharge rife faster or make our most powerful attacks. A character with great power but unfortunately moves slowly (for its large volume and the mini-gun), so we must be careful not to fall behind. Montana is a clear example of what Gearbox forward: each character will not only own skills and weapons, but also move differently. In his special ability he is able to become more resistant to enemy ammunition and can be launched against a particular enemy.

In the second round we had the chance to get into the skin of the hero Oscar Mike, who will also do well long-distance attacks with his rifle and grenades. His special ability is an aerial bombardment that cause massive damage on enemy bases.

On our departure we had the opportunity to explore the background system levels, presented with an unusual design in the shape of a helix. This interface provides simple navigation and easy to consult, key points to avoid disrupting our departure when selecting these skills. We have to move quickly from base to base and not lose sight of our colleagues, who may need our assistance at any time not to fall in combat or to kill an enemy. It notes that hero will have a special "ultimate skill" or we can use during battles when we reach level five.

After advancing through different scenarios of large dimensions, we reached a point where we can unlock and control a sentinel species of spider. From that moment our goal is to guide the sentinel to the portal and the final point we have to protect it while taking care of burning laser one of the doors of the place. On our tour we will find glass on the floor that will help us in our mission to achieve energy and money, but will also be kits that we can collect. In this mission we use the crystals to recharge the energy of our sentinel.


Varelsi Chief Conservator will handle things get difficult, especially in the final part of the demo, at which begin to invoke dozens of enemies. Coordination among five players cobra utmost importance at this time to end the Varelsi faction. After a tight fight, we get the balance in our favor and just when we are celebrating the victory because our sentinel has gotten down the door, a frozen gigantic enemy appears. At that time the end to put the demo, of course, leaving us wanting more and know what will happen next.


Unfortunately we could not try other modes of competitive games in this session, so Gearbox left us with honey on the lips, but with good taste. Battleborn known for its graphics worthy of the new generation and ensures good dose of entertainment.

Battleborn will be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC later this year.

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