I really appreciate that the team have been sticking this one out. I love that three years after it's original (flawed) release in 2016, they're bringing out major upgrades in this game for free. They're tirelessly working on their original vision, they've been under huge scrutiny for years, and they're still in business. They haven't given up, and I give them 10 out of 10 stars for hanging in there. I feel reminded of Mass Effect Andromeda, whose team knew early on that they've built a lemon, and very quickly abandoned the project after release. Fix what you can, then cut your losses and move on. That's what most humans would do, especially if there's finance people involved. But Hello Games didn't do that. They believed in NO MAN'S SKY, and they continue to believe in it. Besides, the graphics are beautiful. Photo Mode is extremely well implemented and a lot of fun to play with. We can take beautiful shots with this game in real time. The character animations are nice, the sound design is great, and I really get a feeling of abandoned loneliness on that one planet I was able to explore. I can imagine that had I gotten into it, this could have been a great long journey and an enjoyable experience for me, and my viewers alike. Which is why is pains me to say that, without any discernible story, a terribly designed interface, and the complete non-starter experience I've made, I'm now so bored with the game that I can only abandon it and move on. Sorry team, it's not for me. How many hours do you expect me to give you? Five? Ten? Twenty? Imagine investing that much time into a game and not getting anything in return? If a game has "mixed" reviews, it means there aren't just a couple of nut jobs out there who dislike it. It means you've not got the basics right. You've been focussing on things players are likely never to experience, and you've missed out on showing players what awaits them, or how to get there. Rest in peace, NO MAN'S SKY.
I used to LOVE XIII back in the day, both for PC and consoles. I played the Xbox version when it came out, but lost it long ago. The graphical style attracted me, as did the intriguing story line. The comic-like insets of closeups when you shoot at enemy far away, superb (yet sparse) voice acting by David Duchovny and Adam West, the dramatic and adaptive music, it truly was ahead of its time. By today's standards and viewing habits, we may look back at this and find the animations crude, the cutscenes pixelated and the aspect ratio of 4:3 on a 16:9 monitor seriously out of place. At the same time, we can see how far video games and interactive entertainment has come in over 15 years, and I for one think that preserving a version like this is an important step in video game history. Granted, for the current PC version here on GOG.com (Version 1.0) there's no native 16:9 support, but like a previous reviewer suggested, there are easy to add patches from the PC Gaming Wiki (thanks for the tip, Rodrigues520). Cloud saves are enabled though, and without patches you'll get resolutions between 640x480 and up to 1280x960. PCs and consoles couldn't handle much more than that in 2003 anyway. We also get Multiplayer support, but whose servers are used to play with others I cannot tell you. I'm not a multiplayer kinda guy. Sadly there's no native game controller support in this version, so if you'd like to play with such a device (like I do), you'll have to map the keys with a utility like Xpadder. It's like pressing the keys with your game pad. Not ideal, but it works. Although far from perfect, I'm so glad that this original version is available again for those who care. I've been looking for years to get my hands on a legal version, and I'm glad we have it here on GOG.com. I give it 4 out of 5 stars for lack of controller support and lack of higher resolutions beyond 1280x960. Other than that, it's a magical experience I'm glad to re-live.
