Bleeding Edge Closed Beta Review

Overtime Heroics Editorial

2028 days ago

Having played Bleeding Edge at E3 2019, as well as during some of the closed alphas a few months afterward, I had an idea of what to expect from the game at this point. This was the first time I felt like a few massive improvements could’ve come along, so I was excited to try the new Ninja Theory title. In the past, I’d enjoyed the gameplay thoroughly, but knew there were some bugs needing to be worked out, as well as some minor balancing issues with characters, maps, and game modes. All of which were addressed in some manner for this closed beta.

Past Experience

Overview

If you don’t already know, Ninja Theory is the developer of games such as Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, DMC: Devil May Cry, and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. All of which have been single-player, linear, adventure games receiving high praise from all who’ve played. Bleeding Edge is their first shot at, not only a multiplayer online experience, but also the highly-popular (and saturated) Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre. You are familiar with the genre if you’ve played games such as League of Legends, DOTA 2, Heroes of the Storm, or Smite.

These games, particularly LoL and DOTA 2, are some of the biggest games in the world, with a life spanning 10 years or more and still going strong. This is what makes this a tough genre to tap into. Ninja Theory has done a great job with Bleeding Edge, especially for a company with no experience making games like this.

My Opinion

I hate MOBA games. Always have and probably always will. I’ve never enjoyed a second I’ve played of League, DOTA, HoTS, or Smite. I find them boring, repetitive, and there isn’t enough player-involvement into the action to keep me interested. I like to battle enemies one on one and use anything at my disposal along with player movement to outwit, outmaneuver, and outplay my opponents in a multiplayer game. In MOBAs, you are forced to simply spam a few basic attacks, wait for their cooldown, run away, and repeat. I understand that I am greatly outnumbered by the number of people who enjoy these games, but I just don’t. Having said that, I have really enjoyed all my time with Bleeding Edge so far. This game forces players to work as a team in fights that combine character abilities, timing, and skill to kill one another and take objectives.

Review

Bleeding Edge has 2 available game modes in the closed beta, one of which is your classic domination-type mode, where the teams must fight to take over a certain point, then their kills count for as many points as objectives taken. The hills shift and stop being available temporarily though, forcing people to only fight in certain locations. For example, all capture points will disappear, then just C will return, making every player in the game populate the same location. The other mode involves retrieving cells and taking them to a drop point, which again forces fights and the mechanic of killing an opponent to have them drop all their cells.

These modes play nicely into the dynamic of the current roster, which features a range of interesting playable characters from a guitar-playing lightning wielder to an overweight motorcyclist. Each character has their own specific set of skills and abilities, with different amounts of health, damage, and healing capability. The current roster is quite balanced, as experiencing fights with and against each character, it never felt as though any were dominant or useless at any time. Every character is useful in their own way if you only take the time to master them and figure out which fights to take at the right time.

Conclusion

Bleeding Edge feels more like an objective-based third-person arena fighter than an outright MOBA. While die-hard fans of the genre and games like League of Legends are not going to stop playing them to play this game, open-minded non-MOBA fans should certainly give it a try, as it brings new flair and action-filled excitement to the genre. The Bleeding Edge closed beta is live from February 14 to February 17th, and you can gain access to it by pre-ordering the game on Steam or Xbox One or simply by being a member of Xbox Game Pass. Bleeding Edge releases on Xbox One and Windows 10 on March 24th, 2020.

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