As intriguing as Eve Online always sounds when some unique event or player created bit of friction occurs it?s certainly not a game that I?ve been able to enjoy. I?ve made a handful of attempts at jumping in, but never really had the patience or commitment to fully understand it. I certainly get why it?s so well loved among the fan base, there certainly isn?t another space sim out there that really touches it in scope. But it definitely isn?t the game for me.
With that said, Dust 514, set in the Eve Online universe and created by Eve Online developers CCP Games, is something that I?ve genuinely enjoyed so far. I say so far because I?m hardly at a point where I feel comfortable with the thought that I know it inside and out. It?s a remarkably dense experience, especially compared to typical FPS competitors like Halo and Call of Duty. Dust 514 certainly takes a lot of mechanics further than most shooters, offering up a large number of customization options for character building, via one of the most in-depth skill systems you?re likely to see in a first person shooter.
Every character created in Dust 514 can be outfitted with dropsuits, which function sort of like class slots in comparison to other games. This dropsuit comes with a number of modules for equipment, allowing for one primary weapon, one secondary, grenades, and a handful of optional equipment that can boost things like shields and armor. Each dropsuit also has a certain number of points available to outfit gear with, restricting players from potentially overpowered combinations.
As far as the actual gameplay goes, I think it?s pretty good, but if I?m going to sit down and compare it to other modern FPS titles on PS3 it could certainly use some refinement. It can often be a little buggy, with some odd collision detection issues and spawning problems, neither of which are too surprising considering the scope. It?s certainly a far better experience than it was months ago, boosted by the recent Uprising patch that hit before launch. But it has also had some server issues recently, with a DDoS attack that impacted the game and knocked it offline for about a day.
Dust 514 also has some significant problems. The biggest offender here is that the tutorial is severely lacking. When you first enter the game, you?ll get some text descriptions that?ll guide you through your menu options in the starting hub. This is where you?ll spend skill points, purchase gear from the marketplace, outfit your dropsuits, and look for matches to play. The tutorial covers the basics, but there are a lot of things that are vaguely explained. And the way the text is presented is about as dry and boring as a tutorial can get. Hitting new players with wall after wall of text before they get to do something fun doesn?t really instill excitement in most.
If you?re willing to seek it out, there are a lot of online resources available, both official and unofficial. These certainly helped me grasp a lot more than anything in the game actually did. The digital manual is also well worth reading through, explaining basic functions like why it pays to group in a squad to call down orbital strikes, and that you can even call in orbital strikes to begin with. But again, with modern games we?ve come to expect that core mechanics and features are going to be unveiled as we progress, and Dust 514 doesn?t handle that well.
With that said, Dust 514 has given me a taste of what a large-scale MMO shooter could be, and some hope for the overall experience to improve moving forward. CCP has certainly shown that they have a willingness, tenacity, and desire to listen to fans via Eve Online, so hopefully that continues with Dust 514. Is it a little rough around the edges right now? You bet. But with a virtually non-existent entry cost and some solid foundation to back it up, Dust 514 is worth checking out.
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