JesterTBP
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Posted - 2003.07.23 17:55:00 -
[1]
not exactly a posative one...only got a 55%...I typed it out so you all could read it...
At first glance, this online start trek is just what a sci-fi fan, wouldnÆt hoped for: itÆs stuffed with future-jargon and sports the best space-sim graphics in years. Alas, it turns out to be the game play equivalent of blindfolded brain surgery.
Here you have all the best and worst of the MMRP paradigm. On the one hand, seemingly limitless environments and totally free-form play. On the other hand, an utter lack of direction, cohesion, and narrative.
Outer space in EVE Online is gargantuan, confusing, and aimless û exploring it is an odyssey through a lot of big black nothing. Going places takes a surprisingly long time, even at ôwarpö speeds. Mining is the only save way to make money in the beginning, and involves the oh-so-thrilling process of sitting on an asteroid belt, gobbling up ore, and selling it. Eventually, youÆll be ready for tense encounters with guardian pirates or marauders, but itÆs an otherwise tedious mechanistic process designed to get you cash so that you can upgrade your gear. The object of the game is the same as in real life û to mundanely accrue money in a monotonous way.
After choosing one of the five (lol, thereÆs only four) human-derived races in the character-creation routine, you get five primary attributes and an amalgam of sub-skills. These sub-skills basically funnel into your proficiency at trade, mining, leadership, security, and so on. The creation stage ties off with a custom portrait generator that lets you contort and shade a high-resolution virtual face before spitting you into the think of things.
Your real ôavatarö is actually whatever spaceship you currently own, controlled intuitively with the mouse by left-clicking in the direction you wish to travel and right-clicking on the context-sensitive markers to execute commands.
The tutorial takes a few minutes to complete, with some brief tips on how to warp, use the map, mine for ore, navigate you spaceship around the strlit void, and so on. Afterward, youÆre docked and given several options: keep on mining, get chatty with other players, or obtain mercenary FedEX missions (doesnÆt mention collateral). This is right about where the gameÆs lofty ambitions come tumbling down to earth.
Without a guiding hand, your only means of involvement is quizzing other players on what to do next, and thatÆs a pain in the butt. Combat adds little spice, reducing encounters to tactless slug-a-thons wherein the mightiest weapons always win. ThereÆs a fledgling player-driven economy, a bounty-hunter system, and the ability to join corporations and wage group wars, but they operate more like fragmentary sequences than a persistent world. Matters arenÆt helped by the test corruption and frustrating random ôwarp-to-desktopö crashes. EVE Online is a beautiful universe with a sophisticated interface, but itÆs essentially a desolate wilderness of constellations, space debris, and guesses. If youÆre the infinitely meticulous, immensely patient type, maybe itÆs for you, but I wouldnÆt bet a $12.95 monthly fee on it.
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2004.08.19 07:03:11 combat Your 1400mm Howitzer Artillery I perfectly strikes Guristas Silencer, wrecking for 1200.8 damage. |