Well, let's be fair, IGN is not the only one that's giving the game lukewarm reviews.

I remember when Dust hit open beta earlier this year. What happened? Nothing! Like, literally, nothing. I dropped by many prominent sites that would cover something like this, and not a word. Meanwhile, when games like Vindictus or Dragon's Nest were approaching beta, there were weeks of coverage. So, right out of the gate, Dust was a niche within a niche (EVE).

There's very little Dust coverage from what I saw, and most of it wasn't all that good. One review especially made me chuckle because the last point of Pros and the last point in Cons was the same - future potential tied to EVE Online. And the cons were weak graphics and bad controls - the two things you do NOT want in a first person shooter. And did we mention it was for PS3-only? When EVE is PC-only? Makes so much sense... But hey, all of this was covered already so many times, so why am I rehashing it yet again.

At this point though, I really don't think Dust can even be saved. FPS games have been making quite impressive strides forward. The Rage game by id Software had spectacular enemy animations (mutants attacking by leaping off walls, executing rolls to avoid thrown blades and so on), the Battlefield series is still going strong with its destructible environments and somewhat new mechanics such as suppression, lens glow on scopes to help deal with snipers, not to mention stunning graphics. Call of Duty I can't comment on, it's a little too ADD for me, but they manage to sell the same crap every year with record numbers, so they must be doing something right, right? And where is Dust in all of this? Oh, yeah, it's F2P, so there's no sales to report really.

And later this year we're getting Battlefield 4, and where will Dust be compared to it? Graphics? Controls? Features? Short on all of those. The only thing Dust has is the connection to EVE, a PC game that your average PS3 FPS gamer never played and never will, and thus the connection is utterly meaningless. I made this comparison before, but imagine if there was a connection between EVE and World of Warcraft. On a Venn diagram, the overlap of the two circles would be virtually invisible. I have a strong suspicion it's the same for Dust on PS3 and EVE on PC. One is an FPS on a console, and one is an MMO on a PC. Overlap between those? Not that great.

OK, all right, I admit that EVE is unique. Mostly because there really hasn't been any MMO about spaceships out there in a very long time. When was the last one? Jumpgate? More than a decade ago? But releasing an FPS sci-fi shooter, an F2P one, within months of MMOFPS like Planetside 2 or a bunch of futuristic F2P FPSers? Madness.