Home
sign up| member's portfolio page |
 content by: member |
|
As a veteran role-player and at 37, an oldie in the games world I've seen and been involved in most of games history. As I type I sit in a room with 2 pinball machines and a classic arcade video machine for company.
Although online gaming is big news in the console world, it has of course been an everyday part of the PC world for many years and has been "big" since Doom's release back in 1994. Stories of demand for it's downloads bringing corporate America's communications to it's knees are legend. The next big thing and as I see it the future of gaming is to take part in games which exist as part of a persistant virtual world. That is that when you log out the world carries on without you. There have been a lot of these (MMORPG's) massive multiplayer online role-playing games, the most well known being Everquest and the most anticipated being Star Wars Galaxies. Among these the star that really shines for me right now is Earth & Beyond. Produced by Westwood Studios of Command & Conquer fame this game almost snuck onto the market. In Europe even people who want it are practically unable to find it in shops and have to resort to ordering it from online retailers. E&B is a space game involving exploration, trade and combat and in many respects is an evolution of the once famous Elite, the classic thinking gamesplayers game of the early 1980's. Each player chooses their race and profession from the 6 available and then sets about designing the avatar which will represent them on screen along with the ship which they will fly. Once done the game leads you through it's excellent tutorial and then on in to a diverse and exciting galaxy. It is difficult to explain the sense of space and distance the game conveys when you are starting out, it is truly awesome. And the wonder keeps coming for a long time to come. Whilst you are not forced into and linear action within the game much of the early gameplay comes by way of interacting with non-player characters to get missions and information to allow you to develop. NPC's can be spotted by their names being coloured yellow and good job too; space stations are vibrant places full of players chatting, trading and finding work. As your character develops he/she will earn skill points and these can be allocated as desired by a player within the skills achievable by their chosen class. Skills include passive abilites such as being able to use better shields or engines, active abilites such as skills used in combat and also class based abilities such as mining or negotiating. They also include building which is one of the most vital areas of the game. Whilst you can buy a lot of equipment in space stations and loot still more through victory in combat, the best items are those which have been crafted by players. This means that whilst I am able to build reactors and devices, I need to find another player or players in order to buy weapons, shields or engines. I may even need another player to build things I could theoretically produce but have not learned the pattern for. To analyse a rare looted item and to be able to build it is to become in demand in E&B. This leads me into co-operation. As I have described with building, so it is throughout the game. the different classes and races all bring their own benefits and in combat it is possible for up to 6 players to group together. Each member of the group passes bonuses on to the other members. The whole is stronger than the sum of it's parts. And so to guilds. In game terms a guild or clan is a collection or team of players who band together for social or strategic reasons. In E&B joining a guild is an excellent way to help and to be helped in your quest for power and glory. Guilds come in many shapes and sizes and have different goals, it took me 3 tries before I found one I was truly comfortable in. Communication in the game is by way of an excellently designed chat system akin to using a chat room in some respects. There are a number of pre-formed channels including ones dedicated to each class, new-players and a market channel. In addition there are channels for members of each guild, each combat group, private channels and local broadcast channels used for communication with others in your local area. Which you listen to or ignore is up to the player and you may choose to listen in or squelch whichever channels suit your needs. Communication along with co-operation is the essence of this game. The game is by no means perfect though. As a convert from games like Counterstrike I was surprised and disappointed to discover that there is no player versus player fighting within the game except in "arenas" which are essentially an irrelevant bolt-on to the game. However as I came to understand how difficult and dangerous were some of the monsters and baddies in the game this proved not to matter. There is more than enough combat for anyone's taste and the only people left feeling cheated wil be those who would have abused pvp to bully other people. There are also a number of graphical glitches, the game essentially not using collision detection and a number of issues with lag, although these are being worked on and are improving. Furthermore the galaxy is not 3 dimensional and does not allow 3D dog fights in true terms. Essentially the galaxy is a 2 dimensional plane of fixed height which gives a sense of 3D freedom without actually delivering. There are also issues with game balance with some items in the game unduly favouring one class etc. As a subscription game though the world we play in is evolving and issues raised by players in the games forums are given consideration and where appropriate addressed. So to recap, it's a science fiction spaceship flying game. It encourages co-operation and conversation. It is wide ranging and intellectually provoking. It is an artificial world within our world. There is a 5 day free trial if you can download the huge demo and it will also be appearing on the coverdisk of a UK PC games magazine soon. Give it a try and happy hunting. Written by Roadshow, a L150 Jenquai Explorer and officer of Inersol guild.
 conversations
Read members' comments.
|
 |
see also
archive  collective's dead... Long live Collective. Read our editor and member features. |
send to a friend
