Kireatic

Part of the One Hundred Plus Game Review

EVE Online is a particularly tricky game to play compared to most MMO’s, largely due to it’s persistent nature. Many games claim persistance, but in a game where your actions don’t affect the game world for more than a few minutes at a time, those claims are so much garbage. In EVE, almost everything you do is permanent. And this can be unsettling.

EVE is a large scale MMO published by CCP Games – it has a large userbase, and one of the least whiny communities around. It has also made the news, at least here in the UK, a few times due to some big time scams done in game, stealing billions of the ingame currency, ISK (InterStellar Kredits). And its precisely this that draws people to the game; the chance to do something that actually affects others playing.

The new user experience has been reworked several times recently in order to try and give better and better feels for the game. Because of the player-driven nature of the game, the different ‘jobs’ avaliable are effectively limitless, you just have to find your niche. The tutorials keep this in mind, and offer starter missions from NPC’s to learn combat, more advanced variations thereof, industry revolving around manufacture and selling your goods, mining, exploration and business. I made do with combat, manufacture and mining when I started, but I went and had a look as a now-explorer at the new tutorials, and you can at least see how the game tries to explain itself to newbies. However, it can’t disguise one simple fact. EVE is hard.

Take my line of work in game. I’m an explorer, specialized in scanning, hacking, archaeological surveying and simple recon. For my corporation (a guild or clan in EVE), I typically scan down a signal inside the wormhole we live in, identify it, summon a few corp mates to help kill the sleepers (a nasty type of NPC that exists in wormholes) and then use my specialized skills to open up the loot canisters. And we sell the loot or use it to make cool stuff. But all this takes a very long time to figure out, new players don’t have much hope without aid.

It’s often said about EVE, the game doesn’t take off until you find a good corporation for yourself. As yet, I haven’t settled down – I may jump corp if something new comes up, but it’d have to be awesome, I’m a loyal person – but once you find one, EVE does have a lot of possibilities. It’s a giant sandbox.

Graphically, while pretty, you are just looking at ships and planets. Which gets dull. Incarna, the code-name for walking in stations, where you get to walk around outside your ship, isn’t out yet. Which is a shame, and puts lots of potential players off. Me too, actually. I want my /emote dance.

Combat is, like everything else in game, very technically minded. You have to outfit your ship very specifically, and know how to use each module you fit well, not to mention be trained in-game to use them, as well as increase the amount of CPU and capacitor energy your ship has…although when you actually get into combat, it’s more “turn everything on, see who dies first”. Which is a shame, given all the work that goes into planning the ship equipment, that it’s ultimately background noise.

I can’t really comment on the industry or market, as while EVE’s economy is incredible, and one of the most advanced economies in any game…I’m an explorer who sits around cloaked in wormholes. I don’t sell things, and I’m rarely even in systems with a station, let alone access to items and a market terminal. I’m told it’s awesome though. I’m also yet to reach the endgame, but with an absence of levels like in other MMO’s, it’s more because I’m terrified of the null-security space that surrounds hi-sec rather than my inability to access it. In most games, PvP’ers or player-killers are confined to certain places. In EVE, we like to refer to PvP’ers as ‘subscribers’. And if you lose your ship, you lose your ship.

And god help you if your clone wasn’t up to date.

I’m not going to give EVE a traditional score like the other reviews, as because of its open and unending nature, the game is still evolving, and I haven’t explored anywhere near a quarter of it, let alone finished it. I’d say it’s worth giving the trial a go, and seeing how it works out for you, but it’s complexity, and lack of instant rewards make it hard to get into for many. It’s a long term game, not a short term one.

Contact me on Steam or post questions in the comments for more information – it’s truly a hard game to pin down in a few paragraphs.