I've been playing, and play testing this game for a bit over two years, and I've seen it change quite dramatically from a "Quake in space" where you run over power-ups and blast each other in a map filled with asteroids, into a dynamic MMO that takes inspiration from Elite, X-Wing, Wing Commander and other games.
After I read Uraeus review and comparison to Elite, I figured it was time for me to write something longer.
First, This isn't the spiritual followup of Elite. This is a game in its own regard, and hasn't strived to re-implement all the lost features of other games. To come at it from the belief that it will revive any other game in an MMO situation gives you a rather odd view of the game, and probably wrongful expectations of it as well.
At first, you start out as a nobody. You get a nobody's ship, put off in a small part of your nations home turf. They show you the ropes, and offer you the possibility to buy some slightly upgraded equipment. With one problem.
You're broke.
In a first attempt of fixing this, you can take some small missions from your nation, they'll pay you, albeit barely, for doing off on some of the infesting hive bots, or for shipping cargo around. Fulfilling a number of missions will both earn you the cash you strive for, and increase your license levels, enough to open up a wider variety of equipment.
Going on past this, there are other factions in the game, some more lenient about licenses, others not. However, most of them care deeper about your standing with them than anything else. Your standing is affected by how well you perform tasks, going up with success's, down with failures. Breaking the obvious laws will plunge your reputation to the bottom.
As factions start to like you more, they will offer you more sensitive missions, more and upgraded equipment, unique ships and weapons, as well as reduced prices.
This sets the basic premises for the game, beginners with their slow (but free) ships are kept in monitored space, overseen by NPC guardians who will fairly swiftly take out any insurgents, whereas the more advanced players are encouraged to move into the uncharted zones, where rules are more lenient, and guards are unheard of. It's in these areas that you will appreciate your upgraded weapons, as players will gladly take a part of your trade-goods, by force preferably, and miners have to start looking on their radars for unpleasant surprises.
The hive infestation is harsher out in the gray zones, and the further you come from the nations controlled and overseen space, the more likely you are to be taken apart by them.
This is where the fun starts.
For a trader, this is where you make sure to get the fast ships, know the short routes around the ever-moving storms, keep updated with your friends to hear where the pirates were last seen, and practice on your dodging skills.
For the fighters, this is the place where you can find the convoys of rare materials, headed towards the populated universe. Destroying these will bring both money and weaponry to the winners, but may well require a coordinated effort from players. Both to defend their own convoys, and to make a successful strike. Its fast paced, intense and highly likely to end you in shambles, however, death is just the cost of your ship, the loss of your eventual cargo, and a travel back from the station you last picked as home.
The miners lot is easier, in that they do not need to worry about the players, as much as of the Hive drones. In their role is to seek out the unexploited areas, which are unexploited due to their remoteness more than anything, and therefore are less likely to be attacked. And on their return, they are more provided to be safe, as the factions look down on firefights within the vicinity of their stations.
To this day, the game has been in constant flux. The mining parts just became available some six days ago, with an ingame news system planned for Monday's addition. They have planned massive development on the game, with a schedule that heads at least two years of development inplace. The obvious things like Shields, dynamic ship configuration, capital ships and multiplayer-controlled ships are all there, together with more dynamic content. Unfortunately, there is only so much content a team of four developers can churn out.
Posted by spider at November 21, 2004 04:47 PM