04/29/13

Reflections on Our Interview With Mark Jacobs

So here’s big news I thought I shared but didn’t. MMO Radio was picked up by MMORPG.com just over a month ago and rebranded Game On: Epic Slant Press Edition. (And we get to maintain creative control!). That makes us the official podcast for the site, which is quite a bump from what either Adam or I expected when we got started. It’s also taken some getting used to, having that much more accountability, but it’s been for the better and I’m loving it. One of the best aspects to the move is having more accessibility to developers than we’ve ever, or probably could ever, have had before. Enter this last Sunday when Mark Jacobs, now of City State Entertainment, stopped by to talk a bit about Camelot Unchained.

I was saddened that I couldn’t be there and it actually reflects just how new this “greater accessibility” thing is to me. I emailed my awesome editor on Saturday asking if Mark might be willing to join us. I’m used to week-plus turnaround times, and we record Sunday, so I was thinking it would be a few days at best. Within 12 hours, we got the email back that Mark would be happy to join us. I couldn’t be there but Adam did an outstanding job on short notice. Good work, buddy!

I couldn’t have asked the interview to go any better. Mark was a great guest and didn’t seem reserved in the slightest. He talked about crafting, building, sieges, endgame, horizontal progression and more. The man even commented on launch cows from a catapult. Some listeners might expect that frankness with just over two days left in the Kickstarter, but I didn’t.

A lot of interesting information came out of the talk, too. For example, the role of builders in the siege process. Fear not, crafters, it sounds like your efforts will be could be the linchpin for successful sieges. I loved hearing about how pivotal they will be, that crafters will be their own class, and that the preparations for war won’t be limited to just armor. Crafters will play a central role in building siege gear, upgrading fortresses, and repairing each cog in the war machine. The more I listened, the more excited I got. This could be the game that finally elevates crafters to the role we’ve always wanted them to be in: important, valued, and able to make a name for themselves both on the war field and off.

I also found Mark’s discussion of endgame and horizontal progression enlightening. We all know that vertical endgame’s exist and thrive for a reason and Mark knows it to. He’s seems set to make sure we feel the same satisfaction in progress even without different ranks of Fireball to attain. He also says a lot that’s enthusing for keeping the battles raging, even without PvE spawns to fight over. Resource collection sounds like it will be an important part — but we knew that much. Listen to how he describes it, the position of experience he shares from, and tell me that he’s not prepared to design around the issues we’ve been voicing. That’s reassuring.

I’m also beyond the point of condemning the man for Warhammer Online, even though some players refuse to let it go. He fell on that sword when the time came and he owns his responsibilities — more than, really, because to hear him describe it, the buck stopped with him. It takes a level of humility to stand before audiences time and again and own his mistakes. In the last section of the show, Adam asks him what he would take or change from his prior development experiences. His answer was great: embracing the small team at CSE like he did at Mythic, designing for the audience and staying reasonable, and not over-shooting just to under-deliver. Their philosophy is poised to create a game that does what it sets out to very well and, if that building video is any indication, pretty creatively too.

Another note: What happens if they don’t make their funding? I was particularly curious about this one since a lot of people seem to be banking their hopes on Camelot Unchained. I was rather surprised to hear Mark frankly say that he may have to re-assess the amount of interest there actually is in this kind of game. If they hit ~1.9M, they’ll almost certainly re-launch their campaign with lesser funding goals. That’s great. I plan on playing the game primarily because it’s bucking a lot of industry trends and could really prove something to the major players out there (WoW is impossible), but I worry that the game not seeing daylight could prove a different, more harmful message.

If you haven’t yet and the game appeals to you in the slightest, consider pledging. They need your support. Even if they don’t make goal this time around, your donation (which may won’t get collected if they don’t hit 2M) could ensure the game comes back for round two.

And hey, if you listen to the show and like it, please drop us a line on the page or leave a review. We’re coming onto the iTunes feed after it’s been live for a few years, so your reviews will honestly help us get the word out.

04/5/13

Defiance: The PC MMO Totally Unprepared for PC!

I suppose it’s about time I share some of my thoughts on the latest entry to our MMO library, Defiance. My enthusiasm for this game has ebbed and flowed during the PR cycle but never much broke lukewarm. To be honest, I felt like an outlier. When most of the internet seemed to join in a collective squee over the prospect of a combined MMO and TV show, I was busy standing on the sidelines contemplating just how prone to failure the whole thing was.

Don’t get me wrong, I realized that it could be cool, but let’s be frank: SyFy is the network that brought us Camel Spiders; they don’t exactly have a nose for quality. So Trion’s big follow up to one of my favorite games of all time, RIFT, would be an unproven entry into a incredibly difficult to break into genre and tied to a TV show that likely be cancelled by its third season? Not optimistic, despite my penchant for finding the positive in things.

Defiance-4

Optimism for Core Gameplay. It’s Greeeeeeat!

Now that I’ve gotten my hands on the game and spent around five hours with it, I feel confident in sharing that I am both optimistic and extremely disappointed.

Let’s start with why I’m optimistic. The gun game is wonderful. I’ve been rolling around with sniper and assault rifles to clear out packs from a distance and then close in to finish the job. Lag is mostly a non-issue. Any time I’ve lined up a headshot it hits for critical damage. When it doesn’t it’s because the mutant was moving. Guns come in all flavors with a wide range of stats, much like Borderlands. You can also chain together kills for extra damage and see the effect of weapon modifiers (fire, electricity, etc) on enemies.

You spend the bulk of your time shooting or pressing “E” over things, so the gun play has got to feel tight. It does. I turned on the damage indicators, which really should be on by default but aren’t, and it’s deliciously satisfying to see the numbers fall off like rain.

And that right there is it: the reason for great optimism. Gun play is the core of the game and it’s a blast (no pun intended). It also helps that I’ve found the world a really interesting place to run around in, what with its terraformed landscapes and giant, lantern-holding mushrooms and all. The story quests pretty interesting too, but that may be a result of pretty much everything being a mystery. I’m actually looking forward to the show revealing more about the game world and big story events, though not having main points explained up front is as confusing as it comes.

I would also like to disagree with a fellow blogger I enjoy reading. In his post, he mentions that Defiance and RIFT are cut from the same cloth and that players who don’t like RIFT aren’t likely to enjoy Defiance either. Now, maybe I’m missing something, but apart from the dynamic events, the two games are nothing alike. RIFT has rifts, and Defiance has Arkfalls which, indeed, are very similar. But apart from this piece of shared tech, the games are nothing alike. Their gameplay styles are so vastly different that it would be like comparing World of Warcraft to Borderlands 2. I just don’t see that.

Even if you hated RIFT, it’s hard to argue that random, rewarding, and optional bits of cooperative content are a bad idea. Defiance puts its own, shooter-friendly spin on them, so I content that even if you hated RIFT, that doesn’t mean Defiance is a lost cause.

Defiance-CoOp-Trailer_1

Disappointments, Bugs, and Total Freaking Cluelessness

Now to the disappointments. Where do I begin? Oh, I know: Trion should be absolutely ashamed to have pushed this thing to the PC market in its current state. Defiance holds the distinction of being the first MMO to launch simultaneously across platforms. It’s also the first MMO that feels like it was never intended for PC in the first place. Which isn’t to say the console versions are so great, but without seeing them, all I have is a buggy console port that feels like an afterthought. Feels like an afterthought + bug ridden = connected dots.

And it’s not even a good port. You have three customizable graphics options. Bloom, motion blur, shadows on/off. There is no screenshot button or way to hide/customize the UI. Menu navigation is obviously designed for a controller with the nuts and bolts settings being stuck in a radial menu, because you know how necessary those are with a mouse and keyboard. Trion doesn’t even deign to put patch notes in the updater like they do with RIFT. Why? Because console players don’t care and they are the intended audience. (Someday we’ll have to have a talk about why it’s a terrible idea to target console players first with cross-platform MMOs).

This is the company that gave us RIFT. There are no excuses for this slap-dash job. They should know better. And in fact, I’m betting they do but pushed the game out the door to preempt the TV show. Are we enjoying are cross-media yet?

So here’s the deal. In the time I played, the game crashed to desktop three times. Once was due to hitting escape to access the menu. Turns out those of us with 100Hz+ monitors can’t open the menus with the keyboard without a convoluted workaround (an issue since beta). Chat doesn’t work in most of the first zone. There is no quest log and they bug out often. On multiple separate occasions I had to move on or abandon them. More than once I interacted with an object only to have it not give me credit. Dropping missions is also pain and requires stumbling upon the option on your fullscreen map. Since you can only take one mission at a time, prepare for a hike to pick it up again after.

There’s more. Cover is inconsistent and trips you up as often as saves your hide. The reticle doesn’t line up correctly when using it either. If you’re peeking out from behind cover with your crosshairs on an enemy but the tip of your gun isn’t completely outside the cover wall, you’ll miss. When using a controller, vehicles will sometimes despawn after you’ve left them, hopped back in and try to move. Dynamic events sometimes disappear midway through completing them. Keybinds don’t save consistently. Mobs seem to spawn erratically and based upon your location to their area.

It goes on. There’s no easy way to tell your level. What the hell is an EGO rating? Your self-worth as an Arkhunter? How do you level up skills? What do these stats mean? What, how, where?! Someone should turn that into a theme song for Defiance. Nothing is explained. No-thing. From systems and mechanics, to the entire reason California went to the mutants. And so long as chat is broken, good luck getting an answer. It’s really pretty terrible.

Quest design is also rote MMO fare and does indeed seem a little repetitive on the “locate and tag” front. The combat missions are fun, though, and I often found myself killing enemies just because I could while on my frequent searches.

Concluding Thoughts

At its core, Defiance is fun and I’ve enjoyed my time there, but it’s also an unfinished console port and an incredibly weak effort from a company we know can do better. That said, all those bugs could be patched out and what it does well is the single most important thing it needed to do well. After playing around in the world they’ve created, I’m also convinced that if the show is decent, it could mean very interesting things for the game. Evolving story arcs in this setting could be fantastic and solve a lot of the concerns people have with quests feeling repetitive. Do the weekly installment!

A note on quests. I’m becoming more and more convinced that professional reviewers, like those at IGN, just don’t understand MMOs. At the end of the day, almost all any MMO offers is a variation on killing and collecting things, with possibly a touch of crafting. It’s a limitation of modern design that, yes, we are slowly moving away from, but, no, isn’t a reason to tear apart a game. Guess what? Tomb Raider was about killing and collecting things. Bioshock Infinite is about killing and collecting things. WoW, GW2, TSW, RIFT, LotRO and every other AAA MMO is too. Defiance does hit too frequently on the “find and scan” mission types, but to use that as the primary criticism when there is so much more on hand just tells the world you went in biased against MMO gameplay.

03/29/13

Review: SimCity (2013)

SimCity and I have had a sporadic relationship over the years. Before this latest iteration, I recall playing SimCity 3000 and, being 13 at the time, finding it too complex not be overwhelmed. Yet there was something there that fascinated me. Even earlier than that, I recall playing the first entry in the series on my NES and laughing maniacally as Bowser came through and stomped down all of my handiwork. I know now that what fascinated me was the creation, the simulation, of something I would never lay hands on in my real life. That same creationist quality is back in this year’s SimCity, evolving and pulsing with thoroughfare-based progression, and I’m finally old enough to sink into the strategy of it all. The result is a game which steals hours like it does Simoleans, and if you’re not careful, will keep you building long hours into the night.

Welcome the New Mayor!

For those of you afraid of Origin, let me take a moment to assuage your fears. Origin doesn’t intrude on gameplay but enhances it through an integrated friends list and messaging. The server issues you’ve heard about are largely gone and in the entire scope of this review I only experienced one issue: my server being full a day after the more servers were opened up. While we could argue the merits of online gameplay, EA and Maxis have made it clear that offline isn’t in the works, so we are best to take the game as it stands, which remains an accomplishment.

Gameplay follows the expected model but features a robust tutorial that introduces basic gameplay elements before allowing you to venture into un-paved ground. The learning doesn’t stop there, however. As you lay roads and explore the potential your region, advisors pop up offering suggestions and additional lessons to deepen the possibilities of your city. Since these come as a result of gameplay, expect to make some mistakes and, if you’re anything like me, to have your second city be much better planned than your first.

Breaking Ground

When you begin, you will lay roads and zone for residential, commercial, or industrial development. Rather than having you place individual buildings like past games, construction happens automatically. I was taken back by this at first since I had hoped for a greater degree of business control, but it soon becomes apparent that SimCity wants to concern with its larger game over incidental planning.

Rather than worrying where you’ll place your fast food chain, you’ll be adjusting taxes, developing industry, guiding mass transit, and making sure your citizens have plenty of entertainment to keep them happy. You’ll be worried about clean air and water, sewage flow, and how to provide enough electricity to keep the lights on. You’ll also be managing city services like law enforcement and fire, and making sure that each evolves alongside your city. Care must also be taken to maintain a delicate balance between workers and jobs, bulldozing buildings when it inevitably goes awry, and praying a zombie outbreak doesn’t happen as the plates wobble perilously upon their rods.

The progression system is interesting if a bit slow, but also results in a drip-feed of rewards which keep you coming back for more. Buildings begin small, like any little town, but as the amount of residents increase and roads are expanded to accommodate greater traffic, they evolve into complexes and full-on high rises. Every action you take has a reaction. When it’s positive, you’re encouraged to keep on developing and open up the next build tier or answer growing zone demands. When it’s negative you risk driving residents away, such as placing a nuclear power plant in the middle of a residential district. (In my defense, it was temporary, but my sims didn’t seem to forgive me… this is what we do to keep the lights on, people).

Old Boys’ (and Girls’) Club

Just when you think things are done, another problem arises. SimCity is designed for inter-reliance. No one city can do it all and so multiplayer, or single-player region play, becomes an important evolution of the franchise. With regretfully smaller city limits than past games, each mayor will eventually hit a wall providing for their citizens wants and needs. Rather than bulldoze and rebuild, he can enter the global market and request resources from neighboring cities.

Multiplayer shines in this regard, because each city will only reach its highest potential when mayors consider the region rather than solely themselves. In other words, when multiplayer games are taken as shared undertakings rather than quiet, side-by-side mini-games, the potential explodes outwards. Entering into a multiplayer game with a surplus of industrial cities might drive a new player to develop their own with an emphasis on gambling. If another player comes in and sees a need for water services or fire coverage, they would be wise to place additional water towers and buy extra fire trucks. It is very much a give and take and forces the player to think larger than ever before.

This all ties into the new specialization system. Once a mayor has laid the groundwork, they can choose to differentiate their city in one of a number of ways. Each plot features natural resources, so one rich in coal might decide to specialize in coal mining. Another along the seashore might decide to become a tourist hot spot. Specializing a city adds to the strategic side of gameplay by opening up a number of new development options and objectives. It also reinforces cross-city play.

When cities within a region work together, they also unlock Great Works sites. These are massive undertakings requiring great amounts of money and resources for all involved. It’s delightfully rewarding to see your first work go up and know that it is one of the game’s great milestones. Building them also rewards the connected cities with development bonuses to tourism, education, and more, so it’s worthwhile to invest in their creation.

SimCity is also a visual and informational feast. You can zoom into street level or pan outwards to view a whole region. Changing the angle or zooming in provides a delightful cinematic motion blur. Buildings also construct in stages, so you’ll see them progress from the foundations, to scaffolds, to full buildings and then grow through their natural building progression as conditions allow. If you’re into data maps, the game also offers a number of overlays so you can see information flow by the building. Each Sim also has its own life and many will share their thoughts and concerns as cities progress giving a sense of life and activity fresh to the franchise.

Traffic Jam

While the game is a lot of fun, there are still a number issues that need to be addressed. Advancements have been made with the traffic system, but it’s still not perfect. Lots of bugs remain, both graphical and functional. To their credit, Maxis is doing a good job of addressing these, but some of them can have a profound impact on the game’s functionality. Certain buildings can stop working, city systems such as water and electricity can break down and not deliver correctly, and trading between cities is still iffy. That said, many of these will go un-noticed by all but the most attentive players. More noticeable is the inability to keep a city truly happy. While it may mimic real life and so be classified as part of the sim, it’s a bit disheartening to see a flurry of red faces when your response was to a previous flurry of red faces. Also, where is the undo button? This, to me, is one of the true downsides to the online functionality. It’s terribly frustrating to misplace an expensive structure and have to chalk it up to a loss because of a simple miss-click.

Final Thoughts

Overall, SimCity is still well worth the cost of entry. Before sitting down with it, the proverbial example of looking up to find three hours gone had been all but make believe to me. Here, however, it happened twice in a single week. The game has a way of drawing you in for “one more building” or “one more expansion,” while making you forget that each leads to the next, and the next, and the next. Is it perfect? No, that much should be clear after the last few week’s fallout. Thankfully a game doesn’t need to be perfect to be stellar. If you have a reliable internet connection and enjoy city builders, SimCity provides hours of entertainment both with friends and without.

Final Score: 8.5 out of 10
Pros: Deep, long lasting gameplay, great strategy, city inter-reliance
Cons: Bugs still need fixing, no undo button

02/21/13

MMO Radio: Episode 09 – “Wildstar 2013: Lovely, Lovely Pigeons”

Adam is out this week gettin’ hitched, so Gavin Townsley and I hold down the fort! Thankfully, it was a big news week with Wildstar being confirmed for 2013! We break down why this game is worth paying attention to, even for someone like me who tries not to attend! What? I don’t like spoiling things for myself!

But hey, when you have a full-on paths to endgame based on exploring, lore finding, being social, and yes, killing, that’s worth noting. Plus, 40 man raiding, dynamically spawning quest hubs and dungeons, action combat, player housing, PvP, and content layered enough where a mining node could turn out to be a spot on the back of a giant raid boss… well, you can see where we’d be piqued.

A little later we talk about Mortal Kombat, TERA’s excellent combat and odd boob physics, and anime roleplay! I bet you thought you’d get out of tabletop this episode, didn’t you? Well, let that one drop of sweat stand out from your head now, because we go there!

A reminder: Our 5-star iTunes review contest is still going! Leave a written review for your chance to win a copy of Strike Suit Zero courtesy of Hooked Gamers!

Gavin’s Links: Massively, Dragon’s Tear Tavern RP Community
Chris’ Links: Hooked Gamers; Game By Night; Vagary.TV
Adam’s Links: Epic Slant Press

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02/5/13

The History of Great First-Person Shooters (Infographic)

I was contacted recently asking if I would like to share an infographic with my readers. I have a secret love of infographics, and this one tracks the history of great FPS games. I’m also a sucker for first-person shooters, so a-posted it shall be! Here’s a glimpse, but it’s pretty long, so follow after the cut to view the whole thing.

Click “Continue Reading” to see the rest.

Continue reading →

02/4/13

Hear Us On No Prisoners, No Mercy! (And Around the Web!)

Happy Monday, everybody!

As a lot of you know, I do some writing elsewhere on the web and also do a podcast called MMO Radio. I don’t update here whenever my work appears online since it’s usually dedicated to whatever venue I happen to be writing or recording for. That said, I’d love it if you took a moment to check out what I’ve been up to.

Most recently, Adam and I appeared on the No Prisoners, No Mercy podcast to talk about the video games and violence with our two favorite sisters. Adam also introduced the world to his parrot, Mango. It was a great time and well worth a listen. That’s pretty much how it works with NPNM, though, so give them a subscribe and enjoy. Thank you Sister Fran and Sister Julie!
Speaking of podcasts, I also guested on the WoW-specific Horde House over at the VOG Network. Rob and Shane were great fun to talk to and we had a great conversation. It’s Episode 91, so go give it a listen if you’re into the game. If you’re not into WoW, Rob also has Orange Lounge Radio where he and a round of compatriots talk about all things gaming.
While we’re at it, have you heard the latest episodes of MMO Radio? We’ve released episodes 5, 6, and 7. Episode 5 features Srs. Julie and Fran for a talk on the Fall of F2P (?), Episode 6 looks at the career and departure of Scott Hartsman from Trion Worlds, and Episode 7 features freelance games writerGavin Townsley. You might remember him from The Multiverse and Rift Watchers, but he’s since appeared at PC Gamer, GameSpy, and Massively.

For writing, I’ve been a busy bee.

I previewed Aliens: Colonial Marines. You can also pre-order this from Green Man Gaming for $37.50 with a coupon code.
I reviewed the global warming adventure game, A New Beginning.
Here’s my Far Cry 3 review, but you’ve probably already bought it.
For the medieval combat inclined, here are my conclusions on Chivalry and War of the Roses.
I talked about Licking Toads in RIFT
Oh, and I’m also reviewing the new Kevin Bacon series, The Following. You can read my thoughts on the first two episodes here and here. If you’re watching it too, I’d love to know what you think.

That’s enough link love for now. If you’re interested in keeping up with me, I can do more of these posts or simply subscribe to Vagary.TV and Hooked Gamers. Enjoy!

02/4/13

Episode 7: Through the Looking Glass (Ft. Gavin Townsley of Massively.com)

Guest Starring: Gavin Townsley of Massively.com!

Welcome back to another MMO Radio. We’re proud to present Episode 07 featuring our special guest and close friend, Gavin Townsley. Gavin has been a freelance writer in the games industry for some time and was recently picked up by Massively.com. You might also remember him from our old show, the RIFT Watchers podcast, and the Flex Your Geek website. We take some time to pick his brain about the state of the games press when it seems so embroiled in controversy lately. Taking note of the fact that there are few, if any, major — GW2 level — MMO releases in the future, we share realistic predictions on what the MMOs of the near future will feature.

We would also like to thank Green Armadillo for his excellent response to our Episode 5 discussion on the sustainability of F2P versus B2P.

Episode Kickstarter: ROAM (official site)
Gavin’s Links: Massively
Chris’ Links: Hooked Gamers, Game By Night, Vagary.TV
Adam’s Links: Epic Slant Press

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01/28/13

Episode 6 – Good Luck, Scott Hartsman!

Hello again, MMO Radio friends! We’re happy to return again for Episode 6 this week as we wish one of our absolute favorite MMO developers, Scott Hartsman, a fond farewell and good luck as he parts ways with Trion Worlds. Most probably recognize Scott as the Executive Producer of RIFT, but we look all the way back to the development days of Warcraft II and Everquest 1, how he’s credited with “saving” Everquest 2 from a precipitous fall, and do our best track how he’s become one of the “legendary producers” of the industry.
Not content to let bad news linger, Trion followed up the announcement with another, much happier one: they’re set to publish ArcheAge in the west! As interesting as this sandbox looks, we had to spend a few minutes breaking down why that news is fan-freaking-tastic.

In Quick Hits, Chris — free of the NDA — shares why EVE counterpart, DUST514, might wind up a flop on the Playstation 3. Adam lightens the mood by introducing us to the Ultimate Gamer’s Storage Bag. Also, an awesome free Pokemon-like on iOS call Haypi Monsters!

Chris’ Links: Hooked Gamers, Game By Night, Vagary.TV
Adam’s Links: Epic Slant Press

Kickstarter of the Show: Ultimate Gamer’s Storage Bag

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01/23/13

MMO Radio: Episode 5 – The Fall of F2P?

Guest starring: Sister Julie and Sister Fran from No Prisoners, No Mercy!

Is a 5th episode an anniversary? Not quite, but it’s certainly a special one. This week we’re pleased to be joined by Sister Fran and Sister Julie of the No Prisoners, No Mercy podcast. It was an absolute pleasure to have them on, especially since Adam and I have been longtime fans of their show. Considering the recent news about (F2P) Allod’s Online offering a subscription option and Julie’s enthusiasm for the model, we decided to look at exactly where the MMO business model might be headed. It’s certainly on people’s minds. Is F2P still the saving grace for the industry or is it unsustainable in its current incarnation? More importantly, if that’s the case, what will come up to replace it: Buy-to-Play, the revivification of subscriptions, or some refined version of the cash shop model?

We would once again like to thank Julie and Fran for joining us. It was a wonderful time and the resulting show is something we’re proud to add to our library. What’s more, they had us as guests on their show as well for a lively discussion on violence and video games, so stay tuned for when that goes live!

Sister Julie and Sister Fran’s Links: Virgin Worlds, No Prisoners, No Mercy Website
Chris’ Links: Hooked Gamers, Game By Night, Vagary.TV
Adam’s Links: Epic Slant Press

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01/22/13

DUST 514: Beta Impressions – Things Don’t Look Good

I’ve spent a decent amount of time in the DUST 514 beta and now that the NDA is up, I’d like to share some basic impressions. I won’t go into great detail on many of the intricacies because other people have done already done so and much better than I would be able to. I’d like to get my thoughts out, however, because most of the reports you’re likely to read will be from EVE Online players. I’m not an EVE guy. Nothing against the game, I’ve just heard too much about “EVE offline” and “spreadsheets in space” to really be compelled to dive in, despite its sandbox offerings. That said, I play a lot of games to stay current for my writing projects and competitive first-person shooters are pretty much a mainstay. And I daresay, EVE players aren’t who CCP is trying to court with DUST. So, with that said, here’s an average gamer’s take.

Let’s start with the whole “who CCP’s trying to court” thing. If it’s EVE players, they’ve lost their minds. To what end? The game is free to play and console limited, so at best they’re only picking up a small subset of that existing playerbase (though any EVE player that comes along is more than welcome for their second fleecing). No, I think they’re after the Every Gamer. DUST514, with it’s console exclusivity and emphasis on fast-paced, twitch gameplay, seems distinctly aimed at expanding their audience beyond what MMOs currently attempt. I mean, think about it. If they hit it out of the park with DUST and get competitive with games like Call of Duty and Halo, they’d go down in history as very rich and groundbreaking businessmen.

Except, DUST isn’t positioned to hit that audience either. So the question is, who exactly is this game for?

Here’s the thing, DUST is a punishing, unforgiving, imbalanced, and overly complex game by design. The longer you play, the more of an edge you have. Even coming into beta, it is extremely difficult to feel competitive. Now, there are things in place to temper that, such as the passive skill-point gain when you’re not playing (DUST Offline?) but let’s be real, that’s a design for failure. It ignores the original problem! New players come to ever will lose the vast majority of the time. They will empty clips into other players at point blank range only to be three-shot killed over and over again. I firmly believe that one of the reasons Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo are popular is because you’re deadly right from the start. In DUST, you need to be lucky and get the jump on someone or hope they’re newer than you are.

But okay, you can use vehicles. That’s something! Yes, you can. And the game will do its best to hide this from you. It may be subjective, but I also feel that vehicles control slugglishly. Still, they’re there and a viable way to earn some XP.

dust2 If ever there was a game that could use a tutorial, though, it’s this one. CCP have included lengthy paragraphs of text for the first time you open menus but if they expect the average shooter fan (teenage boys) to actually read through these, they’re crazy. That’s too bad, because I read them and they do help. I predict most players simply will not and will be overwhelmed before they quit. Hopefully to come back another day without too terrible of a taste in their mouth.

And when they do, they’ll have a lot to learn. The economy is actually kind of cool. It has that depth to it. You have to buy and equip gear on your soldier and make sure you have enough stocked up to last you a battle. Money is important. But again, people will be upset to realize that the item they just bought was for a single life, not forever, and not even for a single match. So they go through all that learning only to get another rude awakening in a series of rude awakenings. Harden the F up? Won’t fly here. It will only lead to an incredibly niche game that people forget about until it moves to PC and EVE/normal– er, shooter-MMO players can get their hands on it.

Also, PS3 players don’t give two craps about EVE. I’m sorry, they don’t. I’d wager that most of them wouldn’t even know what it is if you asked them. So this whole “two universes connected!” thing is basically lost on them. And when orbital bombardments start, they’ll probably seem real cool for a second until that nuke drops and kills everybody without their understanding how or why.

Finally, the setting. It’s generic. Space soldiers! I can get behind the sci-fi setting but everything from the soldier’s armor models to the environments has been trod and re-trod over and over again to the point that DUST’s setting becomes almost entirely forgettable. The graphics, too, seem muddy, almost entirely shades of brown, grey, and black, with very little anti-aliasing (jaggies everywhere!) and lots of pop-in. To its credit, in-ship stuff is pretty good but those are pretty much lobbies and waiting areas.

So what do we have? A game connected to an MMO its audience doesn’t care about, with an extremely steep learning curve, that makes players feel underpowered and overwhelmed right off the bat, and with little other than an auction house and skill system to call unique. Again, who is this game for?

I’ve played DUST. It can be fun. I have no doubt there are people who will absolutely love it. I just can’t see how the average PS3 player is going to choose it over any of the other competitive shooters. It, without any malice or ill will toward CCP or its fans, just doesn’t compete.