Reviews// Elite: Dangerous

Trading is your bread-and-butter for money making. Every station has its own needs that are dynamically generated as items are used up and others produced. This means that bulk trading of food, industrial goods and consumer items generates a steady trickle of income.

You can also trade in rare goods, items that are only produced in one location and in limited quantities. These items become more valuable the further you take them from their point of origin. I tend to frequent a cluster of such places near our own star system of Sol, loading up with a variety of goods before I travel roughly 150 light years away to another such cluster. One round trip can net me a total sum of a million credits in my current vessel.

There is a lot to love in Elite Dangerous and it is a game that I reckon will consume many more hours of my time, but in its current state it has a few problems, two in particular stand out for me.

The first is the multiplayer side of it. Running into random players is guaranteed in the more populated systems, but purposely running into friends can be problematic. For a time I was learning the ropes in a remote system. A friend came to join me so that we could learn together and maybe take some cool screenshots of our ships, but despite there being no one else in system we couldn't find each other. There is supposed to be a system in place that makes it more likely you'll meet people on your friends list, or in your group - as it stands this currently does not work.

My next issue is the delivery of the story. It is done in a very meta way. In-game there is a news network that tells you about any ongoing struggles among the three factions, and some of these news broadcasts will point you towards specific systems. When you head over to these systems you will find ongoing conflicts that you can take part in, choosing a side and killing pilots of the opposing faction or just running missions for your chosen side to increase their influence.

The problem here is that I spent maybe thirty hours in one of these places over several days and never once did I see the influence status go up or down for any of the parties involved. They were both stuck at twenty-eight percent, and this conflict came to an end several days later with one side winning at seventy-odd percent. But, not once did I feel like I was making a difference and by extension that any players were making a difference.

The game as it is can feel a bit hollow. The bulletin board missions are constantly repeated and once you've read each type you can skip the flavour text and just pay attention to the symbols denoting what kind of mission you're taking on. There needs to be some sort of story mission system incorporated, similar to what Eve has in the form of Agent missions that tell limited narratives, just to add some personality to what amounts to a very cold galaxy.

Partying up with friends is one of the things being amended by the developers as we speak and should be fully implemented in the coming months.

I am completely in love with Elite. It scratches a lot of the itches that cause me to return to Eve every six months or so, it is a solid foundation that I hope Frontier continues to develop and expand for years to come. I know they have big plans and as the game's population expands into the far reaches of our galaxy, so too will the game's systems. This is just the proverbial small step before a giant leap and I look forward to being a part of the community that helps guide this experience forward. It is also the first genuinely valid argument for buying an Oculus Rift when they launch.

Pros
+ Massive, seemingly infinite galaxy to explore
+ Rock solid controls that make piloting a delight
+ Nitty-gritty for docking and ship system management
+ Visually impressive, without clutter
+ Unlimited freedom

Cons
- Lack of structure may be off-putting for some

SPOnG Score: 8/10