Steerpike

First, the bad: Apparently the future is populated with irresponsible little s***s that blow you out of the sky just because they can. Again. And Again. I'm not here to bash PvP...it's just that a game which allows you to destroy each other unlimited times with no real consequence other than to inconvenience you with wasted re-up time, forgoes the sense of immersion which such a massive world appears to want to engender. The minor storylines repeat themselves periodically, so for instance a mission agent will tell you to go out and hunt down the same pirate that you destroyed 30 minutes ago. This loses any sense of structure or atmosphere you may, as a probable fan of science fiction, have been expecting to encounter. For a game that's lasted 15 years, for this to be happening after only a week of playing is disappointing. I understand that you can't have an unlimited set of unique missions, but perhaps the developers could ensure that new players aren't subjected to repeats early on - it's a buzz-kill, and makes the narrative seem like an add-on: something to get out of the way. Given that the game is touted in part as 'space exploration', (the other 'thirds' being mining/manufacture, and combat) I had the romantic idea to be a lone explorer, making my way through the vastness of space one system at a time, but this is only offered on a superficial level. You scan an 'unknown' cosmic signature to find out what it is, and from here you can find out more about it, which can be fun. That unknown signature may lead to a wormhole, an ancient relic, or a group of pirates. But the next time you come back to that system, it shows as 'unknown' again, and you have to go through the scanning process from scratch. This isn't how exploration works, or Captain Scott would have just worn a blindfold and opened the freezer door in his underwear whenever he wanted to go to the Antarctic. Compare the mechanics of this style of exploration with a much simpler, older game, 'Escape Velocity'. When you started out in Escape Velocity, the universe was not already known to you, you only had info on Sol and the surrounding systems. You had to actually travel to a system to know what routes led off it, what kind of race lived there, its background, and what security level it was. In EVE, most of that information is already fed into your database at the start, which gives a much lesser sense of adventure. There is no 'newness' to your journey. As a participant, you are in essence, not needed. For an old-school gamer, that feels strange. Now, the Good: Loads of community stuff if you want people to talk to. Loads of PvP stuff too obviously, I know a lot of people are into that. (Just seems a bit mindless to me). You can be part of a huge fleet, or a single fighter, or anything in between. The developers have written tons of backstory and biography on the different factions and tribes, and there's a mind-boggling amount of equipment and ships to choose from. It's fun just reading through all the different mods you can give your ship, and how they might affect your experience. The graphics are beautiful, too. You can invest all your time in this game if you want to. As with similar games, especially mobile games, the constant 'levelling up' aspect is addictive, and often it feels like the game is playing you, rather than the other way around. Not sure that's a plus.