elite dangerous game review
Elite Dangerous: The ultimate space simulation?After several beta phases and a release on the dedicated launcher, here is Elite: Dangerous arriving on Steam in this beautiful year 2015, decidedly placed under the sign of space, with in particular a Dantesque Star Citizen which is a little wait. Frontier Developments therefore offers us a high quality sandbox and massively multiplayer spaceship simulator that we are presenting to you today.
Two roleplay logbooks to discover Elite Dangerous!
First of all, know that if you want to approach this test with a roleplay angle (a determining element in the approach of Elite Dangerous), we have concocted two logbooks that cover the different aspects of the game: ships, training, trips supralumines, cartography, and fitting in the first "Commander Panthou's diary". For the second, dubbed "Finally free in Elite Dangerous, but what to do about it?", We discussed movement speeds, landing and boarding of stations, modules, quests, factions, planet systems and trades. This approach allowed us to translate the sandbox side of the title as freely as possible. Now it's time to take a more conventional test of the game.WHAT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF ELITE: DANGEROUS?
If you've ever heard of Elite, or have glimpsed images of the game and your curiosity has been tickled, a quick summary of the concept is essential. Elite: Dangerous is a space simulation in which each player directs a ship. So you are loose in the universe (which is made up of more than 400 billion systems) and your destiny will be whichever you choose. You can very well become a bounty hunter chaining the missions of tracking and destruction, or try to get a small fortune by trading from station to station by taking advantage of the fluctuations of the market, warm, on board 'a cargo ship freshly purchased at the local station.If you feel the soul of an explorer, know that it is also possible to go on an adventure, equipped with a module allowing to detect and analyze planets in order to discover new worlds and to baptize them , like a Christopher Columbus from outer space. Obviously, you are not alone in the stellar void and thousands of players and NPCs will decorate your games, whether they want to track you down to destroy you, recover the contents of your hold and resell it on the black market, or qu 'They want a little help with a hunt and offer to train a squadron in voice contact, sailing as a team from system to system in search of adventure ... It is dreaming, isn't it?
A SOBER BUT EFFICIENT
Elite: Dangerous benefits from a realization that is both realistic and modest. Understand by this that we will not be entitled to graphic flourishes in all directions nor to deluge of explosions all the time like what EVE Valkyrie wants to do. We are here on an open world above all and meeting ships in large numbers does not often happen outside the stations in which they are piled up for trade, supplies or the taking of contracts. The title wants to be optimized for configurations with a few years but leaves enough room to spit his guts on a good big gaming PC. If in addition you add the consideration of virtual reality via Oculus Rift, know that the experience is out of the ordinary, without being free of faults, unfortunately inherent in the status of prototype helmet.PERFECT GETTING STARTED FOR THE MOST WORTHY, AND FOR OTHERS?
Taking into account the Oculus Rift has made Elite the perfect PC standard to prove to the whole world that virtual reality has a crazy potential in vehicle simulation. While immersed in your cockpit, you can follow your enemies with your eyes while maneuvering, looking towards the different sides of the cockpit in order to manage your installed modules, your targets, your travel trajectories ... Add to that HOTAS, the joystick and throttle, which the title has brought up to date while these accessories were now reserved for a very small niche of players, and you get an optimal experience.Obviously, this implies a heavy investment (count 120 to 130 € for the HOTAS used for this test, the X52 from Saitek) and an Oculus DK2 is minted around 300 € but for that it must be said to be a developer ... The equipment Ultimate is therefore not within everyone's reach, however the game remains playable with the keyboard + mouse combo. However, I want to warn you: this is a simulation ... So you will have a good bunch of keys to learn! Rest assured, there is a "training" part in the game which teaches you the basics and allows you to calmly approach the space.
HOW DOES AN ELITE GAME TAKE PLACE?
Elite is a bit like Minecraft, we go back there periodically, sometimes after a few weeks without playing, but we are still amazed by the potential of the game and its immersion. The title imposes long games in the manner of an MMO, since it is almost impossible to make a conclusive session in less than a big half hour of play. In addition, the different quests are timed and it will not be rare to have to complete missions in less than an hour to obtain validation of your action. So you learn to be patient and, believe me, it's very important in a spatial simulation.For example, you will sometimes be asked to zone in different spatial sectors in search of individuals to desolder, a seemingly simple quest that can lead to one to two hours of wandering in search of the famous individuals. You will also very often have the opportunity to travel in HyperSpace (the second mode of travel, between cruising speed and SuperDrive like Stargate), and the trips can be a bit long, with approach phases where must decelerate gradually and properly dose its motors. It will therefore be necessary to have patience to play Elite, but such phases prove to be extremely useful in the end to highlight the epic sequences that the title offers.
For example, it happened to me several times that I was taken off the road by a space pirate who wanted to recover my cargo. Once face to face, the fight begins, several things are then to manage in order to claim the victory. It is obviously advised never to have the enemy in the back, and you will thus have to play HOTAS and axes of displacement to make sure to always have the visu on the adversary. It will also be necessary to have the reflex of distributing the energy of your ship well to optimize the shots and the shields. Management side again, it will be necessary to think of having the gas "in the blue" to guarantee optimal maneuverability of the vessel, and to verify that no annoying module is activated (hold or landing gear).
On the attacking side, it's fairly classic: you will have to make sure that the offensive modules are activated and well distributed over your current configuration. The fight can therefore begin and its outcome will depend on your equipment but also on your ability to turn effectively around an enemy to attack him without ever being targeted. Obviously, you come out victorious from this brawl that you did not want, and your enemy leaves behind equipment, materialized by cells of resources which now float freely in space. So remember to open the hold of your cargo and move slowly, paying attention to your speed when recovering the resource to avoid destroying it following an approach that is too brutal.
Once your cargo is recovered, you can go sell it on the black market at a station, and you will have to do it quickly because in the event of a scan of a vessel on your cargo, the mention "illegal cargo" will not be long in arriving and you Therefore, you will become an outlaw target, unless you can pay your fine to the nearest federation. As a reminder, the different factions that make up the universe can be coaxed by players who want to get closer. Once again, this goes through the missions and quests which are here linking it still a little too discreet of the whole game. Because yes, Elite: Dangerous is vast and complete, but still lacks a little coherence. Difficult for the moment to imagine an endgame or a part in which we never think "And now, what to do?", The players are satisfied to make money, to mine resources, to track pilots or NPC, or to explore, always better equipped with atypical modules and high-level vessels.
AN EXCELLENT SIMU, A GOOD SANDBOX, BUT A BAD MMO?
The arrival of the squadrons obviously had its small effect, by creating a real social interaction between various players, but the game has not yet reached its ultimate goal of MMO sandbox since it still lacks, in my opinion, a efficient fixed storyline. Perhaps a campaign would be ideal for this, a real one, not a heap of vague missions distributed between various stations. Likewise, the space is currently lacking in entertainment, players should be able to decompress, for example by having access to tournament arenas or to quiet places where one can chat like a cantina, with a visual representation of the players. The MMO side is therefore not yet sexy enough to attract all types of players in the long term. The simulation side will be the first concern for some players who will try the game for half an hour, will find it too difficult to take in hand, and will surely despair. For others, the obvious persistence that will have to be shown will represent an attractive challenge and once the simulation aspect is mastered, these players will no doubt marvel at each new discovery of functionality. This therefore makes the title difficult to note, however its excellent concept, its ambitions, its achievement, the sensations of flight and the forecasts for the continuation of the adventure have largely convinced us.The notes
+ Positive points
A pearl in space simulation
Total immersion, especially if you have HOTAS
One of the most impressive virtual reality games
Possibility to choose your own route: hunter, cargo, explorer ...
The fact of having to learn the protocols of each complex action (mining, stalking, interception, bridging ...)
Graphically very pretty
Very appreciable soundtrack
400 billion systems, and even more space stations on which we can land and trade, take quests, keep abreast of system news, change ships, equip ourselves with new modules ...
An atypical online experience, more and more satisfying
-Negative points
Quite repetitive: lack of variety between missions
Requires a lot of free time: it is not uncommon to have to wait 5 to 10 minutes before reaching a destination, even in HyperSpace
Some missions where we have to hang around in various systems in search of individuals ... often very well hidden ...
A title that takes on its full meaning once equipped with HOTAS and a virtual reality headset. The experience remains very interesting without, but does not develop its full potential
Elite: Dangerous is an excellent spatial simulation with a very pronounced online that allows you to satisfy the fantasies of space operas enthusiasts. It only needs a little bit more storyboard in order to captivate the players in the long term without them dropping out, similarly we hope for a little more variety in the proposed activities for later which, at present and coupled with the relative slowness of the game sessions, make it quite unseemly for laymen. On the simulation side, the verdict is simple: Elite Dangerous is the best experience in terms of immersion if you play it with a virtual reality headset and HOTAS. The title is very comprehensive and therefore offers to live your life as a space adventurer, lost with thousands of other players in the heart of a play area made up of more than 400 billion systems. Impressive, exhilarating, sometimes off-putting, quite redundant, time-consuming, but so good!
0 comments:
Post a Comment