EVE Online - Revelations

Gather round children, I want to tell you a story. A long time ago (but not necessarily in a galaxy far, far away), there was once a game called Universe II by Omnitrend Software. This game attempted to do something quite ambitious; it endeavored to create a complex, open-ended science fiction universe on the limited capabilities of a 16-bit computer. Squeezed onto three 3.5-inch diskettes, this program did partially succeed in creating such a venue - at times you actually could believe that you were inhabiting the dynamic alternate reality of 2105. Nevertheless, due to technology that was not quite up to the job (one megabyte of memory and no internet!), the game never did entirely reach its full potential. Alas, sci-fi gamers were left with little more than a taste of what might be possible in the future….

Fortunately, I can now tell you that that future is now. EVE Online – Revelations (EOR), by CCP Games, is very much the intellectual offspring of Universe II (not to mention the classic title Elite). Taking advantage of modern hardware and combined with the massively multiplayer online gaming (MMOG) capabilities of the internet, EVE Online – Revelations grants many of the wishes of sci-fi fans everywhere. This is the definitive simulation of life amongst the distant stars.

A word of warning concerning this review:

I am not going to attempt to review Revelations in context of the previous five iterations of EVE Online - for a newb such as me, such a task is simply impossible. EVE Online has been around since 2003, and not only has each of the preceding expansions altered the game significantly, but so has the impact of the nearly 200,000 members of this huge community. Therefore, to undertake such a task is way beyond the scope of this article. Instead, I intend to review EVE Online – Revelations from the point of view of a person first experiencing this fascinating foray into virtual reality. I realize this may irk some hardcore EVE fans, but I believe it will also provide a greater benefit by explaining a unique game to a potentially untapped audience.

EVE Online – Revelations is a MMOG that takes place “tens of thousands of years” into the future. It is a time of space colonization on a massive scale, a time of space pirates, privateers, massive corporations, and clashing empires. Into this futuristic maelstrom the player is cast.

Your first task upon entering EOR is to create a character. Doing so involves the usual activities of your standard RPG: picking a race (you have four to choose from – the regal Amar, the formerly enslaved Minmatar, the liberty-loving Gallente, and the militaristic Caldari), gender, assigning the standard attribute points (such as intelligence and charisma), picking your ancestry (do you come from a family of monks or corporate ladder climbers?), career (soldier, management, etcetera), specialization (which further refines your career choice), and physical appearance. Once that is completed, you are launched into the massive world of EOR.

Unlike many fantasy games where your gaming alter ego is your onscreen character, in EOR your avatar is your ship. Sure, your character is present, safely ensconced in an escape pod, but it is your ship that interacts with the world of EVE; it will always be in the center of your screen and your mind. A large part of time and energy in EOR will be devoted to discovering new ways of configuring the many possible different components for your ship, from weapons and mining equipment, to learning new skills that will grant you access to more advanced equipment and upgrades. And after only a few hours with the tutorial, it becomes abundantly clear that to succeed in the world of EVE you need to be intimately familiar with everything your vessel can do if you are going to survive and prosper.

The majority of the game is played via about a dozen interface selections that are conveniently displayed alongside the left portion of your screen. These include such necessary functions as accessing your wallet to track income and expenses, checking market prices (EOR has a huge market-driven economy), reviewing your character sheet, and an in-game email interface and chat feature. Mixed in with these functions are a few gratuitous items that enhance the pleasure of your EOR experience, such as a jukebox loaded with over 50 appropriately techno tunes and a web browser that is handy for when you need to visit a corporation’s external website. When docked in one of the many space stations scattered throughout the EOR’s universe, various other menu items can be accessed such as repair, refining, and medical facilities. Learning how to navigate these functions quickly becomes second nature as most are self-explanatory and easily utilized. This is a good thing as a game as complex as EVE could quickly become a nightmare of complexity if it was saddled with a poor interface.

When not docked at a station, an additional ship interface is present at the bottom of your screen. It is here that the condition of your ship can be readily assessed via a three-tiered semicircle that indicates the strength of your shields, armor, and hull integrity. As these items wear away, due to battle for example, each tier will gradually turn red from right to left. To the right of this display are circular icons indicating what ship components are installed and functioning. Finally, on the left side you can find basic ship functions, including setting the autopilot, opening the cargo bay, and zooming the view in and out. Again, as with the others, this interface is very intuitive and makes the operation of your vessel as effortless as possible.

With a game as massive and open-ended as EOR, one literally shudders when confronted with the potential learning curve. Fortunately, EVE Online has a number of comprehensive tutorials that go a long way to get you up and running. The initial tutorial is your standard explanation of basic game mechanics that provides just enough information to get you into the game. However, the real learning begins when you contact your first occupational agent. These folks, who can be either AI-controlled or fellow flesh-and-blood players, assign missions to players looking for a chance to earn some money and/or goods. I urge all new players to immediately progress from the basic tutorial to the agent tutorial ASAP as this is where the real learning begins. The missions assigned by your tutorial agents will not only shower you with enough money and equipment to give you a fighting chance in the world of EVE, but will serve to usher you as painlessly as possible into your space faring career. Indeed, after my first few missions, I no longer felt adrift in a large gaming universe but had a pretty good idea of when and how to make money via various career opportunities. I also knew a heck of a lot more about how to use my ship…especially in combat.

Combat needs a little explanation, as I know that some new players find it a little underwhelming. EOR is not about flight-sim styled combat, where you will be “yanking and banking” to survive. Rather, I found combat in EOR to be more along the lines of Star Trek than Top Gun. In EOR, combat is heavily tactics-based, doubly so when engaged in group combat. Instead of victory going to the guy (and gals – there seems to be a surprising number of girls who play this game) with the quickest trigger finger, victory usually goes to the person who knows the technical capabilities of his ship and weapon systems, and best applies them in a tactical environment. As such, you will find yourself carefully choosing an ideal attack position to maximize the power of your weapons rather than just charging in with guns blazing. While such a combat system might annoy those looking for quick, mindless action, I found it a refreshingly intelligent approach to combat.

Of course, your skills play a big factor in the success of your alter ego. From mining to combat, the more advanced your character, the better he will do in EOR. One thing that I really like about EOR is the ability of your character to advance in skills training during down time. That is, even if you are not playing the game, your character will continue his training for one additional skill level. I find this to be a great feature as you are still getting some value from your subscription even when you are otherwise occupied. Very clever, CCP!

The graphics are very attractive. Each star system - and let me assure you that the EVE universe is almost a big as the real thing! - has its own appearance, many of them seemingly taken from actual Hubble photographs. These beautiful vistas are then enhanced by player activities, such as the building of space stations, mining facilities, or transiting vessels - some of which are absolutely mammoth. It all combines to provide the player with a thoroughly-convincing sci-fi environment. Best of all, you players with older computers need have no fear as even on my aging system EOR ran well with nary a hiccup, albeit there were slight pauses when entering a new environment or just before combat.

So what is wrong with EOR? Just one thing: EVE Online – Revelations succeeds too well in accomplishing its mission. This is not a game, but a complete virtual reality! EOR is not something that you can just jump into whenever you feel like a few minutes diversion. Rather, EOR is a very jealous program, one that demands your complete attention for its near limitless possibilities. For example, one day I logged on “just to kill a few minutes time.” While perusing the galactic market, I found an excellent opportunity to make some bucks transporting exotic liqueur from one star system to another (I had settled into the career of trader quite comfortably). Of course, in the course of these travels I stumbled upon a mission from a new agent that devoured even more of my time….Before I knew it, two hours had elapsed! As you can surmise, you do not play EOR…EOR plays you!

There is a second criticism that bears mentioning as I heard it uttered more than once by newbies in chat channels. Some players find the pace of EOR to be too slow. As I mentioned before, this is not a game about simple-minded combat, but rather about living a full-featured life in an alternate reality. As such, you can play an entire session without ever firing your guns in anger – indeed, as a trader, I go out of my way to avoid this expensive experience. One player remarked that he resented paying a monthly fee to be a “UPS delivery boy.” This is both funny and true for if you choose a less belligerent occupation, you can find yourself doing little more than running cargo from star system to star system or mining asteroids. Of course, you can always find action in the more dangerous areas of the galaxy, but beginner players will often find themselves as little more than snacks to be devoured by more experienced players. As such, EVE can be slow at times, especially for neophytes.

My final criticism is that EOR is a subscription-based game. Mind you, I do not think I have ever encountered a game that so richly deserved its paltry fee (your first payment is $19.95 followed by $14.95 every month thereafter with multi-month discounted subscriptions available), but I point this out because I know there are many gamers who eschew fee-based gaming. With the developers constantly adding new content, I would have no problem paying this amount, but I mention it hear for those of you who like to pay only once for a game.