DUST 514
Gameplay - 6
Presentation - 7
Story/Creativity - 8
Lifespan - 5
Freeness - 4
6
A Game with Promise
DUST 514 is a game with much promise. Even though it has many flaws, CCP can make updates and changes to the game like they did with EVE Online. I would give this game a 6/10. However, since DUST 514 is a free-to-play game, it deserves some kudos. A free game of this quality should be played, but I think we should revisit the game at a later date to see what improvements CCP has made to the game.
Dust 514 Community Page
DUST 514 is a free-to-play first-person shooter developed by CCP Games for the Playstation 3’s Playstation Network. The FPS inhabits the same universe as EVE Online, the MMO from CCP, and effects the EVE universe in real time. Both EVE and DUST 514 are set twenty-one thousand years in the future, where the Earth’s resources have depleted and the humans seek to colonize the rest of the galaxy. They enter a wormhole that takes them to “New Eden”, another galaxy that was a clean slate. However, the wormhole disappears and the colonies in New Eden lose contact with the Milky Way. Eventually, civilization collapses and the colonies rebuild it and begin interstellar travel once more. This leads to “space-faring corporations” fighting for control over planets in New Eden. The EVE online players are pilots that are immortal due to the technology that allows them to download their conscious into clones, and the DUST 514 players are ground-units who are also immortal because of the same technology.
Enough back story, let’s get on with the DUST 514 review. The sound and graphics for the game are nothing to be sneezed at, especially in the cutscenes. Even though the gameplay it has the look like a game from 2008, it won’t bother you that much. I put this down to the fact that your expectations will be lowered as it is a free-to-play game. Despite it being free, DUST 514 delivers what it promises, a customizable character with realistic battles that, depending on the choices you make, will impact the game. However, the way CCP does this could have been done much better.
The main problem with DUST 514 is how poorly it conveys what you’re supposed to do. The menus are confusing nightmares and the amount of reading you have to do to get to the level is staggering.When I started I was very confused, but after a while of reading, my brain ended up at the level of very confused. With this, they drop you into a battle that is a match type that is nothing like what you see in any other FPS, so what you end up doing is messing about and following other new players who don’t know what they’re doing either.
Another problem is that the maps are so big and barren, that the amount of time running about looking for everyone outweighs the actual battle. I know it’s supposed to be realistic, but there is a line between just realistic enough to be fun and cool, and so realistic that it’s boring.
The most annoying thing about the game is when you are in your “mercenary quarters.” This part of gameplay is played in third person and is the most pointless thing since Kim Kardashian. As I said, you play in third person, but what you do is walk around to access menus you can access from your start menu. You can’t even see the front of your body so checking out how awesome you look can’t happen.
The faction system isn’t done very well as the only way you can make a mark is if you join a group that has already basically taken over the game, anything less won’t be noticed. If you randomly joined a team and had to climb to the top with random people who later become your friends, then it would be fair. But as of now, there is no point in joining a small faction.
There are many things wrong with the game, but there are some good things about it as well. If you can read the anthology of tutorials regarding the menus and that, the amount of customization you can do is very large. Which is a good change from Call of Duty and Halo, who have the customization abilities of a Lego mini-figure. Vehicles and turrets make a great addition to that battle and the match types are familiar to other other game’s, but have a unique spin on them.
One more good thing is the combination of EVE Online and DUST 514. Everything you do on the battlefield in DUST 514 will impact some one in EVE Online, and in real time too. This is a feature that even most big-budget games can’t deliver, which is very impressive.