Rating: Summary: Definatly needed more work Review: I was Beta Testing this game from almost the very Begining. I seen really bad bugs to really minor bugs. before the beta was over i said this game needs at least 5 more months or work.. Well it did.One of the big problems with this game is lag. with 4000 Poeple in the game it tended to lag pretty bad. i dont know if they fixed this in the full release.. I was not happy to hear about the 12.95 a month suscription fee. But if you like the game.... Pay for it. I will when i get some extra cash. The start of the game could be a lil better . Mining gets real boring. But soon as you start getting some money .... You will get somewhere. It has Groups you can join. you can do missions to get more money. Bounties. Etc etc etc. Try it you may like it. Minus the fee for playing. Nobody likes paying money to play. Other than the bugs its a pretty solid online game.
Rating: Summary: Beta Testing is just that.....A TEST Review: The actual game is MUCH different than the beta test game. I was also a beta tester of this game and was constantly frustrated by the number of bugs in the game and the huge amounts of lag and server down time. However, I became addicted to this game in spite of these challenges. I am pleased to report, after 3 days of solid playing that almost all of these issues have been resolved. I live in the US so other parts of the world have been playing for 4 days. The game play is excellent with minimal lag and no node crashes. Most people do not even notice any lag. Why is this so much different than the beta test? Well because the beta phase of software development is all about testing. Not only are they testing the game, but with an online game, they are also testing the connections, server load and failure points for all of the systems. The only way you can be certain where failure points are is if you push your equipment to failure. It is clear to me now....this is exactly what the developers were doing. There are still bugs to work out...but most of the glaring bugs have been patched. The developers are continuing to work on the bugs and are extremely responsive to any reporting. All reports that I have filed have been answered within a matter of hours. So....my advice is to keep in mind that the beta testers were guinea pigs and used to test all aspects of the game....not just the code. Regarding the game play....well I have always enjoyed simulation games and business sims in particular. This game blows them all out of the water. The real markets are fun to watch and exciting to take part in. You can actually watch the prices rising or falling as you bid against other players. The graphics and sound are second to none!! The universe is enormous with over 5,000 solar systems and more to be added later. I will admit that it takes a little while to get rolling in the game and this appears to be a bit longer than other games. However, once you get rolling, it becomes even more fun and challenging. I don't think this game will appeal to everyone. Twitch players (those first person shooter players) will probably not like the pace of the game. However, if you liked Railroad Tycoon or Sim City...I think you will enjoy this game. I hope to see you all in the universe of EVE.
Rating: Summary: Very Massive Great Game! Review: I was in beta and now playing the release title. And if you are looking for your next big online game, this is the one you have been waiting for. Not only is the game MASSIVE, in potential and its universe, it is also all on one server too. A new galaxy is out there called New Eden, it is where you have your chance to make your mark, to explore the universe, to discover your business ventures and share some adventures. Yes indeed, you can kill other players, you can loot their stuff, you can even get killed yourself and lose your stuff... oh boy that might sound bad, but it's a risk you can choose to take or not. This is no namby-pamby game or a game fit for complainers. Hell no, this is a real mans (or womans) game. It's only gonna be boring if you want it to be boring, it's only gonna be exciting as you want it to be, it's up to you--just like in real life! :D Take this game now while it's still young and make your mark in a new universe that will become a landmark game in the history of online games to come.
Rating: Summary: Give it a go Review: Okay, there's both rave reviews and rant reviews on here. Hopefully this is neither but a bit more level-headed. Fact: I played beta for months. Fact: I was often frustrated by beta (expected) and often elated (not necessarily expected). Fact: I have beta tested other products and even when the beta was less frustrating or chaotic...**chosen not to buy that product when it shipped**. Fact: I am placing my order for this one, so you can see which way I leapt in this case. The raves all say enough about the scope, the graphics, etc. Won't go into much more there. As they say, potential is great for both the size of the universe and the playerbase, and the diversity of possible roles for the individual therein. And it sure is pretty to look at. There are graphics features I've already seen reported from the shipping version which were not in beta, so **just because someone beta tested doesn't mean they know everything**. Myself included. :-) The rants usually underscore either 'bugginess' or 'lack of true possibilities' with respect to the potential, i.e. that in beta even though there were "supposedly" many other things they could do they ended up just mining, mining, mining. Regarding the former there were indeed some bugs during beta, and some lagginess in response. Some of that however is because of testers running debugging builds....shipping versions will doubtless internally handle many missed calls so the paying public doesn't see them. That's just standard industry practice. As for the lack of true opportunities, that was true in beta probably because they opened up the 'whole' universe to us but with a limited beta playercount we didn't have enough to really jumpstart a whole player-driven economy. So much of it was resting on the underlying NPC economy 'crutches' that are there as the minimum. This issue DOES have potential to impact the release game, at least until a large enough playerbase forms. I'm gonna join and do my part. You??? Lastly, while I'm never an afficionado of buying something solely hoping for 'future fixes', the MMOG genre can push patches to you all the time...so part of the expectation is that the experience *will* grow and change as you play. The fact that CCP has a stated committment to this is a good thing, and evidence that current status does not equate to all it can be. Compare that to something like Jumpgate which had no real plans for "evolution" just "patching". And as a result, they've lost so many players taht even though they have (finally!!) released a very late "Episode 2" expansion, they may indeed die shortly.
Rating: Summary: Report from the Beta Review: Having spent several months with Eve as a beta tester, I will be getting the retail version of this game. With this said, niggling bugs remained at the end of the beta. I'm sure, however, that they will be squashed soon and they weren't of such magnitude that they detracted too much from an amazingly deep and complex game. This game can be likened best to a beautiful, complex, massively multiplayer version of the game Elite that was so good years ago on the Commodore 64! The size of the universe, the complexity of the statistics, the novel way to train skills, the combat, the careers, etc., all point to a great game. I will be out in search of the retail version today!
Rating: Summary: Game With Fantastic Potential, but Serious Problems Review: Eve is a game with fantastic potential, a fully immersive 3d universe with nearly 5,000 systems to explore, each system with its own moons and asteroid fields for mining. You as a character start off as a lowly miner, with nothing but the puniest ship with a dinky little mining laser attached to the roof. It is your responsibility to go out to the fields and mine until you go insane. If you are someone who wants action here and now, this game is definitely not for you. It can take days, even weeks to build up a half-way decent character. The learning curve is another item to be overcome, as it can take a week just to understand the basic aspects of the game. Once you have built up your character (don't expect that to happen quick), the choice is up to you. You can mine some more, move away from simple minerals to ultra-rare minerals; or you could scout the galaxy for the best price on a trade good and sell it for twice as much (buy low, sell high); you could become a bounty hunter, going after the galaxy's most wanted; or you could even start/join a corporation, and defend your company's pride against rivals. There are many other little nooks and crannies in the game too, but it would take a long time to explain it. There are downsides to this game though. The first one is the monthly premium on top of the $... up front cost, $... a month. For those without credit cards, that presents a problem. The Second downside is the fact that this game is unfinished. It's as plain and simple as that, unfinished. The beta lasted almost one full year, with major bugs all the way until the end. Many of these bugs were not resolved, and there will likely have to be patches released for a long time to come. So expect the game to run like a beta, with unexpected crashes and other subtle but annoying issues that no one has spotted yet for at least a few weeks. Third is the lag, which can be extremely annoying at times (lag, for those of you who don't know, is when the game seems to "freeze", but is actually caught up in server traffic, and thus becomes very frustrating). In closing, I'll repeat what I said earlier: if you don't have patience, don't buy this game. Otherwise, this game is very, very cool. Hopefully the issues mentioned above will be overcome in due time.
Rating: Summary: Good enough that I am buying it... Review: I also was involved with the Eve beta. Contrary to what some reviewers would comment, the game is pretty well done. There were a lot of bugs and issues, but they were quickly addressed. I would not go as far as to say that the product is completely bug free. No software can claim that. The graphics are very nice, and darkly shaded. You have four races to select from. If you have played Earth and Beyond, and enjoyed it, this is far better and it has more depth. To be honest, I am waiting for SWG, since I am a Star Wars fan, but until then, this game will keep me hooked.
Rating: Summary: Not fit for public consumption. Review: I've been an Alpha/Beta tester for well over 25 years now. I was a Beta test for this product. Beta is over and the product has gone to market and we Beta testers are not subject to NDA agreements any longer. Never in all my years of testing have I witnessed the release of such an incomplete, broken, buggy, and all round not close to being ready product. At the rate in which bugs are found and fixed, I would estimate that this game needs an additional 4 to 6 months in Beta. It should NOT have been released yet. You will be (on a daily basis) subjected to downloading patches, updates, and fixes. Over the past 3 days in Beta the server has been down 6 times with no fewer then 12 patches needing downloaded. At the time Beta closed there was still hundreds of bug reports in the queue to be worked on and there is no way they were able to clean them up in time. The game will be fun, it will eventually be acceptable, the gameplay concept is right on the mark for this genre, but its not there yet. I HIGHLY suggest you not waste your money here, spend it on a more finished product. Sorry if this disappoints my fellow Beta testers of Eve, but the truth needs told.
Rating: Summary: This is a new breed of MMOG Review: I beta-tested this game for the last few months of the beta. I was not disappointed in any way. The game is the "Elite"-type* MMOG that CCP** promised. The game is not for those who want fast action and mindless killing and blowing up stuff. This game is the thinking mans computer game! You have to outsmart your opponent, be it in business or battle. The screenshots (see more pictures) and the video (watch it in action) don't really give the graphics the credit they deserve. The graphics in this game are AWSOME and deserve to get six stars out of five for being impossibly cool; you will spend the first 2-3 hours drooling. As for the gameplay a lot of the beta testers tended to complain about the game being to much of a mining simulator, and it is if you don't dare to venture out and try trading, doing missions, starting a corporation, killing pirates, stealing, robbing, killing cops, going to war, swindling money from n00bs and whatever else you can think of. This game literally has endless possibilities; you decide how it works! If you choose not to have a life and sit and play massively multiplayer online games for hours and hours every night, this is the game you should be playing. Appendix: * Elite is a decade old space conquest game that EVE pretty obviously bases it's gameplay on. ** CCP are the makers of EVE.
Rating: Summary: Great game, minor bugs Review: This game is so huge with so many options for upgrading and careers that you really must play it for several hours (it is kind of tedious to start your character out mining) before you really see the depth of the design. The bugs are actually pretty minor. In beta-testing (a few months) I have very rarely had the game dump me to the login screen which is much more than I can say for a lot of "full release" games and other software. Another reviewer complained of warping through objects, while this is true I should point out that this 'bug' (could be the way the warp engines create a 'quantum-slipstream'(ST:Voy)) only takes place while warping. When moving at impulse your ship will avoid and run into objects including stations, asteroids, and cargo containters. I think that is certainly more worthy of mention than warping through things as in "Earth and Beyond" you can pass right through any object ANYTIME. Lag hasn't been too bad for me except when they have been tweaking servers, and it hasn't changed much as the server structure has changed. I do see various scripting errors popup, but they don't cause any problems with my game play, nothing goes wrong, so who cares? I imagine that in the release they might suppress error messages that are minor and have no effect upon game play. I've played "Earth and Beyond", "Freelancer", and "EVE", and while each has strengths and weaknesses Eve is easily my favorite, and certainly worthy of my monthly gaming budget.
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