Dust 514 Preview

Your Next Shot Will Topple Empires

Before you start reading this, keep in mind that this is meant to be a preview, and that there will be a full review once the game is released. Also, bear in mind that due to the NDA, there is only information in this review that is public knowledge.

EVE players will know what this is, and so will pretty much anyone who games or pays attention to E3. For those of you who don't, you are in for a treat. Dust 514, or just simply Dust, is the new first person shooter being released from Icelandic game company, CCP. While the game is still in Closed Beta with the Open Beta looming on the horizon, it is set to be released Soon™ (Summer 2012 is all that has been released from both CCP and Playstation for the release date).

On its own, Dust wouldn't be all that impressive, just another FPS in the ever growing pool of console shooters. But what makes it even cooler is the fact that it ties into, and allows you to play with people from, the EVE Online MMORPG. What does that mean exactly? That means that a player in Dust can affect the course of events in EVE and vice versa. It is the first game of its kind, allowing PC (and MAC) gamers to play with console (only PS3, although there is a companion app for the Vita) gamers.

What makes both of these games different from any other is that everyone (both in EVE and Dust) plays on the same server. It is a single shard world, as opposed to some other, not-to-be named MMOs that have multiple shards, and only allow you to play with people on that shard. This allows for a huge amount of people that you can play with.

For a bit more information about the game, it may be beneficial to take a look at the following trailer for the game.

As you can see, Dust will have a lot of connectivity with EVE in the final release. They are even implementing some of this functionality starting on August 21. Even without these added things, the current iteration of the game is pretty fun.

After creating your character (a simple process at the time of writing, may get more complicated in the future), you end up in your quarters. From here, you can jump into a battle, change your fittings for dropsuits and vehicles, update your skills, as well as chat with other mercenaries. As far as the battles go, currently there are only 2 modes, a control-point type mode called Skirmish and a team death-match called Ambush.

Once you figure out what mode you want, and what map (at time of writing, there are 3, maybe 4 to choose from) you want to fight on, it's time to jump into battle. Depending on whether or not the fight is already in progress, you will either get thrown directly into the fight, or you'd get put in what amounts to a lobby. But unlike most game lobbies, in this one, you get to roam around (a designated area) on a station while waiting for the game to load.

Several Mercs in Heavy Dropsuits Taking Down
a Dropship and Some Enemies

Speaking of loading, that is one of the only areas that the beta fails in. The loading times to get into the lobby sometimes get to be quite excessive. OK, yes, I know that the game is still in beta, but even still. I feel that the game should still load pretty quickly, so hopefully that will be changed in the final release. Even if it's not, the game shouldn't suffer too much. On top of this, sometimes the game lags, but that is pretty normal in online multiplayer games, so I'm not too worried about that.

The only other area that I think isn't that great is the lack of maps available currently. I attribute this to the game being in beta and the fact that it is meant to iron out all the minute details before the release. My guess is that once the game finally does release, and maybe even in the open beta, there will be more maps to go to if you want, especially since you will be able to travel to other planets then. That's right, every star system that is available to the capsuleers in EVE will be available to the mercenaries in Dust, in fact, that is one of the main selling pointsΦ of the game.

My rating for the beta is 8 stars

My initial rating for the game is 8 stars, which is really good considering the game is essentially a first draft right now. And don't worry, I will be doing another review once the game is released, so you can get my thoughts on the full game. If you want to access the closed beta yourself, you can sign up here at the Closed Beta Registration site and wait for an email to get access to a single beta weekend or you can purchase the Mercenary Pack, which includes an all access pass to ALL the beta weekends (which is what I did, after getting a closed beta code). Details for that are at the following site, and it can be purchased from the Playstation Store for $20. Merc Pack Details

Keep an eye out for the full review when the game is released. Hope to see you all planet-side.

ΦSelling point is meant entirely figuratively, as the game is Free-to-Play.

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