An Inside Look at Eve Online (Eve Online - the Second Genesis (PC))

Member Name: benenam

Product:	Eve Online - the Second Genesis (PC)
Date:	08/06/04 (130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Vast Gigantic universe to explore, Can be very rewarding once you reach a high level, Ability to own many ships and run your own corporation to earn money

Disadvantages: $12 a month subscription can make game less rewarding, Very unwelcoming to new comers, Can take a very long time to get to a powerful stage

Eve Online is known as a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), there are many out there but Eve certainly stands out as one of the vastest online worlds around. The Eve universe consists of thousands of different systems, each with their own attributes and items of interest, whether it?s a remote asteroid belt or an abandoned mining colony. They are designed through a security rating program, systems rated as 1.0 are known as ?Empire Space?, where you have no threat of being attacked by NPC (Computer controlled ships) and very little threat from other players. However, as you venture further away from 1.0 space into 0.9 ? 0.0 space then the danger increases drastically.

Exploring in space other than 1.0 security rated systems gives you the threat of being attacked by the computer generated ?pirates?. They will come in small bands of 3 in early systems, but then attack as giant armadas with much more difficult ships in 0.0 systems, including battleships as well. The risks are much greater in low security space, however they can also be far more profitable. Killing difficult pirates will automatically give you a bounty of ?isk? (The currency of the game) which can be used for anything from new weapons to putting towards a new ship.

Eve Online is not all about combat though, it features one of the most complicated and well thought out economies seen in any game. If you do not wish to fight constantly for scraps of currency, then you could become a trader or miner. As a trader you could buy up items and transport them to different areas and sell for a higher price to make money, but the most profitable would have to be mining. Mining is a very tedious and time-consuming job, but is most often the most rewarding. All you need to do is mine from an asteroid until your cargo hold is full, then take it back to a station where you can sell it or store it, then repeat.

But why make money I hear you ask. Well every game online i
s fuelled by currency, you need it to survive, better yourself, better your ship, it is the core of everything that makes you successful in a game. Upon entering the game you will have very little, you will be equipped with a standard frigate ship with very little if any isk to start out with. It is these early stages in which you can decide whether you are up to the challenge of bettering yourself or if you will give up. The work you put in can be very taxing on time but ultimately can be very rewarding.

You will enter the game after you have created a character, this person will be ?you? in the game. His/her storyline is that you have just left a certain academy (depending on what field you wish to specialise in, ie fighting or mining) and must make your way out into the wide universe. Experience is based on the time it takes to ?load? certain skills into your characters brain. Skills cost money so if you wish to better your character you will need to buy new skills and slowly work on them, deciding which ones to train. They can take a few hours to days and weeks, even months sometimes to train up your skills so every hour is valuable.

The skills determine what types of ships you can fly and what you can equip them with. They need to grow in order to be able to fly the better ships that may become available to you once you have enough isk.

There are 4 races in Eve and each have their own ships, with advantages and disadvantages over each other. Some have stronger hulls, some have better weapons, or some have higher technology. You will need to decide which race you will want to play as which can also determine what type or character you will play as.

Ships are definitely the second most important aspect of the game. The stronger the ship you are in the more money you are capable of making and more fun you will likely have. They range from frigates, cruisers, industrial ships, and battleships. Battleships are the ultimate shi
ps in Eve but also the most expensive. It can take months and months of constant playing to just save up enough for one, but the rewards are huge, if not to your income then to your ego, as you will be able to awe the smaller players with the mere sight of your imposing battleship.

One last aspect of Eve that may interest you is the corporation system. In Eve you will have the option of joining a corporation. These are groups of players who work together to further the corp and in turn earn from them. They usually manufacture certain items, such as ships or weapons, and sell them to other corps or players. Working for one can and contributing to one can save a lot of time, as depending on the corp they can provide you with vast resources to better yourself, as they would be ran by much more experienced players than yourself. This can give you a head start in Eve and make the whole experience more enjoyable.

I hope that I have managed to explain a little into the world of Eve, but to explain it in full detail would be like writing a novel. If you choose to purchase this game then you will join thousands of other players online in a continually improving game as the company who runs it is always adding new things into the game, whether they be new weapons or new ships. Even entire system wide changes are taking place which allow players to own their own stations or homes.

At first you may not enjoy Eve, and will find the whole thing rather daunting, but if you are up to a challenge and have a lot of time to dedicate then this title may be very rewarding for you. You will find players are sometimes very helpful and will give you advice, but as with many online games out there, there are many less friendly players. This has always been a problem in Eve as people like becoming pirates, and will attack weaker players at first chance if they can. Although death is not the end, all you will lose is your ship and skill points, but it can be very
frustrating if you had been saving for that ship for days.

Overall the game has many good points, but is still a work in progress as glitches still plague gameplay, and new comers to the game can find it very unwelcoming. Not to mention the subscription fee of around $12 a month to just play the game can often leave you with a feeling of wasting your time and money. It?s a game you will either love or hate.

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