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Elite Dangerous is one of a few reviews I meant to do some time ago, but around then, my father died and it felt like my brain exploded and bits of it went spinning into the dark night of space like my Cobra Mk.III does on many occasions when playing this game, either after being attacked and blown into oblivion by pirates, or because I’m just a bit crap. While I know most game reviews coming out aeons after the release date are usually about as much use as an empty oxygen tank, the good thing about this title is that it feels less like a game and more like a living, breathing organism, with zillions of people playing online, ready to blast you to kingdom come.
And that is something that will continue to exist for a very long time to come.
Also, the Xbox One console exclusive is still to be released beyond its current ‘preview’ state, and then in due course, a Playstation 4 version.
I was a mere 12 years old when the original Elite, programmed by David Braben, blasted off on the BBC Model B back in September 1984, a game which I bought twice – first on cassette, and due to the vast size of the gaming world, it took 6 minutes and 50 seconds to load in. Once I had a disc drive, I bought it again and the game only took 10 seconds to load. Nowadays, everything is more instant, yet installation still takes a bafflingly long time with some games given how there’s updates and patches to be applied every now and again. This is something which happens every so often to Elite Dangerous, but it’s good to see that Frontier are continuing to improve and expand upon it as time goes on.
Inbetween then and now, there have also been two sequels – Frontier: Elite II in October 1993, on Amiga, Atari ST and in DOS; and then Frontier: First Encounters in April 1995, on DOS – both of which somehow passed me by. However, the time is now to put that right and, to quote 2001: A Space Odyssey, “My God, it’s full of stars!” In fact, in Elite Dangerous, there are billions of galaxies, all taking place in a realistic 1:1-scale open-world galaxy based upon the real Milky Way. Even from my limited recollections of science lessons back at school, I do remember that the Milky Way is just a bit on the large side.
It took me a bit of time to get into it once I got cracking, since when I first zoomed into a new star system, I was confronted with a huge sun from which I never managed to escape, and when I did find where I was supposed to head next (either the next stage of the journey or my actual docking station destination) I saw the direction I was meant to go, but would zoom past it and not actually see anything. Like a lot of things in life, a tutorial video helped. I realised that as I approached my destination – and yes, I know it tells you to slow down, it’s only when you actually *do* that and select ‘Safe Disengage Ready’ when told (which is ‘C’ by default) that the docking station then appears as if by magic!
Oh, and when travelling towards it, initially, even after engaging the ‘supercruise’ mode – which makes you travel at fast speed and does not turn you into a scientology cult’s wet dream – some people may moan that this occasionally takes a while, not least having to make sure you don’t overshoot, because, as Douglas Adams pointed out in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, “Space. Is big.”, but as Frank Sidebottom pointed out, “Space Is Ace”, and as I’m playing this on a 50″ Plasma screen with all the speakers blaring away, it really is the most immersive mindfuck I’ve had in a long time.
If, by some bizarre reason, you’re still not convinced, then there’s also some of the most incredible music to be heard. Yes, music in space. No, there isn’t a band whizzing by on your travels, but, as the video below shows, when I travelled to Yaping Enterprise (above), the most glorious heavenly and angelic audio could be heard. Remember the time when you played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and enjoyed the ’80s tunes? I used to just nick a car, pull over, switch the radio on and listen to some great tunes. Here, you can pootle along between planets and get a classical fix instead. My music-based comments after mentioning Yaping Enterprise have, hopefully, distracted you from my terrible attempt at docking in that video.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game, plus conclusions.
Yes, docking does take a little getting used to initially, as your craft has to be facing forward on the scanner which appears once you’re hovering over the landing pad, but it’s satisfying once achieved and, as they say, practice makes perfect. That’s not to say I didn’t have a number of accidents while learning. I’m not sure if, sometimes, I had reverse thrust on, or god knows what, but it was like the opposite of my Fiat Punto’s automatic choke when it feels like it has a mind of its own and you want it to just behave. Posting this query on Twitter, the response came that I wasn’t pointing in the right direction. I also see that some of these landing pads are either ‘zero gravity’ or ‘low gravity’. I’ve still not quite got it, either, but I’m getting there.
Missions mostly revolve around trading regular or nefarious items, but there’s also some involving heading to a far outpost and taking someone’s ship out for a handsome reward. As alighted to earlier, I’m still a bit crap about bumping others off, so any time I get into a fight at the moment, I’m soon shooting off into the distance once my ship is almost dead. Unfortunately, by that point, so am I, really.
While you’re doing all this, there’s both a single-player option to this game, but also the aforementioned zillions of others who are partaking, and Elite Dangerous is the first in the series to feature massively multiplayer gameplay, with the actions of the players affecting the narrative story of the game’s universe.
Dumb things I’ve done while playing Elite Dangerous include running out of oxygen and not realising there’s a “quit” button to restart the game, and at one point I was meant to deliver goods to Wohler Terminal, but got confused and landed at Worlidge Terminal. Once landed, I then realised I was in the wrong place. D’oh!
Elite Dangerous has also inspired many people beyond simply sitting in front of a computer and playing a game. Fantastic Books have published a number of titles in paperback, hardback and even audiobook form, such as Elite: Reclamation, Elite: Tales From The Frontier, Elite: And Here The Wheel, and also the wonderful Elite: Mostly Harmless. Telling the tale of Commander Angel Rose and her adventures in space, it’s written and narrated by the stunning technology journalist and BBC Click presenter Kate Russell, with a guest appearance from Mr David Braben, himself. Since I’m not one for books in their paper form, I reviewed the audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it as you can see in my review, here.
And for those who have read it and/or listened to it, remember DORIS, the sarcastic biscuit tin-shaped robot who accompanies Angel on her travels? Yes, you can even buy a DORIS voicepack for Elite! She’ll talk back when you command her, and I will be checking this out soon, but since I don’t have a headset, and since that is how she is controlled, I’ll need to get the headset sorted out ASAP, then take the abuse of DORIS in good humour 😉
Kate also presented live Twitch broadcasts for 14 days over Christmas 2014, raising money for Special Effect, who have made it their mission to beat physical disability and allow everyone to enjoy playing video games. In addition, 10% of all the sales for Elite: Mostly Harmless will go to Special Effect. Check out the full playlist for the festive fun of Slough Bells Ringing.
Her enjoyment with Elite Dangerous also continues each weekend as she hosts weekly Twitch broadcasts in the Battle For Slough, recently hosting a Twitch Partnership party, to mark the first anniversary of her partnership with Twitch, with games including a Demolition Derby, with the players circling around the Slough Orbital Space Station. Check them out every Sunday from 4pm to 7pm on Twitch, with the videos also posted on Youtube, and below, from about 20 minutes in, you can check out an example of DORIS in action. As soon as I’ve got my headset, I’ll update this review.
In conclusion, Elite Dangerous is an experience like no other. Many games you can pick up and put down and not think about afterwards. This one, yes, it takes a little getting into, but it’s time well-invested, and once you’re in, you’re hooked.
If I had any complaint, it’s that when you pause the game, say by going into the menu or quitting out of it because it’s late and you’ve got work in the morning, it doesn’t actually PAUSE it. The world continues on around you. Sure, other people will be playing the game between now and when you fire it up again, but it would be nice if the missions you were on were still available from the point where you left off. And once, I paused it, and when I came back to it I found my ship had been destroyed. D’oh!
And I haven’t yet found Lave, the planet from where you start in the original Elite game, but I’m sure it’s out there. Somewhere, among the billions of planets. Somewhere….
Elite Dangerous is out now on PC, Mac, Xbox One (preview version) and in due course, PS4. For more information, go to Elite Dangerous.com.
Visit my DVDfeverGames Youtube channel for many more gaming videos.
Important info:
- Publisher: Frontier Games
- Players: single player, multiplayer: 2-everyone!
- HDTV options: every resolution up to and including 1080p and 4K
Director: David Braben
Producer: Michael Brookes
Designers: Sandro Sammarco, Dan Davies and Tom Kewell
Programmers: Mark Allen and Igor Terentjev
Artists: John Laws, Simon Brewer and John Roberts
Music: Erasmus Talbot
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
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| OVERALL | 10 |
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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