Maken Tosch
DUST University
Ivy League
2403
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Posted - 2013.05.23 17:48:00 -
[1] - Quote
Ok, I am going to be as unbiased as I possibly can despite the fact that I am mostly supportive of Dust 514. And for the sake of this review, I can say that since Dust is technically a commercial release as of May 14 of this year, the old "comparing an incomplete game to a complete game" excuse is no longer valid especially when you consider the fact that technically Defiance is also undergoing iterations of its own just like Dust. Also, the copy of Defiance that I have was for the Xbox as it was borrowed from a friend of mine who likes it and wanted me to try it out.
First thing is first. The update/patch process.
Both Dust and Defiance seem to be undergoing constant updating despite the fact that they are technically commercial releases. Dust 514 has a straight forward patching system in which any update or hotfix that comes out is immediately applied and can easily be updated with a single download or two even if you have a fresh install. This is because the game is downloadable only and doesn't come in a CD. Although the patching system does seem to download large updates in parts as noted by its habit of downloading half through and then starting again but with a smaller remaining file to download. This is probably as intended to help players avoid having to download everything all over again in the event of an accidental disconnect because of your internet service provider (Comcast tends to give me problems). However the installation does take about an hour to complete after downloading.
Defiance has a less streamlined patching process since it comes as a CD which means that once the game is installed into your system you will then have to install a near-endless list of previous patches that came out after the CD was put on the shelves for sale. If you ever played IL-2 Sturmovik in multiplayer back in the old days for the PC then you know what I mean as it's exactly like that. One top of that, there were times when the installation got corrupted and I have to delete the installation and start again even after 2 hours of waiting. Also, avoid installing onto the flash drive of any size because it seems that the installation on a flash drives takes forever and a day.
Starting up the game.
Dust really needs to improve on its tutorials. Eve players won't have any problems understanding it as the system is kind of similar. Even the market. But to a player who never played or heard of Eve Online, the experience is a little jarring. The only thing that can fix this is to expand and provide video tutorials on every aspect of the game. From market transactions, fittings, skill training, etc. If CCP can put out training videos for this, they are set. Even putting in a training room or a firing range should do the trick. Unfortunately at the moment Dust doesn't have that and only has text-based tutorials.
Defiance has a more direct training system in place and I was giving a training session in the middle of my first mission. Although I found a problem with it. Enemy AI usually got in the way and you have random players passing by creating more confusion. A private session away from the missions should have been better. But even with the tutorial system, I was still left confused by the menus as it wasn't exactly clear on what I am suppose to be doing in the menus. Also, the menus looked like a complete mess as the navigation of the menus felt too clunky and there were too many bright colors that overwhelmed my eyes and made it difficult to see what button I'm suppose to press.
AI
Dust doesn't have any AI yet as that is part of the roadmap established by CCP. At the moment, we have to deal with the hardest form of AI in existence: ourselves. Supposedly the AI to be introduced will be rogue drones trying to infest your district.
Defiance needs some serious work here. I mean, seriously, I have never seen an AI that is as dumb as this. I have seen NPC pirates in Eve Online put up a better fight than this. I deployed a hologram of myself when I was overwhelmed by the enemy and noticed that all focused fire on the hologram. Keep in mind that the hologram looks nothing like me as it is just a blue fluorescent image that doesn't do anything except run in a straight line. I was right next to the enemy shooting at them but they still kept on firing at my hologram that was doing nothing. Dumbest AI ever. Also, there was no variety. They all looked exactly the same. I may as well have fought against Storm Troopers because at least they were smart enough to shoot in the general direction in which I am at.
Weapon
Dust needs work with balancing the weapons and you all know how it is. No explanation needed.
Defiance seems to have a similar problem as well. The shotgun feels extremely nerfed. I shot one of the AI at point blank range and he still lived even though he was just a simple grunt with minimal armor. On top of that, when I do shoot a grunt down, he flies back like 10 feet before hitting the ground. What the hell kind of physics is this? I hope TRION fixes this in the next update.
Personal Helper
In Dust, we only have a computer-voice lady known as AURA who Eve players know so well. You only see here in tutorials and even then she appears as just a simple icon. No holograms.
In Defiance, your personal helper is an actual hologram. However, something struck me as odd with this character. She looks like a cross between Fi from Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Cortana from the Halo series. Who knows? Maybe there was some girl-on-girl hologram action going on that I missed. Either way the character was still odd and she didn't look well rendered at all. Her expressions do need some adjusting as well.
Movements
Dust has very fluid movements and players sprint and move realistically. The animations don't seem to have any problems apart from the reloading animations which tend to have their own quirks.
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