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Preview
Due Summer 2002 for PC.
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Orcs with green skin. Skeletons
with no skin and bleached complexions. Creatures with multicolored hues of skin, sharp
teeth, bad breath, and unpleasant and foul temperaments. These are a few of the
interesting characters I had the pleasure of being introduced to while focusing my efforts
at E3 on massively multiplayer online games. The sampling made it clear that we can expect
a phenomenal amount of neat things down the road, and laid out a broad spectrum of treats
we can expect to see marching over the hills in the next months. But these monsters, most
of them it seemed, all fell into the modern day cliché of MMORPGs. Most were on vacation
from a universe I think of as fantasy -- the type that includes wizards, fire breathing
dragons, and short people with magic wands. Now, I happen to really like that sort of
thing. The little guy with the magic ring that appears in The Fellowship happens to have
been a traveling companion of mine on the flight down to L.A., conveniently travel size in
paperback form. I was raised on The Hobbit, thats true, but as more and more
massively multiplayer games make their way onto the screen, I cant help but long for
another of my childhood favorites, one created not by Tolkien, but by another author named
Orson Scott Card. Enders Game, a book based in a future full of aliens, spaceships,
and an interesting variety of warriors, first introduced me to the world of science
fiction. I ate it up, with Star Wars following soon after, flying me around from planet to
planet in a way I knew I could never really do
until now. Earth &
Beyond, brought to us from Westwood Studios, claims to be the first persistent universe to
be featured in a MMP game, and it may well be just that. Even Star Wars: Galaxies presents
itself less as a universe full of mysteries to explore than as a familiar world waiting to
be re-discovered (though if youre interested in this sort of thing, it should be
pointed out that EVE from Simon and Schuster is also breaking this
same ground). Earth & Beyond places you in your
ship, the locations dealt with in first-person dwarfed by the shear quantity of those seen
through the cockpit, and lets you find, explore, and chart an environment full of black
holes, nebulas, and ship-devouring space phenomena. The results are magnificent. The
planets, not just items to fly by, can be visited, mined, and sometimes walked on. Your
ships, designed by the same man responsible for those flying around the two most recent
Star Wars releases and Terminator 2, can be customized to an astonishing amount of
individualism. Combine that sort of talent with the sort already brewing in the heart of
Westwood, makers of Command and Conquer, and what you end up with is an MMP unlike any
currently on the market.
Like many of the MMP games aimed to hit in the future, individuality is being
stressed to a higher degree than at any point in the past. The ships, which for a large
part of the game identify you to other players, can be changed part by part. The tail fin
can be one of many different tail fins, coupled with one of many different nose sections
or what not, all assembled together like the multicolored Legos I used to play with when I
was a kid (I had no sense of color coordination, but man could I build a cool ship). For
your pilot, the actual you, you have control of race and class, up to three of each, in
order to set yourself apart from all those thousands of others all pretending to be the
last star fighter. Aside from the three races (all some variation of human, actually) --
who tend to naturally lean toward being warriors, traders, or explorers -- you can also
select a class that either places you more firmly into your chosen category, or creates a
hybrid. A member of the Progen, the warrior race, who specializes in trading, will be
relatively good at both fighting and finding the best prices.
This
is significant because many things in the game are based on your characters skills,
not your own. Combat, for example, will be won not by the player with the best joystick or
fastest reflexes, but instead by he with the most hard-core fighter and the bigger ship.
You earn experience and skill through practicing within your chosen profession.
The
universe is large, expansive, and unexplored. Within it youll find worlds that are
rich and full of interest. In the five-minute demo EA gave at E3, we stumbled upon an
unexplored nebula with a history of absorbing ships like the Bermuda Triangle, and
witnessed a prison break by pirates. I made sure to ask if the person being rescued from
the space prison was a player. Turns out NPCs will be playing a rather significant role in
Earth & Beyond. Whats more, interaction doesnt just occur in space.
Instead, your avatar also gets to wander space stations and docking ports in a classic
third person, isometric adventure style. Once there you can trade, chat, discuss, or
whatnot, all with other unique space aliens. Westwood has included a large array of
animated emotes, too, so that even if two players dont speak the same language they
can dance around like Sims and conduct complex trade negotiations. Itll be a nice
way to stretch your legs a little after a long day in the cabin.
Its Earth & Beyonds ability to make the player feel surrounded
by an infinite universe full of wondrous mysteries that makes it so appealing. Add in the
ability to go anywhere, do anything, some dark hints of an alien race appearing in the far
reaches of space, and you end up with nearly endless possibilities in a cross between Star
Trek and Babylon 5. Westwood is known for its attention to detail and ability to string
together elements into a concise and playable game. All it takes is a glance at the
screenshots, the ones of the ships cruising their way over the planet based space port, to
realize that Westwood is still one of the best design houses around. Earth & Beyond is
due out this summer. Since thats a notoriously slow time for game releases, it sure
is good to have something to look forward to.
Aaron
Stanton (06/19/2002) |
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