The first word that comes to mind when describing Elite Dangerous is “great”. Video games tend to struggle when it comes to conveying how vast the space truly is. This is something that the developers of Frontier have set out to solve with their massive multiplayer sequel to the classic Elite series, and “massive” is the watchword. The game takes place in a one-to-one recreation of the Milky Way galaxy with tens of thousands of unique star systems to explore. The universe is so vast that you can go days without seeing another player unless you deliberately seek it out.
Game
While the space is by definition almost empty, that doesn’t mean there isn’t much going on in Elite Dangerous. Players can hunt bounties, trade between planets and space stations, or dive headlong into the chaos of galactic power struggles. It is easy to feel overwhelmed at first due to the huge number of features the game offers to new players. But it doesn’t take too long to get a check on the controls. Complexity goes a long way in making you feel like someone piloting a real spacecraft instead of just controlling one in a video game.
Gameplay-wise, ship-to-ship combat is somewhat reminiscent of games like Ace Combat. It is very fun and exciting to play. Flight controls work fine, for the most part. However, they lack the subtlety for precision tasks like landing, making it too easy to over-correct and fly in the wrong direction.
Mining and trading can also be surprisingly fun. It might sound boring from an outside perspective, and I’d be lying if I said it won’t age eventually. But there is something satisfying about finding a profitable route or a good market for your rescue. If none of this sounds interesting, players can simply pick a direction on the galaxy map and see what’s out there. And there is certainly a lot to see.
Elite Dangerous is truly a game of breathtaking beauty. Ships traveling at FTL speeds leave glittering sparks behind as huge space stations quietly spin in the void, their cavernous cylindrical interiors filled with skyscrapers, highways and holographic billboards.
On the downside, transit appears to take a disproportionate amount of playtime. So much fun is flying between the rings of gas giants and watching the bubbling plasma of supergiant stars, which will seem distant as you circle around the same star system waiting for your sensors to identify which of the dozen signal sources is your target mission. . While this can be helpful in creating the vast sense of scale, it makes searching across a large area tedious.
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