EVE Online
I can no longer in good faith recommend this game to anyone. It boasts of being a sandbox with ‘player-driven economy’ yet the devs keep putting their thumb on the scale with their artificial ‘resource shortages’ and contrived ‘loss mechanics’. I joined in 2015 during Citadel. They went from ‘we want you to own structures’ to ‘we want you to lose structures’ to ‘we want you to lose everything you own and be happy about it.’
EVE had been on my ‘to do’ list for years but I’d never gotten around to it before being busy with other games. I tried it, played the tutorial missions and, having done crafting for guildmates in previous mmos, almost immediately fell in love with industry. I’d dabble in pvp and missions from time to time but mining and building gave me the greatest enjoyment. I used to love building ships for friends. I’d GIVE friends ships. I started getting into reactions but stopped when every base I tried moving to kept getting blown up.
– Real player with 11351.0 hrs in game
Just recently uninstalled, and boy was it tough to do. Like many people have already said, this game is not for everyone. I feel this game could’ve been for me, (And boy did I love it while it lasted…) but the devs and I just have different ideas… Which is what leads me to give the negative vote on this.
Here’s what’s been going on these past few updates:
If you’re not aware already, ganking is the art of attacking and killing unsuspecting people. So, EVE’s developers really like gankers. I don’t think they have ever made an official statement about it. Still, their updates and practices appear to reflect the theory. (Someone, please correct me if I’m wrong btw)
– Real player with 2705.5 hrs in game
CSC | Space MMO
EDIT: 3/20/20 Since the time of this review, missions have been added, refineries have been added, crafting has been added with the ability to make modules and ships, and more. This is a ton of development in less than 6 months! There are tons of new things to do, and development is moving fast, both great signs. This is a game that takes patience and time, if you enjoy the factory/production type aspect of games, and if you like economics and space stuff, you will like this game. It is not for everyone but it is a gem for those who enjoy this type of game. A player economy on this scale is something special that really sets this apart from other games.
– Real player with 1757.8 hrs in game
UPDATE After 1500 hours played…
There now “gate campers” playing the game. These scumbags sit there and wait for players to travel through gates and then kill them when the come out the other side. Wouldn’t be such a big deal if the game developers didn’t purposely leave the players ship completely vulnerable to attack for about 10 seconds after coming out of a gate. Can’t equip shields, or counter attack. If you have hundreds of $$ worth of mods on your ship, you are shit out of luck, and you loose it all. Not only that, but you have to rebuy insurance for your ship, which can range from $5-$15 depending on your ship.
– Real player with 1560.4 hrs in game
Star Conflict
Star Conflict is a nearly flawless (in my opinion) space combat simulator. The complexities and the fun of this space combat build slowly through the levels, starting from a very high standard and getting better from there. There is an adequate crafting minigame and some half-baked questing. Optimizing the ship is made up of several minigames taken collectively. Optimization in its several pieces makes up a good, fun minigame.
There are areas of the game in need of improvement, yet the game as a whole is certainly in the top ten percent of space simulators. This review makes the case that Star Conflict is easily THE BEST f2p space combat simulator. We will not dwell on the shortcomings here, because the idea here is that you should just enjoy the game as it is at any given time and mostly let the devs worry about how to improve it. Overall, this is a great game.
– Real player with 9185.8 hrs in game
You would think with almost 1500 hours and at least a third of that being money invested I’d rabidly defend this game, but I am not happy with the development direction. I’ll probably still play for as long as I can considering what I’ve invested already, but . . . This game has long deviated from what made me fall in love with it. Remnants are there but I can’t help but comparing. What I really take issue with is how I see customers getting treated. Not me specifically, I am the way I am and I’ve just learned to accept any incoming consequences as a fact of life, to brush them off, and just keep going, but other people who go into things with a certain set of assumptions about their investment both time and money wise . .
– Real player with 1642.2 hrs in game