Eve Vanguard is an FPS game that is currently in development by CCP Games. Being an Eve Online player, I got a limited-time free trial to test out the game during an event. While in Eve Online, battles are fought in space, in Eve Vanguard, they are fought on the ground.
It should not be any shock to anyone that I'm not a huge FPS fan. While I do enjoy games that are not PvP with guns. In general, being on a battlefield and fighting other players over possible objectives. Never really my thing. I, however, wanted to check this one out anyway.
My first impression of the game within my first two hours of playing was not great. I was not having any fun and almost did not return to it. In that time, I did the basic tutorial that felt like it was tuned a little too hard. I then ended up on a planet with other players, where I kept getting camped and ganked. So, I was kind of over it at first.
Before any deployment. You get to pick your gun loadout and the mods (chipsets) that are in the gun. The lower-tier chipsets have negative effects on them. The higher-tier ones not only offer better stats but are void of many of the negative effects, like a lower gun RPM or dealing less damage.
With every deployment to a planet. They give you this space view before you drop down into a pod and land. I kind of wish this cut scene could be skipped. I understand that this is their way of showing you something while there is a loading screen going on.
While at first it did create some excitement in me for wanting to play the game. The sounds and the moments before I landed ended on a planet. Almost puts me in a certain mood for combat with NPCs and other players. I could see myself getting rather bored with it after a while.
The tutorial started decently, and as you would expect. The game is just giving you the basic rundown of some of the things. Mind you, a lot of stuff that you do outside of being on a planet was rather lacking in information. With this game not even being out yet in “early access,” I can give a bit of a break on that front.
At the end of the tutorial, you are just left feeling overwhelmed. While you are still trying to grasp the basics of the game. There are just endless waves of NPCS trying to kill you. If you get killed, you have to run all the way back from the start.
That feeling of just being way too overwhelmed and not enough breathing room is also an issue in a select small number of events you end up doing on planets as well. As if it’s not enough to run into a group of other players that will kill you on sight. If you are solo, sometimes the NPCs coming in from a bunch of different events near you are just too much. Till the point you have run out of bullets and are not even given enough time to loot corpses for more or to craft any.
The different environments in the game were amazing to look at. Lots of just society has fallen. You are just trying to gather needed resources from what is left. Everything is torn apart, destroyed, and there are even some environmental traps to avoid as well.
That was perhaps the thing I enjoyed the most. Just looking at the view. I know that is kind of odd in a FPS game. I, however, am not an FPS kind of gamer. So, for me, other elements of the game stand out a lot more.
While there were only a couple of planets at the time of playing. It was just fun checking out different areas. Sometimes I'd go to one planet to run an assignment. Other times, I'd be going to another planet as I needed the ores you could only mine on them to craft a new gun.
When you are on a planet, the game works on a clone system. You can turn in 50 biomass to a clone bank to buy another clone. Once you run out of clones, not only are you done, but you lose everything on you. Including the gun and the mods (chipsets) you had on it. A harsh lesson to learn early on.
The most frustrating thing about this game, as it stands, is just trying to work out the different missions on a given planet. It’s something I've brought up elsewhere when talking about the event that was going on for a couple of weeks.
While many of them are quite simple. Like accessing a pod and just waiting for the code to open it for loot to decrypt. On long with other types, where you are just clicking on five different keys as they pop up. Many are not like that at all.
The ones where you need to craft an item to use to interact with the objects scattered across the map come to mind. You might need an item drop that is not anywhere near any of those objective points. If you have yet to come across it or recall where or even how to get that item needed for crafting. You just waste a lot of time running around near objective points looking for what you need, and it’s not even there.
There is also nothing like getting the item you needed. Crafting the object needed to interact with the object. Then getting to that object just to get killed. Now I understand that it is part of the game, and thus why I just don’t care for FPS like this in general.
Sure, there are banks on the map that you can go to and deposit items in. That is a way of keeping them safe. You could also, if you know the type of mission you are doing, deploy with the needed crafted items right away.
I also found myself having to open the main map way too much. For a waypoint for an objective you're going after, you must be on top of it. While you can pull up a mini map that shows your general area. There was still far too much having to consult the main map, where you don’t see any hostiles incoming to finish you off.
As you can see, there is also a lot going on regarding the map. So, I'm at least thankful you get a larger map to see all the different sites you can run. I would rather not have to open it up when trying to get to an objective and find myself having to take a major detour, as the path forward was in fact a dead-end, or is taking me in a direction I know is not toward where I want to be going.
I also kind of enjoy the fact that you might be on a planet not even doing any objectives on it. At one point, I stopped to mine some needed resources so I could do some crafting when I'm off the planet.
I would even sometimes deploy to a planet knowing it dropped some item I needed. I’d avoid any players if I could. Along with NPCs, as to why waste bullets when you don’t need to? Get what I needed and then spawn the beacon to leave.
That, for me, is more of where my interest in a game like this would end up being. The PvE side, and from my understanding, there is going to be more PvE stuff added at some point. Sounds like maybe even some PvE planets.
As far as the crafting goes. It’s basic, but for this kind of game, I feel that's how it should be. You can buy limited one-time blueprints. Then, with materials you have farmed on the different planets, you craft an item. The items you craft can either be guns or chipsets.
It seems like there is a way to get permanent blueprints as well. This feels like an area I could see them expanding on a bit in the future. For now, it was good enough to at least get you some needed items. While also giving you a reason to go out and grind for materials.
I started not liking this game. After playing it for a few hours, and not solo. It started to grow on me quite a lot. It's clear that while this game can be played solo, it’s made more for group play.
Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about Eve Vanguard.
Disclosure: This was played before early access was released during one of their free trial periods.
