5 ways that DUST 514 is different to other FPS games
PSU community vet and PSU GHOST SYNDICATE Director Holly explains 5 ways that DUST 514 differs from typical shooter games.
DUST 514 is the new MMOFPS and gives a new take on first person shooter games. As a fan of FPS games DUST 514’s approach is very refreshing. It is not like your normal FPS and here are 5 reasons why.
It’s free!
DUST 514 is completely free. It’s not often you come across a free FPS game and certainly not one that is given this much investment by its developer. CCP already has the hugely successful MMORPG EVE Online that has been running for nearly ten years and has both games based in the same universe, allowing for interaction between the two. While EVE makes money through subscriptions, DUST 514 makes money through microtransaction purchases. The game will receive 3 or 4 free sizeable expansions a year to keep the game constantly evolving and fun to play.
The story is entirely in the online
While your usual FPS has a campaign that houses the story and an additional online multiplayer to add a different dimension, DUST has everything in the online multiplayer. In-game, four empires and user-created corporations wage wars on each other to claim territory and amass wealth. DUST and EVE players have the option to work with and against each other to achieve these objectives. Soon there will be a planetary conquest mode that gives corporations the chance to hold their own territory that they will have the responsibility of defending and expanding. This enables players to develop part of the story themselves.
It has its very own economy
Now this is something you probably haven’t seen in a game before and is probably one of the features of DUST 514 that is difficult to get your head around. You can normally expect to play online and gain rank like in Killzone or Call of Duty but in DUST you’re playing to improve your equipment. If you want to compare this part of the game to a normal FPS then imagine it like this: where a player’s rank will normally reflects how good someone is, a player’s equipment will usuallyreflect how good the player is in DUST.
You get equipment through the game’s very own market. To buy the equipment you first have to possess the skills to use it and then have enough ISK to buy it. (At this point it’s worth noting that whenever you die in battle you lose all the equipment you had on you.) You train skills using skill points (SP) which are earned actively in battle and passively, whether you’re on the battlefield or not. You also earn ISK from participating in battles. The better you perform the more SP and ISK you will be rewarded. And as you lose equipment in battle you will restock after each battle and so the cycle begins – the DUST 514 economy.
Deep character building
So considering what has already been said in this article you may be thinking that the longer a person has been playing this game the more considerable advantage they will possess over players who have not been playing for quite as long. This is not necessarily true and this is because of the deep character building involved. I’ve been put off games like Call of Duty where if you don’t buy the game immediately the online multiplayer is a joke for new players where you will certainly be dominated by players who have been playing from launch as they have more advanced features available to them. This is not the case with this game.
In DUST, players who have been playing longer will have been able to sink SP into more skills than you if you have only been playing for a few weeks or so. That is guaranteed. However, the deep character building means that it’s no easy feat to get the top notch equipment nor is it easy to obtain the skills that enhance the best equipment. Not to mention there is also the tough decision of which skill do you focus on? There’s so many that even if you focus solely on one you will lack greatly in all others. This ... (continued on next page)
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