Elite: Dangerous

Elite: Dangerous requires an investment of time, patience and regular visits to the game’s fan community. The tutorial covers the extreme basis of starship operation, combat, and docking procedures but everything else in between is up to the player to figure out. Get past these hurdles and you’ll find a space simulation experience like no other, filled with gorgeous galactic vistas and the opportunity for fortune and glory.

The purity and realism of Elite: Dangerous might be a bit too much for newcomers, but a person willing to learn the ropes and grind away for better ships will eventually be rewarded with a terrific sci-fi experience.

The new Elite picks up where the original left and improves its gameplay in every possible way. A great space sim that manages to be deep and complex without becoming too intricate, with room for future improvements. Could be the right reason to plug an Oculus Rift in your PC.

It may not be perfect, but for something so ambitious it's off to a pretty grand start.

Elite: Dangerous is not yet where it wants to be. But it knows the way and is going there with pace. For now, I couldn't think of a better place to be than its passenger seat.

Bold, brave and beautiful - Elite's return aims high and achieves almost all of its grand ambitions. [Mar 2015, p.60]

Elite Dangerous successfully takes the original game and turns it into a true 21st century revolution as you explore the furthermost reaches of the universe.

A great game and, with time, potentially a classic. Much rests on Frontier's ability to build on these broad but somewhat shallow foundations.

The legend returns after thirty years and it was so worth the wait! Freedom is still the most beautiful thing in Elite. You can reach every star you see in the night sky and do pretty much whatever you wish to earn a living – trade, smuggle, complete missions, steal from others, blow pirates to pieces, harvest resources from asteroids. [02/2015, p.58]

Elite: Dangerous deserves the highest praise for its potential. But you still have to look at a real product available today, and that's not as stellar. After a few months many of the problems will be forgotten, but right now Elite: Dangerous is a very young, a bit prematurely issued game full of imperfect features. And at the same time it shines and pulls you in with a unique type of experience.

Elite: Dangerous is a spectacular space simulation. The galactic vistas are breathtaking and the gameplay is complex and fun. The developers still need to work on the multiplayer and on the narrative aspects, otherwise the game tends to be a very long grind to get new ships.

Elite: Dangerous is one of the games with the greatest potential ever seen in the history of this media. At present, we are talking about a title that includes a reproduction in 1: 1 scale of our galaxy, with billions of stars to explore and contents that go far beyond the life expectancy of a human being. In one word: incredible.

Elite: Dangerous is a great starting point that needs to be completed and filled with more content.

Elite may not be a masterpiece, but it is a great return to a genre that’s been long irrelevant.

The biggest fault you can make in Elite: Dangerous is waiting till the game lends you a hand. That is not gonna happen, as this is a sim in which you decide your own fate. So, how you experience this game is totally up to you. This freedom and the fantastic flight model makes the milky way your playground. Lovely.

It has potential to become one the greatest space simulators, but controls with mouse and keyboard are awful and we miss planet exploration.

Elite: Dangerous is unforgiving, obfuscating, and occasionally dull, but it’s always immersive and beautiful. It offers an incredible universe to explore that, despite occasional graphical repetition, offers the tantalising possibility of wonders yet unseen at the end of each new hyperspace jump.

You get a Sidewinder. You get some credits. You get the galaxy. What you do with those humble beginnings and where you go from there is entirely up to you. Gameplay wise, apart from the missing multiplayer components, that’s what there is to it. You have a ship, fly that ship. Pursue whatever course you want, literally and figuratively.

For all of its polish in some areas, it has obviously unrefined aspects in others. For all the aspects that let you tell a story about the game, there's little to allow you to create in a story within it.

It still lacks features to add variety and depth, but Elite Dangerous is a great foundation for a really good space simulator and the core ideas, interface and control are fantastic as they are. It will be exciting to see its evolution.

Flying your ship feels good, the galaxy accurately conveys an immense sense of scale, the use of real life stars and planets adds an amazing sense of wonder, and the trading and combat systems have strong cores. Overall, Elite: Dangerous is really cool, but mostly as a tease of what it could be.

The game doesn’t look finished. I’m not talking about bugs – it’s almost perfect in this regard. But there’s just not enough diversity, even in ship selection. Such meagerness of content is the main reason why spaceflight bliss doesn’t last forever, even though you have 400 billion of star systems at your disposal. [Feb 2015]

We wouldn't say Elite: Dangerous is finished, but it is indeed a great game with solid foundations. With future updates, it can become the great MMO it is aiming to be.

First minute the game takes your breath away and then it entertains you for another couple of hours to end up like a meditative tool for hard working individuals. What a waste and shame for a game in such beautiful environment. [Issue#253]

You can focus on the journey, not the destination – even when some "road work" signs will bother you for the time being in the reincarnated Elite. But their numbers are declining with every new update so a thirty-year-old vision becomes more and more complete.

Frontier's ambition reaches considerably beyond what's in the current build. [March 2015, p.98]

Elite Dangerous is a very ambitious game. Travel through the massive universe in your own spaceship. Trade, explore and fight your way through the galaxy in this epic and enormous game. But keep in mind: the game still has a way to go until it's finished.

To experience it at its best requires an investment of time that some will be unwilling to commit but for those that are, there are months if not years of entertainment scattered throughout its star systems and the opportunity to make good on those childhood dreams of being a space cowboy.

Despite lacking variety in activities at the moment, it has laid the foundation for a very special space sim. [Feb 2015, p.22]

Not nearly everything that was promised is present in this first release, and the lack of cooperative feature is sometimes excruciating. On the other hand, this is still one of the best space sims ever created, and one that can reach very, very far, if supported.

A very ambitious title which has been implemented well so far. It has been "released," however its current base form will leave much to be desired for the majority of players as, while the universe is exceptionally large, what you can actually do, while initially fun and engaging, is quite limited and repetitive.

A year ago, when I was sitting in the cockpit the first time, I was ecstatic – and I still am. The flight model might not be realistic but just feels right. The visuals and acoustics are top notch. But at the same time Braben’s universe feels weirdly outdated and after a while you notice the mistakes in the trading systems as well as faults in other areas. Nonetheless this trip through the galaxy captures the fascination space like almost no other.

Everyone's experiences in Elite: Dangerous will be unique to them, and it only takes a couple of mesmerising ones to justify the early grind.

Provides a lot of fun, but too often demands repeating the same steps to achieve specific goals. That's what makes Frontier's new game very good, but not outstanding.

Elite: Dangerous is a great return to space sim genre. A great starting point with a lot of potential.

It seems likely that the depth and scale of the experience is only going in one direction: to the stars.

The success of the Kickstarter delivered a fun and technically solid game, but the real deal are David Braben's future development plans for a game that can become a new masterpiece. We want to believe.

I love it and hate it in equal measure, not the least because it's completely taken over my life this past week. But man, I really can't wait to play more.

For all its frustrations, you'll spend much longer in the sweet spot than you spend getting there. Elite: Dangerous demands much, but repays your devotion many times over.

A colossal space sim that offers an invigorating amount of freedom. It’s just a shame the multiplayer aspect is so half-baked at the moment.

Multiplayer issues aside, Elite: Dangerous is a pretty slick single-player game. If you can look past the always-online connection, this game is the next-gen remastering that space sim fans have longed for since the 1990s. Any faults it does embody are countered by impressively unique features that make it well worth breaking out your joystick once more.

Welcome back in the 80s - Frontier Developments did its job and offers the same game experience that players of the original Elite had 30 years ago. Elite: Dangerous looks pretty and sounds awesome, same for the flight-model, if you're lucky enough, owning a HOTAS. Besides the great space-feeling the core game is simple - raise money, get better equipment. There is no campaign and no cinematic entertainment, it is pure simulation with lots of repetition, but also fascinating content for hours.

A huge universe, thrilling dogfights and interesting space ships - but the random missions and missing links to a story are disappointing.

The first hours in Elite: Dangerous are a totally new experience for newcomers in the space sim genre. But, when the freshness fades, the only thing that is left is some kind of mmo with flaws. That being said, the flying and the space fights are very entertaining.

As Elite: Dangerous is continually updated, I’m hoping we get a better sense of the overarching story and our participation in it, more opportunities to have an impact in the enormous open world, and more chances to participate in activities with fellow pilots and pirates.

Elite: Dangerous is a beautiful game and an amazing space sim let down by a universe devoid of character and low on excitement.

Perhaps the next true frontier is the search for a procedural generation system that can create something more ostentatious, something that can surprise…something not so visible derived from an underlying system of ones and zeroes. But then, maybe it's there in Elite: Dangerous, in its way, and the problem is that I need to learn to start being more impressed by LaGrange points.

Elite: Dangerous offers a vast and remarkably authentic galaxy with magnificent views to explore. Sadly it feels somewhat desolate with only artificial life. In combination with often repetitive tasks this might alienate some but space enthusiasts. Still it can be quite addictive and will hopefully grow with future expansions.

While being full of good features and clever ideas, Elite Dangerous feels like its release has been rushed in order to get ahead of Star Citizen. The games lack player interactions and the happenings have very little impact on the gameplay, maybe the humongous 400 billion systems map should have been scaled to the numbers of players. A game that shows great potential, but has yet to achieve it.

There's still a lot of work to do and missing features, but the base of Elite Dangerous is incredibly solid and the game is a must have for fans of the franchise and the genre.

Elite: Dangerous is a beautiful arcade experience, plugged into an empty galaxy, one so big and bold that it might trick you into thinking there’s more to see and do than there really is. You’ll probably love it anyway.

A welcome return for the pioneering space adventure, but despite a solid start it will need a steady supply of new content and tweaks to reach elite status.