Earth & Beyond

by Electronic Arts

Product Details

• ASIN: B000067O0P
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,752 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

Product Description

Product Description
Earth & Beyond is the first online role-playing galaxy. This galaxy is filled with monsters and strange new worlds, but it is also home to thousands of other players from around the world. Players create unique characters and starships and can affect the galaxy, but the game persists even after individual players log off. Alien encounters, fierce combat, cutthroat commerce, new discoveries, perilous quests, strategic alliances, diplomatic backstabbing, and epic wars await you and the friends you'll adventure with.

Earth & Beyond lets you build your character and career in three distinct ways: exploration, trade, and combat. The game is designed around these three activities, and each race, profession, skill, starship, and item affects how well you do these core activities.

Explorers have access to hidden locales, the best sensors, the most accurate maps, the fastest ships, and stealth capabilities. Tradesmen make and sell goods, run trade routes, go on trade missions, have the biggest cargo holds, and do whatever it takes to make a profit. Warriors thrive on combat, destroying enemies, going on dangerous missions, and protecting their friends during perilous missions.

It's a big galaxy. How far will you go?

• Form Powerful Alliances: The galaxy is populated with thousands of brave starship captains like you. Team up for group adventures to reap the benefits of cooperative exploration, trade, and combat.
• Lead Mankind's Galactic Expansion: Visit fascinating alien worlds, discover strange space phenomena, harvest precious resources, fight in massive battles, and trade your goods at thriving star bases.
• Create and Command Your Starship: Start your career in style with a powerful starship that you design, paint, and name. Upgrade your starship with new weapons, engines, shields, and devices.
• Live Your Own Life: Become powerful by succeeding in the challenges you enjoy the most, including combat, exploration, and trade. Choose from a variety of space-faring careers, each with a unique blend of potent skills.
• Star in a Sci-Fi Epic: As this epic story of humanity's struggle to colonize the stars unfolds, the galaxy will change before your eyes. Your actions, and those of your allies and enemies, will determine the fate of humanity and the course of the galaxy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Warning : EA Games has Closed these Servers, October 20, 2005

By	TextbookBiz - See all my reviews

Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

EA Games decided to close out the game on Setpember 22, 2004 so it can no longer be played. Please keep this in mind when purchasing this game.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Executive Summary, September 23, 2002

By	Richard Jenkins (Norfolk, VA) - See all my reviews

I've been playing for about 1 month in beta. Overall this game's worth the money.

PROS:

- HUGE game environment with nearly limitless replay value. You will not find yourself lacking things to do.
- This is NOT an arcade game. Combat is essentially a timed test of your ability to manage your ships resources. Exploration is fun, and you won't lack interesting sites to visit (like the Science Exhibit (Zoo) of space monsters.
- Interacting with other players is fun. You can form groups to do missions together, make friends, or even join a guild. In fact, it is the potential enjoyment one can get from this community that makes this game stand out.
- Graphics! Wow! and the sound is good too. The advertisements in the stations are an example of the realism. Nine out of Ten Progen Warriors agree.
- The story line, while I haven't paid much attention to it, is there. Apparently there's some bad aliens (they killed me once) lurking about as a result of the Progen activating some ancient relic.
- You will spend a lot of time playing this game.

CONS

- This is NOT an arcade game. Your desire, if you have it, for arcade combat will not be satisfied.
- Travel is very time-consuming. During some trips I have time to get up and clean the kitchen while traveling.
- Trade is so-so, but a great way to make money for upgrades to your ships systems. The thing that holds trade back from becoming fun is that becoming rich in the game doesn't do as much for you as becoming wealthy in real life. Also, there doesn't seem to be an overall shortage in credits, meaning players who trade to build in-game wealth can't even use it to purchase services from players who simply enjoy blasting stuff.
- Dealing with real-live players is also time consuming. Imagine trying to build a relationship with your neighbor, but with the only means of communication a series of one-line messages. Use travel time to catch up with your buds.
- Lag. I imagine this will get better as more servers are brought online. But, it stinks having your mouse locked up, leaving you helpless, while the games NPCs are blasting away at you.
- You will spend too much time playing this game.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars E&B has good points and bad points, September 24, 2002

By	Damon J. Casale (Seffner, FL USA) - See all my reviews

It looks like people either love it or hate it, with very little in-between! Well, here's another "I love it" review, but first let me respond to some of my fellow reviewers.

It looks like a person's playing style has a big impact on whether or not they'll enjoy Earth & Beyond. For example, some people would want a lot of options when it comes to space combat. This game has a few combat choices, but contrary to the opinion of one reviewer there _are_ combat tactics. You can cloak and decloak. You can teleport yourself, your enemies or your friends. You can jumpstart friends that have been damaged. It's more than just warp in, attack, and hope you win.

Myself, I really enjoy the exploration aspect of the game. The NPC personalities are very well done -- they're as good as the ones in Wing Commander or the Ultima series. Most of the quests may be FedEx style, but is there really much else that you can have in space? However, if Westwood would craft a greater variety of quests, there would be a lot more draw to the game, IMHO. I think this is in the works, given the sightings of unknown aliens and the alien capture of one notable NPC. If I were to compare this to a novel, I'd say give Westwood a chance to get past the prologue, for goodness' sake! There's a lot of potential here.

Now to the other reviewer beefs. Some reviewers have complained about how long it takes to get anywhere. Well, there are races that have much slower engines than others. If you want to do a lot of traveling, choose a different race. One reviewer claimed that E&B was just Everquest in space. I beg to differ! I personally can't stand EverQuest, but I enjoy E&B very much. EverQuest takes forever to get to the point where it's actually fun to play whereas E&B is fun immediately, and getting from place to place in EverQuest takes MUCH longer than in E&B. Quests in EverQuest are harder to find and they don't seem quite as satisfying. (I do enjoy the greater variety of classes, monsters, weapons and environments in EverQuest, though.) Maybe E&B could use some more play-balancing to make things a little more fun, but the game is very enjoyable as-is.

In conclusion, if you like the idea of a MMORPG in a space environment, and if you'd enjoy the "flavor" that the NPCs and the storyline-relevant quests give to the game (a-la Wing Commander or the Ultima series), by all means buy it. However, if you're looking for a space sim or are anxious for lots more content right away, you might be wise to take your $$ elsewhere.