Earth and Beyond First Look

Mission assignments in this game are divided into two categories: personalized and crafted. If the player selects a task out of the 'personalized' group, his skills will automatically be scanned and he shall receive his assignment accordingly. The missions in the 'crafted' category are tightly connected to the Earth and Beyond storyline and they continue the flow of the plot. Basically, your duties will vary from simple exploration and discovery missions, to the combat-oriented ones (you will have the possibility to accept trade, exploration, or combat missions, regardless of the profession you've chosen in the beginning). Another interesting feature allows you to take your little ship down to a planet's surface, searching for indigenous life, or colonists. You can also encounter the so-called "old-masters," that may give you special additional skills.

Concerning gameplay, Earth and Beyond is a game that has many various features, which depend on the player's choice; meaning if you selected a character who is, let's say, a member of the aggressive Prognen race, that must mean you've decided to become the ultimate warrior. However, if you desire to fulfill your destiny as a successful trader, Terran's are the ideal race to pick. And finally, if you prefer exploration, the Jenquai are definitely your best choice. But, as I mentioned earlier, every type of mission (trade, explore, or combat) will be accessible, no matter what race or character you choose.

The selection of character is also important, because his skills largely reflect on the powers and capabilities of your ship. During combat your character will gather experience, which he can later use for improving his attacks.

Interestingly enough, the game dismisses the traditional death sequence, in which you loose all of your possessions and then need to respawn; Earth and Beyond brings a more appropriate solution. Your ship will just be put out of action, which means that you won't be dying - instead you'll be required to repair your ship. If you do not happen to have enough of the required resource for the ship's patch up, the computer will fix it up to a minimal operational status, so you could continue to play normally. Regarding death, it also might interest you to know that players will be able to kill each other only in certain sections, which cover about 20% percent of the Earth and Beyond Universe. This is a part of space where players can engage in PvP combat if they wish to do so. As for the rest of the areas they will be strictly non-PvP.

While many other massive multiplayer-online games are still 'cooking,' Earth and Beyond is winging its way to the very top of the game industry bringing you quite unique variety of features, including an assortment of ships, weapons, and diverse worlds to discover. So, as you can see, we cannot possibly take you through every single aspect of this game cause that would simply take an eternity. The good thing is that once the game launches, the developers intend to expand the universe and worlds even more.

Although, it is important to highlight that the beta testing version had been scheduled for release soon and it will be playable on the EA.com network. If you're interested, more information regarding beta sign-ups can be obtained at the official Earth and Beyond web site.