EVE Echoes First Impression: This Game Has A Soul

EVE Echoes is the mobile spin-off of the popular MMO EVE Online, which currently enjoys one of the most active communities in the world of video gaming. The game is set to enter open beta this December, and here is our first impression of it

EVE Echoes Open Beta trailer

This game has a soul

Space-based MMOs are not a rare sight on the mobile platform. We have reported on several of these such as Star Trek Fleet Command or Second Galaxy, but overall they still feel like they lack something – a draw that makes players want to come back for more.

EVE Echoes looks like it has more to offer than the vast majority of mobile MMOs available at the moment. It’s really hard to pinpoint exactly what, but there’s substance to it. Maybe it’s because EVE Online has such an active and friendly community to it, so it was easy for the developer to capture the charm and bring it over to the touch screen. Or maybe we are just fascinated by the sheer size of this massive universe and everything in it.

In any case, if there is something about EVE Echoes that all developers should try to imitate, then it’s listening to what the community has to say. Yes, this is by no means the only game whose updates are driven by its players, but we believe this should be a standard among major game developers. Big companies should focus more on bringing a good experience to players rather than on simply making as much money as they possibly can.

First Impressions

But let’s have a look at the main thing: The gameplay. EVE Echoes is one of those games that you can spend hundreds of hours in and still feel like you have not really accomplished anything.  And that is not a complaint. It’s just a message telling you that you are doing this wrong. Sure, you can be a lone wolf and do everything by yourself, but where is the fun in that? That’s not how a proper MMO should work. By making new friends and working together toward a common goal, you’ll be able to save a lot of time.

All the fancy words aside, let us just simply say this: The gameplay is good. You can clearly see many similarities with the original PC version, but several differences are present as well. The UI, for instance, has been overhauled completely to better suit the touchscreen. Unfortunately, this has also come at a cost: Some mechanics have been watered down. We can’t say that we are surprised by this, though. It’s something you should expect to see from a mobile port.

Hardcore fans of EVE Online will probably find the combat of Echoes somewhat lackluster. You just don’t feel too engaged in all the aerial fights anymore, as things feel very much… automated. More often than not your weapons will shoot on their own, you can’t pull off maneuvers too easily, and changing targets doesn’t really do anything to give you an advantage. All things considered, the system seems like it needs more polish.

Final thoughts

There are tons of other features to discuss, but we feel like it’s still too early to go too deep into them. At its current state, Echoes is clearly not finished just yet. Bringing such a massive game as EVE Online to mobile is undoubtedly not an easy task, so we’ll have to wait and see what form the game will take when it officially launches. We will leave you with this, though: We have confidence in this one because as we said, there is a soul to it – something you don’t often see from a mobile MMORPG.