E3: Elite Dangerous Excellent on Xbox One

Frontier Developments jumps the controller hurdle on the move to Xbox One.

Externally, it seems as if the greatest accomplishment that the members of Frontier Developments surpassed with Elite: Dangerous was cramming an entire galaxy into the game. I've always dreamt of setting course to Sirius so I could see the origins of the human species, but I might just end up in a space battle instead of between two unknown races of advanced powers and weapons. That's one of the lures behind Elite: Dangerous. We never know what we'll end up with in plotting our way across the stars. This year's E3 was an exciting venture into the dark unknown at the Elite: Dangerous booth, and ZAM got to see the game flourish on the Xbox One.

The internal accomplishment, one far greater for the devs than just mapping the entire Milky Way galaxy (including Voyager!) was how the developers were able to scale the game's myriad of controls and functions down to a limited controller for the Xbox One. I sat and watched game footage while the developer presenting the game wiped his brow while mentioning the feat. However, both accomplishments are quite notable and these devs have done well with their efforts to recreate space exploration down to the finest details possible via actual scientific community feedback.

For those not familiar, Elite: Dangerous released on PC in December 2014. However, there are deeper roots to this kind of space exploration sim: Elite (the original) was the first open-world space sim to hit the shelves in 1984 and the three decades to follow allowed a lot of time and thought to be poured into one massive game development effort for Elite: Dangerous. Anyone can pick up a controller and play how they desire, whether it be combat, trading, or dirty piracy.

The development team is eager to invite Xbox One players to the half million-ish crowd already engrossed into Elite: Dangerous. The developers have added a brand-new PvP mode to welcome new players featuring 6v6 player combat within three modes: Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch. With a full 1080p HD output, support for VR implementation, new and exclusive game modes, a new ship, and a team of coders listening to community feedback, this is the space simulation game that Xbox players need if they want to own the starry void.


Follow Jeffery "Undestructed" Wright on Twitter @WrightJeffD

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