The Beta opens up with an action packed video showing the intense battles that take place planet-side and in space. Sadly, that’s about all the fun that’ll be had with this game.

It all begins in the Nexus, a different take on the usual “main menu hub”. For one, its not just a collective of drop-down choices. Its a fully rendered 3D hub with a controllable avatar that reflects the modifications each player applies. You walk around your private area to change settings, load-outs, purchase weapons/armor/augmentations, and to take jobs/join matches.

If you’re not familiar with EVE Online, your ships are the bread and butter of gameplay. There are slots for add-ons changing stats and other mods. In Dust, your dropsuit takes the place of ships. All mods are managed through the slots on your suit and you can upgrade via the game’s marketplace.

 

The gameplay itself treads the line between subpar and decent. The objective based gameplay is engaging and the maps are huge. These things force a degree of teamwork that’s missing from most online fps titles. Also, taking notice of each players skills and dropsuits plays a big part in combat effectiveness. You can have a heavy loadout primed for infantry destruction and lose an objective because you weren’t prepared for the tank that casually rolled through.