Elite Dangerous Launch Video More Dangerous Than Game
Where's the trade federation?
Oh, the casual disregard for meaning that forms the backbone of marketing. This Elite: Dangerous launch trailer doesn't mark the launch of the game, because that happens next week on December 16th. It's game-like footage doesn't actually show the game, since it's all pre-rendered. And it's not representative of the activities you'll perform in the game because you can't walk about on foot and while it's certainly capable of spinning frantic space battles, it's mostly a game about being an intergalactic courier.
Don't get me wrong. I like the game that way and I don't mind a bit of a light show for its own sake, so watch the trailer below.
For balance, now watch Brendan's video of what most of your time in Elite: Dangerous will look like, taken from his diary series:
Frontier's trailer isn't untrue, it's just that the reality of Elite is that it has more in common with Euro Truck Simulator 2 - more the start of Phantom Menace, less the end of Return of the Jedi - than a camera swooping after dogfighters suggests.
As noted above, I like that. I loved Euro Truck Simulator 2 and I am looking forward to bumming around spaceports like a scruffy-looking nerfherder, listening to the radio, and eyeing the news board. That's more my cup of space than whirling around in circles while firing lasers at the tail in front.
Still, Frontier should get Sean Bean to narrate a second launch trailer.