Vendetta Online Extended Trial

Hurry up and get over to MMORPG.com - they are offering a free extended trial for the space-based pvp MMO Vendetta Online. But you might be wondering what, exactly, is Vendetta Online. With an active player base numbering in the hundreds (at best), this wouldn't be too surprising.

VO is a subscription-based ($9.99/month) space MMORPG which has been live for going on five years now. On the surface, it is modelled after the space trade/combat archetype of game which has been around since forever (well, 1984 seems like forever-ago). In this way it is very similar to other MMOs like Jumpgate and EVE Online.

One of the most amazing things about VO is that it was/is developed by only four people working in their spare time. While this shows in graphics which are substandard (but really not that bad) and a seeming complete lack of marketing, this also allows for a much more intimate dialogue between the developers and their players. In fact, players are able to directly influence content added to the game - by developing it themselves! That is something you can't find with a mainstream MMO.

One of the other interesting aspects of VO is that it works natively on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. Natively means it has three separate clients compiled for each operating system. Many games that are cross-platform simply have a Windows client that has added compatibility layers to run on a different OS - often degrading performance.

From what I understand Vendetta Online is much more similar to Jumpgate than EVE, as the piloting controls for your ship are twitch-based and rely as much (if not more) on player aiming and reflexes than on skills or equipment. But, like EVE, it has a starbase-based trading system and a physically vast area of space to fly around in. It is also a sandbox-style game with no leveling or even skills (like any RPG there are some "levels" to raise, however).

Instead of levels you get experience points (my term) to apply to licenses which unlock better ships and gear to outfit them with. There are also factions in VO, and so far it is my understanding higher standings will get you vendor discounts and access to more missions.

VO is a rather small game that lacks much of the complexity that EVE offers. I do not see this as a deficit, however. The community as a whole in VO is fairly mature (for an MMO) and tight-knit. There is still a level of complexity that will appeal to people who enjoy space-based sandboxes, but will does not present the amazingly steep learning curve (seen described as a "learning cliff") of EVE.

I don't really want to just compare VO to EVE, but as EVE is the 800-lbs gorilla of this niche, I suppose it is somewhat inevitable. I just want to add one last comparison between the two: combat. And boy the differences are are profound.

As I mentioned, combat in VO is twitch-based. Combat in EVE is based on careful planning and executed by the ship being piloted. This makes VO much more like an ship-based FPS, which I understand is what Jumpgate is all about (I haven't played that though so I can't really say).

While I never disliked combat in EVE, I find myself rather enthusiastic about the combat in VO. Being able to maneouver your ship along six axes while accounting for inertia, targetting and battery-use in a vicious dogfight is super-duper fun. It requires as much quick-thinking and luck as it does fast reflexes.