Add the fact that the game has raised around 100M dollars as of the 25th of December, 2015 making it the first crowd funded game in the world to have achieved such a feat, it’s only natural to say that there will be a lot of people taking on a pessimistic view.
It’s easy to think that the game would turn out to be a huge disappointment or not get completed at all and honestly? You can’t blame the people who think so. The game has been in development since the fall of 2012, and it’s still in the early alpha stages right here in 2016.
However, the general consensus out there is that even after all these years, the backers of Star Citizen only have access to a fancy hangar where they can board their ship and/or look at it in all its glory.
That’s just one of the misconceptions floating out there. You need only look at any video related to Star Citizen or a discussion forum, and you will find people attacking the game and the people who’ve pledged money to it for different reasons.
I recently took the dive and made my pledge to Star Citizen (I’m a sucker for space sims). I knew I might be making a mistake paying for a game that we’ve got no concrete release date on, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I’ve seen so, as objectively as I can, I will address the most popular misconceptions out there.
Pledging only gets you a hangar
To put it simply, this is what the general public think Star Citizen is:
Still pretty. I mean look at her!
This might have been the case back in 2013, but there’s more to what’s available in the game right now than simply walking around in your hangar.
The alpha 2.0 (2.1 hit the server at the time of writing this article) is available on the live server and it offers you the ‘Arena Commander’ module that allows you to take part in a training program that covers everything from basic flight to combat.
The arena commander module includes, just to name a few, a simulation where you can hone your combat skills by fighting hordes of drones, improve your piloting skills in a race against time along with a few modes of play in PVP including co-operative play as well. There’s more included, but that’s just the gist of it.
Additionally, you have access to the ‘universe’ where you can get a taste of how Star Citizen may function in the future as a persistent universe. While limited in what you can do (it is still alpha), the extent of what you can, for now, offer glimpses into what could be.
For now, you can take off in your ship and complete a few odd jobs, which will have you quantum jumping all over the universe. You have access to a few weapons (if you know where to find them) and could ruin a fellow citizen’s day. Well… at least until they wake up again and try to exact their revenge.
The point is, there is plenty more you can do right now in Star Citizen than what people seem to think and additionally, at the very least, it should assure you that the game is getting closer to becoming a reality.
You need a $2000+ PC to run it
You’d be surprised at how often this is quoted. While the game does look far more graphically advanced than most, you don’t necessarily need to break the bank trying to get a PC to run this game.
The minimum requirements you need to run Star Citizen are:
Windows 7 (64 bit) – Service Pack 1, Windows 8 (64 bit) DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM Quad core CPU 8GB Memory
While this does mean those with older PC’s (dual cores) are left out in the dust, this is not such a difficult entry today. Of course playing the game on its lowest settings will be a bummer, but with a decent mid range PC (~800$-1300) you should be able to get the game to look good. The CryEngine does its job well in that aspect.
If you have a PC with a DirectX 12 graphics card though you’re ensured a visually stunning experience. I personally invested in a 970M for my laptop, and it runs just fine on very high-high settings.
The CryEngine is just awesome
The developers are constantly optimizing the game and all the signs point to the game being optimized more and more to provide a smoother experience so rest assured, you don’t need to go broke building yourself one of the best PC out there
It won’t be released for years more
This one probably is the most understandable in the list. After all, it has been 4 years. After getting a taste of Star Citizen for myself, I’d have to say that the current tentative release date of 2016 (as far as speculations go) is extremely optimistic. Yes, the game has come a long way, but we’re still in the alpha stages, and we have to keep the sheer scale of the game in mind.
But does this mean we’d have to wait until the year 2020 or so to see the completed game? No. The alpha is filled with backers who all want to help push the game out of the gate and every patch update the Star Citizen alpha gets pushes it even closer to a release date. The developers hope to have a persistent universe going by the end of this year so by the time that happens, who knows how much more will have changed? It wouldn’t be far-fetched to think that we will be seeing a Star Citizen beta towards the final quarter of 2016.
All I can say is, after what I’ve experienced with the alpha and seeing the advancements the game makes with each day, it doesn’t seem like we will have to wait quite as long as some people would like us to believe.
So…do not be afraid of looking into this game. Do your own research about the game instead of listening to that person on the internet claiming Star Citizen is a scam. Look at what’s available right now and decide for yourself if you want to get involved and help bring this game out the gate faster.
I must say, though, I don’t want to be held responsible if you drop thousands of dollars into a virtual ship. We all know that it’s an option right? Right?!
