There's no shortage of shooters on the market--throw a stone and you're likely to ping it off some poor sucker's modern military helmet. What's rarer are shooters where you control exclusively vehicles, and what's rarer yet is shooters which makes you feel like those vehicles are actually, truly powerful. It's here that Yager, developer of Spec Ops: The Line, hopes to set itself apart with Dreadnought. In it, you're fighting team battles in a wide variety of ships--some as small as the Millennium Falcon, and some as large as Battlestar Galactica.
Each ship is basically a "class," with different classes having a number of different cruisers to choose from. When I played it I went for the big guns, grabbing a destroyer-class ship and hitting the sky with all the explosions I could fire--I was basically Team Fortress' Heavy, playing alongside a variety of ships that filled in other, traditional shooter roles. One was basically the Scout, while felt more akin to the Medic or the Sniper. But despite that, it still felt like a game where I was piloting a massive ship, instead of a shooter reskinned with metal vessels. You can shift your power to shields, speed, or damage, and area-of-effect attacks are paramount. When everyone worked together it played out like a huge Star Wars battle. At one point I warped into the middle of the enemy army, launched a nuclear warhead on the nearest Support cruiser, and put up my shield. A few seconds later and the screen flashed white; A few seconds more and two ships crumpled and disintegrated beside me.
Other elements of the game were discussed, but not shown off, including ship customization and an exciting monetization strategy. Seriously, the developers seemed legitimately pumped when we asked about how this free-to-play game was going to make money. It was weird and mysterious, and I'm excited to see more.
Check out the following screenshots for additional info!
The different ships look totally unique.
The biggest ships are the slowest, but some have the ability to teleport around.
Though you're controlling space ships, you're not actually fighting in space in every level.
Sniping is fun, especially when your sniper rifle is actually a massive ship.
Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade.
