At this time in my life I don't have the necessary patience to grind, grind, grind, grind... and grind some more. And every free-to-play game relies on the grind to make money. The logic being, "Hey players that want to climb the ladder to avoid the grind they'll pay real money to buy items and XP boosts in the game! Cha-ching!"
Think it's boring to run between objectives? Well, there are vehicles available for purchase right now rather than grind with the idea that one day, maybe, you'll have enough in-game currency to buy one and affirm yourself a masochist.
With Firefall, I began with the mindset that I wouldn't spend any real world money. That forced me into an uncomfortable hole; taking every mission offered, killing groups of enemies for anaemic XP earnings and scraps of resources, the grind, grind, grind. I could have purchased some Red Beans with real money but it always looked like a... well, not a winning proposition:
- 800 beans - $100US
- 400 beans - $50US
- 160 beans - $20US
- 80 beans - $10US
- 40 beans - $5US
Maybe the in-game purchases are cheap? Nope on that one, too.
A vehicle is 175 beans, cosmetic eye gear ranges from 30 - 200 beans, decals starting at 50, advanced warframes 100, warpaint 30, pets 50, hair 40... I could itemize everything but you should be able to figure out that the cost can rack up real fast if you dive deep. It's at times like these that I really miss City of Heroes. You paid for a game, and you got a game! (And a monthly fee.)
Eventually I got to the point where upgrades/repairs were necessary to keep pace with my experience level and match the power of the enemies. The game trips again! Firefall assumes a certain level of existing knowledge of menu and inventory management that isn't explained. Actually, the entire introduction is extremely basic, with only the barest of demonstrations of each warframe/class and no indication of where that class will actually end up or even the direction that class will move.
Once I got into the upgrades, item management and selling things.... it was a lot of poking around with nary an explanation from the game. At one point I "sold" the weapons I had equipped and I had to flub around for what seemed like hours to get something that was comparable. Explanation is thin on the ground as to what everything does and blankly starring at menus like a chicken at the controls of a rocket never helped.
It's too bad because I actually find the world interesting to run through (at least the first three times) since it brings to mind being shrunk and set loose in a vibrant version of Earth. A futuristic, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, at least in the early going.
Snazzy scenery does not equal fun though. Even teaming up doesn't put much resistance against the push of boredom.
There are plenty of free-to-play games out there so saying Firefall is worth a look simply because it's free is pointless. It lowers the bar to entry, certainly, but free does not make a game good or worth your time. (That half-eaten pizza you saw on the curb last night, it was free but you didn't chomp down on that, did you?) I'll stick with it for a little longer to see if things pick-up and spend some more time with the Open World PvP to see if it pushes Firefall's needle a little on the excitement meter.
- D.D. Nunavut (with screens and some input from Aaron Simmer)
The Good:
- It is free... mostly
- Big and bright, easy to look at
The Bad:
- If you want anything other than a grinding experience bust out the wallet
- Still plenty of room for tweaking and adjustments
