Ok, so this has been out as a retail release for more than a year. (Originally released in Feb of 2010) I remember being completely psyched for this game. A Sci-Fi FPS MMO made by a company about 2 hours from my house, what’s not to love?
Long story short, I’m not sure what happened but I never ended up buying it because of my new job and how busy I became etc. However they just recently went FtP (Free to Play) and with a price like that it’s hard NOT to play right?
Anyway, lets keep this simple:
Graphically, the game has a very stylized look. Nothing amazing per say, but it has a clean look about it. The interface, although functional, feels and looks a bit clunky. It would be nice for a native method to scale it down, but overall the games appearance is sharp enough that it remains appealing.
Sound wise, the game is alright. Though admittedly the music gets turned down rather fast so I can hear people run around in pvp. The sound is clear enough, and diverse enough that you can use them for audible cues.
Gameplay, well I will say this first off. I like the gameplay, the mechanics, the pve (surprisingly) and the competitive play. I did not however, start out liking them. The simplest way that I can put it is this, there is an amazing simplicity to the 4 class system that works, and enough diversity play style wise to keep me entertained. The 4 classes are:
Assault: General tank and heavy artillery. The class take and deal a considerable amount of damage when speced properly and in pvp can be a king for offensive objective control.
Recon: Stealth? Melee? Sniper? Yea that about sums the class up. Very very sneaky.
Medic: Poisons and heals. Decent damage if required to fight. Overall this class plays well in pve and pvp for their healing and general CC utility.
Robotics: Turrets, drones, heal stations, and recharge stations. The assault in pvp can be the offensive objective king, but a robotics player is the defensive one. Similar to medic in the amount of versatility, but forced largely to choose mobility or survivability.
Each class has 3 trees, one of which is a universal tree called balance. The other 2 are class specific that focuses on play style specialties. For instance, assault is: balance, tank explosive.
I can honestly say as well from my perspective, that balance seems very real. I have yet to be on any particular class and just feel as if I am hopelessly lost against a particular pairing. Like any class based shooter, you should expect limitations to your role, and respond to fill it.
At the same time, the min maxing that people enjoy from other MMO titles exists here as well, so it IS capable to get an edge, it’s not the kind of thing that is out of hand. To be honest with you, I feel CoD titles are less in balance with unlocks than this title is.
Another point of interest is the AvA system, achievements, PvE instances, and just random loot hunting that turns this into a very fun and addictive title. I highly recommend you give it a try (it’s free after all) and just play your way up to 20. You might be surprised, and feel free to contact me in game.
lotekness