Warframe (MMOFPS with a little hack n’ slash)

In an effort to find a new game to play, we decided to approach the free to play genre to see if we could find a diamond in the rough.  We started by checking what was hot on Steam, and found Warframe.  Warframe is a hybrid FPS Hack n’ Slash that really got me pumped up after watching the game trailers, so we decided to take the dive and give it a run through.  In Warframe you take the form of an alien race who is attacking the evil human race.  Yes, in this game we’re the bad guys.  The tutorial was rather quick, and within 5 minutes I was on my first mission.

 

Gameplay

First thing you’ll need to do is decide on which Warframe you want to start as.  When you first start you can only choose from three Warframes: Rhino, Loki, and Mag;  however there are a total of twelve Warframes to choose from, each with their own special strengths and abilities.  After choosing your Warframe, you can immediately dive into some game play and get your blade wet.  I choose to go with the Mag Warframe, as the ability to magnetize a victim to make all bullets hit him is just awesome.

Mag Warframe Abilities:

• Pull – Pull uses a magnetic force to stun enemies while drawing them into perfect attack range
• Shield Polarize – Depending on the target, Shield Polarize will restore an ally’s shield or damage an enemy’s
• Bullet Attractor – By magnetizing its victim, Bullet Attractor causes firing bullets to redirect and turn on the issuer
• Crush – Crush magnetizes the bones of nearby enemies, causing them to collapse and explode

Grouping Options

With Warframe you have the choice of either playing the game solo, in a private group, or joining public groups.  The interface is a little difficult to understand, so when I thought I was going solo, I was actually joining a public group.  It’s not overly difficult, just if you’re a “I don’t read user manuals” type of guy like me, you’ll probably have some trouble at first.  User error aside, I found it incredibly easy to join a group game when I wanted to.    You can view the amount of people currently in that particular mission and join in the middle of it, or continue with your previous group by voting on a new mission.  Group play isn’t as dependent on your groups skills like in other games, so there is little frustration when grouping with a bad group.

Hybrid FPS / Hack n’ Slash

While the game revolves around a mixed system of FPS and hack n’ slash, I found it quite easy to just stick with my guns and still out damage other players within the mission.  The mechanics for shooting are on par with any FPS out there, the hack n’ slash is a little unique, so it may take some time playing with it to get used to it.  The abilities you have often improve your play style, whether it be shooting or slashing.  Since I’m horrible at hack n’ slash type game play, I used the “Pull” ability which pulled the enemy to me, stunned them, and allowed me to just spam my melee button.  Then of course there is the bullet attractor skill so you can just cast it and spray around the room like a blind man while still hitting your intended target.

Missions

The early missions typically revolve around you clearing out enemies and reaching objectives throughout the map.  The maps do feel a little recycled as you’ll often go through portions of the map that are exactly the same, or maybe I was going around in circles, i’m unsure honestly.  Deeper into the game there are rescue missions, raid missions, sabotage missions, defense missions, and alert missions.  Alert missions are rather difficult, however offer larger rewards than the other missions due to their difficulty.  The game is definitely one that rewards you as difficulty increases, as some missions can not be completed solo.  The bosses in certain missions are not ones to be taken lightly.  It should be noted that these missions are not open world, this is a very linear type game.  If you ever played any other MMO, imagine these missions like Instances.

Loot

Once the mission is complete, you’ll have an assortment of items picked up from mobs, storage containers, and storage lockers.  You can also find blueprints within the mission or by purchasing them in the store.  You pick up resources while in the mission that allow you to build the item on those blueprints.  The items from blueprints can not be found anywhere else within the game and from what I’ve read, the items made from blueprints are the best items you can get.

“Mods” are also found with the missions.  Mods allow you to upgrade your Warframe and your weapons.  Also you can combine certain mods together to form unique mods.  Each Mod has a “level”, so if your mod is level 4 and you’re level 2, you’ll be unable to use it until reaching level 4.  However, if you have two mods at level 2, and you’re level 4, then you’ll be able to use both mods.

Money System

You have your typical cash system, called credits, used to buy new items from the store, where you of course can also pay real cash to buy items.  I’m unsure of the pay-to-win scheme with this game, but everything I read or watched before playing Warframe stated that the best items in-game items only come from in-game sources, you can’t buy them with real money.  So the advantage of real money here is too only level faster, and do more damage earlier in the game.

Final Thoughts

This game is still considered to be in open beta, so an 8.5 for an open beta is quite good.

This game has an incredible “feel” to it.  It honestly feels like a $60 game, that just needs a bit of polishing to make it perfect.  For a gamer that enjoys the level grinding, item creation, and character manipulation  then this game is probably golden for you.  I spent about 2 hours playing it, and honestly could have kept going if I felt like it.  However it reminded me too much of Guild Wars, where you grind and grind, then left with that “What do I do now?” feeling.  Some people greatly enjoy that, it’s just not up my alley.  If they missions were polished up a bit more to not feel as repetitive I’d give this game a solid 9, whereas someone who enjoys these types of game may actually give it 9.5 or possibly a 10.  It’s a really solid shooter/hack n’ slash hybrid.

You can get started by going here and signing up for your free Warframe account.

Keep a look out for more of these reviews.  I’ll be posting up more free to play reviews throughout next week.  We’ve got to find the best!

Check out Episode 2, where we take a look at the free to play FPS Arctic Combat