So long story short, Warframe ... is a free to play 4 player co-op online PvE space ninja shooty slashy type affair.
It isn't the best game in the world but plays a lot like co-op Space Marine but with much more freedom and unlocks (which don't rely on PvP kills).
Now for the shameless bit, the link is using their referral program, which for every 5 people who sign up and play 10 missions I get something free :D (I thought someone might as well).
It is currently filling the void left by Payday 2 when I reached level 100 so if anyone wants to join in, it would be nice to have some company!
If anyone wants to try it for FNG, I will be online this Friday (29th) although I am off on holiday to the lake district for a week next week.
Comments
Friday is the 30th... not sure if I am around, Mrs hurt her shoulder so needs a bit more help with stuff/TLC.
"Friday is the 30th"
Good point well made.
Totally understand your priorities; I am sure there will be other opportunities.
I should be around. Guilt free due to no study! :D
Rob, other Rob (you can argue out between yourselves which is which) and myself gave Warframe a go on Friday night.
It was...OK? A Third-Person, mission(?)-based game, though the majority of the kills were done with melee. This led to it feeling like a rather manic hack-fest a lot of the time, and there didn't seem to be a huge amount of precision. The game play revolved around following a slightly confusing minimap (the goal marker moved...I think it was trying to lead you along, but instead it had the habit of splitting you up), hacking enemy grunts apart, picking up ammo (never ran out), health (often ran out), power (to charge up special abilities), and mods (to upgrade items, see below). You're supposed to be Space Ninjas, so you have some parkour-like movement abilities, though these are a bit fiddly, and typically constrained to certain environmental locations.
There was a rather complex upgrade system, involving picking up random mods, which could then he equipped as and when you earnt enough upgrade points. You could also fuse mods of the same type together to get more powerful versions of the same mod. Mods took the form of upgrades to weapons, armour, and also some class-specific skills (I had the ability to go invisible, or create a Total Recall hologram that distracted the enemy). Some mods could only be equipped when you were a certain level, and it was here when you started to hit the first wall of "Free"-to-Play.
You can only level up once a day. I suspect this can be bypassed for cash. There was an in-game currency, of which you earnt loads, however go into the Market, and it turns out that most stuff can only be bought with a different type of currency...the cold, hard kind. This really annoyed me...to see a countdown timer to when you can upgrade smacks of F2P mobile gaming, which isn't gaming at all really.
There didn't seem to be a huge amount of difference between the classes...we all went as a different type (Excalibur, Mag and Loki aka, the free models...though they all had a sword, and a gun). The powers were the only real difference, and as you start with nothing I suspect it's one of those games where only as a class is unlocked and advanced that you notice real differences, however as the unlocking is slightly random and long-winded, I get the feeling that to find the class that suits you, a credit card may well be involved.
So, in summary, I think this is the basis of an OK game, but the upgrade system is too complex, fiddly and slow. The in-game UI needs an overhaul to make it understandable, the gameplay needs a better balance between shooting and smashing people with a sword (I have the same issue with L4D2...combat is far more effective than a gun, as the precision requirement is removed), and (personally) I'd far rather pay a fixed amount to access game content, rather than have a threat of trickle payments for features that I may end up not liking. I don't really like grind in a game for the sake of grind. I really don't like someone putting a timer on me that pretty much says "come back tomorrow", as the little voice in my head tends to say "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me".
I enjoyed the evening but I think that had more to do with the company rather than the game itself.
Like the other Rob pointed out, grind can be fun. Grind is a mechanic I quite like. As Pete points out, the grind should be leading you somewhere and it wasn't obvious how the grind in Warframe was doing that. A good comparison is Torchlight, which is essentially all grind but it somehow magically manages to not feel that way. What is the difference between Warframe grind and Torchlight grind? Not sure - I think in Torchlight the upgrades makes you be a little more "you". Whereas the homogeneity of the classes (as Pete points out) in Warframe are mostly pointless.
I had a bit of a problem with the art direction too. Nothing felt "grounded", the in game avatars didn't move like they had mass, which is particularly jarring now I've played Tomb Raider (although lots of games do that well these days). If you're going to be 3rd person, the avatar needs to feel like it's part of the world, not floating through it. Also, I'll second everything Pete says about the nav - even having other Rob explain it in plain English, it was difficult to find stuff.
Will I play it again? I don't know. I enjoyed myself but I feel it was a little in spite of the game. I DID definitely enjoy trying something completely new with others. Feeling lost together is mucho fun for me!