[Review] Firefall: Much Better, But Still In Progress

SBFord · August 2014

All MMOs are a work in progress long after launch, I get that. But Firefall from Red5 Studios is a particularly special case. Years and years into development, the game has seen complete re-works on several occasions, the most recent of which came after the founder and CEO Mark Kern was removed from his position. Development went dark, and Red5 went hardcore and all-in towards making a game in which they all believed.

Read more of Bill Murphy's Firefall: Much Better, But Still a Work in Progress.

APThug · August 2014

I've been enjoying the game a lot so far, but they really need to add more pvp maps and better battleframe customization.

APThug · August 2014

Btw the link appears broken. When I select it i'm brought to the game list screen.

snapp69 · August 2014

Originally posted by APThug
Btw the link appears broken. When I select it i'm brought to the game list screen.

same here

orbitxo · August 2014

good game. looking forward to it evolving.

BillMurphy · August 2014

Originally posted by snapp69

Originally posted by APThug

Btw the link appears broken. When I select it i'm brought to the game list screen.

same here

Should be fixed! Sorry about that.

Dakirn · August 2014

How much did you group Bill? You didn't mention that jobs/instances scale in difficulty to group size.

Everything in the world is pretty much social/shared, so does a game lose points if you're not forced to group? Or was it just 4 points off for a crummy UI?

GrinningOaf · August 2014

I tend to agree with your review. I played during the beta phase and it was fun but the additional quests give a bit more context to the story and I like the way they flow across areas. So far I haven't got any of my frames above 20 as I keep switching between all the basic frames depending on the play style I feel like on a particular night. In terms of areas to work on I would like to see more quests to aid the alt frame levelling experience, more random event spawns in the world and maybe some different random events too - but all of this is something that can worked on over time. Overall though I keep coming back to Firefall even it's for an hour or so a night as it is fun and a change from the other MMO's I play which tend to be the old sword and board or magic casting types.

Arkangel32 · August 2014

For a free game, it's very good on many levels.

Social? Yes if you slow down to talk.

I was curious, so I tried it, and it grew on me... I'm level 24 Recon.

IMO - People have to high of expectations.

CrazKanuk · August 2014

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by snapp69

Originally posted by APThug

Btw the link appears broken. When I select it i'm brought to the game list screen.

same here

Should be fixed! Sorry about that.

No worries, you just launched the article so, you know, it's "Still In Progress"...

Arkangel32 · August 2014

For a free game, it's very good on many levels.

Social? Yes if you slow down to talk.

I was curious, so I tried it, and it grew on me... I'm level 24 Recon.

IMO - People's expectations are too high.

avalon1000 · August 2014

The game got better with the increase in dynamic events. Crafting is still a mess., jump jets are still underpowered, and the Chosen are still mostly absent in New Eden.

With some tweaks here and there it could be a wonderful game. I have never had so much fun playing an MMO as I had in version .8 in beta. Red 5 just needs to open the fun gates a little more and spend less time nerfing everything.

Satsunoryu · August 2014

I may give this one a shot.

Arkangel32 · August 2014

I will also like to add-

I am impressed with the massive variety of events happening, and how randomly placed they are. I have played 2 BF's now and I do not really feel like I am grinding the same content yet.

At level 24, the MASSIVE fights I am getting into in the random events are extremely fun.

I was in a battle at some remote towne, and the alien creatures had cacoons inside the offices or structures... the radio said we needed to plant explosives to blow them up...

Well I was so impressed at the difficulty and fun. SO MANY mobs flooding the structure trying to over whelm us. There was a Dreadnaught holding his mini gun, just completely unloading into a room trying to help me push them back....

Let me tell you it was intense! and NOT easy!

For a free game.. I am having a great time.

Hariken · August 2014

With the 2 latest large patches it seems to be improving alot. But its nice to see a reviewer say mmo's are a work in progress because they are. The latest patch was a couple of days ago. I can see it getting alot better down the road because the devs seem to be listening to the playerbase. Something thats rare these days. Its also f2p so if you like shooters why not try it.

sLY4J · August 2014

The first 10 hours was a blast for me. HOWEVER, in almost ANY shooter game, or ANY MMO in general, especially in MMORPGs, is the feel of improving with not just power, but abilities. Firefall is the first game that pretty much gives you two standard weapons, and the only change is those weapons are different names and more power. No diversity? I don't understand why they made it like that when no other 1st or 3rd person shooter is that simplified. It's like rolling a mage and having fireball and icebolt and just improving those skills.The secondary weapons have diversity, however why use those weapons when your main is tons better? So you are almost forced to use the standard.

Quests are great however have a "Tera" feel to it, where a majority of quests are "Go here to save this person by killing the enemies that are attacking them" AKA kill quests.

This game has a ton of potential. Love the voice acting, love the world, love going on quests, however it still falls short to most games that are 3rd and 1st person shooters. Different weapons would be a huge plus.

Ocenica · August 2014

Originally posted by avalon1000
The game got better with the increase in dynamic events. Crafting is still a mess., jump jets are still underpowered, and the Chosen are still mostly absent in New Eden.

With some tweaks here and there it could be a wonderful game. I have never had so much fun playing an MMO as I had in version .8 in beta. Red 5 just needs to open the fun gates a little more and spend less time nerfing everything.

This right here!

[Deleted User] · August 2014

The user and all related content has been deleted.

docminus2 · August 2014

While it's fair assessment overall, some nitpicking of the following does make me wonder:

"Red5’s flagship game is far more engaging, largely because the team’s worked incredibly hard to craft a narrative and add direction alongside the deep and layered crafting systems"

This sounds to me the game was scored based on "their hard work". Well, all studios work hard I would wager, so this isn't a good basis to rate a game. And even if, as a consumer, I a) expect that, b) don't take that into consideration if I play a game or not.

Just saying.

gunmanvlad · August 2014

Visuals aren't that amazing in my opinion (1440p maxed out), looks fairly washed out. The actual combat abilities look good, but the world and the characters less so.

I agree with questing from the perspective of quest hubs, but the quests themselves are rather decent.

I think Social and Polish scores are spot on. In my opinion, you'd need something like auto-grouping and open-voice communication to work (being a dynamic multiplayer shooter). If people could jump in and actually talk to you it would be awesome.

Honestly, it's pretty good game, but not a great one perhaps.

BrilliantCojones · August 2014

I fully agree on the review. Firefall's a great game - it isn't like the other MMO's out there right now. It stands on its merits, and one thing that people have to realize is that the developers are working to make it better and be the game that they marketed a year or more ago. I enjoy this game and I'm glad reviews reflect its strengths and potentials.

tristanryan · August 2014

I really like the game and even decided to spend some $$$. Very fun game. I am a tigerclaw.

xpsync · August 2014

Your Con: "Can be grindy at times"

Is one hell of a Pro for me.

jordanbraxton · August 2014

i like the variety of Battle Frames, the open world theme is exciting to me, GANKING is the way to go

Evelknievel · August 2014

Got bit once again with the FF bug a month ago, still going strong, although I have to say, it isn't the same beta game I remember a couple years back.

grimfall · August 2014

Originally posted by Torvaldr
Originally posted by Dakirn
How much did you group Bill? You didn't mention that jobs/instances scale in difficulty to group size.

Everything in the world is pretty much social/shared, so does a game lose points if you're not forced to group? Or was it just 4 points off for a crummy UI?

I was curious about that as well. Someone drops a thumper and are defending it, another player comes in and helps. They both get rewarded and the first guy doesn't lose anything. In fact he might get more because there is a better chance his thumper will fill to 100%.

On the other hand there isn't a huge requirement to chit chat while doing it. Player A might not get to talk about his college classes, how drunk he got, and his frame build. Some players like to do that, others don't.

I don't think you understand what 'social' means. It doesn't mean shared experience points and loots (though that may be system implemented to promote the in game society). Your defense of their lack of social systems is like a non-PVP player saying, "you can score PVP a 10, because I don't enjoy PVP, so I don't care."

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[Review] Firefall: Much Better, But Still In Progress

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