Free2Play Games These Days Are Gorgeous...... Too Gorgeous

[squirrel]

For some of you mates who don't know, Blacklight Retribution has been online today, is finalized version (of course, straightly speaking there is no truly "finalized" game these days but anyway). As most of you know, this beauty is run by Unreal engine. It's a huge download: 3.5GB download for the client software, but man it looks awesome. I can't believe the publisher let me play free of charge. I am not aware of any chance I will pay them for this game. It has mech gameplay, too.

What I am concerning is, that such F2P games are way too gorgeous, how can retail online games compete then? And in foreseeable future, say, within 5 years, I guess that at least for shooters, not even retail singleplayer shooters will stand a chance. After all singleplayer for a shooter is merely cherry on the top.

You mates think this is a good or bad development for the industry?

[deano2099]

Well, F2P games aren't being made because they make less money than their paid-for alternatives.

Still room for a single-player shooter market too I think. There's something to the 'one person versus the horde' thing, which can't be done well in MP as no-one wants to be the horde.

[CuriousOrange]

I think there is a huge market still out there for single player shooters, look at Call of Duty. But we really need a Half Life 3 or something to revive the market as it's stale and boring.

[Voon]

There's something to the 'one person versus the horde' thing, which can't be done well in MP as no-one wants to be the horde.

Unless they're playing Left 4 Dead

[b0rsuk]

There's something to the 'one person versus the horde' thing, which can't be done well in MP as no-one wants to be the horde.

Has anyone even tried ? The only thing I've see is Left 4 Dead, which is 4 players vs (4 players + AI horde). I haven't seen a game based around the idea that some players are inherently more powerful, while the other team is vastly more numerous. Alien vs Predator made it possible (predators vs marines) but that's not enough.

And I would play as one of hordlings.

[DaftPunk]

I wouldn't call them gorgeous,that word is reserved for really good looking games such as Witcher 2,Battlefield 3,Metro 2033 etc.

[Dominic Tarason]

Blacklight: Retribution ain't shabby-looking at all, and it's a really good game to boot.



I've probably played it a good 10-12 hours so far, and while there's some shiny stuff I could spend money on, I'm doing rather well for free, often in the top 3-4 players in any given match.

[CMaster]

I'd argue that Black Prophecy is probably better looking, and certainly has a better client. There's a lot of quality out there in Free2Play land though - the upcoming Ghost Recon Online doesn't exactly look awful either. Tribes Ascend and Firefall are also both looking pretty natty.

That said, my core problem with Free2Play games remains - they tend to be too expensive. I get that is why they make more money, but it does put me off properly playing them.

[Dominic Tarason]

I've played a lot of F2P games - some for well into the double-digits of hours, and I have spent money on a grand total of ONE: I put down £7 on Tribes: Ascend to get that 1.5x VIP reward multiplier.

They're only as expensive as you want them to be, really.

[jnx]

How is 3.5 gb a huge download? The original Blacklight looked interesting enough, but as we now all know, there isn't a significant market for budget multiplayer shooters. Might try this though.

I think I've paid around 60 euros for WoT. Also played more than 3000 rounds of it, so I consider it still rather cheap.

[Giaddon]

Note that the download is more like ~8 gigs, because after the 4gig install there's a 4 gig "patch"... heads up.

The game is quite good. I'm enjoying it, anyway. It's a fast paced shooter with some neat sci-fi features, like hypervision, which lets you see the location of all players, and "hardsuits," mechlike robotic armor you can buy in-round.

There's also a ton of customization options, with weapons divided into subcomponents (body, stock, scope, barrel, muzzle, etc.), and armor, nodes (little stat bonuses)... just a ton of stuff. You use credits gained from matches to rent items for 1 day, a week, or to buy it forever, on a sliding cost scale. And when you level up, you get a small pack of stuff to use for the next three days. It's a decent system, and I've had a lot of fun equipping my agent. The game is fast and responsive. If you're in the mood for a straightforward sci-fi shooter and you have the bandwidth, give it a shot.

[jnx]

How's fov in the game?

[Dominic Tarason]

How's fov in the game?

Adjustable via a menu slider, I'm happy to say.

As for the download, the mega-patch is only another 1.2gb of download, but it still takes ages. It's a big game. As for the business model, 'renting' gear is actually quite well priced. You generally need to play one round - about 10-15 mins - to get an item for 24 hours. Play for a couple hours, and you've got enough gear for a few more days, easy.

You also get a fairly big discount if you rent stuff for a week instead of a day. It costs roughly as much as 5.5 days.

[Bungle]

Blacklight Retribution looks awesome and uses all the DX11 bells and whistles UE3 has to offer. I have a Radeon 7870 and Blacklight pushes my card to the limit at max settings. It also has fantastic maps.

[Jamison Dance]

Another +1 for Blacklight Retribution. Tried it today, and it is a pretty nice shooter. I really like the maps and the interactive paths you can open or close. Kindof Brink-like in that respect, but the maps are waaaaay better.

[Spider Jerusalem]

we must have been playing a different game. i found it rather stale and unremarkable.

[cpugeek13]

Super Monday Night Combat is pretty nice looking, though that may have to do with its colorful art style. Say what you will about the gameplay (personally, I love it), but you def can't say that its stale or unremarkable :-D

[c4llum]

I had not idea this had launched! i am downloading it now, 2.1MB/s i should have it shortly. How is the pricing structure? I have been playing tribes ascend since early on in the closed beta and they have a pretty nasty pricing model though not nearly as bad as many f2p games i have played. I really don't like the insurgence of the not so f2p games i would much rather pay a flat fee and get everything, maybe put down a little more money later for dlc than be slowly be milked of money over a period of months until i end up paying way more than the game is actually worth.

[squirrel]

Super Monday Night Combat is pretty nice looking, though that may have to do with its colorful art style. Say what you will about the gameplay (personally, I love it), but you def can't say that its stale or unremarkable :-D

It's out already?! Can you show the download link? Many thanks.

I heard Monday Night Combat is good, but it is protected by Steam and I dont use Steam. Plus, I am concerned of the install base of this game which was not aggressively marketed. Now it's good. With F2P I can try to see if it has that community support to sustain.

[Heliocentric]

Blacklight looks like FEAR, insanely so. Need to give it a go.