Free-to-play games are a great way to experience games without initial payment. They started out as mostly casual/social games and massive multiplayer role playing games (MMORPGs), but now new titles are exploring first person shooters, action adventure, and evolving MMORPGs to be more accessible and easier to play for casual players.
There are games that I saw during GDC 2012 that look really interesting for casual and hardcore players:
Tactical Intervention
Tactical Intervention is a first person shooter (FPS) from Minh Le, co-creator of the original Counter-Strike mod.
I saw a gameplay demo of a highway chase level with the mission to eliminate a VIP escorted by police. It was an intense and fast experience with a lot of big action and vehicle destruction. There are going to be other planned levels, but the chase scene is what they were showing off.
Tactical Intervention is going to feature:
-
Player vs Player – Terrorist vs Counter-Terrorists
Vehicles, attack dogs, and repelling (I was told that you can actually walk along the outside of the building to choose different entry points)
Dynamic environments – Hostages, civilians, and using them as human shields
A closed beta is scheduled for March.
Arctic Combat
Another FPS game is Arctic Combat from Webzen. It was designed on Unreal Engine 2.5 with the goal that it would scale well with lower end computers. The game doesn’t include any cash weapons to balance the gameplay of “super guns” that players can usually purchase in other games. Customization is a big part of Arctic Combat and allows for different skills and perks in matches.
Arctic Combat is going to include RPG elements and trophy system, something they didn’t discuss in detail. Featuring the standard modes like team deathmatch and search and destroy, the game also adds sub-modes to modify matches. So it’s possible to have games that only allow knives or rockets only.
From my hands-on demo, there’s a lot of potential in the game, but playing only against bots wasn’t much of a challenge.
Continent of the Ninth Seal
Continent of the Ninth Seal (C9) is an MMORPG game. The first impression is that it’s another standard free-to-play RPG game. But what C9 changes is in the combat.
C9 features a non-targeting attack system like an action adventure game. Unlike other MMORPG games, you control close-combat by attacking anywhere you want. C9 will also feature controller support, bridging console players to PC.
An interesting feature is the “unlimited combo” gameplay. Webzen showed a video of a player juggling another player through a bunch of attack, reaching a fifty hit combo. I was told that the really experienced players in South Korea were capable of hitting triple digits. C9 is also adding an “Intrusion” system. Players are able to “intrude” into other player’s dungeon quests either helping or attacking the other player. C9 allows for specific or random users to intrude, but also allows the option to be disabled by players.
Playing the game, I got a good sense of what Webzen is trying to do with C9. It’s a lot more action packed and paced than other MMORPGs
Fighters Club
Fighters Club presents an amazing cell-shaded comic book style combined with over the top attacks. The game is a beat-em-up that is easy to play and lots of fun. Gameplay in Fighters Club is very exaggerated and the whole experience feels like something familiar, but new at the same time.
The control scheme is the only thing that might disinterest players. The keyboard is setup in a reverse style with movement assigned to the right hand and combat with the left hand. If Fighters Club added controller support, it would be a lot more intuitive and fun for fighting game fans.
There weren’t any details offered on the customization or RPG elements to the game, but my preview gave me a great feeling on the game. It combines the action adventure and fighting genres together and blends them into what should be a great free-to-play MMORPG.
