GamerSushi Asks: Do You Free to Play?

tribes ascend

Hope y’all are enjoying the new site, because it’s just the start of some cool changes around here. I know we say that a lot, but when we do deliver, it’s a pretty big deal. Huge props to Nick and Jeff for whipping up the new hotness.

Recently a huge number of Free-to-Play Shooters dropped on us: Tribes: Ascend, Blacklight: Retribution and Super Monday Night Combat all went live and they all host the Free-to-Play model. This has been a trend that has been increasing pretty quickly, and FTP games are on the rise. This year at PAX East saw even more Free-to-Play games being announced, so I have a question for you guys: do you try these games out?

I’m trying to get a sense of how popular these games are because, while I’ve tried them, they never seem to stick. The Battlefield games are moderately fun but DICE’s method of microstransactions really turned me off. I get that a lot of these games have a renting system where you can rent weapons or skins for the in-game currency you use, but the Battlefield games have one of the poorer implementations of it.

I also tried out the Free-to-Play MMO Firefall (thanks to a Beta invite from Drell Assassin), which I’m also enjoying, but it hasn’t really clicked with me yet. Once the game comes out of Beta and gets released I’m sure that the influx of new players and maybe some friends will convince me to stick with it.

So what about you guys? Have you tried any of these games? What do you recommend? What do you think of the current trend of the Free-to-Play game? Is this what PC gaming will look like in the future?

Written by

mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

5 thoughts on “GamerSushi Asks: Do You Free to Play?”

  1. I haven’t tried any of the ones mentioned, but now that my PC is built I’m sure I can find an excuse to try them all out.
    I’ve been eyeing Tribes with some interest and I may go try it out if my friends do so too. Hopefully it won’t be like BF’s experience though because I didn’t enjoy BFP4F’s quality or transaction system.
    I do know that microtransactions will work on me due to League of Legends, however. The microtransaction system in that is actually quite good considering it’s primarily based around different skins. I have bought a couple of characters with real money but I play the game enough that I can save up enough in-game currency for some champions.

  2. I used to be ridiculously into Combat Arms, but like you said Mitch, I’m not the biggest fan of the whole weapon renting system. It always ground my gears when I played. I don’t touch that game anymore due to obvious reasons *cough* HACKERS! *cough cough*. I’d really like to try out Blacklight Retribution but my laptop is only powerful enough to get CS:S to run. Here’s to looking into building my dream PC finally!

  3. I give as many FTP games a try as I can, but the only ones that have held my interest are League of Legends and Battlefield 2 (ignoring its $2.99 price at GameStop). Team Fortress 2 fell into that category recently, but I bought that back when it was in the Orange Box bundle.

    After so many hours of play time, doesn’t a platform game become FTP from the sheer ratio of hours-played to purchase price? (100+ hours played/$40 price tag)

  4. [quote comment=”19142″]I give as many FTP games a try as I can, but the only ones that have held my interest are League of Legends and Battlefield 2 (ignoring its $2.99 price at GameStop). Team Fortress 2 fell into that category recently, but I bought that back when it was in the Orange Box bundle.

    After so many hours of play time, doesn’t a platform game become FTP from the sheer ratio of hours-played to purchase price? (100+ hours played/$40 price tag)[/quote]

    You make a pretty good point there.

  5. I played Tribes: Vengeance so Ascend was worth a try. And it’s fun. I just feel like everyone playing that I’ve encountered after about 6 hours have been pretty mediocre. Just kind of float around and dominate. Without spending any in game xp on perks and weapons I still find myself landing on the top of the scoreboard and I don’t even know what I’m doing. To be honest, that’s what I’m looking for in a free game… but I don’t see the appeal for any hardcore FPS players at all.

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