I’ll be splitting this into two posts: First one will be opinionated, and the second will be informative. For those who disagree or agree with what I have to say, feel free to post in the comments.
I should admit, I’ve been “brainwashed” by Blizzard in to thinking what an MMOG is, how it should play and which features it should have. However, I overcame this as soon as I fired up Fallen Earth.
In some respects it reminded me of All Points Bulletin in the sense that you are given the basics of the game, and then there’s little infrastructure about what you should be doing next.
I want to point out what makes me so thrilled with this game: the pure bad-ass it makes you. I mean, look to the photo to the right. You can look like that in-game. You begin to customize your character with low-level items — which arm you want that armband on, and the one with the shoulder cloth.
Customization is furthered by an expanse weapon system. Players can roll around the wasteland with six weapons on you at the same time; all of which are displayed on your character. The six weapon slots — two primary 2-handed melee/ranged weapons on your back, two one-handed melee/throwing weapons on your belt, then two one-handed guns — grants customization just based on what weapon you have placed where.
From a comparative point of view, I find the game still rough around the edges. Minor things such as jumping just seem clunky. The switching of weapons aren’t as smooth as one would expect either. The vehicle handling is far better than what APB was, but it still doesn’t turn on a dime that one would hope.
In fairness, it is only a year into the game, a game from a small, previously unheard of studio. For those who played vanilla World of Warcraft, you know how much polish Blizzard has put on it since launch. Even a massive studio like Blizzard left some awkwardness.
Will I recommend the game? Heck yes. Especially for those who like what I stated above — appearing and acting like a BA — and those who enjoy FPS or RPG games. It doesn’t take much to draw in new players. a flashy item, cool ability or original class can do it. It does take a master developer to then keep the player with a fun activity, such as raiding or PvP. I’ve yet to experience any – only halfway to level 6 – but I am looking forward to it.
Even if the person loves questing (such as I, Loremaster, anyone?) they will have little trouble doing anything. The community in-game is extremely polite and friendly. Players familiar with Trade Chat in WoW can’t even comprehend the difference. The normal response to how a quest is completed is actually incredibly helpful. There’s no snarky “Google it, newb” or “Hit Alt+F4 to bring up a waypoint” type responses. This enables a smoother gaming experience. Stuck in the mud on a quest? Simply ask for a pointer and you’re off.
Overall, I’m well pleased with Fallen Earth, but at the same time, very scared that this might be the future of MMOGs to an extent. From All Points Bulletin to Global Agenda to Fallen Earth, I’ve seen an abundance of shooters come to the market and I am not sure I like the trend. Perhaps that’s just what my generation, and some of the older folks, are looking at these days. Thanks Halo and Call of Duty.
If any of you also play, hit me up sometime for a chat. My current character is Anzhela Sidorov.
Can’t wait to see some screenshots of your multi-weaponed bad-ass character gunning down mutated beasts and making armor out of their remains.