Free Realms
- Area: USA,Global
- Official Site: Free Realms
- Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
- Developer: SOE San Diego
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
Like this game? Tell your friends!
-
MMO followers - 0
MMO friends - 0
-
Overview
“Free Realms” is the first free-to-play MMORPG developed by legendary MMO studio Sony Online Entertainment, and has been designed specifically for a younger audience.
Features
- Non-paying players will have plenty to do.
- Lots, and lots, of people to play with.
- A wide variety of jobs means everyone can find something they like.
- You can hop in, play for 10 minutes, and accomplish something.
- Area: USA,Global
- Official Site: Free Realms
- Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
- Developer: SOE San Diego
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
Review
Reviewed by Brendon Lindsey
And for good reason. Despite its kid-friendly appearance and design, Free Realms really is unlike any MMORPG on the market. For most games, having the option to craft or fight is as much choice as you get; and even then almost all MMORPGs let you advance only through combat. In Free Realms, however, combat is only one very small piece of what you can do, and how your character can grow.
In addition to combat, you can perform all sorts of tasks. Cooking, kart racing, exploring, wizardry, archery, delivering mail, training pets' the options available are almost overwhelming. A lot of the jobs involve playing minigames to gain experience and complete them. For example, to collect most resources for cooking and other resource-based jobs, you'll have to play a minigame that is right at home at any number of Flash gaming portals. Other jobs, such as postman and destruction derby driver, take place in actual game play, turning what was once a standard MMORPG into a race, or car combat game.
Currently, there are fifteen jobs in the game; 6 combat, 3 tradeskill, 2 driving, and 4 miscellaneous jobs. The game is free-to-play with optional premium content, which includes 4 of the 6 combat jobs, and a large portion of all non-crap equipment. At less than $5/month, though, it's a small price to pay for people who find themselves enjoying the game.
Visually, Free Realms is also unlike other MMORPGs on the market especially free-to-play ones. With a whimsical, fantasy-heavy appearance, playing Free Realms is like stepping into an interactive fairytale storybook. Colorful creatures and fantastical fauna abound, and you'll run into a huge variety of clever and memorable creatures.
For me, the most enjoyable jobs were those related to combat, card duelist, and adventurer. Combat in Free Realms is instanced and completely optional, with many dungeons spread throughout the world. In most battles, you'll have to kill a certain number of enemies and a boss before you die X number of times. It's not as deep as the combat in games like Guild Wars or WoW, but it's enjoyable, and with the 6 types of combat available there's a nice change of pace from one quest to the next.
Card dueling plays like a typical card game. Not surprisingly, there are cards for purchase at major retailers, which will give you more cards in the virtual card dueling world. It's not the deepest CCG, but Sony Online Entertainment has taken a lot of time to make sure the card games in their MMOs are well-executed and deep, and the game in Free Realms is no different.
Ultimately, Free Realms lives up to what's promised: a free-to-play MMORPG that people of all ages can enjoy, and that gamers of all persuasions can play. Are you a casual gamer who plays the occasional Flash game? There are plenty of jobs for you. Do you play WoW and other MMORPGs regularly? Then you'll find some enjoyment in the combat jobs, and exploring the world.
The game does have one major shortfall that leads to a few problems; there's too much to do. That may sound silly, but as of now, with all of the jobs available no single job has a huge amount of depth. If you only enjoy cooking or being a brawler, the game won't last you very long before you get bored. On the other hand, SOE has made it clear they plan to continue adding classes and expanding whatâs currently available, so perhaps in time they'll be able to flesh it out a bit. Until then, players will still get plenty of playing time out of Free Realms, and best of all, not paying isnât going to put you at a complete disadvantage like other free-to-play games with optional subscriptions.
Top 5 MMO Games
more MMO games >
Top 20 Hot Games
User Comments
<< | < | 1 | > | >>
Showing Page 1 out of 1