Bleedout (Crimecraft) - F2P

[Dren]

This became F2P recently so I downloaded it.  Everything works fine until you try to get on a server.  They have two US servers and since going F2P, the queues are in the hundreds, which take hours.  Not playable right now, so I can't comment on how good it is.  As far as I can tell, there is no option to even do a tutorial offline.

They announced some servers being set up now to fix it, but the forums are on fire with existing players prior to F2P being really really pissed.  I think they have it right.  A few servers won't make much of a dent on the issue and going from a pay-to-play and no queues to F2P and having thousands of new players jam up the servers so you can't play is pretty bad planning.  They severely underestimated what going F2P and offering through Steam would do.

From a new player perspective, I'm not very impressed and probably won't go back unless I'm bored.  I'm already regretting the few hours of d/l time and actively looking for answers on their forums.

I tried to log in over the weekend and literally saw "You are number 758 in the queue..."  I couldn't hit "Cancel" fast enough.

[HaemishM]

Unless it's improved GREATLY since beta, you missed absolutely nothing. A really mediocre, sloppy 3rd person shooter with "Yo Dawg" avatars and a tacked on lobby/customization to justify a subscription (and now microtransactions). It wasn't the worst thing I've ever played, but I wouldn't download it now that's it F2P.

[Kageru]

I've been playing it, since I was somewhat interested but certainly wasn't going to pay a sub for it.

It really is quite bad. Someone is going to do the persistent online shooter properly one day but Crimecraft, APB and Global Agenda are all evidence it isn't an automatic win. All of them end up with a shared hub that is basically an inefficient menu system, a progression system that just feels like grind and lag due to central serving or not willing to trust local servers. And in the case of crime-craft the shooter that underlies it is pretty bad, the maps tiny, the gameplay simple and there's no class system to vary the game-play.

I did like the idea of selling the PvE episodes on the cash-shop. There's a natural synergy between episodic content and and the shop in a F2P game. But the actual content seems to be voice-overs and an objective played out with the same maps and mechanisms as regular gameplay so it's a bit dull.

[Mrbloodworth]

Agree with HaemishM, it also has some questionable shop items in it. Not my bag. Kageru, I don't think you give GA the credit it deserves.

[Kageru]

I don't mind GA, but it wasn't a huge commercial success either so it fits quite well with these. And in a world in which TF2 is free they all provide a questionable value proposition.

I actually found crime craft had a slight advantage in that I'm playing a character whose appearance is more varied and weapons easier to relate to compared to GA. There is something satisfying about the sound and kick of an assault rifle that the weapons in GA don't give me. And crime-craft was clever to incorporate some PvE content at launch. But yeah, the actual shooting game is inferior to GA and that sort of destroys any foundation for the rest.

I'm guessing by questionable shop items you are referring to the "armor". In which "resistance to heavy weapons" can be an attribute of some slutty clothing. One of my first purchases was some female boots for my character because engaging in fire-fights in strappy heels.

[Mrbloodworth]

I would consider the low investment that has funded two other multimillion dollar projects as success, including the outright purchase of a beloved IP.

As for gun feel and such, its mostly a case of Energy VS projectile.

[Vaiti]

And for clarification, Hi-Rez, the guys making GA, are currently working on two projects. SMITE, a Dota style game, and Tribes: Ascend. Where they purchased the IP for Tribes for the later. So yeah, I would say they were a commercial success, in that they did well enough to get their investors to fund two projects simultaneously, while still putting out new content for their current game. The overhead on all that isn't cheap.

[Mrbloodworth]

AFAIK, they have no investors. The CEO put up his own 20 mill to start and fund Hi-Rez. All funding for the other projects is from GA ( and or what ever tech/services they are selling on the side ). 50 people made GA.

[Dren]

Good to know I didn't miss anything, but I'd still like to sample what's out there in this genre.  It really does interest me so I'm interested to know what is working and not working.  Simply not being able to play because of queues is just not acceptable though.

I'm still into GA.  It is repetitive, but the PvP missions keep me coming back for more, so I don't notice the climb to get more items.  I just go to sell, craft, and buy items periodically based on my success in the missions.  That's really all I'm looking for.  Our Agency will start up AVA next season and I plan to help.  I'll see if that adds another dimension or not.

Really, I'm hooked on Borderlands after nabbing it for under 8 bucks last weekend.  Way too addictive for my own good....

[Kageru]

Borderlands is great. And working co-op makes it have an entire new level of re-playability. And it's, at heart, a fun shooter in a way crime-craft really isn't.

That said now that the steam special has passed I expect numbers to normalize very quickly. The steam audience has easy access to lots of better games. The last time I logged in both servers were at medium and there was no queue.

[Dren]

Yes, I got in last weekend finally. 

First impression was not so great.  I don't know if I chose something wrong, but I got thrown into a free-for-all pvp area immediately upon creating a character.  While I'm trying to figure out what key press does what and how I'd like to remap, etc. I'm getting whacked over and over.  I literally could expect to be killed within 5 seconds considering there were what seemed like 15-20 people on a tiny map.

Ok, fine, I just quit that map and then it takes me into the more PvE "lore" part of the game.  I do that a bit and get a mission.  I go into that PvE instance and am met with guys that shout obscenities everytime I shoot at them, they see me, talk to each other, etc.  Seriously, everything comment started, had in the middle, and ended with "fuck" or something along those lines.  Really?  I felt like I was in Middle School again where it was "cool" to use profanity every chance we got.

I was just glad I had my earphones on while my 10 year old son watched over my shoulder (FPS's are his thing.)  I promptly told him to not play this game considering I could not find any way to put a profanity filter on.  I have no problem with him hearing words like this once in awhile over chat or in some of the "M" games I play with him, but this was just way over the top stuipd.  We discuss this and he understands words like that have a time and place. 

Needless to say, this game was removed from my system immediately after.

[5150]

I got in once, walked down the corridor to the second room, couldn't figure out what to do next to get the door open, quit and haven't gone back

[Kageru]

Yeah, the game dropped me into a PvP battle straight off... not the best idea I think. Sort of want the tutorial and a chance to play with the controls first.

I bought one of the mission packs. I'd sort of given them five bucks as a donation and had to buy something with it. They're basically a PvE mission with bots, a relatively simple objective on one of the small number of maps they have. Some of it is trying hard to be interesting such as planting camera's without being seen but the mechanics just aren't really there to go too far with it. Also impressed that one mission intro text was just mauled with multiple grammar and spelling mistakes. Not a lot f QA going on here.

I found the game interesting from a game design point of view. But it badly fails to answer the question of why you would load it up in place of one of the many better and less MT burdened shooters.