Firefall

 PC
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 247 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 144 out of 247
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 247
  3. Negative: 72 out of 247

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  1. stimpy77
    Aug 3, 2014
    5
    I was tantalized to try out the beta of Firefall a year ago, I loved what I saw, and could only hope for what was coming. I thought the game had spectacular vision and charm--and, like coffee, beer, and Star Trek, would inevitably be an acquired taste, something some people would love up front while others would have to endure before they could appreciate it.

    The vision of Firefall as    I was tantalized to try out the beta of Firefall a year ago, I loved what I saw, and could only hope for what was coming. I thought the game had spectacular vision and charm--and, like coffee, beer, and Star Trek, would inevitably be an acquired taste, something some people would love up front while others would have to endure before they could appreciate it.

    The vision of Firefall as it was during development, became something else at launch. It *was* a classic PvP game like Tribes, with instanced balanced PvP gameplay of the e-sports variety, but apparently the execution of e-sports was so deliberate and premature that the testers began to hate it and began demanding only the open world PvE experience of an MMORPG. As Red 5 added more open world content, players took time out to explore it, and PvP instances couldn't even launch. So they threw out balanced PvP instances altogether. Thus the game became a different beast altogether.

    In the end Firefall has become a game that doesn't really do anything *well*. It does a lot, a heck of a lot, just fine, with decent graphics and sound. But while there are PvP features in the game (duels and open world PvP in designated places) this isn't a PvP game, and it's also not an RPG, and it's sort of an FPS but the AI system couldn't handle the scale of many players so, at launch, a lot of interesting content was thrown out just like PvP was thrown out a year prior to launch. The notions of thumpers and tiki torches and Chosen put the game on the right track--really great ideas to build on and replicate--but new ideas seemed to have frozen to a halt some time prior to launch. The world is massive, but there's not much going on in it. In the end you have an okay game, extremely stable on the client, quite playable in its mechanics, but quite mediocre in its creativity and content. I cannot recommend this game until they add a LOT more campaign missions, dramatically soup up operations (AI servers etc) to restore the experience I enjoyed on the test servers during development, and turn PvP back on while finding a PvP matchmaking strategy that brings players together once again. Until then, this game is a tragic premature birth.    … Expand
  2. Bandit439
    Aug 1, 2014
    7
    I started playing Firefall about a year and a half ago when it was still in its closed beta phase. I loved it so much I bought the $100 Founder's Pack. I played it daily for about 6 months, even after my friends had all moved on. I recently came back when I started seeing news and advertisements heralding the official launch. The game I found when I logged in last week is mostlyI started playing Firefall about a year and a half ago when it was still in its closed beta phase. I loved it so much I bought the $100 Founder's Pack. I played it daily for about 6 months, even after my friends had all moved on. I recently came back when I started seeing news and advertisements heralding the official launch. The game I found when I logged in last week is mostly unrecognizable.

    PVP
    Gone is the instanced PVP I enjoyed so much during the closed beta, even the much hyped Jetball mode. This was very sad for me. Instead, they've included an open-world PVP zone. I was at first excited by this because I enjoyed the WvW and AvA game modes in Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online. What I found in Firefall though was an almost completely empty zone. Nobody responded to me in team chat and I only once saw a teammate. In about an hour of play I only found 2 enemies and despote having a max-level character with epic quality gear, I couldn't even dent them.

    PVE
    The playable area has more than doubled since I had last played, which was right after the introduction of the melding pockets. This sounds great, but the big caveat is that they have added levels to the game and now the entire zone I used to play in is pointless for me to visit on my max level battleframe. This essentially means you will only ever have one zone to play in that is appropriate for your level. The game used to proudly proclaim that you could access any content on day one and you might even survive if you were skilled. That's pretty much gone. The ARES missions and thumping are fun as always though. I haven't tried the new job board "quests" but have heard in chat they get repetitive quickly.

    PROGRESSION
    The game used to have no levels and instead your progression came from increasing the power, mass and CPU ratings of a particular battleframe. The then CEO even made a comment that it wasn't intended that everyone would even get a battleframe fully maxed out. Getting your frame to max level took an huge amount of resources and crystite (in-game currency). The XP just kind of came naturally from playing. I felt like it was a huge achievement when I finally got max power, mass & CPU on my Tigerclaw and was finally able to equip some really good crafted items. The new progression system is a very standard xp grind for levels. It's a fairly trivial thing compared to the effort that went in under the old system.

    F2P MODEL
    This is one area where I have nothing but praise for Red5. The things you can buy with in-game currency are almost completely cosmetic (battleframe paints, hats, mustaches, hair, etc.). The only thing offered in the cash shop that most players will feel they "need" is the motorcycle and there is a way to get one in-game if you're willing to wait. They also have included a way to buy the cash shop currency from other players with in-game currency which is a model that worked really well in Guild Wars 2 and will probably do well here as well. There is not gating of content or pay 2 win via the cash and that's a win in my book.

    CONCLUSION
    Firefall is an enjoyable game and has a lot to offer compared to other F2P games I've played. It's definitely worth the download if you've never checked it out. BUT, it's no longer the game I fell in love with back in the closed beta. Gone is the go where you want, do what you want, no quest, who cares about XP experience. Instead it offers the all-too-familiar MMO XP leveling grind and I just don't need another game like that. I probably won't be back unless/until they bring back instanced PVP where I can at least get consistent player vs player action for 10-15 minutes at a stretch.    … Expand
  3. Eide
    Aug 3, 2014
    7
    Firefall is something of a conundrum. Expect a FPS and you'll come out deceived. Expect and MMORPG and you'll come out deceived. Both elements lack the depth of true games of that genre. As it's a shooter quests you know quests are going to be along the lines of "kill X of this or Y of that". This game has every element to be absolutely meh.

    And yet, somehow, it has appeal. It's fairly    Firefall is something of a conundrum. Expect a FPS and you'll come out deceived. Expect and MMORPG and you'll come out deceived. Both elements lack the depth of true games of that genre. As it's a shooter quests you know quests are going to be along the lines of "kill X of this or Y of that". This game has every element to be absolutely meh.

    And yet, somehow, it has appeal. It's fairly innovative and gear and crafting especially works pretty well. Quests are repetitive but its storyline set-up is fun and there's stuff to do everywhere. You have your quests, there's public quests and there's gathering resources, which works even when helping others. And so you glide (yes, there's gliding, jumping and such) from quest hub to quest hub clocking hour after hour.

    Yeah, the AI is weak. The UI is kind of sluggish, the economy hasn't gotten under way and there's many more things. As I said, this game has everything to be absolutely mediocre...

    and yet.... it's fun. I'm not sure how long it'll be fun, but for now that's what it is. Fun.    … Expand
  4. Goekhan
    Aug 6, 2014
    6
    First things first; This game deserve none of the 10's or 0's. It is neither perfect (nothing is) nor terrible as some may lead you to believe.

    The world of Firefall is beautiful. But at the same time, it feels empty. Over time, I only hope they'll add more event types, and distribute them around. Story is OK-ish, sounds are fine, gunplay is enjoyable. But the real problem I have with    First things first; This game deserve none of the 10's or 0's. It is neither perfect (nothing is) nor terrible as some may lead you to believe.

    The world of Firefall is beautiful. But at the same time, it feels empty. Over time, I only hope they'll add more event types, and distribute them around. Story is OK-ish, sounds are fine, gunplay is enjoyable. But the real problem I have with this game is, the identity crisis it is going through.

    It wants to be a shooter. Then it wants to have RP elements. Over the beta phases, it has changed drastically, and I don't believe they have tested all of these changes properly. Many of the depth has been removed from the game, and now what we have is a shooter with a very shallow progression system. I wish they kept some of the complexity rather than trying to streamline everything.

    Overall, I enjoy the game, but sometimes it feels like a chore. But as a F2P title, you should at least give it a chance.

    (over 100, Graphics: 85, Sound: 60, Music: 70, Gameplay: 60, Progression: 30, Story/World: 50)    … Expand
  5. VideoVillain
    Jan 4, 2015
    6
    I beta tested this game from its inception and followed it faithfully until now. It had so much going for it, then right before it launched, they changed directions and ruined it all... similar to the way Tabula Rasa switched gears or Star Wars Galaxies switched gears. They did it to please the masses, forced into it by their Publishers when the Developers actually don't want to do it.I beta tested this game from its inception and followed it faithfully until now. It had so much going for it, then right before it launched, they changed directions and ruined it all... similar to the way Tabula Rasa switched gears or Star Wars Galaxies switched gears. They did it to please the masses, forced into it by their Publishers when the Developers actually don't want to do it. It is such a sad thing to see.

    I continued to follow the game and play it for many months after it launched, in the hopes the new direction could appeal to me, but I just couldn't take it anymore. Don't get me wrong, the game is still very unique and can be very fun at times, but for what I'm getting, I'd rather play Unreal or WoW at two different times and get the better game-play of each than the dumped down, washed out mix offered by FireFall. The lack of content, especially end-game, is depressing and what was shown in the trailers for the game that got everyone so excited still isn't even added...    … Expand
  6. nessie404
    Aug 9, 2014
    6
    Enjoyed it, Has some decent gameplay perks. Nothing I've ever seen before in most RPGMMO's! Sadly it has some really buggy features but they're nothing that can't be changed in a future update. The level system is kinda bad, PvP is meh, AI is horrible and some missions/quests can be a real drag due to having very little mobs in the game. Graphics are nice but some of the particle andEnjoyed it, Has some decent gameplay perks. Nothing I've ever seen before in most RPGMMO's! Sadly it has some really buggy features but they're nothing that can't be changed in a future update. The level system is kinda bad, PvP is meh, AI is horrible and some missions/quests can be a real drag due to having very little mobs in the game. Graphics are nice but some of the particle and post-fx are just plain ugly. Transport around the map is very fluid and it's a really good looking map. You can tell its very borderlands inspired.
    6/10 from me for the game having some gameplay elements you can enjoy and very nice art-style, They should of spent some more development time just polishing off the game, but its a good concept to say the least!    … Expand
  7. ww99w
    Aug 1, 2014
    5
    The quests are horrible (repetitive and boring). its run 500m, kill a bunch of things, run another in another direction, kill some more stuff. This is repeated several times for each quest, every SINGLE quest. The side missions only come in a handful of flavors and after you've done a few, you've seen them all. Character building is a bit lacking and limited.
    Gameplay is fun, in short    The quests are horrible (repetitive and boring). its run 500m, kill a bunch of things, run another in another direction, kill some more stuff. This is repeated several times for each quest, every SINGLE quest. The side missions only come in a handful of flavors and after you've done a few, you've seen them all. Character building is a bit lacking and limited.
    Gameplay is fun, in short bursts I guess. Though hardcore players will probably find alot lacking from Firefall    … Expand
  8. Jeroen15
    Sep 3, 2014
    7
    the graphics,textures,and landscapes for this game on ultra settings are amazing and beautiful. but the put to little detail into the characters,and enemies. and game play is not the best. i would recommend this game to someone who wants a visual treat.but not for someone who enjoys good gameplay
  9. rubensanders
    Aug 12, 2014
    7
    one of those games downloaded in steam that is free that is not disappointing, so far so good for me .. have liked read all their reviews and videos and so far i am impressed with how they upgrade every time they open up the game,

    the levelling is also not that hard to follow 2-3 days will you good level with all the necessary equipment needed, the battleframes classes are awesome im    one of those games downloaded in steam that is free that is not disappointing, so far so good for me .. have liked read all their reviews and videos and so far i am impressed with how they upgrade every time they open up the game,

    the levelling is also not that hard to follow 2-3 days will you good level with all the necessary equipment needed, the battleframes classes are awesome im going medic!

    see ya out there COPA!    … Expand
  10. player6587
    Aug 15, 2014
    5
    this game does not have good graphics, but i love the voice acting and such amazing map and actions. this game IS VERY LAGGY but turns out the graphics are not too good. there are too much objects (and entities) so the map is very messy (though its kind of beautiful) that you basically cant see the enemy. i didn't really enjoy the game.

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 22
  3. Negative: 5 out of 22
  1. SpazioGames
    Jan 5, 2015
    70
    Firefall probably is the most innovative MMO of the last period, whose indisputable merits are, however, counterbalanced by significant technical gaps as well as a general flatness of end-game contents. Worth much, but it could've been even better.
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  2. CD-Action
    Oct 24, 2014
    65
    The story of Firefall’s development (9 years!) is much more interesting than the game itself. [Nov 2014, p.54]
  3. Games Master UK
    Sep 19, 2014
    48
    The potential is there in the gunplay, but it's covered with shonky visuals and lifeless, grinding action. [Nov 2014, p.73]
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