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. Kazmerez
    Aug 1, 2014
    10
    Im a huge tribes fan so this game is right up my alley. I enjoy mmos and I also like borderlands. So to me this is almost everything I could ask for in a game. Sometimes it can be buggy but overall a well put together game and its f2p.
  5. Berhodes
    Aug 8, 2014
    9
    Very Solid MMO Shooter Game Free To Play and absolute NO Pay to Win.

    You don't just HAVE to do quests, you can do ares missions, events like tornado, or Incursion event,

    and pls. do like 2-3 hours per day before you review it negative
  6. Kayrik08
    Jul 31, 2014
    10
    Ive been following and playing FireFall for 3 years now. Ive seen both company, game and community grow over this time. Being a World of Warcraft player since 2004, I have never found a mmo that could keep me hooked long enough, Ive finally found that game ive always wanted to play.

    FireFall is possibly the best and most polished free to play games on the market at the moment. The game    Ive been following and playing FireFall for 3 years now. Ive seen both company, game and community grow over this time. Being a World of Warcraft player since 2004, I have never found a mmo that could keep me hooked long enough, Ive finally found that game ive always wanted to play.

    FireFall is possibly the best and most polished free to play games on the market at the moment. The game promises future content backed by a truly dedicated and passionate company we know as Red 5 Studios.

    I recommend FireFall to any passionate gamer to try the game out, after all it is free....    … Expand
  7. solardawning
    Jul 29, 2014
    10
    Firefall's finally launched, and it was worth the wait. Red 5 studios has completely remade the game that was known for it's 'eternal' beta, and now has a real gem: It has the progression and content flow of an MMO, but the fun moment-to-moment gameplay of a shooter. I'm having a blast. Only question on my mind is: which battleframe (character class) to level up next?
  8. Choggo
    Jul 29, 2014
    8
    I've been following FF since it was first available in beta and while there were some weird design choices along the way, I feel they finally got their act together in the end and put together a fun, entertaining shooter.

    I took off 2 points because some of the missions were just not well thought out and require excessive travel. One mission in particular has you travel out a kilometer    I've been following FF since it was first available in beta and while there were some weird design choices along the way, I feel they finally got their act together in the end and put together a fun, entertaining shooter.

    I took off 2 points because some of the missions were just not well thought out and require excessive travel. One mission in particular has you travel out a kilometer just to speak with an NPC that asks you to travel all the way back to where you started to speak with another npc...    … Expand
  9. Nyxious
    Aug 2, 2014
    10
    I have been having a blast playing this, I got so sidetracked interacting with other players and the environment that I forgot all about the mission I was on for 2hours, but I helped out 6 different groups of people which was pretty satisfying. Looking forward to playing more.
  10. EMG
    Jul 29, 2014
    10
    Very fun and fast paced FPS MMO. It had a rocky development but as it stands now, it is worth the time. Being a F2P you should at least give it a try. Beautiful map, fluid gun play and an interesting story. The ability to use boosters and gliders appeal to tribes fans while the shooting is similar to Borderlands. Overall a fun experience.
  11. Herroprs
    Jul 29, 2014
    10
    I have been playing this game since early access started 2 weeks ago and I have thoroughly enjoyed this game. It plays very smoothly on my laptop and the jumpjets give an incredibly amount of depth and truly make the game a 3 dimensional world.

    I have enjoyed every part of this game. It brings the skill of a standard FPS, wraps it in the progression of an MMORPG and tops it off with a    I have been playing this game since early access started 2 weeks ago and I have thoroughly enjoyed this game. It plays very smoothly on my laptop and the jumpjets give an incredibly amount of depth and truly make the game a 3 dimensional world.

    I have enjoyed every part of this game. It brings the skill of a standard FPS, wraps it in the progression of an MMORPG and tops it off with a great fully voiced storyline with memorable characters. Additionally it sports a well done free to play model where all items are available to a person who does not pay.

    I would definitely recommend trying this game out and hope you like it enough to throw some money at the Red 5 so they can continue developing this enjoyable game.    … Expand
  12. xsweetcheeksx
    Jul 30, 2014
    4
    Their leveling system sucks for a shooter. The PvP is terrible. The quests are boring and repetitive fetch, kill, and escort. The high level crafting takes AGES to unlock, and forever to gather the materials to make high quality high level gear. The graphics are pretty amazing. Travel (once you pay for it) is pretty cool; you get gliders and motorcycles to ride around the open zones with.Their leveling system sucks for a shooter. The PvP is terrible. The quests are boring and repetitive fetch, kill, and escort. The high level crafting takes AGES to unlock, and forever to gather the materials to make high quality high level gear. The graphics are pretty amazing. Travel (once you pay for it) is pretty cool; you get gliders and motorcycles to ride around the open zones with.

    Level system sucks: It's hard to play with your friends (especially if you're the lower leveled one) because they're off grinding away at higher level content that your just unable to participate in, and even if you did you don't get rewarded for it because it's too high level. Typical MMO "grind to max level so you can start playing the game" crap; typical Free 2 Play "We're going to make this take way longer than it should and prevent you from using your actual shooter skill to skip content so we can sell you xp boosters."

    The PvP is TERRIBLE! I went in as a level 30 to the PvP zone and met up with another player (lvl 40) that was on my "team". There weren't very many people in the PvP zone and we wanted to see how much damage the "bike with guns" would do to him, so we dueled. The game kicked me off the bike and wouldn't let me back on... fine no bikes in duels. The other player wanted to know how much damage I could do to him so he stood still while I shot him in the head. Nothing but straight headshots and he could out regenerate all my damage. Level and gear completely outweigh skill; which is horrible for a shooter. Your skill will only come into play if you are the same level and close to the same gear rating.

    The crafting is designed to sell you resource boosters and you can pay to skip the long wait time (days in some cases) between clicking craft and getting your item.

    The player to player economy is doomed for failure as there are infinite resources, your gear never needs to be replaced, and there is a finite player base. It doesn't take an economical genius to figure out that the market will be saturated in short order.

    The graphics are great! After you pay to get an LGV (motorcycle thingy) and a glider pad, traveling around the zones is some of the most fun I've had getting from boring kill quest to boring fetch quest in a video game. The storyline instances are pretty fun, but they're gated by forcing you to hit certain levels to play them.

    Overall, the game is too much of a grind fest, the quests are too repetitive, and FPS skill means very little. It doesn't feel rewarding, it just feels tedious.

    I'm giving it 2 for the world travel and graphics and 2 for the storyline instances.    … Expand
  13. reindorado
    Sep 10, 2014
    9
    Let's never underestimate MMOs released post-WoW. Sure there are triple-A greats here and there, but indie, F2P, and/or foreign sleepers abound. One of them is Firefall. Don't be swayed away by people complaining about the grind. It's a fun grind! Shooting things in first or third person really takes away a lot of the annoyance of tab-target combat. It's fun, frantic, and fast withLet's never underestimate MMOs released post-WoW. Sure there are triple-A greats here and there, but indie, F2P, and/or foreign sleepers abound. One of them is Firefall. Don't be swayed away by people complaining about the grind. It's a fun grind! Shooting things in first or third person really takes away a lot of the annoyance of tab-target combat. It's fun, frantic, and fast with Firefall. Gorgeous graphics wrap good gameplay up nicely. Look forward to big pitched firefights against aliens, space terrorists, and mutated Earth fauna, jetpacking your way through the zing of bullets and lasers, assembling cool tech yourself. All this for free!… Expand
  14. Bramage
    Jul 8, 2015
    3
    I agree with the other critics: Nothing to keep me playing. No end game, lack of meaningful content. The game had tremendous potential, it just never happened.
  15. Freelett
    Sep 11, 2015
    0
    resuming 2.0 is all of you can't wanna see on the game, recoil, MORE NERFS, useless weapons and abilities, pay to win with lock boxes, grindfest, 100% accuracy on npcs, infinite and fast spawn of npcs on the mission placed, and the most stupid
    a writer of reality shows writes for this sci fi title, you can imagine the **** is that...
    really Firefall RIP since R5 started with the NERFS on    resuming 2.0 is all of you can't wanna see on the game, recoil, MORE NERFS, useless weapons and abilities, pay to win with lock boxes, grindfest, 100% accuracy on npcs, infinite and fast spawn of npcs on the mission placed, and the most stupid
    a writer of reality shows writes for this sci fi title, you can imagine the **** is that...
    really Firefall RIP since R5 started with the NERFS on the release.    … Expand
  16. GhostShooter
    Sep 29, 2015
    0
    October 2nd, 2015 is coming and we will again have another moment where desperately the Red5 developers (this time Chris Whiteside) try in vain to say that the changes, making it clear here, hated change by most players, will be the new magic solution to save the game that already has been lost over the years of failures and mistakes, when in fact this version previously called 2.0 thisOctober 2nd, 2015 is coming and we will again have another moment where desperately the Red5 developers (this time Chris Whiteside) try in vain to say that the changes, making it clear here, hated change by most players, will be the new magic solution to save the game that already has been lost over the years of failures and mistakes, when in fact this version previously called 2.0 this further game that fans loved, more repetitive, totally unbalanced and tedious the old scifi shooter arcade become If one coverfall where all mobility was destroyed, where again extreme nerfs ruined old great weapons and abilities, where half of the lvl 25 route (the game will go to lvl 50) the player already completely bored and decided to leave the game not only for huge tedious grind, but also by the enormous expenditure of time and money on repairs for damage sustained at all times and the deaths, where the NPCs as well as infinite and polls spawns have 100% accuracy and an enormous damage rate, while the players are weak and have an absurdly unrealistic recoil, and useless totlamente skills, in short it's like all the fun was forbidden, where every mission (AresJOBS) are in the same places with the same or very similar Objetives, there is more freedom in the game, there is no more experança a day Red5 take the right path that version 2.0 came to kill the firefall from time after five years, this could be the worst change has already suffered the most damaging to the players, and that will be the fastest fail.

    Rip Firefall Sad day when we see 2.0 on PTS    … Expand
  17. korn898
    Jan 4, 2015
    10
    In the contrary to the critic review, I feel that this game is pretty good. Unlike other MMOs or MOBAs , Firefall offer a unique gameplay. For the new users, I highly recommend to start by grouping with other players not by soloing. Group activities are a lot of fun and better than soloing
  18. sportmaster22
    Jun 1, 2015
    10
    this game is really good because you can play singleplayer or multiplayer and there is a storyline that you can follow, best game ever. you must download this game because its free on steam!
  19. YonHunter
    Sep 6, 2015
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Firefall was an interesting game for the OBT, after release the massive nerfs on players destroyed the fun on game, but the game don't died, survived with a small group of players waiting for changes, but now COWBOY ruined completely the game in version 2.0 extreme NERFS on battleframes and abilities, ridiculous boring and weak weapons, a no sense and expensive upgrade system with a tedious grind for modules, some ARES are changed to a ridiculous infinite giant spawn of enemies
    all bugs changed to "snipers" with extreme high damage and range, tedious leveling system make player boring fast, some old great classes Bastions, DragonFlyes are now a great crap, ridiculous extreme high recoil add on weapons on game and that ruined the combat for players because npcs have 100% accuracy, really sad see how firefall is doomed to fail when 2.0 coming.    … Expand
  20. Ellthan
    Feb 26, 2016
    0
    There are SO many things wrong with this game, I can't fit all the problems in 5000 words sadly (Trust me I tried).
    So, I'll just be short:
    *No balance *No content *Pay2Win (You can litteraly pay money in exchange for direct bonus damage, energy and speed) *Developers cutting away content for no reason. *Developers removing free content people grinded for to sell it back to us for    There are SO many things wrong with this game, I can't fit all the problems in 5000 words sadly (Trust me I tried).
    So, I'll just be short:

    *No balance
    *No content
    *Pay2Win (You can litteraly pay money in exchange for direct bonus damage, energy and speed)
    *Developers cutting away content for no reason.
    *Developers removing free content people grinded for to sell it back to us for real money.
    *Developers censoring critisism.
    *No optimization.
    *Insanely **** servers.
    *Developers completely ignore feedback they ask for.
    *Developers remove fun parts of the game that have no effect in balance.

    I could keep going on and providing detail on each one of those, but honestly, there's no room.    … Expand
  21. Woua
    Sep 9, 2023
    0
    Unplayable mess I don’t even know how people can spend time of their life with this
  22. RoofieColada
    Sep 14, 2014
    3
    After playing for around two years, very heavily at first, then only off and on when it was clear the devs were not listening. But after going back and playing the last to weeks I cant help but feel as though this game is the absolute shining example of squandered opportunity. It sad really, it had so much potential, you can see it everywhere you look in and at the game. But at the end ofAfter playing for around two years, very heavily at first, then only off and on when it was clear the devs were not listening. But after going back and playing the last to weeks I cant help but feel as though this game is the absolute shining example of squandered opportunity. It sad really, it had so much potential, you can see it everywhere you look in and at the game. But at the end of the day, you find yourself struggling to find a reason to stick around especially when you start the crafting gear grind.
    It is unique you have to give it that, and is worth a look just for that alone. But it falls short pretty much everywhere, something you see after a month or two.    … Expand
  23. ashidokunn
    Aug 18, 2014
    9
    I played bunch of MMOs, most were boring or I couldn't have fun without spending real money for boosters, revivals everything was so restricted. FireFall offers open and wide world without a need of paying anything, you can unlock everything by progressing in game.
  24. 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
  25. EclecticSkyDirt
    Aug 8, 2014
    9
    It's an awesome shooter-MMO. The Battleframes rock, and the gameplay is smooth and I enjoy it.
    Used to be addicted to playing Tribes, so all the jetpack craziness also helped me connect with this game.
  26. Humonculous
    Aug 8, 2014
    9
    It's been said before: FireFall is unlike any MMO out there. It's an awesome cel-shaded FPS that is light on the quests - don't expect the same old hunt-for-animals trivialities. It's an enjoyable game that offers plenty of new mechanics and elements like thumping, melding, and the social interaction. Try it, it's not an F2W. :)
  27. lawlessray
    Aug 6, 2014
    9
    Firefall got me by my heartstrings by harkening heavily from GITSAC and Appleseed influences. From the armor design, to the weapons and weapon effects, the SFX too, it immerses you nicely into an invaded futuristic Earth.
  28. stupidosgrande
    Aug 14, 2014
    9
    In agreement with the MMORPG.com review, I would say that this is the penultimate online multiplayer game for people who love their MMORPGs and FPSs alike. It's a good mix between dazzling landmass exploration and tense and frenetic shootemups with aliens, bandits, and pretty much all the fauna of the invaded Earth. It is one game that you should not dismiss early because of a rocky mediaIn agreement with the MMORPG.com review, I would say that this is the penultimate online multiplayer game for people who love their MMORPGs and FPSs alike. It's a good mix between dazzling landmass exploration and tense and frenetic shootemups with aliens, bandits, and pretty much all the fauna of the invaded Earth. It is one game that you should not dismiss early because of a rocky media coverage (and actual run) of pre-launch development. It's paid its dues, and the devs have learned; it's like if D3: Reaper Of Souls came out without the vanilla D3. Go play, and glide the skies with splendor.… Expand
  29. GoutSmasherLive
    Aug 7, 2014
    10
    First thing I love about FireFall is the gameplay (gun-play, more like it); secondly, its awesomely smooth graphics. I don't have complaints, I love it. Also, I'm a diehard Unreal Tournament fan, so there.
  30. Lalapaseo
    Aug 8, 2014
    10
    Very polished (and well-manned, devs are formerly from Blizzard) somewhat-MMO FPS/TPS. It brings a fresh persistent-world shooter experience that's burritoed all together with exotic locales, a good class/role system, and somewhat different takes on crafting. The exhilarating experience of gliding around the map is a super bonus.
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Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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.
    Read full review
  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]
See all critic reviews »