Game: Warface
Developer: Crytek
Publisher: Microsoft Studios( Xbox 360 )
Cost: Free-to-play
Platforms: Xbox 360, Windows
Crytek recently announced that their free-to-play shooter Warface has 25 million registered users on Windows. So I decided to get my hands dirty on Warface (Beta) for Xbox 360. Lets check out Crytek’s new IP and find out how it holds up against the plethora of F2P shooters available today.
Graphics and Performance
We all know Crytek for their gorgeous looking games namely Crysis series and Ryse. Lets see how Warface performs in this department. In all honesty Warface fails to meet Crytek’s graphic standards specially on Xbox 360 where the game looks to have all kind of graphical problems, though the situation is bit better on the PC. The colour of objects and enemies is so similar that I was not able to distinguish between them. Textures looks really awful. Character design and model look outdated. The good thing is that weapons look nice and meet with the industry standards.
On PC, you run the game in your browser, yes you heard it right, ‘browser’. You download a plug-in by Gface (similar to Origin and Steam) in your browser and run the game. There are barely any options to downgrade or upgrade the game’s graphics. To me it feels like Warface was made with a relatively cheap version of Cryengine. Game does not looks good but it performs well I had a very stable frame rate on Xbox 360 as well as PC version and the frame rate did not dropped during intense action which is really appreciable.
Online and Multiplayer
Not all’s so bad afterall, as Warface shines in certain areas. Now I am going to talk about the online component. Whether a game is good or bad if its online functionality is broken or the game is not playable due to server issues, the purpose is lost. The surprising part is that Warface’s online functionality is great, in closed beta the game has a lot of server issues but Crytek has sorted them out. In Warface you can not only search for a game but create your own servers or join other people servers and moreover you can even make changes in game’s setup. This functionality is also available on Xbox 360 it is surprising for me to see this kind of functionality because these kind of features are generally made only available to PC users. The good part is that you can select in which type of server do you want to go based on rankings.
When you start the game you need to choose a realm (it is something similar to servers). There are no Asian realms which can be a bad news for people who have very slow internet (a common problem in our country), so you are forced to play on other realm’s. Warface is still in ‘Beta’ for the Xbox 360 and I hope Crytek is able to fix all the minor problems when the game releases. Oh and by the way, did you know Warface holds the world record for having the most players online simultaneously on one online shooter on one server. I don’t want to talk too much about this for all those interested here is the source.
Content and Free-to-Play Integration
On the content side things are bright. For f2p standards I was pretty much happy with amount of weapons, maps and character cutomization. Now I am going to tell you two different things, Warface has fair amount of guns but in guns customization department it fails really hard most of the guns barely have any customization except a silencer and a scope. I’m generally very skeptical about F2P games but Warface is different . The way Crytek has implemented f2p mechanics are really appreciable. Throughout my gameplay I was not forced to pay a single penny, until you really want to boost yourself in the game or you are not able to play game properly I don’t think you will need to spend money (I did spend a little bit to support the developers). The game has a very neat progression system which constantly rewards you. Overall on content side Warface get’s a thumbs up.
Gameplay
Now we talk about what matters the most: Gameplay. Many people might criticize Warface for being a Call Of Duty clone but my advise, don’t listen to them. Warface is much more than that. It is a mix of elements from COD and Battlefield. Warface has a class system inspired by Battlefield and fast gameplay inspired by COD. There are four different classes (Rifleman, Sniper, Medic and Engineer) each class has their own set of weapons and special abilities. Crytek has made a great push towards teamwork which is very often in modern shooters, many elements are introduced by Crytek to take the game on a new level. Your health will not regenrate so a medic in your team is important, to recharge your shield and setup claymores an engineer is required. Likewise, the Sniper and Rifleman classes have their own core abilities.
With help your team-mates you can reach higher ground levels and unlock new paths on the map. Talking about maps, they are small in size but besides that the level design is impressive. Even playing on the same map a bunch of times did not make things repetitive because each game plays out differently. A new mechanic slide is introduced in the game and it is very simple to use, while sprinting simply press the button used to prone and it will perform the slide. It adds some style to game and I love to kill people while sliding because it looks and feels awesome.
The game has two different components ‘Versus’ and ‘Co-op’. Versus is the where you have modes like Free For All, Team Deathmatch and Plant The Bomb. Co-op is not a story mode, you are simply given an objective and your mission is to go from point A to B, there is no story but it can be fun with friends, daily new missions are available. The game also pushes for some competitive rules like fixing the player’s spawn and giving them a specific time for respawn. We expect more content from Crytek for their f2p shooter because it is doing great nowadays and we know more number of downloads more content.
Note: Warface is currently in beta state and developers are constantly improving the game. Many issues have been fixed in the past and we hope Crytek continues to support this game with more content in the future.
