While the Xbox one waits to bolster its meagre number of titles, the 360 continues to roll out a steady stream of games. Most notable in the last few months is the number of free games Gold members have been able to download. Some of these have been courtesy of Xbox’s ‘Games With Gold’ promotion, whereby a free Xbox game has been made available for users to get their hands on. Alongside these have been a slew of ‘free-to-play’ games. Early examples were Doritos Crash Course and Happy Wars, the largest FTP game on the 360 so far. Now we have the introduction of Warface to the 360, developed by Crytek, the makers of the Crysis series.
Warface is an online-only FPS, for up to 16 players in any of its versus modes, or 5 players in co-op. For the beta, three games modes are available: standard Team Deathmatch, Free For All and Plant the Bomb; all familiar modes to anyone who has played an FPS (i.e. everyone.) There is a training mode for each of the four classes: Rifleman, Engineer, Medic and Sniper. In a recurring theme throughout my play time, these classes were immediately reminiscent of Battlefield (the game is also comparable to the likes of Call of Duty, Counter-Strike and a whole list of other FPS’s). Medics can heal health, Engineers can replace teammates armour, Riflemen can replenish ammo and Snipers can…well, snipe. The training modes were functional, and partly to blame for highlighting the games inadequacies. Showcasing all the actions you can perform within the game only compounded the fact that there’s very little on offer here you won’t have seen before, and done better too. You are initially restricted to only using the Rifleman and Sniper class, with the Medic an Engineer classes being unlocked after half an hour and then an hour’s play time respectively.
Before starting the game, you have an option to select which ‘realm’ to play in: Europe or the US. The US server was much more populated, and after 2 days I struggled to find a game in the European server at all. You take a separate character into each realm, which level up separately. It is not possible to carry over weapons and gear bought from one realm to the other, meaning should this be included in the full version, it is unlikely players will move between the two. Matches themselves fail to excite: levels are tight affairs, so respawning never leaves you far from the action. Yet in Team Deathmatches, this also leads to excessive spawn camping. Many rounds devolved into one team gaining complete control of the map and pinning the other team back. Without any momentary spawn invincibility, or the spawn positions moving to different locations, there was simply no challenge.
Plant the Bomb fared little better in terms of players exploiting the gameplay. In one game, players were reduced to using knives only. While this initially seemed fun and a good sign of the community enjoying itself, it only took a few games before the other team began to select the medic class and revive each other after each confrontation. Such notable exploits will hopefully be eradicated by the time the game releases later this year.
Free For All proved slightly better: the maps provided were more detailed in terms of level design, and there was no worry of camping as spawning is randomised. While the beta restricts players to one map per game mode, 3 in the European realm and 3 in the US, hopefully every map will be used for each game mode. One of the TD maps, set amongst shipping containers in a warehouse, was excruciatingly dull to play in, with players being shepherded to their deaths through narrow corridors. The main relief was being able to clamber on top of the containers. Warface tries to encourage teamwork, with some areas only accessible by two teammates pairing up to hoist one another onto higher vantage spots. Of course, this screams ‘sitting ducks’ whilst you wait for the animation to finish.
Lastly there is co-op mode. Each mission consists of moving from point A to B and killing the maximum number of enemies in between. Having a full team of 5 makes short work of the fairly useless AI enemies, and also has the ironic result of there being even less co-operation than in TD, as players run though levels trying to claim the most kills and therefore the highest score.
Challenges exist in the form of contracts, charging you with killing a certain number of enemies with X weapon, or doing game mode specific tasks such as planting 5 bombs in Plant the Bomb. Dollar are earned after each game, allowing you to purchase new weapons and gear. This is where microtransactions appear, as you can buy Warface Kredits to increase the odds in your favour. Having returned to the game the day after I first played it, I found all my purchased items and been removed; this may be particular only to the beta, or worryingly a cheap method of forcing you to grind your way back during each new session.
I realise that throughout this preview I have been overly critical; however, it feels both necessary and justified. With the 360 being in the twilight of its existence, and the number of FPSs to have come before it, Warface has a certain standard it must aspire to, regardless of its position as a free-to-play game. Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli stated his goal was to move the developer towards offering solely FTP, triple A quaity games over the next 5 to 6 years. While it would be unfair to judge Warface purely on this beta version, early glimpses would suggest that Crytek is going to have to drastically improve the quality of both this and its future games if it hopes to keep this long-term strategy viable.