We’re going to find out if Warframe’s novelty in combining traditional martial arts and future technology, is enough to convince us.
Introduction
Warframe is a third-person action game that incorporates certain elements of RPG into its gamestyle. It’s published by Digital Extremes (DE), and its first release took place in March 2013 on PC only, and later on it was expanded to consoles (Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch). The game can be downloaded and played for free without any subscription, but we’ll find out more about that later.
Plot
The plot takes place sometime in the distant future and revolves around a race of ancient warriors, the Tenno, who were awakened once more to fight evil races that want to take over the Solar system, such as: the Grineer, Corpus, Infested, and other beings.
Being in a future setting, you would expect to see advanced weapons, suits, spaceships, space battles, and whatnot, and you would be right because that’s exactly what you’ll experience.
However, contrary to other futuristic games, you get a good taste of “old-fashioned” weapons and suits (Warframes), which combine old aesthetics with modern technology. On one hand, you are holding a laser gun and on the other hand a katana (Samurai sword) that will enable you to quickly chop through your enemies. The overall style of the game is that of very disciplined and skilled ninja-like warriors who possess different abilities linked to the specifications of the equipped Warframe suit.
Despite being a game that was released in 2013, it keeps growing along with its community, and has attracted quite the attention compared to where it started back then. In this article, I will quickly summarize and review the most important aspects of the game, and help you properly weigh the advantages over the disadvantages if you finally decide to get involved with this game. It’s a long-term commitment that will require multiple hours of dedication to obtain all the Warframes and weapons, and distinguish yourself among the more casual players.
Pros
Starting with the pros of the game, here are 5 of them:
1. Innovation
The most important aspect of this game was the introduction of fresh ideas. I’ve played a ton of other games taking place in the future and past, but none of them could combine everything into one game, and make every little boy’s fantasy come true.
What you’ll see here, is the combination of the old-fashioned fighting style of using swords, ninja-stars, hammers, and other melee weapons, while highlighting the importance of physical abilities in conjunction with some ultra-advanced weapons for maximum killing efficiency. The developers went bold on this, but managed to find the sweet spot and glue those elements together flawlessly. This in itself makes it a unique game.
You have the option to choose from a ton of primary and secondary weapons, a huge plethora of melee weapons, and a large arsenal of Warframes with various abilities, but the fact that you can just jump in any mission in the solar system with your private spaceship right after you log in to the game, it’s pretty neat and simple.
Its simplicity is what makes it the perfect game for working fellas like me, or for when you don’t have enough time and simply want to skip all the extras and jump into action for some serious business. Script-wise, it’s not something to go crazy about. However, weird names and places with strange but fascinating background stories are going to keep you interested in learning more as you progress in the game.
2. Gameplay
Warframe incorporates flawless combat mechanics, and, thankfully, the developers did that right because that’s the essence of the game. It’s straightforward and easy to play, and at the same time, the visual effects and movements make for a beautiful show of destruction. Jumping, sliding, and wall-latching are just a few elements of the movement set that will make you feel like a real ninja. If your preference isn’t melee weapons, you don’t need to worry as the game has a huge variety of rifles, pistols, shotguns, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and other bizarre futuristic weapons.
3. Community
In comparison to other games, the community in Warframe is quite helpful and understanding. No matter the problem, you’re always going to get some help, whether it’s in-game or in forums. You’re also able to add people to your friend list, and join their sessions or invite them to yours. There’s the option to join a clan of players to help you quickly reach your goals, and have some fun while you’re at it. There will be a few “rotten apples” here and there, but most of the fellas in the game, will be very empathetic to your mistakes.
4. Trading
The game heavily depends on a rewarding system after successfully completing each mission. Players get random or fixed items related to the mission’s reward pool and can use them to craft weapons, items, and Warframes. However, in case you are not happy with what you are getting, you have the opportunity to trade your items with other players for more useful ones.
5. Teamwork
Warframe incorporates a maximum of four (4) players in a single game session (mission), and that has two positive results: first, it gives significant importance to teamwork, since players need to stick together and assist each other if they wish to successfully complete a difficult mission, and second, it takes away the possible boredom by giving you the opportunity to combine your abilities with your teammates’ abilities.
Still, there is the option to go solo for lone wolves like me, though I wouldn’t recommend it. Being in a group makes it easier to “farm” resources, gain experience points, earn extra rewards and defeat tough bosses much quicker.
Cons
1. Grinding
Everything has a downside, and this game has one of the worst. ‘Warframe’ is notoriously famous for GRINDING!
Not just “a bit of farming, mate.” We are talking about practically endless grinding that will take more than 95% of the time that you dedicate to playing the game. That’s a debate that has arisen since its release, and has no plan of disappearing anytime soon because it’s essentially the core of the game.
Simply put, if you want to obtain anything in the game, you’d have to grind for it. Most of the time, you have to grind for lower-tier items, so they’ll enable you to grind for the items you really want. This, in turn, makes grinding for other stuff much easier. Yes, that made a lot of sense.
Trading might not always be possible either, and if you feel generous enough or don’t have enough time, you can actually pay with real money to get some of the items you want. Yikes!
2. Crafting time
Grinding is the first component of your time spent here, but wait until you hear that once you have all the resources gathered for the weapon or Warframe you like so much, you’ll have to wait from 12 hours to 3 days for it to complete. There is literally no point for the developers to implement such a hindrance, and the only reason I can think of is to make you waste Platinum to rush the process, which brings me to the third disadvantage.
3. Not free
Although Warframe is free to download, install and play, you’ll find out soon enough that this isn’t really the case, and as with everything “free” out there, there is always a catch. Warframes, weapons, companions, mods, etc. are limited by slots and resources. The only way to expand the number of those, you have to buy Platinum with real money. Platinum is used for other purposes too, such as rushing the crafting time and buying visual accessories. Now everything starts to make some sense.
Be aware of your expenditures, as you might find yourself deep in the range of hundreds of dollars, if not thousands. You could use that money, instead, to buy more AAA titles. You might want to support the developers, and that’s not a bad thing per se, but you should hold your horses, and think if it’s worth spending money on micro-transactions in a single game.
If you want to go hardcore F2P, you definitely can. However, your time and patience might run thin, and at some point, you’ll have to buy Platinum, nevertheless.
4. Monotonous
Let us ignore the grinding and the Platinum expenditures for a moment, and focus on the game itself. Well… there isn’t really much to it. The missions are very stagnant and bland, and whether you’re doing casual missions or some serious quest, the format remains the same. Below, you can see the six most common formats that you’ll find in every mission or quest:
i. Extermination: you kill everybody;
ii. Defense: you defend an object from waves of enemies;
iii. Mobile defense: same as above, but with changing locations;
iv. Extraction: similar to mobile defense;
v. Interception: you defend four areas (similar to Defense);
vi. Survival: you have to survive continuous waves of enemies for a specific amount of time.
DE added some open-world maps that actually brought some slight change to the overall experience, but it feels like nothing has changed at all.
5. Lack of substance
Does the storyline have some impact? Well, no.
The main or side quests can sometimes be entertaining, but their importance is negligible. You can even ignore most of them if you don’t mind unlocking certain items that aren’t crucial anyway. The lore feels confusing and somewhat cliché, as it’s based on the typical “good vs. evil” scenario.
The point is, quests are negligible, and the whole game revolves around grinding and micro-transactions, and if you aren’t careful enough, you’ll find yourself wasting many hours of your time and a hefty amount of real money. Hypothetically, if there was no need to grind, and you could have all the items you have wanted since day 1, there would be no reason to keep playing at all.
Conclusion
‘Warframe’ is a game that still feels fresh compared to its competition, and I still enjoy playing it to this day. Every afternoon after work I quickly play a couple of missions, and I admit that it’s become my guilty pleasure, given how easy and enjoyable it can be. It can be even more fun, if you play with your friends.
Still, I would not recommend the game as something worthwhile. If you take it seriously, and dive into deep waters, you’ll find yourself wasting considerable sums of your time and money. Perhaps if the game was offered as a one-time purchase instead of depending on slowly eating your credit card away with its micro-transactions, and if the content underwent a huge redo, I would recommend it.
Until then, keep it casual.
What’s your experience with ‘Warframe’?
Did you like it? What do your friends think about it?
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