With its initial price tag of “free”, Warframe is a great option for many video game players who are looking for an action-packed, less expensive alternative to a full priced game costing $60, especially considering that quality remains similar between these two pricings.
Gameplay in Warframe is fast paced, taking place in third person, allowing you to see your character from a camera, as opposed to the first person perspective, with the viewpoint being from the eyes of the character, which many games have adopted. The third person perspective allows the game to feel more fast-paced and easier to control, as well as more enjoyable given the type of game Warframe is.
There are a total of 15 different planets with a plethora of different missions to access on each. Some planets have more locations with tighter hallways and close range engagements while some are more open with longer range engagements. The most different play area is known as the Plains of Eidolon on Earth. It is an open world environment where players can scavenge for resources to build weapons or hunt down patrols of enemies around the plains.
Through gameplay, players can gain access to an arsenal of over 100 unique weapons and 53 characters, or warframes as they are called in game. Gameplay itself can vary from protecting specific checkpoints to hacking into an enemy base and rescuing a hostage. Whether you want to play stealthily and evade enemy detection or run in guns blazing to shoot at aliens, there’s always a warframe or weapon which will allow you to do that just a little easier.
In addition to the customization from different warframes and weapons, the game features an advanced “modding” system, which allows you to augment your weapons and warframes in specific ways depending on how you want to play. They can be as simple as adding more health to your warframe, allowing you to take more damage, to increasing running speed or ability damage.
Time is a problem in this game, however. It can take a lot of time to progress, through processes such as waiting for a weapon or warframe to build which can take hours or even days of real life time. Mods can also take a lot of play time to unlock and upgrade, and certain weapons are locked behind a system known as “mastery rank”. This system will increase your mastery rank as you use and level up different warframes and weapons, but certain items have a very high mastery rank requirement before you can unlock and use them. This can cause players who don’t play the game very often to feel as if they are missing out.
Even though the game doesn’t cost anything initially, players can spend real money on a premium currency known as “platinum”. Platinum can be used to speed up build times or buy items, but players who do not wish to spend money can also acquire platinum through trading with other players, another feature which separates this game from many others.
Warframe is an enjoyable action game with plenty of content, entertaining gameplay, and a rewarding progression system, but casual players or those who refuse to spend money may have some trouble advancing at the later stages of the game.
