Operation Cheapseats
Gaming on the cheap - 14 Day Reviews!
So perhaps Last Chaos wasn't quite my cup of tea, but I'm signed up with an Aeria account now anyway, so thought I'd have a poke about in the rest of their portfolio. I'm glad I did actually, and I'm not sure it's entirely fair to judge the whole network by one unlucky first-play. Next on the list is Shaiya: Light and Darkness.
Also free-to-play, and as part of the greater Aeria experience, one account seems to cover it all, which is quite convenient - just download it and go.
Aeria Games: Shaiya Download
No further details necessary, and it's a little under...
I sometimes get a bit listless; the regular games, through no specific fault of their own, sometimes pall. Its a momentary thing usually, and most Normal People tend to go outside for some fresh air at this point. Me? I hit the free-trial circuit instead and just find a different slant on the same ongoing obsession. Anyway, after reading this article a little while back: Massively: First Impressions: Last Chaos ...and deciding that "Yes! I would really prefer to run through this dungeon in a leather miniskirt and some fishnet stockings!", I downloaded it and gave...
Wahey! Super lightning bonus Cheapseat here! Well, kind of. Basically, I was sat staring at the PlayNC online store thingey, brooding with indecision about which flavour of City of Heroes to actually go for; US or EU, and got a bit distracted, as I do. I'm still none the wiser in the regard by the way. All the cool people I met during my free trial CoH stint seem to actually play on US servers, despite most of them being on the Olde Worlde side of the Pond, like me. On the otherhand, it's always helpful to be playing...
Well, that's probably enough free trial hopping for the time being, I'd say. Been an interesting month and a half though, and it's always good to broaden one's horizons, even if it is only 'trying a different kind of computer game for a bit'. I quite enjoy the occassional change of scenery from time to time anyway, and tend to be a bit of a fickle with my Brand Loyalty to be honest, but this particular mini-run of Operation Cheapseats did have a kind of focus to it: looking for a 'different' MMO.
I'm sure the more perceptive of you have...
Once more unto the breach, dear friends! A slightly shorter free trial then usual this time with Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, a modern day PC-based incarnation of the pen-and-paper game that started it all off, over 30 years ago. The free trial is available here: http://trial.ddo.com/ It lasts ten days, rather than the more customary fourteen, weighs in at about 2GB, and involves a bit of wrangling with File Planet, and quite a bit of patching once it's down, which makes for a bit more of a chore than most. It needs no credit card, only a valid...
Well, even after all my years of MMO familiarity, and even perhaps complacency, it turns out that I'm still not so 'veteran' that reading the instructions isn't on occasion helpful. After a somewhat difficult Dungeons and Dragons Online jaunt as a Rogue, which mostly made me confused, irritable and surlier than is seemly, I hit the character creation screen once more. Stung a little out of my umbrage by an insight that perhaps had not occurred to me, by Commenter Jimmy previous, I thought I'd give a melee class a go, precisely to see what life is like on...
More Dungeons and Dragons Online over the weekend, and I'm now, if anything, even more confused than a week ago, rather than getting the hang of it all, as one would expect. Two very different kind of session, showing me two quite different sorts of game really. Last time saw me grumbling about being in a group that didn't really need me, and so to avoid similar kinds of frustration, I took the initiative a bit, and did something I almost never do in my usual online wanderings, and that's start a group of my own. The party...
Ask and it shall be delivered!
My first real go at group work in Dungeons and Dragons Online the other night, and something of an eye opener, and exercise in frustration to some extent. I'd quite quickly found myself fascinated with the idea of traps, secret doors and so on, so rerolled as a Rogue, to better get to grips with this unusual and somewhat unique feature. Also, the dwarf's running animations are pretty awful, somewhere between 'constipated ape in a hurry' and 'seized up robot'. Turns out I needn't have worried too much - halfling running looks just as...
So moving on from the contemporary masked vigilantism, it's back to basics with Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach. Of course, the first stage was getting a trial at all, which proved to be a bit of an adventure in itself. "You have followed the link given to you by the DDO trial webpage, and now find yourself gazing at the terrifying visage of a File Planet login page. Vile and unpleasant banner ads crawl about the screen in all directions, clashing wildly and threatening to overwhelm your resolve and send you off to find a Matrix Online trial instead....
Another fortnight, another hopelessly unrepresentative lightning tour of an MMO that I'd never quite gotten around to trying before. This time it's Cryptic/NC Soft's City of Heroes. While there don't seem to be any free trials to be had directly from their website, there are lot of bulk trial giveaways floating about out there, so getting a look at the game isn't too difficult, and just requires a bit of hunting about. They also run a Refer a Friend scheme if you do have a friend on the inside.
The trial is for 14 days, is a full client download - about...
More City of Heroes over the last few days, and more ramblings here! So far I've made it to L17, largely without noticing it at all which is always nice. I seem to be settling quite comfortably into the role of front-line aggro-taunting meatshield, especially with the various tools they give you for gaining and holding aggro, and of course actually being able to survive the beatings is useful too. The group work continues to come at a fair old pace, and I rarely find the time to solo while playing, or indeed, the inclination. Mind you I'm not quite...
Having spent most of the weekend actually out of character creation and playing the game, I'm now starting to get a much better idea of what City of Heroes is really like. Mind you - still couldn't resist making up another couple of heroes with the outstanding My-Little-Superhero Dress Up Playset they've tacked on the front of the thing.
Compelling stuff, and it's just as well you get so many character slots really. Clearly both CoH and CoV are an Alt-o-holics nightmare, and a certain degree of focus is needed to actually pick one and get on with it, but...
Next stop on my current series of Operation Cheapseats, is Paragon City; the City of Heroes. Now unlike most of the games I end up trying on this project, CoH is a confident, self-sufficient and popular game, and as such, clearly doesn't feel the need to just hand out passes to anyone passing their website, and so has no direct 'Try CoH for Free!' link on their own websites, and actually finding a free trial was quite tricky. They seem to be the preserve of the 'added value giveaway', typically granted in finite quantities, to PC Gaming Magazine Coverdisks, or other...
And so the the roundup, after two weeks on the interstate system of a wrecked and ruined future. The Auto Assault trial can be found here:
Auto Assault.com: News - Look for the link near the top.
( EU players should try here instead: eu.autoassault.com/pcgamer)
Trial lasts 14 days, the client requires a ~3GB download, and the whole exercise requires no credit card details, but does need a PlayNC account setting up.
After an unexpected alien bombardment causes millions of deaths and thousands of mutations, and a failed attempt to restore order using a race of specially created biomechanical-enhanced shock troops, the remnants of genetically pure humanity, under the...
Enough of the RP nonsense, and back to the rumination! Spent most of this weekend getting the most out of my 14 day free trial of Auto Assault, which is turning out to be a lot of fun. I'm about level 30 now, which is a bit alarming in itself, and I'm now zooming about Cinderfall, which is a large crater filled with crumbling shanty towns, rotting tower blocks, rivers of green goo, and to the north, a fantastically imagined and designed region dominated by a mad AI, all in right angles, red lights and black robots, with some excellent...
Always, The Road... The Mutants probably see it as a vein, or an artery, granting it a mystical, ritual significance, mumbling mantras in their festering contamination-riddled huts, worshiping it, praying to it's 'spirit' for protection and aid. For the Betrayers, it is more likely a legacy, a sentimental symbol of a carefree and decadent past, of a time before the contamination and the atomic fires, a time when it was perhaps permissible to be weak, and soft. I see it quite differently. For me, it is a conduit, a system, an efficient network of expediency, allowing me to move swiftly...
And off we go again, back on the Free Trial Trail. A change is as good as a rest, they say, and I’m starting with Auto Assault. I’ll save the proper ‘review’ until the two weeks is up, but having spent a good couple of sessions in there now, some first impressions wouldn’t go a miss.
Getting into the Trial is pretty straight forward – you need a PlayNC account, (which I already had from when I bought Nightfall online), a serial code from here (or here if like me you’re in the UK), and the game client from here. It...
So to my other brief encounter with the distant future; Jumpgate. This title, first released in 2001, is a fairly robust and involved space mining/trading/combat MMO, featuring full joystick support, twitch flight, aliens, equipment, credits and PvP.
The setting is the distant future; mankind has travelled to the stars, via some kind of intergalactic jumpgatey thing, which subsequently collapsed. The remaining humans split into three factions, the militarist Octavius, the mercantile Solrain and the spiritual Quantar. These three factions, under the shakey oversight of the TRI, then set about rebuilding society and looking for a way home, all the while fighting...
Mankind is a curiously different sort of game. I’ve only been playing a few days now, so don’t take this as an exhaustive review or anything, but those few days have kind of reminded me of what the whole thing is about, sort of.
Essential, it’s an MMO RTS, based in space and on various planetary surfaces. You start life with a ‘Vibz’ class construction spaceship, a modest pile of credits, 500 settlers, and a Destiny, and form there you’re on your own. The first steps of the game focus on a very involved infrastructure creation exercise, as you scout out...
More fearless consumer research here:
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates: Free Trial
Duration: 10 'non-consecutive days' (i.e. having a day off won't cut into your ten.)
Client: Retail (Web driven Java Thingey - Size: tiny, even on dialup)
Credit Card Required: No
(Mac and Linux versions available - bonus points!)
To be honest, this all started as a bit of a joke review really, but soon suprised me by being a well-rounded, complete and functioning MMO, albeit a simple one. The basic preimise is that you are a...
Okay gang, you know the drill:
Shadowbane: Free Trial
(Be sure to use the correct portal (/us/ /uk/ etc), as the freebie CD Keys will only work with the right region’s registration. Took me a while to figure this out.)
Duration: 14 days
Client: Retail + First Expansion (~500MB)
Credit Card Required: Yes
Well, after all that Bene Gesserit ‘Fear Is The Mind Killer’ mantra nonsense a few weeks back, it turned out that I needn’t have worried at all; the game places new characters on a ‘safe’ island, and only recommends leaving at level 20. After a few monster whacking sessions, it became immediately apparent...
Here's the deal:
Saga of Ryzom: Download Game
Duration: 14 Days
Client: Retail (1.2Gb)
Credit Card Required: Yes
This is another game I'd had a little previous experience with, from open beta, and even previewed it in it's beta state, on my previous blog. That review, (and blog) is now lost forever, but on the whole, I was quite harshly critical of the game at the time. Has it changed any?
Three Good Things
Quirky: While at first glance appearing to be yet another sword-wielding elf-fest, it soon becomes apparent that Atys, and the creatures on it, are something distinctly unique and different. The world itself is...
First off I'll confess, I did cheat a little bit with this Neocron 2 newbie experience - this isn't the first time I've played it. I had a good old look around during their open beta (read 'Mass Free Trial') some months back, so was able to get on with things a bit quicker than most genuine newbies would. This was one of the reasons I've started with this particular title. So what did I think?
Three Good Things:
Atmosphere: Set in a post-apocalyptic 28th century, the impression of wandering the ruins of a shattered Earth is well executed and very immersive....
Operation Cheapseats is well under way now:
Neocron 2: Beyond Dome of York
The deal:
Duration: 10 Days
Client Download: Retail (1.7Gb)
Credit Card Required: Yes
I'm on about day 4/10 so far, so I'll talk about the game itself nearer the end of the trial, (and there's a lot to say, believe me,) but something I have noticed, and that seems largely detatched from this particular title; only having ten days greatly improves the game experience!
It's true. Simply knowing that in less than a fortnight, my little character, and all it's stuff, troubles, achievements, hopes and dreams, will cease to exist - 'permadeath', casts a...
So while the rest of the MMORPG world goes quietly beserk over the 'SOeBay' Affair, back to my current pet project: Operation Cheapseats!
First some definitions. The idea here is to see how far I can get on free trials alone, before having to actually subscribe for anything. The rules are simple:
1. No Money Spent: This is the crucial part of the thing. Internet connection costs are okay; I'd be paying those regardless of any indivual game, and even if not playing any MMORPG at all. Likewise, electricity to power the PC, inital cost of PC, etc don't count. There are...
Since I'm currently a bit antsy about Cynical Market Forces and Global Capitalism and whatnot, I've decide I'm not going to pay for my next Online Escapist Fantasy. That'll show The Man! No, I'm not about to dip into the murky world of 'war3z'. I'm going on the Free Trial Circuit!
The more I brooded, the better this sounded. On the one hand, my own jaded attention span has been shrinking, game after game - where once I stuck out two years of day-in, day-out, unapologetic Grind in the name of entertainment, now I am lucky if I can bear two...