Paying $14.99 a month to play a massively multiplayer online game is cheaper than your average Xbox 360 release, but that doesn't mean we like it. We're always looking for deals, and SOE's upcoming MMO, Free Realms, was designed to keep cash in our wallets. Available next year for both PC and PlayStation 3, this cute adventure game is free to start and packs tons of content. That doesn't mean it's as deep as EverQuest II and World of Warcraft, but it might offer a great way to kill some time without forking over a credit card.
Free Realms is one part MMO and one part Facebook. After creating a character, the game transports you to a profile page that provides new information about the game and lets you communicate with other players, a feature missing in most MMOs. We're more impressed with the game in general, because unlike its competition, Free Realms offers a casual experience with little consequence. Whereas World of Warcraft encourages you to perform menial tasks to level up, SOE's game lets you explore the world at your leisure and participate in a plethora of minigames. You don't need to run around killing animals or worry that some level 70 Night Elf will kill your avatar. Instead, you can listen to a band, take a walk or play with your pet cat or dog, both of which poop all over the place.
That's not to say the game doesn't play like an MMO. You can still team up with a party and complete tasks, and there are multiple classes, though not the ones you might expect. Yes, you can be a wizard, a warrior, an archer and a treasure hunter, but you can also become a miner, a medic, a ninja and even a mailman. Each class has unique minigames (as the mailman, you must deliver letters within a time limit) and outfits. In addition, you can change classes on the fly and each one levels up independently, so your high-ranking ninja won't bleed over into your medic. Of course, the fact that we don't need to create multiple accounts for each class is sweet.
In between stuffing mailboxes and mining for precious resources, you can also take part in other activities, such as 10 player kart races (five people and five computer opponents) and soccer matches, and since SOE will constantly update Free Realms, it plans to create new classes; a soccer player, or perhaps a ninja mailman. However, if you miss good old fashioned combat, you can still become that ninja or warrior and go on raids, though you'll probably vanquish snowmen and other cute enemies instead of giant spiders and other terrors; Free Realms was designed with families in mind, and as such, includes content available for all ages. You also don't have to worry much about death, either, and you can teleport to any place you visited, which eliminates mindless backtracking.
As with other free online games, there's a catch. You can play Free Realms for free, but to get the full experience, you'll need to fork over some dough. SOE plans to roll out micro-transactions for clothing and $4.99 memberships to access new areas of the game world. This makes the title of the game misleading, but it's not like we thought the company was actually developing a 100 percent free MMO anyway.
Keep in mind, though, that you don't have to spend a cent. Free Realms will still have plenty of content for us cheapskates, and we'll happily explore its world with tons of cash in our pockets. Well, at least until SOE releases a sought after item or perhaps a nice pair of shorts for our mailman. Then we'll shell out cash like a busted ATM.
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