Those of us looking for a new free-to-play jetpack fix can finally start warming up those boosters…again. FireFall has finally garnered a full-fledged release on July 29th, after being in perpetual beta for nearly 4 years.
Those years have seen a lot of changes to the colorful 3rd-person shooter. Parent studio Red 5 started off the game’s public testing with their sights on the hardcore eSports crowd. After a lackluster reception on that front, the studio suspended PvP for a time to “rethink it and relaunch it.” This was quickly followed by layoffs to the “majority” of Studio 5 TV, the developer’s dedicated eSports channel. PvP has since been reinstated, but with less focus on eSports-level competition.
Though the game itself has seen it’s share of changes over its sprawling beta tenure, the core of the game seem to have remained intact, and the team seems as enthusiastic about the product as they were at the start. Jet-boots are still a tent pole mechanic; during my time in the closed (and later, open) beta, bouncing around the game’s artfully crafted world blasting baddies was as gratifying as you’d expect.
Still, the game’s crafting mechanics proved a bit sluggish and confusing during the early beta phases, and objectives were sometimes less than clear. With the game’s overall fun factor, especially in the F2P sphere, I find myself hoping that the later beta stages cleared up some of these nagging inconsistencies. FireFall has a lot of potential as a great entry into the free-to-play arena, and a solid lauch after so many years could be just what the game needs to prove it.
