F2P

Header image shows the moment I knew I was done with Fallout Shelter. I had just gotten things back on track from an attack of radioactive scorpions, when some death claws came by and took out my defenses, then killed my main power, water and food facilities. Even “Cut-Rate Richard Branson” couldn’t fight them off. I had 101 residents when I finished – enough to unlock every building, but enough to also make the shelter chronically short of water, energy and food. The shelter always made more than it needed, but the frequent attacks would decimate them and then it would be a long session to get things stable once more. ...

A “Fallout”-branded worker placement mobile game in the vein of Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog”

I’m always looking for a good F2P game to play for awhile. I never stay with them for long. They tend to follow a similar pattern of providing a lot of enjoyable, entirely free game before essentially locking you out of playing the game as much as you’d like unless you start paying money. That’s usually when I uninstall. Some F2P games, like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms were enough fun that I spent some money on them (in the case of FFBE, a lot of money over the couple years I played). I don’t mind supporting F2P games I enjoy – their developers need money, too. I just mind when the cash grab becomes a real blocker to play. ...

Lord of the Rings Online launched as a free-to-play game today. No, wait. The gates that had been shut beyond the memory of Man groaned open on hinges made of dwarven stone, mithril-inlaid runes pulsing a message nobody living could read…. BE FREE…. No, no, no. In Evendim, did Lysistra, a Capitan of Men, foresee A day of future memory when Eriador would be free ...

I wasn’t sure what to think about SOE’s Clone Wars Adventures when I first read of it. A kid-oriented, “freemium” MMO set in the Star Wars universe? With SOE’s Star Wars Galaxies out for years and Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic set to tear things up next year, is there really any room for yet ANOTHER MMO set in the same universe? Well, yes, there is. But then, Clone Wars Adventures is not really an MMO. It’s more a lobby from which you can select Star Wars-themed minigames, show off your latest outfits and your home, build your own lightsaber and, well, save the galaxy, one Peggle at a time. ...

No other game looked like Spellborn The Chronicles of Spellborn seemed to provide a wish list of what people want in an MMO. You could look cool from day 1; the gear you chose at character creation could be upgraded by slotting in runes to increase their power. You could still find or craft items with more or better slots, but there was never a time when your character would have to look anything but cool as sheets. ...