Battlecry might just be the first time I decide to jump into the Free-to-Play realm of gaming with both feet.
The 32-player team action combat game is currently in development by Battlecry Studios. Founded in 2012, the studio has one purpose in mind, and that is producing high quality Free-to-Play games. Battlecry will be its flagship game and promises to be a “new breed of multiplayer”. Think ‘Kill Bill’ meets ‘Call of Duty’. That could very well be exactly what you get with Battlecry. Battlecry is scheduled to go Beta in 2015.
I know many of you have played your share of Free-to-Play games, but I’ve never been into them. It might be all the micro transactions leaving me with the feeling like I am getting nickeled and dimed. It might be none of the Free-to-Play games thus far have captured my attention. Whatever the case may be, I know I am not the only one as most of my gaming buddies don’t bother with any Free-to-Play games at all.
I don’t know if Battlecry will have all my friends rushing out to give this visceral multiplayer combat game a spin but given how early we are into its development cycle, Battlecry is showing plenty of promise. After spending 45-minutes or so with an E3 PC build of the game, I must say I had quite a bit of fun.
Battlecry takes place in a world without gun powder. A world war has broken out a hundred years ahead of its time. The result of this is what the developers call the “Black Powder Treaty”. This Treaty expands the use of gun powder in warfare. As a warrior in this world, you group yourself with a faction as you fight in various war zones.
At a Pre-E3 event in Santa Monica we played in one of these war zones in a big team deathmatch game. The map we played on was called “Fracture” which was a highly stylized map clearly inspired by comics and illustrations. Although we only played Team Deathmatch, the developers did mention more modes will be featured in the final build of the game.
There were 3 classes I could choose from. You can select from an Enforcer, Dualist or an Archer. More classes will be available on release; however, those were the three we could select from during the live hands-on demo. I went with the Enforcer as frankly I was pretty much useless with the Archer and didn’t fare much better with the Dualist.
Immediately, from the moment I stepped into this war zone, the fluidness and speed of the game could be felt. I sprinted and grappled my way to where the bulk of the combat was taking place only to quickly, and I mean quickly, die at the hands of a dual wielding Dualist equipped with a couple of deadly daggers. The developers explained playing as a team was critical to your survival. I learned that the hard way.
Once I got into the swing of things and become more acclimated with the games controls, I found the combat enjoyable. I started racking up a kill count and taking full advantage of some of characters abilities. Warriors have three unique abilities. One such ability involves the games adrenaline system where you can build up energy activating your ultimate ability where you deliver devastating lethal blows.
You can also customize your warrior and earn iron in the game which unlocks skill trees, etc. You can create a distinct look and even a gender for your warrior. For a Free-to-Play game I was surprised by the level of depth offered up.
There is no question Battlecry will feel familiar to many and there is certainly some talent on the development team with developers who have worked on Half-Life 2 and Dishonored. Given how far away we are from seeing the final product, Battlecry is showing plenty of promise and may just be that first Free-to-Play game I sink my teeth into.
