Warframe: A Free To Play Shooter and PS4 Launch Title

[Parker]

Sony sure isn't letting us down with great news about the PS4 and this is no different. Looking forward to downloading this on my PS4 too.

 

Today, IGN can confirm that Warframe, the “space ninja” co-op game, is coming to PlayStation 4. It will launch alongside Sony’s new hardware, and will follow a similar free-to-play, microtransaction model as the game does on PC. (We gave the game a 7.0 on PC, in case you’re curious.)

Digital Extremes, the 20-year old development studio behind the Unreal series, Dark Sector and The Darkness II, is leading the charge for both the PC and PS4 iterations of the game, and we recently spoke with Steve Sinclair, the game’s creative director, for more on his vision, what it takes to bring his game to PlayStation 4, and what it’s been like working with Sony.

Sinclair notes that many gamers who play Warframe on PC often refer back to Phantasy Star Online as a similar experience, and even state that it’s like “Mass Effect meets Ninja Gaiden,” what with its emphasis on space and… well… ninjas. “It’s a big, messy space ninja game,” Sinclair said, laughing, one rife with customization and crafting options, and one that doesn’t stress competition as much as it stresses cooperation.

Warframe has deep roots. It’s a passion project, and it took some time to get it off the ground. “We’ve been trying to make this game for a while with a very old concept,” Sinclair explained. He wanted to do “Something with a smaller team, something we were very passionate about,” and that game ended up becoming Warframe on PC, which launched earlier this year.

With Sony’s well-publicized indie slant over the last couple of years, it makes sense that the company would reach out to Digital Extremes to investigate bringing Warframe to its new console. “Sony caught wind of [Warframe], and said, ‘hey, what do you think of bringing it over to PlayStation 4?’, and we were very surprised to hear that,” Sinclair said. After all, independent developers don’t always have positive interactions with big publishers, even those that happen to also be a console manufacturer.

An arrangement with Sony was “attractive” for Digital Extremes, because the company, “retain control of the game, and we don’t have to necessarily get into bed with a publisher and sell away our ideas and kind of lose our creative vision for the game.” Unlike Microsoft with Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Sony doesn’t require a publisher to get onto their platform. It made PlayStation 4 an obvious destination for Warframe.

“Sony has been incredibly supportive and available,” Sinclair continued, “and [PlayStation 4], in my opinion, is incredible to develop for. It is awesome, and I don’t want to speak disparagingly about any existing or prior platforms, but we showed Warframe for the first time to our entire studio, and everyone had their jaws on the floor, how 1080p, silky smooth and beautiful it was. So, I’m really, really enjoying working on the machine.”

“Their attitude, their support and their willingness to work with us to get on the console is an incredible opportunity for a studio like ours,” he concluded.

Sinclair confirmed that DualShock 4’s special functionality – including its mysterious touch pad – will play a big role in Warframe. It will retain its fierce third-person action, its deep collecting system, and will even come packing new monthly content and a companion application for both iOS and Android. It also appears that Warframe will remain a PlayStation 4 exclusive in the console space. “Well, so far, it’s looking that way, yes,” Sinclair answered.

But how viable is free-to-play on consoles? That remains to be seen. Titles like Free Realms and DC Universe Online have found varied levels of success, and Dust 514 has most recently taken up the banner on console. But there’s no proven runaway success story as of yet. Sinclair hopes Warframe changes that. After all, the free-to-play model has “certainly given a studio our size a new lease on life,” he said.

“We hope we can make [free-to-play] attractive for the console audience… Instead of dropping 60 bucks on a six hour game, [a person] might drop a few bucks here and there on our game, which gives some of our players 500 hours of entertainment.”

And what sets Warframe apart from its competitor? Its non-competitive, more laid back slant, Sinclair said. “We’re getting a lot of players interested in the game because most of the other people in this space are head-to-head, hardcore competitive, and this is much more of a player-versus-enemy, co-op, more of a Diablo experience, but in third person shooter form.”

 

 

Parker

[xVolloxx]

Enjoyed this on PC so awesome !

[-Dark Mark-]

Looks fun, and for a free launch title, why not try it?

[Sand dan Glokta]

I play this on PC every once in a while and it's not bad for a F2P game, I'll definitely be getting it for ps4

[Eddy_C_Kan]

Sounds cool, I'm gonna get it. You know, 'cause its free. And cool.

[Undrey]

My PS4 may be a F2P machine!

[ANTIOX_]

Video looks epic! Love what ps4 is becoming

Microsoft have no chance winning next gen :-D

[Nasty_Rory]

The catch is that like Dust 514 you will have to buy stuff if you want to progress without too much effort. There is a pack on the EU store for Dust that is £75 for all the perks that it gives. £75!

[rallysportev]

First impressions...

Well if you've read my previous posts elsewhere you have seen that I've had problems just getting this game loaded to my PS4 (about 11 hours to be exact).

So I've been playing this for about a good hour and a half now. For all the trouble I've had I've got to say this so far has almost been worth the trouble.

 

Pros:

Da graphics. It isn't OMG but it's up there. I love the detail.

Da fairly straight forward game play. You start in a solar system, at one planet, and a starting point to various locations surrounding that planet and go into those areas to complete objectives to open new locations, etc.

Da team. You can choose to play solo but I let myself go in with two other players. My chat was off so I don't know if they were communicating however they seemed to not mind helping out reviving me.

 

Cons:

Da controls: Well they're simpler than most shooters/fighters however I found that I had issues when attacking an enemy with my sword. First I would soften him up with a few gun shots followed by jumping in closer for the kill. I would knife slash only to have the enemy often easily side step me. My character would not cancel the move regardless of regular slash or power slash, thus leaving me vulnerable enough to have to be revived. Luckily I didn't die but one of the other players did because they did proceed farther ahead then the remaining two of us did.

Upgrading: Currently on the first level and there isn't an option to go in to do any possible purchases, upgrades.

 

Now I'm going to replay the level on solo & see how it goes.

[rallysportev]

Update:

To start I went back to my PS3 saves & examined these following games = Saints Row III, Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 3, Just Cause 2, Assassin's Creed II , and AC Brotherhood. What do they have in common? I will reveal that shortly.

 

I've been playing the 1st Mission solo for Warframe & right away there is a huge difference in my satisfaction with this game. You see I don't mind playing co-op with other ppl especially those who don't mind carrying me a little. However typically there is an emphasis on completing a level as quickly as possible & whereas exploration of the level is often left off the priority list.  

By nature I'm an explorer & when not forced to, I do enjoy/prefer a stealth approach as opposed to a all-out assault. When you choose to play solo with this game you have the freedom to do exactly that & although I haven't even finished the first mission I can almost see that I am racking up a lot of credits, points, items, ooo, la, la!

 

Now lets go back to those games I listed earlier. These were the saves that indicated how many hours I've spent playing those games. Unfortunately Red Dead Redemption, GTAIV, etc do not list times or they would most certainly be included in it. Here now is that same list above with the times spent playing these games (please not many of them do not have many trophies earned like for example Skyrim0:

 

Saints Row III 162 hrs, Skyrim 183 hrs, Fallout: New Vegas 125 hrs, Fallout 3 136 hrs, Just Cause 2 179 hrs, Assassin's Creed II 109 hrs, and AC Brotherhood 104 hrs.

I foresee that if I can get past the little problems that exist with this game (no difficulty setting adjustment, not all collectibles can be picked up because they are trapped by the environment [grrrrr!], no in level save option, no ability to switch aiming view from either shoulder side & sword attack direction issue) this game will join the above list of games over 100 hrs played.

 

2nd Edit: So I finally found the menu button that allows you to go in and upgrade your stuff before entering a level. It just wasn't obvious. I haven't used it yet. I am trying to get over an acute case of bronchitis & these past 2 days of staying up till 5 am haven't helped my health.

Edited November 17, 2013 by rallysportev

[yellowwindow7]

i remember seen some gameplay of the PC version and i really loves it, i hoped for a ps3 version at the time and then they announce a console version and that's the ps4, looks like this 'll be the first downloadable game to hit my ps4........ when i get a ps4 that is.

[unstablefears]

I'm actually pretty surprised with Warframe, for a F2P game it's pretty fun.  Would be nice if they had trophies though, other than that it's great

[Parker]

I'm actually pretty surprised with Warframe, for a F2P game it's pretty fun.  Would be nice if they had trophies though, other than that it's great

 

From what I have read the developers are classifying the game as a "beta" right now so there is no requirement for trophies. Once the full game is out it is supposed to have trophy support. I'll try and dig the source up for that.

 

 

Parker

[unstablefears]

From what I have read the developers are classifying the game as a "beta" right now so there is no requirement for trophies. Once the full game is out it is supposed to have trophy support. I'll try and dig the source up for that.

 

 

Parker

 

Thanks, been reading that now too.  Curious how long it's going to be in beta for though