Free To Play Time! FXG reviews- MicroVolts

Well, here is yet another new free to play shooter. However, I feel that this is most definitely one of the best ones I have played. It's a third person shooter with cutesy anime themed characters and very nice cartoon environments that fit in well with the whole cartoon toys theme. 

This game boasts some of the best design I have seen in a game. In a lot of free games the levels are very straightforward with a bunch of newb-tubes to camp at. Also, all of the bright vivid colors are a welcome change from the various shades of brown that most shooters (AAA Titles included) throw in our faces. There is quite a selection of levels, each different in scale. There is a horror house, a chess board, and outside trash hole, a kitchen, and a few other unique level types that fit in really well. One cool thing is the customization options for your character. You earn the usual in game currency to spend in the shops for new weapons and character accessories. Unfortunate, if you don't play a lot you will be screwed with the cheap 7 day rental option. You can buy one permanently, but it is very pricey and you have to play for quite a while before you can afford it. You can buy their Micro-currency with real world money to buy things, but if you do that you can only have the stuff for a maximum of 90 days, after which you have to buy it again. And the 90 day option for most items costs about $6 in cash. A bit pricey, so unless you have a lot of disposable income, you'll have to play the game a lot to actually get the custom stuff. 

The weapons are pretty standard for a shooter; There are an assortment of Machine Guns, Shotguns, Mini-Guns, Sniper Rifles, Melee, Grenade Launcher, and a Missile Launcher. I would recommend you not play with players level 5 and above because you will get totally thrashed if they went out and bought the upgraded weapons. Whenever I encountered a higher level player, I would end up having to try and sneak around and flank him, which is still fun, but if he sees you first, go ahead and say good-bye. 

The game modes are fairly straightforward as well. There is the usual Team Deathmatch, Annihilation, Free For All, and Capture The Flag- here called Capture The Battery. One fairly unique mode (a few games have done it, but it is still fun and accessible) is the Zombie mode, in which one player is picked randomly to be the host zombie and try to infect everyone else. However, I noticed that mostly the zombies end up winning because one hit and you're infected. 

While it is by no means a perfect game, it fills a gaping hole in the shooter market today. FUN. Remember that? The thing we used to have before everyone got obsessed with realism? (Yes I know this line is ripped from Zero Punctuation, but Yahtzee put it better than anyone could have) So I'd have to say this is a really great game, and if you are looking for something a bit different without forking over $50 for a new release from the great game processing machine, go over to the site and download the client. And happy fragging!