Voidstar: Semi-Finals

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

As fewer combatants remained standing, the call of the promise signal grew stronger in each of their minds. An explosion in the sky signaled the destruction of the Balor Fomorian as the Void Angel ripped it apart from the inside, and this was echoed by an explosion on the ground where Kela De Thaym put an end to the heavily damaged Exploiter Orb.

While the sword wielding Shadow Stalker got curb stomped by the Profit-Taker, Vor and his Janus key further damaged Nef Anyo's Razorback but could not defeat it as the war machine's autocannons ripped him in two. Elsewhere, Malice managed to snipe at the Gantulyst eidolon before being caught and destroyed by one of its energy pillars, Zuud was put down by Parvos' Protea, and Teshin put up a heroic but ultimately doomed battle against Archon Nira who turned him to stone [and then broke his neck :P].

The easiest Archon.

Her brother Amar faced off against the Rhino specter in an equally long battle, and after dealing considerable damage to each other the Rhino's Soma and Dual Raza are not enough as he falls prey to the highly aggressive wolf archon. [Also, Amar is basically a Rhino Prime with cheat codes enabled so... there's that.]

Voidstar: Nihil vs Teshin

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

The Lich Worm Queen barely avoided the collapsing Teralyst, forcing her out into the open and right into the sights of the Balor Fomorian which promptly vaporized her. Derim Zahn also had no chance as he was eaten by Archon Nira, and the injured Archon Boreal could not match the regenerating Void Angel while Ballas [without the Lotus powers] couldn't keep up with Parvos' Protea.

Zuud's Tombfinger proved effective against the predictable Sprag who moves in straight lines, and while Lephantis slew Captain Vor, his Janus Key revived him as Corrupted Vor to ultimately destroy the infested ettin with his new Janus energy beams. The injured flying sentient, Ropalolyst was also killed when it fought against Nef Anyo's Razorback, only damaging the missile launching war machine.

"I find chaos... unsettling." - Nihil

They need to make more boss fights like this one!

Neither Nihil nor Teshin gave it a glance as it fell in the landscape beyond them, with both swordsmen keenly focused on their own duel. "Finally, a worthy foe," Tenshin remarked as he nimbly dodged away from Nihil's giant Vitrica. "Your persistence is disruptive to my efforts to order," the orokin giant replied as he fired shards of glass from his forehead gem down at the Dax warrior - but Teshin was too agile for him, and in a display of true mastery used his nikana to reflect one of the glass pieces right back into Nihil's neck. Eyes widened by surprise, Nihil dropped his sword and fell to his knees as blood poured from the wound. Using this opening, Teshin threw his Orvious disc and made it explode right in Nihil's face, ending the Glassmaker once and for all.

Voidstar: The Queen of Rathuum

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

With the number of combatants halved again, Mania jumped the Rhino with his twin Lacera but was easily laid low since he's almost exactly like a Loki. The last remaining acolyte, Malice, was more successful in sniping the wounded Ember with its Opticor while the acolyte leader, Shadow Stalker, carved up Amaryn and her ancients with his War great sword.

Executioner Dhurnam's close range weaponry [and previous injuries] also spelled his doom against Archon Amar, while the Profit-Taker destroyed the Bonewidow after taking some damage. The badly damaged Exploiter Orb was also still standing after torching a limping Zanuka. From the ridge, Kela de Thaym observed the Gantulyst eidolon annihilate the Nova specter who was only armed with kunai and ether daggers before she heard a tell tale "RRRREEEEEEEEEEE!" scream from beside her - the Teralyst eidolon had spotted her! [total role reversal because in game it is YOU that has to find the bloody hide and seek eidolons]

She looks like this guy from the Fifth Element.

Quickly jumping out of the way, the Queen of Rathuum deployed multitudes of rollers to distract the simple minded creature. It was too dangerous to get close to use her shotguns so again she employed her orbital strikes to destroy the last remaining weak spots on her opponent and finally destroying the eidolon!

Voidstar: Angel vs Eidolon

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

Nihil watched the battles with great interest until a loud voice called out to him. "Ai yo! You call that a sword? You should see Hok's masterpiece!" yelled the self-referencing Ostron as he drew out his favourite Zaw. With a sigh, Nihil swatted him away with a gentle swipe of his Vitrica. Unfortunately there were equally mismatched encounters here as Mutalist Alad V could do little to Nef Anyo's Razorback, nor could the Wolf of Saturn Six throw his hammer hard enough to prevent himself being obliterated by the Balor fomorian.

Similarly Clem could only lightly injure Archon Boreal and M-W.A.M. did the same with Archon Nira before being crushed. Meanwhile inside the wreckage of a Grineer galleon Derim Zahn made good use of his turrets and relocator beacons to defeat the J3-Golem, and Teshin was wounded when dismantling Frohd Bek's Ambulas. On a lower floor, Sister Vala Glarios came face to face against the Lich Worm Queen. With both combatants equally injured and equally driven it came down to their weapons to decide this outcome, and since Liches have the superior guns this was the end of Vala's continuity. [I'm basing that off internet reviews and not experience, because the internet is always right - right?]

As an aside: the Zariman is currently my favourite map.

Despite being far from the surface, the Lich Worm Queen heard the shrill shriek of the Void Angel on the surface as it engaged the Hydrolyst eidolon with flight slams, powerful energy orbs and void spikes seriously damaging the giant creature and breaking many of its sydonias as it fought back with its own seeking projectiles, ground stomps, acid rain and giant gun that eventually damaged the angel enough to retreat into the void to recover. As eidolons are simple creatures, the Hydrolyst proceeded to ignore it which turned out to be a fatal flaw once the fully recovered void angel returned to finish it off.

Voidstar: Warframes Executioners

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

The shots distracted Kahl enough to be startled when a robotic voice behind him boomed "You shall NOT be spared the rod... as those who came before you... Were. NOT. Spared.". Kahl brought everything he had and everything he could find against the Exploiter Orb, damaging it, but the soldier was simply too slow to dodge the giant spider robot's mortars. Nearby, the Profit-Taker had no issues against the already damaged Jackal, nor did the Ropalolyst against the limping Hyena Th. A heavily injured Shik Tal was easy prey for Amaryn's ancients, and Sprag finished off the badly damaged Mag with her Manticore hammer.

Numerous executioners also fell at this point, as Gorth couldn't keep distance from the Shadow Stalker, Harkonar's tricks didn't fool Ballas, Zura's ignis didn't save her against the Bonewidow,  and Nok could only wound his old captain (Vor) with his Sobek before being Seer-ed (Vor's pistol) in the forehead. The Excalibur Umbra launched a sneak attack on Lephantis, managing to destroy one of its three heads [the melee one] but was subsequently worn down by the ranged capabilities of the other two due to only bringing his Skiajati blade.

Across the field, Zuud encountered the Frost specter and thanks to her Tombfinger kitgun [which I assume she uses like an on-call crew member] could out range the warframe's Tigris shotgun while destroying it, ice shield and all. The Volt and Parvos' Protea also faced off against each other, and while the Volt was faster - dashing through the Protea's grenades and blaze artillery to cut her down - her temporal anchor rewound time for her, reviving her and reapplying the damage done to her opponent which was enough to claim victory!

"Protea... my beautiful Protea... she will preserve!" -Parvos Granum

Voidstar: Dhurnam vs Little Duck

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

With half the combatants now dead, the promise signal intensified - drawing a few more smart or lucky individuals from their hiding spots in the wreckage! [I had to add 7 wild cards because of all the draws those demolishers caused. Sigh!]

The Arbiters attempted to ambush Kela de Thaym but were out gunned by her Twin Kohmaks, Erra managed to ambush the Teralyst eidolon to further injure it with his sentient beam before getting obliterated with a similar result for the Auditor Denial Bursa against the Gantulyst eidolon. The Rhino specter gunned down Raptor RV with his Soma, Roky couldn't out K-Drive Mania as the acolyte switched teleported with his board and hacked the ventkid into tiny pieces with his Lacera, Dru Pesfor was unmade by Nova's antimatter drop, and Vay Molta could only damage Zanuka with her rockets before being blasted out of the sky.

In closer matches the already injured Zealoid Prelate could only wound Amar before the wolf Archon tore him to pieces, the Ember specter was badly hurt while chain fire balling Rana Del, and Malice out gunned the Infested Mesa. This is because Malice cheats with magnetize so her opticor will hit even when the target is in cover! [I hate it when she does that to me!]

A Lanka sniper shot from the ridge line struck Executioner Dhurnam in the back, but it was only enough to stagger him. Little Duck kept on firing, landing hit after hit but Dhurnam's armor was just too thick [also good reduction against Lanka damage type] - and worse - the more he was hit the faster he moved! Before she knew it, Dhurnam had knocked her down - twin Hek's gleaming in the star light. "You bloody mucker," she started, before being abruptly silenced as his first four barrels destroyed her metal head, and the second four barrels destroyed her chest which housed her actual head.

Octuple headshot!

Voidstar: Clem vs John Prodman

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

Elsewhere on the crashed ship, Clem spotted a Corpus enemy down the hallway and opened fire with his Twin Grakatas while yelling his usual battle cry: "Clem!". John Prodman barely had time to draw his Prova shock stick to block all the bullets before teleporting right beside his opponent and zapping the little Grineer, sending Clem flying into the wall. Somehow, this move that usually defeats everything, was not enough as Clem rolled back under John's next swing both guns ablazing. "Grakata!" Clem yelled as he emptied both clips into Prodman, knocking the Prova out of his hands.

"Clem?" asked Clem as both guns continued to click on empty, John Prodman still staring down at him. After a few tense and still moments, John finally shrugged and left in a pillar of light - leaving behind a signed poster of himself for this most worthy foe.

I still need to get me one of these...

Outside, the battles raged on with the Lich Worm Queen tanking the charger demolisher explosion, the Hyena Ng barely scratching the Hydrolyst eidolon before getting crushed under foot, the Saryn specter being impaled by the Void Angel, Archon Boreal easily defeating the mimic Jen Dro, Archon Nira taking only light damage while destroying Hyena Pb, Derim Zahn taking down the thief Maroo with his Sonicor, Teshin cutting through the Equinox specter's Shaku nunchakus, Frohd Bek's Ambulas taking damage while defeating Azoth, Cressa Tal losing to the multi-skilled M.W.A.M. unit, the J3 Golem melting the Arn Etina/Darvo Moa and the Nox demolisher exploding the Voidrig in a suicide run.

Out in orbit, the Jordas Golem made its approach but suddenly found itself encased in glass. Somehow it could hear an Orokin's voice in it's head saying but a single word: "Break." With a backhand swing Nihil the Glassmaker obliterated the floating infested mass with his Vitrica blade. [I'm using the version of Nihil that you fight against in his prison, so he's probably taller than he should be. :P]

Voidstar: Sargas Ruk vs Alad V

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

On the other side of the ridge Robotics Tech Jad Teran's nullifying helmets didn't save him against Sprag's hammer, nor did Ved Xol's opticor save him from the Wolf of Saturn Six. Baro Ki'teer had no chance against Nef Anyo's Razorback, Latrox Une's shield ospreys were not enough against the Balor Fomorian's death ray, the Mag specter barely won against the Gyre hyena [mostly because she's armed with a spear and shurikens], Angst was taken out by a self detonating ghoul called the expired, the Ropalolyst was only injured by the boiler demolisher's explosion, Executioner Nok shot down the Raptor MT and Executioner Reth managed to lightly injure Lephantis with his Drakgoon before being eaten by it.

Thanks to its electricity firing plasma rifles the Hyena Th barely defeated close range combatant Executioner Garesh, and the Frost specter was lucky in shotgunning the Ignis bearing Garv before his snowglobe melted. With good use of teleporting to a distance and his temporary shielding, Captain Vor defeated Armis Ulta while Lech Kril could only injure Sister Vala Glarios before she worked out to hit his tubes to kill him.

In one of the crashed Corpus capital ships General Sargas Ruk located Alad V cowering in a corner. "P-P-Please just wai..." is all Alad manages before the general incinerates him with napalm. "Regret will be your legacy!" Suddenly from the flames burst forth a round metal choker that locked itself around the general's neck forcing him to cease the attack... in fact, he found he could no longer move at all. Before him, Mutalist Alad V stood up grinning. "You Grineer are too arrogant, general. I will teach you to play nice," mocked Alad as he sauntered towards his prey. "Don't you see? It will be better if... when... we are one. Now open yourself up to me."

Alad V is really into bondage too.

Sargas Ruk could only scream in his mind as his body obeyed, revealing all his weak spots like a good slave. He would not survive what Mutalist Alad V had in store for him.

Voidstar: Kahl Fight Good

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

Explosions continued across the battlefield as more demolishers did their suicidal work. The Jackal survived its encounter with the bursa demolisher with heavy damage as did Grustag-3 member Shik Tal who barely scraped by against the machinist demolisher thanks to his rockets and giant shield. His brother Leekter was exploded by the hyena demolisher - a fate shared by the Valkyr specter whose talons took her too close and her paralysis skill too ineffective against the satyr demolyst. The Stalker was also obliterated when trying to melee the anti-MOA demolisher, but afterwards he just reconstituted himself to become the Shadow Stalker!

Elsewhere the sniper Ven'kra Tel was torn apart by Amaryn and her ancients, the Bonewidow defeated Misery who was self limited with only his scythe, Raptor RX had no chance against the Profit-Taker, Executioner Zura burned the Paris wielding Trinity specter to death with his Ignis, Executioner Gorth's Ogris rocketed the students of Cephalon Suda, the Sergeant [how did this guy even survive the landing] was easily handled by Parvos' time altering Protea, Zenith Galactical Tia Mayn was sniped by Executioner Harkonar, and the duel between specters Excalibur with dual skanas versus the Volt with a heat sword ended with victory for the latter.

Up on the ridge Kahl-175 faced off against Tyl Regor. "Would you look at you?" Tyl asked. "So fascinating. Tell me, why would you fight someone of your blood? Someone that loves you?" Kahl grunted, "You not like Kahl. Only Kahl like Kahl." Regor just laughed. "Foolish tube man, I AM YOUR FATHER!".  "Kahl has no father!" Kahl growled as he opened fire with his Grakata, but couldn't land a hit against the fast teleporting, hammer wielding scientist who thwacked him right in the chest plate. Kahl quickly rolled aside to evade Regor's follow up flying fist and in a smooth motion hacked through him with his Slaytra machete before sheathing it again.

"Kahl protect brothers."

"I'm not... done with you," the injured Regor coughed, suddenly unable to stand. "You done," Kahl answered. "Bleed to death. Kahl no need waste time on you." Grimacing, Tyl finally collapsed dead as Kahl walked away.

Voidstar: Acolytes Down

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

The thrasher demolisher screamed as it self detonated, but only barely damaged the well defended Auditor denial bursa. A poor result when compared to the self detonations of the demolyst Heqet who nuked the Icemire Hyena, the kuva guardian demolisher who tanked Nako Xol's Tetra to get into lethal range and even the Bailiff demolisher who managed to destroy a synovia of the Teralyst eidolon. Violence also became the first acolyte to perish when he went up against the Exploiter Orb as his melee only weaponry made it hard to hit the giant spider's weakspots while simultaneously putting him in range of its heavy flamethrower.

"Value the punishment I provide."

While the Cinderthesh Hyena couldn't keep up with Vay Molta's hellion jetpack and missiles, Zanuka hunter claimed victory against executioner Dok Thul whose healing powers couldn't keep up with the robots damage output. Nearby, Investor Relations Department Dru Pesfor fought the large drone 002-ER. The flying combat platform was fitted with powerful beam shotguns, but getting close to use them against its opponent in cover proved its undoing as Dru's glaxion slowed the drone's firing and already slow flying to halt. Also forced into slow motion was Ergo Glast and his MOA squad when hit by the molecular prime of a Nova specter. Their slowed lasers couldn't get through her null star shield as she disassembled them with her ether daggers.

The gunfire nearby was from Torment's Akvasto pistols as he tried to get a bead on the spry and loud mouthed Kela De Thaym, Queen of Rathuum, who couldn't get close enough to make use of her Twin Kohmak repeater shotguns. She didn't need to however, as her orbital strikes caught the acolyte by surprise and obliterated him.

Voidstar: An Explosive Landing

[Part of the Voidstar: Warframe-128 story]

Battles raged across the debris striken planet surface, even as more ships crashed from the heavens. Palladino was surprised that so many had survived but was determined to follow the vision she saw. Separated from her allies she readied her Rakta Ballistica just as a large shadow moved behind her and with a graceful spin she let loose a burst of four bolts that wedged themselves in the heavy armor of Grineer executioner Dhurnam. Completely unphased and with the eight barrels of his twin shotguns already pointed at Palladino he pulled both the triggers, executing the Red Veil priestess with ease.

In the distance he spotted, Vem Tabook, a Grustag-3 ally who used similar weaponry but did not have the same luck when facing off against Archon Amar who promptly ripped off the soldier's face. At that moment Councillor Vay Hek flew over the battle field in his extensively modified body suit while laughing manically, calling everyone maggots, and firing at everything with his auto cannons yet somehow missing the many targets on the field. Upon landing he was promptly caught by surprise as a canister of condensed thermia exploded right on his chest plate, melting the metal and causing the Councillor to scream, curse and wail even more. A single Lanka sniper shot from close range through his head finally silenced him, as Little Duck darted to the next cover she could find. "That'll shut his mouth," she muttered to herself.

Little Duck usually takes the field against Profit-Taker.

Vay Hek's ghouls were here too, as discovered by Pelna Cade when he came face to face with the devourer demolisher that charged him with his wrist mounted hooks. Pelna's reflexes let him dodge the charge and drop a "slow" orb to impede his foe, but it didn't matter when the devourer launched one of his meathooks and caught the leg of Corpus Loan Reclamation agent, quickly winching him in like a fish out of water. In a panic Pelna managed to get one shot off with his Detron hitting the devourer square in his explosive vest - triggering the charge and obliterating both combatants. In similar fashion the heavy gunner demolisher self detonated as the Zealoid Prelate leaped through her Gorgon bullets and into melee range. While the blast destroyed her, the Zealoid Prelate was only injured and quickly looked around for more prey. [Why are there demolishers? I needed to fill out the roster!]

Warframe General Tips

It only took me to get to Rank 10 Mastery before deciding to post this, (I'm slow!) but hopefully this short cheat sheet will prove handy to some new players of Warframe on the PC.

Damage Type Basics

There are three main damage types which directly relate to the three main factions:

Corpus are weak against Impact
Grineer are weak against Puncture
Infested are weak against Slash

Combined elemental damage types give extra beneficial effects (and will perform better) but at the base level that's all you need to get by.

Speed Running

These are some of the combos I know of to make your Tenno move at the best speed possible. Some require dextrous fingers but a little bit of practice and you'll have it down in no time. I am assuming you have the standard key bind in this guide (left hand on keys / right hand on mouse), and have arranged the moves from easiest to hardest but ultimately none are really that hard.

Horizontal Wall Running  
SHIFT + W + SPACE (and keep it down) while aiming at a wall at an angle. Too sharp and you will attempt to run directly up (vertical Wall run).
I find it faster than normal running on the ground.
Your warframe ignores the laws of physics while doing this and will only stop running along the wall if:

• it hits an obstacle or runs out of wall
• you let go of SPACE at which point your Tenno will launch off in the same direction
• you press E to do a wall spring attack that is more controllable than letting space go, but doesn't take you as far

Regular Slide Attack
SHIFT + W + CTRL + E
Use your the tip of your pinky finger to press and hold down SHIFT at the start then press down on CTRL with the rest of it once you are running
Makes you move a bit further than just sliding without attacking (without + E)
Extra distance traveled depends on melee weapon equipped
Also nice to damage enemies in the way

Forward Somersault
SHIFT + W + CTRL + SPACE
Stepping stone to get to the final move. Not that useful in the larger scope of things.
Like the previous move, pinky finger presses both SHIFT and CTRL
Add + E at the end to finish Somersault with a smash if you are landing in a cluster of enemies

Limited Flight
SHIFT + W + SPACE + CTRL + E (before you hit the ground)
Outside Warframe specific powers this is one of the fastest ways to move across the map
Basically a slide attack in mid-air, breaking more laws of physics and traveling insane distances
Extra distance depends on your melee weapon. Daggers are supposedly some of the best for "flight".
Should have a master rank, two-keypress pinky finger by now from the previous two moves. :P

Don't let the key combinations scare you. If you really just want to practice, the most accessible place for everyone would be any Exterminate mission on Mercury.

Fastest Way to Level Mastery Rank:

Just plugging this in since some people may have come here looking for it. Instead of a to-do mission list, here are three simple tips to help you out:

1 - Play with squad mates (even randoms) when you can, and stay near them (at least one of them) at all times.
2 - Do not bring anything that doesn't need leveling which you feel you can survive without.
3 - Keep your eyes open for Alert and Infestation Outbreak Mobile Defense and Defense missions as its easier to find PUGs in them.

That's it! Nothing really most veteran Warframe players wouldn't know but for anyone that didn't, I hope this helped! Have fun! ^_^

Warframe: Mad Cephalon

[My seventh post of the Blaugust Challenge!]

And now to another game with ninjas and guns, Warframe has had some major updates while I wasn't looking. Honestly I don't know what the "Mad Cephalon" is, but boy did a lot of work go into this game while I wasn't looking. There is a new tutorial for starters (optional for existing players) and everyone gets their own little spaceship which they can upgrade. The melee side of things have also gotten an upgrade with players now able to block incoming weapons fire and use various stances to better kill all your enemies with.

A bunch of baddies have also gotten upgrades and some are just totally new, just to make things even. This is on top of the new weapons, maps, and missions that are regularly added anyway. You can certainly get your Spacehulk fix by doing Invasion missions where you assist the Grineer or Corpus against Infested forces.

Furthermore there is a quest system now, and while there's not yet a lot in there I can see how it can grow easily. The one I'm currently working on is to create an incubator to hatch my own pet Kubrow (dog thing) - which again is a new addition to the companion section. Whatever they're doing, the makers of Warframe are certainly going well and they've made it better than ever to try out being a ninja in space! Not bad for a free to play game.

Now with ninja dogs!

Blaugust Bonus: I used to play Warhammer 40k and Necromunda with a bunch of school friends. Since the Space Marines, Orks, Imperials and Tyranids were already taken I decided to make my own army, complete with their own codex and lore. I made sure obviously made sure that everyone else was happy with them though before playing. Became a pretty balanced force in the end I think, and much like everyone else I was winning as much as I was losing. Those were good times. Expensive, but good.

Warframe: Weakspots

Just a quick feature that I really enjoy in Warframe, one which most of its players are aware of too - weak spots. While the Grineer and most Infested take extra damage if hit in the face, the Corpus troopers who wear super effective helmets as well as their robotic MOAs are better handled with body shots (between the legs) while the infested ancients that look a lot like mini Cthulhus are weakest in their ankles, a quite literal Achilles heel.

Is that you, Cthulhu?

This was really highlighted for me recently when my brothers and I were running a mission full of those big guys. I told them to shoot their ankles and they were dropping like flies. What is just a really small feature does keep your mind doing that extra effort of picking your shots which can often be overlooked when you are being swarmed by a whole bunch of different things. Very cool stuff Warframe. Very cool.

Grinding Gears of Warframe

Unlocking all the missions in this game is turning out to be an interesting challenge, especially the in the further reaches of the solar system. As you might expect, having better high level weaponry will assist you here but first you must have the required mastery rank to use such gear. To gain mastery you must level up your suit (the titular "warframe") and your weapons which both max out at level 30 after which you'll no longer gain anything from using them. If you wish to advance your affinity more, you need to use suits and weapons you previously have NOT levelled and since those are weak, you will most likely be staying away from the harder fringes of the mission paths unless you have a strong team to carry you.

 

The Gravidus Conflict was a good levelling experience.

I can see the merits of the system - not only does it slow down your progress from "finishing" everything but it also encourages you to keep trying out the various equipment the game has to offer. Anyhow, I've only just reached mastery rank 5 right now and the weapon blueprint I want to use requires rank 7+ (fluctuates with updates). This means my further exploration / unlocking is going to slow down a bit until I reach there. Rank 12 is currently the maximum mastery level if you were wondering. Not sure if I'll ever get there but I certainly enjoy the tests that you need to pass to move from rank to the next, not all of which are combat.

A Week Full of Bullets

If there's one thing I learned from playing Battleground Europe: World War II Online, it's that war is boring. Just to clarify, the combat action parts of this MMOFPS are good (though I spend most of those lying face down in a puddle of my own blood wondering what the heck just killed me) but given the scope of the game where a pretty large chunk if not all of Europe is open for travel it can get a little dull in-between conflicts. As a test, I set my guy up to auto-run from one friendly town to the next one over which was hostile. I then went and had dinner and watched a bit of TV. When I came back I had -just- bypassed my destination. That's bloody far. Turned around and entered the town but was quickly killed by a sentry.

At least it's realistic in that one shot will probably kill you. Also, I think the people who fly planes would get a pretty good flight simulator from this one since your "playing space" is huge unlike in the Battlefield series where wandering off the (much smaller) map makes you despawn after awhile. There are boats too but I've not yet encountered them. Another slight issue for some might be the graphics - they are very simple, but effective enough. Destroyable terrain and buildings makes up for that. You can even dig your own trench/fighting position as an infantry man which is cool.

Really the only thing I don't like is all the waiting. Waiting to attack. Waiting to defend. Waiting to get to the next town. Guess it's true that waiting is the hardest part?

So... when are the Allies arriving again? 

Oh and I don't like their pay scheme. You can play as a recruit level (and the gear that entails) for free forever but you'll never advance unless you subscribe (bribe the officials). Guess that means it's uninstall time for this game. At least in Warframe you can still get all the gear without paying - it just takes a bit longer.

Meanwhile in space...

Speaking of Warframe I'm surprised to report it DOES have an underlying story that evolves as each patch is released. The current event is "the Gravidus Dilemma" wherein you must choose to either aid the expansion of the ruthless Grineer empire who enslave colonies but will in exchange return any frozen Tenno (that's your group) they find, or save the colonies with the Corpus merchant guild who will keep any frozen Tenno for themselves for experimentation.

In practice I think most people are just picking whatever side offers a better reward per mission, but I can see how the story can then progress depending on which side had more victories or participants. If only Guildwars 2 could do something similar with their living story instead of a very stale political vote or worse, a railroaded path. Adding moral choices usually makes them just that bit more important.

Warframe - Ninjas in Space!

For awhile now I've been seeing some of my steam buddies play this "Warframe" game. It never really was on my radar until my brother specifically said "get it", and damn it is awesome! Basically it is a 4 person co-op action/shooter where everyone is a space ninja pirate, and you must complete varying missions to keep the solar system safe, starting from Mercury and pushing outwards into the darkness. As you gain affinity (proficiency) in your gear it levels up, allowing you to slot more collectable card upgrade modifications that enhance your abilities. For example a rifle might get a card that give it a faster rate of fire. Said card can also be upgraded to make it more potent, but by ranking it up it will eat up more enhancement points making you want to rank up your rifle more.

Give me my affinity, alien scum!

Item wise the game is very grindy unless you like spending money in the cash shop for platinum, however that isn't really a problem since the game play is super fun. You can play it like Metal Gear, with patience and silent killing all the way, or just go loud and slay everything - be it methodical and purposeful or a fast paced maddening sprint. The maps are sprawlingly huge, but fortunately as your characters can move pretty fast. Random elements also keep you on your toes, like a rescue mission suddenly evolving into a data collection task - or having an evil warframe appear out of nowhere and begin hunting you down. As to be expected the enemy fodder is limitless much like the zombie horde in Left 4 Dead, with baddies literally coming out of every orifice of the map at some parts.

Important to note: you are just slightly less fragile than them, which makes dying a real concern because if your allies can't get you up before you bleed out, you are out of the game unless you wish to self-revive (which you can only do four times a day). Good thing finding online assistance is really easy, even if you have no friends on (or just have no friends). Anywho, if you enjoy co-op shooters you should probably give Warframe a look. It's not that big a download and more importantly, it's free! :)