Patman Plays, Spiral Knights. Free To Play First Impressions

Patman Plays, Spiral Knights. Free To Play First Impressions

June 16th, 2011

PatMan

Those of you that listen to Wonderpod video game podcast , have played online with me or perhaps have read some of my past post know that one of my mottos in life is “If its FREE, its for ME”. So, when several Free To Play games came out on Steam a little while ago, I just had to go take a look at them and see what they are all about. I downloaded Spiral Knights from Sega just last night, went through the single player tutorial, played with some semi-annoying randoms and finally hooked up with our very own Glasenator for some co-op action. What do I think of my short time with this free to play game? Read on fine people as I give my initial impressions ,and of course ,post a few colorful in game screen shots that you all like to see. We will be discussing Free To Play games on the next Wonderpod Video game podcast coming soon, but for now check out my initial impressions on Spiral Knights right here, after the break.

The first thing you encounter when you start Spiral Knights is the usual tutorial mode that is pretty standard stuff in many video games, so I will begin with that. The games visuals look very colorful and very cute. Fore me when this art style is done well it results in a nice change of pace from many of the realistic and gritty games out there these days. You can customize your Kinght a little bit but not very much at the start, just enough to make your character feel like its your own. I am thinking as the game progresses you can add to your armor and weapons, or perhaps these are some of the things that gamers will have to pay for if they want. The music and sounds are decent and overall my first impressions of the games production value are positive. For free its a nice looking and sounding title and to be honest better than I expected. The game controls are decent enough and I like the almost 2D Zelda feel of cutting down bushes and trees looking for items to pick up within them. Combat is simple as you have a longer range gun and a shorter range but more powerful sword. Over all the tutorial did what it was supposed to do, get you used to the controls and introduce you to your character and the environment.

Glasenator & PatMan ready for action!

Next, I played some of the game online and with total randoms. The four of us set out on some quest of sorts. All I know is that with the four of us there was one person that had NO clue what they were doing at all. When the group went right, “she” (it was a female looking Knight sorry ladies) would turn left. If we all stood on a platform to open a door, she stood beside the platform clueless as to what to do as the people with microphones shouted at her, in several languages, to get on the platform. Thus, my time playing with random PC gamers was not terrible, but not great either. I much prefer playing with people I know as I can communicate with them and have a much better time playing to be honest. Not being able to speak the same language as my teammates and having one total useless player was not enough to have me never try this again, but it wont be encouraging me to play alone very often, thats for sure.

PatMan wont be playing with random PC games very often

Finally, I managed to play with our very own Glasenator, who was playing the game on his Mac. Everything seemed to be pretty smooth as us PC and Mac gamers played together with ease. We just played 2 player co-op as the last time , when I played with randoms, it was enough to make me just make it a party of 2 friends. Glasenator had not played the tutorial so he was learning on the fly, yet he still did very well, as he usually does. Together, we fought wave after wave of bad guys, explored rooms , found items and collected crystals. It was pretty fun actually and I can see a group of us getting together and playing in a larger party in the future at some point.

Glasenator & PatMan embarking on a quest!

My first impressions of Spiral Knights “Free To Play” are surprisingly pretty positive. I was not expecting anything spectacular and I didn’t get anything spectacular. I did get enough fun and enjoyment to play it again sometime and I recommend this game for just about anyone. I did come across a character in the game that offered me some sort of ” value pack for 9.99″, so I guess if you really like the game and want to upgrade your characters abilities and looks you can go that route. For me I see no reason to do anything but play it occasionally for free with my friends, however the option is there for you if you choose. Check out a few more screens below. Now, I am off to play a few other Free To Play games on Steam, see you there!