The Free Agent hops into the cockpit of his very own star-fighter

Hello to all our new readers, and welcome back to those who have been following ZAM's bi-weekly column, the Free Agent. Unlike most free-to-play columns out there, the Free Agent is here not just to review free games, but more importantly, to answer the question "Can gaming REALLY be free?"

Of course the obvious answer is yes. Every developer it seems wants to hop on the free-to-play train these days, so there is no end of titles out there that you can play for free. But the usual outcome is a short lived flurry of binge gaming, followed by either a week of inactivity leading to a quick uninstall, or the spending of "just a meager few dollars" to enhance your gaming experience... every day for a year.

But not the Free Agent I say! We stand for justice and equality, for freedom and something-or-other. Okay maybe we're just cheapskates, but hey we're going to play some games, and give you the real deal on whether or not you can actually enjoy yourself without spending any real money.

Last time we tried out a nifty little 3rd person co-op shooter called Warframe. If you want to read about the Free Agent's thoughts on being a free-to-play space ninja, be sure to check out Episode 3. But this week we're pulling out something for all those under-loved space pilot junkies out there. That's right, Episode 4 of the Free Agent is pleased to bring you Star Conflict, a free-to-play Space Action MMO from StarGem Inc, that puts you in the pilot seat of your very own space ship.

I've got a whole lot I could say about Star Conflict, so let's break it down into three points in reverse order, not because it’s clever, but mostly just because calling it an 'MMO Space Action free-to-play' sounded awkward.

But all the cool kids are MMOs

I know MMO stands for Massively Multiplayer Online game, and since Star Conflict does have massive amounts of players competing together online, that theoretically makes Star Conflict an MMO. But I can't help but feel that the term is thrown around too liberally these days. By that ridiculously broad definition MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games like League of Legends  and SMITE  could be called MMOs as well. Thankfully they have chosen not to muddy the waters by branding themselves as such.

In many ways Star Conflict's repeated repertoire of arenas/maps and match-based PvP and PvE game play lend themselves more to a MOBA style of game than anything else. You queue up for a game, wait for a match to start, play the match through, and then return to a game lobby in the form of a spaceship hangar. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that style of game play, but it doesn't strike me as having much in common with the typical perception of what an MMO is.

Okay sure Star Conflict has a loot system (sort of), multiple races and factions (that you can switch between at will without any real consequence), upgradeable stats and equipment for your ships, a leveling and reputation system for your account, and a laughably 'persistent' sector map. But these things don't make it an MMO in and of themselves.

Maybe you're thinking "oh great here's another Blizzard fanboi who thinks it’s only an MMO if it's World of Warcraft". Okay, I'll admit there might be some truth to that, so what if all I really want is Night Elves in space. Somehow I think it's more than that, or maybe I'm just being a grumpy old fart and complaining about something that's not even really a big deal.

Regardless, I think using a reference to the fact that 'lots of people play it online' is a stupid way to describe a genre anyway. In the Free Agent's opinion this game is not an MMO, and calling it such gives people the wrong idea, but who cares so long as it's fun (and free), right? So let's get on with the show.

Space combat action that'll make an old dude stop and stare

So there I am strafing around an asteroid to begin a surprise attack run on an enemy relay station. With planet earth looming in the background, I nail the afterburners and charge straight toward an enemy gunship flying point defense. He spots me and comes about. My forward shields light up as four bright-red laser beams cut a swath across my path.

As we engage in a white-knuckled game of chicken I unleash a barrage of rockets and deadly blue-fire from my twin plasma cannons. The enemy ship explodes in a brilliant shower of color and my swift interceptor flies through the burning wreckage, with only a sliver of my hull left intact. That's when I hear it from over my shoulder, a voice, bewildered and astounded by what it has just witnessed, "Whoa! What are you playing?"

For the record, while I consider myself a 'well seasoned' gamer (who grew up with Atari 2600 and 5 1/4" floppy disk games) and joke about being old, it was actually my 61 year old father who stopped to stare at my computer screen last week, and that right there says something about this game.

You see, unlike most dads of his vintage, my father couldn't even seem to master Duck Hunt. Even though he bought games for me and watched me play them since I was a boy, he has NEVER expressed an appreciation of video games. This is the singular highest form of praise I can think to give to Star Conflict's game play, ship physics, graphics and overall atmosphere; it made my father stop and stare.

With such high praise for a free-to-play title, you'd think I'd found the elusive holy grail of free-to-play games. But unfortunately Star Conflict balances on the edge of a knife. While there are a great many things that keep me coming back for more, it does still suffer from an underdeveloped game world. Lacking a storyline of any real significant, Star Conflict fails to capitalize on the abundance of epic game play moments it creates.

Memorable events in a player's career, such as the one I described earlier, are allowed to remain isolated and disconnected. Rather than rolling them into a grander tale of heroic deeds, of battles won and lost, which forever impact this conflict, we get a few credits and move on to the next match.

There is a jarring repetition to Star Conflict that leaves me conflicted (bad pun?). There are no real missions, just matches to play; no ability to explore an otherwise beautifully crafted game world, just a new arena to fly through once in a while. Normally I would give some allowance for the fact that Star Conflict is still in beta, even though it seems that all free-to-play games spend an eternity there. But the structure of the match-based game play leaves me believing that Star Conflict will always lag just behind the horizon of what it could be.

Is there enough there to keep me playing? It's really hard to say. If you asked me after one of those hair raising dog fights around a derelict space station or after I've just unlocked a new ship and upgraded my weapons, I'd say yes. But ask me again when I've randomly been put into the same game mode four times in a row with nothing to show for my wins and losses except for a few in-game credits. Well, I'm not so sure.

The further I get into this game, the more I realize it's not just free-to-play trash. But with it standing on the edge of a knife, for the Free Agent there's only one thing left that could tip it one way or the other. Can I resist the urge to pay if I keep playing this game?

Find out the answer on page 2->