SOE was kind enough to send me a beta invite to their new MMO, Free Realms, a little while ago. I gave it a spin and have been waiting for the NDA to pass before I could release my review.

Setting up the game was a breeze. I logged in with my station account and was pretty much up and running immediately. Character creation was simple but had more than enough choices to create a decently unique character. At this time you can be a human or a faerie. The models are quite good but I was a little surprised about the waist size Ferrel received! It is somewhere in the nature of six to nine inches. An interesting message for a younger audience game! That aside, I was pleased with her look and clicked my way into the game.

Almost immediately I was amazed by the sheer beauty and polish of the game world. The environment was just stunning and smooth. When you’re in bright areas they have a cartoon-like glow. The darker areas have an almost obvious gloom hanging over them. Whoever designed the world itself deserves a ton of credit. When it comes to look and feel I found Free Realms to have an appeal as good or better than any MMOs I’ve played. Forests look enchanted, swamps feel scary and dungeons are most certainly a sight to see.

New players are dropped into a tutorial that guides you through the basics of game play. It is all pretty standard. What did surprise me, however, was the “do it all” attitude. I was presented a choice almost immediately: “fight this” or “trick it by cooking a tainted meal.” I obviously said “fight it!” The game won immediate credit with me because as you train to be a brawler a nearby radio plays a rendition of “Eye of the Tiger.” I’m told that song was in some sort of little movie. More importantly though Eye of the Tiger was the Iniquity theme song. I learned the ways of the brawler and went off to run off some robgoblins. I easily dispatched them and found that I was still allowed to cook for them. In essence, I could have both classes. This is consistent across the game. Characters have choices all the time about what they want to be and do. Each class has associated mini-game(s) and abilities.

When it comes to those classes and progression you do so by completing mini-games or instances. Combat is done in instanced dungeons that are, in my opinion, pretty awesome. I actually found this portion to be quite challenging and had to employ strategy to win. The mini-games, on the other hand, are painfully addicting if you are like me. Even though some are somewhat silly they all have objectives and bonuses. I couldn’t just finish the objectives, I had to get the bonuses too! I found myself lingering at the cooking table far longer than intended.

Combat is much like any MMO. You have an action bar with abilities that refresh after a set duration. Abilities use mana and obviously you lose health when you take damage. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of an MMO that just focuses on that but it was still quite good. Fighting earns you stars that can be spent to gain ranks in your various abilities. You also have a fairly clear gear and level progression. It, like the rest of the game, felt very complete and ready for prime time.

Ultimately I was aware that Free Realms was intended for a target audience half (ok, maybe a third) my age but it was still entertaining to me. I enjoyed the time I spent in game and found large parts of it to be quite addictive. For the parents out there I would say the title seems safe enough when it comes to content. Your children won’t see any gore, nudity or profanity from the designers. Other players are always an unknown though and I am a strong advocate of “play it with your children.” Given that Free Realms has a “pay for additional features” system it will also be easy for parents to tag along. With no monthly fee they can stay involved without paying for something they’re not that interested in. I imagine, however, that they’ll find this duty rather easy. It is easy to get lost in the large volume of different activities that are available.

For the MMO players out there I say this is definitely a title to try. There is no risk and you might be surprised at how addictive the mini-games are and how beautiful the world looks. You might even find your mouse cursor straying to the “upgrade” button. I’m interested enough to play the various combat classes and explore that aspect of the game as much as I can. If the environments continue to be beautiful and unique I want to see them all.

You would think it ends there but I found another aspect to addict me. On top of the mini-games and dungeons Free Realms also sports an extremely entertaining in-game card battle system. The mechanics of the game are simple enough for anyone to play but mastering it does require some strategy. You earn cards by your actions in the world (and I suspect by spending real money). I am not sure how long of my preview time I spent playing with the cards but I know it was a significant percentage. It was just one more aspect available to me.

On the whole I think the product is great. It is geared to a different target audience than most MMOs and actually has some things that you don’t find in the standard offerings. It will also grab a decent amount of content that will grab the “usual audience.” Will it work on a RMT model? I am interested to see. We haven’t seen a lot of American driven MMOs that follow that path and it might open the door for a lot more. At any rate I think SOE is onto something here and hope to see a strong release.