I’ve wanted to do a “Why Aren’t You Playing” on Crimecraft since I did the writeup on Gods & Heroes, and actually started writing this piece before Vogster decided to release the free version on Steam. As a result, I almost canned this article because odds are most of you have already given the game a go. Regardless, the show must go on.
Back in my day, Crimecraft required the purchase of a boxed copy and a monthly subscription fee. Since its small release, Vogster has rescinded the client purchase and relegated the subscription to an optional subscription that offers faster leveling at better chances at good loot, allowing anyone to get in for free. Aside from the single player story mode, all of the game modes are open to you as a free player. As far as offering content to free players, Vogster is one of the most giving. A player can, without making a single purchase, access almost all of what Crimecraft has to offer. You will find no restrictions on chat, experience gain, auction house use, gang membership/leadership, and you even have basic access to customer service and the daily tournaments.
Subscribing, which costs $4.99 or $9.99 based on your preferred tier, offers a faster method of leveling up, more loot and cash gained, a decreased cost to use the auction house/mail system, and expanded access to tournaments and customer service. You’ll also gain full access to the Bleedout campaign, a single-player story mode that offers little more than a back story to the game.
If you enjoy shooters, there’s really no reason not to at least give Crimecraft a try. The game features your basic vanilla game modes from deathmatch to team deathmatch, territory control, and a capture the flag style game where you have to steal money from your opponent’s vault and bring it back to your own. My favorite game mode involves two teams fighting over a single node that spawns randomly on the map. Once a team captures the node, they do not respawn until the other team destroys the node, making defense all the more difficult as your team slowly drops around you.
Adding to the strategy are a slew of abilities that you gain access to as you level up, ala Call of Duty, where you can take a very limited number of perks into a match, from health regeneration to limited cloaking, to proximity mines, and everything in between. You can also craft or purchase drugs that offer similar effects.
Why You Aren’t Playing CrimeCraft
If you aren’t playing right at the moment of this publishing, it may not be out of lack of trying. Ever since Crimecraft released for free on Steam, the game has undergone some heavy traffic resulting in server queues and downtime. Vogster have opened a second server, with more on the way.
You may also be wary of the element of “pay to win,” given Vogster sells weapons and armor on the cash shop. The easiest answer to that concern is that yes, there is an element of “pay to perform better,” but for a game that relies on fast reflexes, such a concept is lost on Crimecraft. You could have the best sniper in the game, but unless you can aim you won’t be getting any kills. So you do have access to some weapons that have better stats than those you can access in game, but those stats are rather meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Overall, Crimecraft has something for competitive players and those that simply want to massacre mindless AI. The writing isn’t going to knock your socks off, but the Bleedout campaign is definitely worth a look to gather more context on the world that you inhabit. This article is being published on August 28th, 2011, I suggest you wait until Vogster adds more servers before you sign up, otherwise you’ll wind up waiting in a long queue line.
MMO Fallout 