Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: Digital Extremes
Price: Free to play, with payment options
Platforms: PC, PS4
Release Date: PS4 11/15/2013 (Out Now)
Get it at these trusted shops!: Directly, Steam, PSN
Warframe has been out for quite a longtime, and has reached over one hundred thousand players across Playstation 4, and PC. So far with a pretty pleasant game play experience with the PS4. One thing comes to mind, which Tenno, or Warframe is the best of the bunch. Or even which would be the one to get. As these killing machines can ether be farmed, crafted, or simply purchased. Update 14: The Mad Cephalon is coming soon to the PS4 in the near distant future, however for 13.7U as the community for the Playstation 4 currently sitting on, a lot has filled into this game since the last time I had the chance and honor to give it a spin back when it was in early beta, to its PC launch. I was blown away at it’s style. Over time it had added more objective modes, such as Defense, and Survival (my two personal favorite Tower keys to do might I add). Among this patch has added the Tower 4 keys, along with various fixes, and adjustments. The Tenno Warframes also got tweaked, and more got added in. If you are counting the PC side, over twenty to current date. With the PS4 sit on top of nineteen.
How does this game hold as of now you may ask me. I will be honest with you. At first, it feels simple in nature, where each Warframe has there own four unique skills. Then over time you only really use one or two abilities most of the time. Leaving most of your skills not as effective later on during tower runs. So basically researching a few builds for the game is a massive suggestion, as for the fact the skills scaling dies down. Where this scale is middle ground in the game progression, all the way from the beginning. For example I have noticed a ton of players who use Vauban(U7.11) spam his Vortex. Which usually entraps enemies, collecting all loot, and energy orbs. So from what I found was that Crowd Control(CC) is very popular in this game. I spent some time revisiting a few survival sectors grinding out all of the Warframe characters I was given this review, seeing what made them tick, and what lacked. The core frames in theory are great to run about in. A few offer a difficulty curve.
For example, you need base Mods, which are the said abilities for each to bring out there overall potential. Otherwise you will hear nine year old children whine the whole time. Generally speaking play styles play a big role in everyone’s experience in this game. For example I enjoy Tower defense games, as well as survival/Horde mode style sessions. The characters I found the most play with were: Ember, Vauban, Hydroid, Nekros, Nyx, Frost, and Ash. Now while the game offers more options then just sitting around defensively. I found the most tactical, and addicting nature was from the Warframes mentioned. What can I say if I am not raising the bodies of the undead, or booking a flight with enemy bodies to a flight to Pain Ville USA. Then I do not know what other pleasures in life fulfill me.
The main focus around the game overall is to get stronger, and be able to see the full potential of your Warframe. The pace of leveling is pretty quick. However the real challenge to find strong Mods through the games easy, to even very challenging missions in order to use the full strength of your abilities. The game offers a straight forward system, the longer you play, the better you become. This comes also into farming materials to craft better weapons. I actually prefer this sense of grinding in games. After earning enough parts you wait out twelve to twenty four hours until an assault rifle, or a pistol is complete. You say out loud “well that is sort of crazy, if you worked so hard to get the parts you should get the items asap. While I sort of agree to a point. They do offer a way you may speed up the process with real money transactions with buying the games cash-shop items which is Platinum. But you an also trade rare Mods, and Blueprints for rare or hard to find Warframes to get yourself some plats. Its a system where its not really a completely unrelenting, one sided affair, where if you got a spare blueprint you can easily just trade it for ten or so plats then speed up certain crafting recipes. Or if they cost fifty, just wait out the time requested. The other currency, being credits in the game is very easy to come into. So all you really use them for are for are building blueprints, weapons, usables, the list goes on. So you are asking me, what are the bosses like. They all have a varied abilities, and strengths to them. Some easy, others requiring some careful tactics. For example Captain Vor, he is the first boss you come into. He can teleport around if things get to hairy for him, then pop a defensive bubble a few times. The interaction between him, and the player is great to me. Egging you on, acting cocky. Hell half if not all of the bosses toss out insults better then most eight years old kids on Call of Duty, not that those little punks could really be that clever.
The PS4 copy of the game is controller only. Which is not a big deal. If anything the game feels like it was made exclusive for the console. Due to the fact the controls all work so in tune. Not to discredit the PC port, which offers both keyboard and mouse, plus game pad. Swiping the touch screen plays a simply role in this game, plus pressing the touch screen once to bring up the level map to glance over where what is. I came across a few issues with this. It does show the overview of the map, or parts you unlocked by exploring, but not a chunk of your team mates. So if they go to far from your current location, you have to play it by nose, and find them. It was a bit annoying if no one stuck together with survival missions.
A set of new prime blueprints were added to the array of drop able void items, such as Loki Prime, Bo Prime, and Wyrm Prime for this patch. Within that is Tower 4 keys which drop within lengthy events. All of which are the end game practically. This said game end is the same nature that the whole game provides overall. The meat and potatoes of it all. The next meal from the stew mentioned is PVP or Tenno Vs Tenno events across many Clan captured mission locations overall the games massive mission to do list. I mixed it up with the likes of tanky builds with Rhino, and the agile n’ brute nature of Valkyr. The nature of each end game mission felt chaotic, and structured at points. Otherwise unforgiving. Which really tested how well you built your self for survivability, or overall how overpowered you stacked your Tenno to over come the odds. The introduction is a light blanket cover to the overall mass of this game. While some of the missions are nothing more then grind and find missions where all you basically do is mow down groups of enemies to find, and or defend an objective most of the time. Sometimes feeling stale otherwise. The only times where this did not matter as much was during challenging and unique Void missions, as most of the time using Dragon keys kicked up the challenge and brought depth to this Gauntlet like feel to the game provided.
Now I would like to touch down on all of the Warframes, one by one(Except Mirage). You heard me, well, you can not really hear me, I typed this for a few days. Anyway I will set this up mentioning a ability, and overview it. Then discuss its uses, and the overall character attached to it. I will highlight key abilities I used during my over all game play experience. I will provide a direct link to the Wikia at the bottom of the link if you wish to read up more. As I feel that the contributors there did a much better job sharing detailed information, then I would ever in a million years.
Excalibur:
An entry warframe next to Mag, and Loki. He was pretty easy to handle, and a hard hitter with some of his abilities. Those abilities are Slash Dash, Radical Blind, Super Jump, and Radical Javelin. Out of all of those I ended up using Radical Javelin due to the fact the power hits like a truck! As the game has rag doll physics, it was always humorous to impale a few enemies to a high wall seeing there limbs twitching. I personally think if you’re into melee attacking, he would be the best overall in your selection. The rest of his skills scale out pretty well leaving him as a solid end game choice.
Banshee:
One of the few weird looking warframes in the game. Rocking out a Xenomorph head, which is pretty rad. Her abilities are Sonic Boom, Sonar, Silence, and Sound Quake. She felt smooth to use off the bat to me. I ended up using just about 3 of her abilities such as Sound Quake, Sonar, and Sonic Boom for the crowd control, if things got to hairy. She was a true pleasure to play, and held up in mostly clearing out, or being a beast. Her abilities are effected by range, so I ended up applying as much of that as possible. I found popping Silence was okay, but to me, was pointless in group outings. Silence pretty much gives you a quiet approach to sniping down groups of enemies ( I used a Bow). It was very effective if I was speed running a few Sabotage missions and wanted no resistance. Sonar end game, your teammates will praise the skin you are attached too. It marks out points on the enemies body that are its weakest, and boost damage done.
Ash:
Sinobi’s Cousin, not really but he might as well be with his sick move set. More of a stealth assassin then a overall team player Ash is one of the most discussed characters in the game. His abilities are Shuriken, Smoke Screen, Teleport, and Blade Storm. I found all of his abilities useful, and needed. Teleport, For me to get up close to a group of enemies, then Blade Storm to unleash unholy hell. He is perhaps one of the more fun warframes melee wise to play. At first his learning curve is a bit to learn.
Loki:
One of the few most used Primes in the game, but I never really saw anything completely interesting in him. Other then Rhino Prime, which is also used commonly. His abilities are Decoy, Invisibility, Switch Teleport, Radical Disarm. While I understand his uses, I never really felt as interested past that. Perhaps the most crafty in stealth encounters. His damage is very high when sneaking around, so using melee I found was his strongest suit, or even running with a bow in his cloak, to only pop out to dish out damage. I am not here to say Loki is a bad character, because he’s not. I personally felt Ash was more enjoyable.
Nova:
The most powerful caster in the game. Sorry, I felt bold was clear enough to express that. Her abilities are Null Star, Antimatter Drop, Worm Hole, and Molecular Prime. This broken egg shell looking warframe is perhaps the strongest caster. While having interesting results playing along characters like Nyx(In almost all of the Tower modes with her Chaos ability. Also noted in the Wikis guide for tips and tricks). As well as Ember (In infested based missions). While she can do some awesome damage on her own with Null Star around small packs of enemies, she can bring the pain even at weaker stages of her leveling birth. It’s one thing to turn a semi decent class in any mmo and feel like a boss, it’s another to have a very powerful character and rip the structure out of their mass. A little brute science cockiness to appeal to the crowd. But yes, she is a bit tricky to reach and unlock, however she is worth the effort, I assure you. A solid built character overall. She has quite a quick movement speed to boot. Her manually tossed ability: Antimatter Drop is something to highly note. Yes it at first requires some getting used too, but once you aim and drop it on a crowd of enemies, things die, no, everything dies. Well in that part of the map.
Nekros:
If the grim reaper was a ninja, he would be this. A minion master, and crowd control specialist, with a mean left hook. His Abilities are Soul Punch, Terrify, Desecrate, and Shadows of the Dead. As stated before, he is about loot boosts, and keeping a nice little army of minions to do his bidding. While he is the most expensive out of the lot of Warframes. I found some very great results in groups with him, as well as solo in a few Defense missions. His synergy is amazing with Nova around. As a well placed soul punch into a semi weaker mob into a pack of Molecular Primed enemies. Causing some great fireworks. He is somewhat weak at first starting out, Due to the fact you will need to focus on getting his Energy up, his skills do cost a fair amount to upkeep. His minions are from enemies you killed, then are used to build your army. While Nekros is a little bit of work to get his blueprints, he is well worth the grind.
Rhino:
I’m the Juggernaut … I will not finish that. One of the two main tank characters in the game, Rhino is built like a brick house, and has some pretty decent supportive moves to boot. His abilities are Rhino Charge, Iron Skin, Roar, Rhino Stomp. With very easy to guess set up with this guy, he is an in your face sort of tank. He can charge head on with Rhino Charge with his Iron Skin popped. Making him a great distraction while CC players pop into the action, tossing their bullets, as well as well aimed spells into the mix. He is not shy from Damage, as he is notability effective with fist and heavy weapons. At least with what I played around with. I ended up using all of his abilities all of the time, as they all felt effective. I used Roar to boost attack damage for other players, plus kept my Iron Skin up at all times around enemies to keep the buggers on me. If you enjoy tanking, he will not disappoint you. Plus his Prime Cosmetic looks sick~.
Nyx:
Another fun overall Warframe to play, Nyx is a well made universal crowd control/melee built class. Her abilities are Mind Control, Psychic Bolts, Chaos, and Absorb. I found Nyx the most entertaining to use, as most of her abilities are massively effective. Absorb is the first ability that I want to mention. I mixed up using this with ranged enemies, along with Mind control shortly afterward if I missed a few enemies. Mind Control you play a short time, minion master to a degree, having enemies fighting for you to even the odds. Hell even Chaos was a crowd favorite, that so much so, others players hopped on mic and insisted I pop it during the wave introductions. She is another character that is very simple to get, plus is a powerful warframe to run with, if Nekros is just out of reach.
Hydroid:
A very fun class! He is personally one of my favorites to run around with when doing most missions. His abilities are Tempest Barrage, Tidal Surge, Undertow, and Tentacle Swarm. Another compound of defensive abilities, making him an interesting addition. Undertow, I used a few times when massive crowds of enemies pop around me, leaving me nowhere to go. Tempest Barrage, was used a quite early on during lower, leading to end game activities. The two abilities, I used the most were Tentacle Swarm, for crowd control, on top of big time damage. I never really used Tidal Surge as much, as I could easily just use a good weapon, and pop Tentacle Swarm. I ended up stacking some Armor boost for that “just in case” style of how I would sometimes pop Undertow to give someone else time to revive a teammate. Hydroid is one of those ” you get what you pay for” characters. Save up, farm to get him.
Mag:
My First Warframe I played with in the game. Not incredibility powerful, but moderate to decent output of damage. Her abilities are Pull, Shield Polarize, Bullet Attractor, and Crush. I would say that I had fun with her. Her Crush, and Pull abilities stood out to me. While I did toss up Bullet Attractor on bosses more then my fair share of moments. I mostly stuck to a DPS or mainly offensive build with her. Other then her supportive moves. I know, I am a bad team player whenever I toss on the biker helmet, tossing elements of magnetism. Her Prime counter part is generally the same, like for the others, providing awesome looking cosmetic skins. Her best tactics I found were casting Crush whenever Vauban dog piled the enemies with his Vortex. Man, Vauban sure does know to take a lady out on a smashing date, that French charmer.
Saryn:
If Poison Ivy was a ninja in training, well she would have to take a lesson from Saryn’s impressive array of Corrosive abilities. Speaking of which, those are Venom, Molt, Contagion, and Miasma. She mixes it up with a melee ability called Contagion, while not very strong you can apply Toxin damage to your swords, or whatever else you enjoy to swing around. She does boost some good defense, making her someone who does not need to shy too much from getting in close sometimes when needed. Miasma is a win in the game tier stuff, you ask why? Well, I was level 18, doing a Tower II Defense, some random person invites me, so I dive into the game. Still getting used to her abilities, and measuring by my own theories what was the main thing to use during this. I managed to cost Miasma as soon as the round began, nailing enemies for 287 per every non-elite enemy. Which personally was not bad. Ancients on the other hand. That honey moon ended quick, as it was not really that effective, due to the fact that they thought I was tossing a love potion on them. Chasing me around wanting to wed me. I told them I was not that kinda girl, and then blasted them with my bow a few times. Silly Groot wanna-bees.
Trinity:
The primary healer in the game next to Oberon. This Warframe is actually a disappointment to play, especially when I healed a ton in most other games, such as mmorpg video games, like Final Fantasy 11, and 14. Her abilities are Well of Life, Energy Vampire, Link, and Blessing. While I have heard that she has been nerfed in the realms of mostly her practical use, it was more troublesome, then fun to support cast anyone. I mostly used Energy Vampire, then Well of life to try to stack healing, however it did not keep up. Her survivability was fine, as I am mostly a hug the walls, and watch them fall (the enemies, not the players I am running with). At early levels, she was okay to play. Then she did not really hit that sweet spot she once had from lower to mid. Not as fun as I would have hoped. I ended up moving on from her after.
Oberon:
Offensive, supportive, good at healing, and slamming enemies on top of pools of his Hollowed Ground makes him a great hybrid class. His abilities are Smite, Hollowed Ground, Renewal, and Reckoning. He was a instant favorite among the pack of warframes. While he was not as strong in healing, or his offensive abilities. He was able to keep my fellow Tenno alive while things got fired up. Hollowed Ground, and Reckoning, were my two most used abilities used for him. Seeing I was fortunate enough to have good team mates while using him I did not have to use Renewal as often. Other than to keep some lowbie players sneaking into high level games. He is a solid choice for those who love to mix it up.
Frost:
A bubble tank, who has some decent offensive abilities. More supportive then Rhino. Apposed to Rhino being more offensive. His abilities are Freeze, Ice Wave, Snow Globe, and Avalanche. He was a bit more stationary over all for defensive missions, even in survival. While some folks do shift around with some rifles, the effective role for him is to protect one spot, and send whatever goes near it to a icy grave. The most used ability I have played with is Snow Globe. I used it more than I care to admit how I played Pacman to collect energy back to recast it. He was super effective for Tower Defense, and ODD. If I were to pick between Rhino and him, it would be a fifty, fifty thing. I cannot see how the either can out do one another, because both of them were great in sessions. Frost’s offensive while it packs a punch, it will not overly wow you. Ice wave was not anything to write above, and I ended up not bothering equipping it. I ended up Formula swapping the slot early on for something that would help out Frost’s Stamina, and Defense. He is one of the slowest frames, next to Rhino of course.
Ember:
A fun CC, and perhaps somewhat easy to obtain too. Ember is easily the quickest to learn, and run about in. While a softie, she is not one to mess with. Her abilities are Fireball, Accelerant, Fire Blast, and World on Fire. Her abilities are pretty solid for mid battles. However like many have mentioned next to what I found out, she will lose that wild flame after a while in most infected games. She is one of those classes, where you will have fun, at the same time, if you want to be the most effective, the effect behind it will be staggering. Examples you will have to farm a ton of Tower, and even camp out random events to get the correct Mods to make her break that class wall at early stages.
Volt:
A team player, also granting great speeds for his fellow Tennos. Volt is also next to Frost for having some effective defensive bubbles to keep objectives, and other players alive. However due to the fact you have no protection from above, or below. His abilities are Shock, Speed, Electric Shield, and Overload. Volt was originally a starter character, turning into a more hard to find Warframe to get a hold of as of late. He offers fair amounts of damage in later end game content. His abilities are all useful,especially doing capture missions, popping Speed, gets the whole mission done without any delay. I think if you like doing it all, at a fair rate, he is the Tenno to turn too. He makes for a great balanced support, and can back it all up with great electric damage on robotic enemies. Specially for the fact I can chain off enemies hiding beside pillars, or waist high walls.
Valkyr:
A berserker at will. This woman, will dish out some outstanding damage at close range. Her abilities are Rip Line, Warcry, Paralysis, and Hysteria. She is a mixture of high damage output via melee range, this comes along with her Hysteria ability if popped. She has the potential to take down bosses almost flawlessly, if other enemies are not around due to she has a high rate to die quickly if they flood in around her. To be honest with you I never really used Rip Line, at all, yes you can zip directly to bosses easily, and wail on them. Personally, a well angled kick slide can get to the sucker just as well for me. She does take a light bit of skill to play, her main skill to keep going is Hysteria, I usually buff up with Warcry, then pop Paralysis if I have the extra energy. She is pretty fun once you try to keep your energy up, and focus on melee weapons.
Vauban:
One of the games master of crowd control. I state this because he is a big time team player. Not only does he pass the ball, he makes the other team float on the court, and let you score a few three point shots. His abilities are Tesla, Bounce, Bastille, and Vortex. He looks like a tank, due to his bulk, however he is one of the softies. He has a impressive speed to him, next to his outstanding energy/power pool. End game, I used mostly Bastille, and Vortex. Tesla, it played course its usefulness in any kind of nature. It was weak via monsters later on. Bastille was beyond affordable for its cast time, nature. Keeping enemies suspended up in the air allowing myself, or other players to while out any thing in caught in the circular cell. Vortex on the other hand, super effective against most of the enemies in the game. It does have a weak thirteen per tick magnetic damage output. Other then finding a good rifle, or weapon to run around with to output damage, he does not whine in dps, rather then he sets up the discs in the air, and others help fire them down. Providing a solid crowd control, I would go on the line to say if you enjoy defensive crowd control, and do not mind taking back seat sometimes for others to toss down raining damage. Then I implore you, go unlock Vauban, and get him.
Zephyr:
This girl mixes the compounds of batman, meets a professional wrestling super heroine ninja. Her abilities are Tail Wind, Dive Bomb, Turbulence, and Tornado. She is very effective in what she does. She is not as highly damaging as lets say an Nova, she can still go toe to toe, or be a great dive bomber class. At most, her shining modes I felt were in Tower Extermination, Capture, and in Mobile defense. As the fact she is very effective when she is always moving. Plus the AoE(Area of effect) Tornado ability helps keep the heat down during most defense missions. She is a solid character, and I personally found no issues with her, if you want to relive your memories of Macho Man elbow dropping justice on to some skulls, she is a nice choice.
If you would like to learn more details about the Warframes, Click here to access the Wikia.
In closing, This is a fantastic port. Also being free what is there not to love. While a steep grind for those who are impatient is like playing a new generation Gauntlet game. Toss in Ninja Gaiden style combat, with over the top powers, and tons of enemies to slaughter. As well as overwhelming amount of weapons to find, build and mount on your back as you show off your clan friends in the dojo ( that is if you are not a introvert who prefers to play alone, which if that is the case, why play a co-op based game you weirdo~). 13.7U is a awesome update to the already addicting gameplay. The warframes were a blast to tinker with, and discover what their limits are. I can not wait to see update fourteen so I may enjoy my personal ship. When they promised cup holders. Plus I do hope I can touch down and play around with Mirage.
Overall I give the game a more then positive rating of:
8.7
