Ever wondered why pretty much all MMO games are pointed towards hardcore gamers geeks, or roleplaying fanatics. Well Sony wants to make an exception of this and create a game that hasnt been seen before within the MMO world with Free Realms.

In Free Realms its not just about running around with big weapons to level up your virtual character, without excluding it! In Free Realms you create a character wich can freely change jobs. These jobs is everything from Cook, Race Driver, Ninja, Pet Trainer. And much much more. So for example instead of running out and fighting monster or gathering tons of materials to levle up your Cook level. You have to play alot of minigames, im normally not a fan of minigames. But making it this big a part of a game actually makes it kinda fun to do. Then when you cook alot of food you can go out and sell it to other people who then perhaps can use it for theyre job.

As mentioned theres also a Race Cart Driver class. Here you take place in a little fast car in a game that kinda resembles Mario cart, and believe it or not. Its actually incredibly well done. I sat down in those cars and had a blast doing it, you can even drive with youre friends and win rewards new cars and clothing.

But for all us MMO gamers, theres still the good olds, such as Brawlers and Ninjas and Arcers who can go out and fight monsters to get exp, and the endless grind to gather better gear and rare items. And the combat system is pretty solidly build. Its made in the way that in the world theres packs of monster. When you then touch a pack you will be teleportet to a map where you will fight X ammount of the selected monster. This way all the Cooks, racers and such dont have to fight mosnters like other combat classes.

The game is really easy to get into as you get show the road thru a very well written tutorial with a good audio track that reads most objectives loud to you (Good for the younger population for gamers).

The game engine is incredibly solid, and did not appear to have any bugs even in this closed beta stage. All parts of these mini games, monster fights and such are really well thought and have great stability as well as functionallity. Its easy to feel that its a big company as Sony Entertainment whos behind the game.

Free Realms adds a whole new aspect to the MMO world. Showing that MMO´s are not all about fighting monsters and saving princesses from dragons. And the game is also really well suited for younger kids with all these minigames. This game is a game that should absolutely be tried by everyone since it reaches out to all ages genres and genders.


Review by Nishinku, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 4/29/09