WarChild / LoveChild?

Warframe is the love child of Digital Extremes which is evident throughout the games many fixes and support updates. With no corporate suits pushing for more realistic storylines and waving the ban hammer over the Sci-Fi genre to create another Dark Sector type release, Digital Extremes grew and flourished with its original concepts and gameplay ideas that were originally announced back in February 2000. That’s 13 Years later… suits, am I right?

Serving as A standard bearer in the free to play market, Warframes Titular Warframe Suits, Weapons, Mods and everything else a player needs to create their own Warframe experience can be earned in game. But with the title being so well supported throughout its nearly 6-year lifespan, players will feel inclined to support developers at one time or another. A recommended purchase would be an inventory expansion once players get a feel for the title.


Overwhelming Support… Literally!

Due to Warframes five going on for six years worth of content and updates, newcomers may find Warframe an intimidating experience at first glance. Being a n00b myself for Warframes Nintendo Switch release; Panic button and Digital Extremes have made the opening levels and first hub experience much more palatable than I originally expected.

Floating hints are visible throughout the pseudo tutorial sections of the opening missions with accurate descriptions of the hubs functions, dual levelling up systems and more.

Customisable controls make a return for the Nintendo Switch outing which was a lovely touch, although the vanilla controls work just fine. Warframe is a 3rd person shooter experience, which could be likened to a Polly relationship between ‘Vanquish’, ‘Destiny’ and ‘Mass Effect’, producing the world first triangle child (By definition, not looks).

A Polly Love Child Perhaps?

Let’s break that description down: Vanquish featured an incredible fast paced 3rd person shooter experience which literally allowed players to boost slide across environments to gain an advantage over antagonists. It was a cult classic adrenaline trip built for the previous generation of consoles, pick it up!

Destiny was Bungie’s first outing away from it’s former much loved (and criticised) IP ‘Halo’. The original release of Destiny took the world by storm, producing a sustainable first-person MMO on consoles that was packed with content and customary RPG elements such as skill trees, upgradable weapons dungeons, and raids. Destiny 2 kind of milked it’s fan base and got a little greedy, we don’t speak of Destiny 2 here at Reggie Reviews. Bar just now…

The Mass Effect series brought Bioware’s amazing storytelling and gameplay mechanics from such classics as ‘Knight of the Old Republic’ to a new generation and audience many moons ago. Whilst I can safely recommend the avoidance of the franchises most recent outing, the legacy games are full of rich narrative and lore. Seasoned with a more or less living and breathing authentic galaxy to explore, Mass Effect has a special place in gamers hearts worldwide.

Where Did Warframe Go?

Back to Warframe! The fusion of these features and mechanics makes for an amazing experience for players that was needed within the MMO Hybrid community. Warframe strikes a balance between all three genres whilst somehow delivering a controlled arena gameplay experience. Something most would find inconceivable a few years ago. It’s just a fun title to play.

When Warframe was announced for Nintendo Switch, it was the running joke of the gaming community. Just how would a graphically demanding game even boot on a Switch? Well, that’s where Panic Button comes in.

Don’t Panic!

This amazing third party team has positioned themselves as the go-to studio for Nintendo Switch port overs. Highly noted for getting Bethesdas ‘DooM’ and ‘Wolfenstein 2′ to run smoothly on Nintendos flagship console, Panic Button put performance first much like 1st Party developer Nintendo.

Their latest release in Warframe re-enforces that ethic and shows that the developer is passionate about their work and tries to enrich gameplay experiences to their portable potential without sacrificing content or gameplay.

It goes without saying that graphically, Warframe on Nintendo Switch is a downgrade when compared to its other releases. Fidelity is kept intact to a point where players know what is going on thanks to the addition of subtle motion blur, but alas it is a downgrade. Now let me tell you all why that doesn’t matter in the slightest:

It Doesn’t Matter!

Developers such as Nintendo have always been gifted with providing quality gameplay on their IP over the promise of graphical prowess. This is why companies such as Nintendo thrive in an over-saturated market and why they just do their own thing. Forgetting the public relations blip that was the Wii U and the shovelware that the Wii had to offer (not discounting the consoles brilliant releases, don’t shoot!), Nintendo has their formula and have learned not to stray far from that in order to please its audience.

Panic Buttons work on third-party IPs has only reinforced the fact that a good game isn’t down to graphics and high-resolution textures. Downgrading the immediate aesthetics of a title leaves no room for franchises to hide poor gameplay mechanics and questionable physics, which in many respects has given Warframe a few extra one-ups in terms of credibility.

To Close:

In a world of 4K Tv’s and powered up mid-generation console releases, it’s easy to forget the reason why we all love playing video games in the first place. Warframe is an excellent example of providing compelling gameplay that is supported nearly 6 years on from release without extorting its player base for extra revenue.

If developers mirrored this kind of attitude for future and current MMO titles and content, they wouldn’t have to worry about revenue. Gamers are always happy to support legitimate outfits that put them first, loot boxes disguised as benefits are however a different matter. #ShotsFired