Blacklight Retribution

Blacklight: Retribution is a freemium team FPS game that is available on steam. (By freemium I mean it is free to download and play, but to get access to the good upgrades, you need to be willing to part with a few bucks, but that said - you still have pretty much unlimited play time and access to the game.)

For a free to play game, I admit. I am impressed. It is akin to counterstrike, but with various objectives and the purchase screen is accessed between missions or before you connect to a server.

There are 3 types of currency. CPs, GPs and Zen.

CP's are Championship(?) Points. These are earned through the course of a battle and can be spent at the various terminals scattered about the map to buy some upgrades, or even the Hard Suit which makes you akin to a 40k dreadnought, and night on unkillable except by other dreadnoughts, flamethrowers, or really really brave troops who use the VR helmet to spot the weak armour plate and get stuck in. (I know, I outmaneuvered one last night and killed it with a pistol!!)

GP's are experience points that can be spent to buy more lasting upgrades. Between missions or when you are not connected to a server you can view your equipment layout and buy new items such as armour, weapons or even part-upgrades for stuff you have. The upgrades tend to be temporary, for example - I bought an assault rifle for 200gp (about 1 good match worth of GP) and I own it for 24 hours. If I wanted it for a week it would be about 1000gp, and permanent it would be 5000gp.

Zen is bought currency. I think it can be used in place of other currency (e.g. buy the Assault Rifle for 24 hours for 20 Zen), but it is also used to buy specialist items. Good upgrades tend to use this, or at least require a chunk of their cost to be paid in Zen restricting them to paying players. An example of this is buying a 'loadout option' - which is basically a quick access weapons loadout which you can change to with the F keys between missions or at terminals (I think)

Anyway, the game plays very smooth, looks awesome and contrary to most FPS games I have seen out there, it seems to be relatively free of Ass Hattery. (Joys of Steam maybe?) Saying that, you find yourself cursing at the screen on many an occasion as Bobby the Bawbag with his Uber gun rounds a corner and takes off your head again... but that's what strategy is for, no? :p

I think one of the greatest appeals to me about this game aside from the online team play aspect (I spent near a decade playing counter strike! I still love it, just cant be bothered installing it!) is the roleplay aspect. You are essentially earning XP (Oh, you also have actual XP and combat levels that unlock weaponry) and using it to buy upgrades to enhance your gaming experience. Do yourself a favour and if you start playing, endure a couple of matches then get rid of the crappy starter SMG! At the very least you should be looting a replacement through as the map progresses ^.^

I spent some time last night attempting to create a Let's Play of the game that records me first entering the game, doing the tutorial and then taking to the field, but bugs with the windowing meant I had naught but a static image and audio. After about 90 minutes of play I came out and resolved this, so here is a couple of matches I played last night :-) >>Linky<< (Note... I had an awesome few rounds - none are caught on cam :p partially cos when I video it forces me into full-screen-windowed mode at the same resolution as before which means the image is distorted to me... but it is still fun :D )

-V