First Thoughts: Free Realms
SOE is making a pretty big splash out there with their new title Free Realms. After a long development cycle, and a very short open beta-ish period of about two weeks, the game has gone live for anyone who wants to try it. Last week, before release, it attracted a lot of commentary in the gaming blog community. Including quite a few column inches among people who clearly have no intention of playing it (or ever admitting if they do play it).
Generally speaking, beta impressions were positive. Most people seemed to agree, Free Realms is an MMO done “lite,” with beautiful Disney-esque graphics and a level of polish rarely seen in a free-to-play title. Comparisons to World of Warcraft abound, in both complementary and pejorative fashions.
So what do I think? I think Sony has a hit on their hands.
