General feel after a few days of playing

[Panzermeido]

Sit close, fellow ninjas, and I'll tell you a story of a game which we all play.

I like this game.

Even more:

It's a good game.

Why?

Because of reasons, which I'll try describing. All of them are subjective; I'll try to relate to them in an objective manner, but don't take them nor me myself seriously.

What do I like about Warframe the most, or, more precisely, why do I like it? The correct answer will be "Flow". Allow me to explain what I mean.

Any action game is basically three things:

An obstacle, a mean to overcome this obstacle and a way to move from one obstacle to another. Flow, basically, is how fluidly those three things connect and how easy it is to feel the "connecting lines" between the three. I'll try giving you an example which is not Warframe: World of Tanks.

WoT provides you with a tank, both as your weapon, means of mobility and as the obstacles. Flow is achieved through this particular trait; you mobility and means are shared with the obstacle, and the three parts are well connected - you balance your power, speed and ability through different tanks. However, WoT also brings us an example of bad flow: artillery, which are obstacles without means to overcome them - snipers who attack from beyond you own line of fire.

And then Warframe.

Flow in Warfame is based on a different principle. You are a space ninja, fighting against the Space Marines, the Combine and the zombies; the obstacle and you are radically different, which already makes the whole flow business harder to balance; why does the game shine? In my opinion - in the way you move. Movement is very important in Warframe, so much that it basically is both the mean to overcome the enemy and the way to get from one enemy to another; the action itself is so firmly tied to this movement that you never really think of moving as a way to get from one place to another - you fight by moving. (Subjective, remember.) You shoot while moving, you tie your melee to how you move. This is great and this is why I generally dislike the idea of a cover system for the game: it promotes less moving and more COVER, which, in my opinion, kills the whole idea.

There is a load of bad things, mind you. Those are mostly issues of balance; I feel that a game such as Warframe should be fun with and without co-op and without consideration of how you play. A sniper and an assault spec should have as much fun against a boss, but, well, it's not the case in many, many situations.

That's all from me, fellow space ninjas.

Have a nice day.