There are a bunch of free to play shooters available, some old and some new. I would say that WarRock and Combat Arms has been my favorites so far (before the hackers arrived and the latest updates). But I got the chance to play a new free to play shooter from the South Korean developer Wiple Games; Ironsight.
Gamigo Group are going to publish Ironsight in 2018, but recently held a closed beta. Ironsight is a futuristic military first person shooter that follows the most known formula of this genre. Multiple weapons, different modes and variety of different maps is just a few things that Ironsight delivers. But how does it perform, and how does it look?
Graphics
Ironsight isn’t the best looking game when it comes to graphics compared to today’s standard. But then again, it sure does looks amazing for a free to play game. Some of the maps are a bit large that might lower the textures, but that doesn’t occur here. If I wanted to compare the graphics to another game, I would say that Counter Strike: Global Offensive is the first game that would pop up.
Character customization is gorgeous and has a lot of variety, but these cosmetics options is something I will talk about further down. One huge positive thing is that you do not need a high-end pc to play this game. I tried the game on a high-end PC and a mediocre one, and the game runs smoothly on both with stable 60FPS and 1080p resolution.
Gameplay
The most important thing is the gameplay, Ironsight as a free to play first person shooter might look a lot like a Call of Duty game (a lot). But then again, it’s hard to get its own identity in this genre, but Ironsight stand out in fluidity and the fast paced action packed gameplay.
The maps are well designed, not too big or not too small and with multiple “routes” to take. And the maps are quite detailed as well, the main point is that each map delivers a fast paced gameplay and the option for stealth as well. I didn’t encounter game breaking bugs / glitches either, and the controls are easy to use, so you do not have to worry about the performance of this game just yet.
As I mentioned there are cosmetic items in this game, these can be earned through loot boxes or by purchase. This comes naturally since it’s a free to play game, but the main part is that none of the available things that are available for purchase does not affect the gameplay. So the Pay to Win factor isn’t present.
One other factor that might interest you is the weapon arsenal and how to acquire them. As many other free to play shooters you don’t have access to every weapon for ever. On another hand you can purchase them with ingame credits for 7 days or permanent. I like this system as long as the progression system works properly, and I felt like Ironsight did deliver this to a certain point. But the variety of weapons is huge, there are hundreds of different weapons to choose from in different categories such as shotguns, rifles etc.
Like Call of Duty, you’ll earn scorestreaks. Be aware that the scorestreaks does not reset after your death, so be prepared to use that sweet “high end” scorestreak. Drones is the keyword here, when it comes to scorestreaks.
Verdict in progress
Ironsight is an ambitious free to play first person shooter that could be compared to some of the triple A shooters today. Fluid gameplay mechanics, tons of variety in customization and weapons that gives a huge amount of replay value. In my opinion, Ironsight might be added to my list of favorite free to play shooters.
Ironsight is set to release next year on PC, you can register right here.
