Looks like free-to-play MMO games are here to stay. Possibly we’re even only seeing the tip of iceberg still, from what I can tell. Every day there seems to be a new free-to-play online game that gets released or announced. Three of the latest strategy MMO big shots were Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances, Jagged Alliance Online and UFO Online. Three big franchises that now see their new installments go free-to-play online.

UFO Online: Fight for Earth is a new sci-fi browser-based MMO developed by Gamigo, that is obviously inspired in the turn-based tactics X-COM series (UFO: Enemy Unknown, X-COM Terror from the Deep among others). Powered by the Unity 3D graphics engine, which is becoming a serious case of success on browser games btw, UFO Online looks quite amazing for a browser-game, as you can witness by the screenshots and the gameplay video below that was presented at Gamescom 2011. Long gone seem to be the days of walls of text and constant server-side calls that lagged your playing experience on the web browser. Now, with AJAX and game engines like unity, browser-games look better and better by the day.

UFO Online takes place in a near future where Humanity has split into three factions that are competing for the few remaining resources left on Earth. Energy is in short supply and, to top it all, first contact has been made with extraterrestrials. They seemed friendly at first, but nah, not really. They plans were dark. This is where you come in.

Features

- Sci-Fi strategy MMOG with tactical battles;
- 3D graphics battles in your browser;
- 3 playable factions. Each side has its advantages and disadvantages and its own goals;
- A variety if classes with unique skills to choose from (tank, medic, sniper and more);
- Upgradeable weapons and items;
- Tactical battles against the AI and other players (PvE and PvP);
- Storyline with countless quests;
- Expandable base for conducting research and training troops;
- Free to play

By MMO HDTV.

UFO Online entered closed beta around a month ago, so, we’ll probably have some news about open-beta soon. I’ll keep you guys informed!

Starjack Online is a 4X real-time strategy, massively multiplayer online game that can be played for free. However it is not browser-based, you have to download client software in order to play.

The devs mention in their starjack online website that in terms of 4X, the game “will focus more on the technological, economical, military and political development of an empire”. I wonder where exploration fits in Starjack, normally it is a rather weak aspect of space strategy MMOGs.

But the basics seem to all be there – “you can extract resources, develop your colonies, launch your fleets, research new technologies and watch your empire flourish”

LGS also promise to offer automation options to remove what they consider to be “tedium and the need for micromanagement“.

Being an RTS everything in SJO evolves in real-time. All happens within the same persistent universe, so, all actions done by every player affects all other players after the moment they occur, no matter if you’re online or offline. This is the standard for MMOGs.

An intriguing aspect of LGS is that the devs state that almost everything within the game is player created. Colonies, ships, troops, prototypes. They also state that the game offers tools so that the player can interact and manage that content. Interesting.

You can register and download the game for free from the Starjack Online website.

As typical in these free online games there are premium features. Subscribers will enjoy special benefits. There is also a special resource (usually rare or that can only be bought). Typically this kind of resources are needed to access premium content or to facilitate certain tasks. In the case of SJO that resource is crystals.

I’ll check out Starjack Online in more detail to see what it has to offer, especially what’s different about it.

Screenshots

Come and discuss Starjack Online in the forums: http://www.spacesector.com/blog/forum/showthread.php?tid=686

Star Trek Infinite Space will be the first browser-based Star Trek MMORPG game. It will be free to play (as usual in most browser-based games) so this means that no software costs and no subscriptions fees are required from the player. The player is only required to have an internet connection, a web browser and a special 3D browser plugin (that the player must download) in order to play.

Although the game core is free to play, there will be optional micro-transactions available, the usual business model of most browser-based games.

What will Star Trek Infinite Space be about?

From what I could tell Infinite Space will be a MMO role-playing game (MMORPG) with exploration, strategy (RTS) and combat elements. You sit in the captain’s chair. You choose your faction: between Federation and Klingon. You pick your vessel, from authentic Star Trek spaceships, and you’re ready to start your journey of exploration through the galaxy.

Like in any kind of RPG you raise your level (level up) as you go. You level up with the experience you acquire during your missions, supposedly from combat. As you level up you can upgrade your spaceship with better equipment and upgrade your skills.

Gameforge promises fascinating 3D graphics, which supposedly are far better than traditional flash (they really look quite amazing). As in any MMO game, Star Trek Infinite Space allows collaborative gameplay. You can embark in missions for yourself or you can join other captains when engaging in combat.

Infinite Space takes place in the actual Star Trek Universe

Star Trek Infinite Space unfolds in the Star Trek Universe. The timeline for the game will be between seasons three through six of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series (during the Dominion war).

To ensure a proper story line and a credible Star Trek feeling, Star Trek experts Mike and Denise Okuda are assisting the development team. Lee Sheldon, an experienced game designer, author, producer and script writer of Star Trek TV Shows is writing the storyline and the game missions.

Infinite Space is probably one of the most anticipated browser-game of 2011. The release date is scheduled for summer 2011 (Q3 2011). For more details about the game visit the Star Trek: Infinite Space official website.

Gameforge is back, and this time the stakes are very high. Infinite Space is an ambitious browser-based game; if it works alright this may be the turn of the tide for browser-based games. In the meantime I leave you with the official trailer, a very interesting gameplay trailer and an interview with the game’s executive producer. Also don’t forget to check here for some screenshots.

Official Trailer

Gameplay Trailer
I warn you again that the game is still in development, so the final game may look differently from what you will see below. Wow! Pretty impressive for a browser-based game don’t you think?

Video Interview with the Executive Producer

Astro Empires is already a well established free space strategy (the free mode has some limitations, but is fully playable) web-based game known by many players. The idea of this article is to give the reader a global overview of this game to make it easier for newcomers.

For a review I did on another Web-Based MMOG -  Ogame, please refer to my other article: Ogame Review, Tips and Strategy Guide.

First impact

When reaching Astro Empires homepage, I have to confess that I liked it. Few and synthetic information including a small text describing the game and information regarding how easy it is to install and the fact that it is free to play. It also displayed  information about the advantage of not having to download anything, which captures the player’s attention for a smooth first impact. The homepage also gives a general overview of the game dimension and global information about the number of players, planets and bases in the server.

First Login, First Impressions

To be honest, when I made the first login I was not very pleased, I got a bit lost. I didn’t get immediately what I needed to do, it felt a bit unnatural and non-intuitive. The account overview is a little bit too texty, no graphic overview of your bases, your planets, I mean your location in the map. After 10 seconds, I found the Bases and Map icons…

When you choose one of your bases the following information is presented to you:  an overview, the  structures on it, the defenses, production, research and trade options. It presents all the standard issues of a common space strategy game, but the problem is with the details. When describing, for instance, the structures, there is no detailed information about them and it’s classification is done by means of numbers from one to a maximum level. I consider this a very simplistic approach that does not transmit a sense of realism to the player (but this is not strictly an Astro Empires thing, many games, like ogame for instance, also present this kind of simpler classification). I would prefer something more meaningful like “Advanced <structure>”, “Hyper”, “Automated” kind of upgrades but maybe that’s just a thing of mine.

Another down aspect in AE is when you click on a structure  it shows the same text as it did on the list of structures (I thought the second was more like a small description in a first place) with no images and with a list of the levels that each structure can achieve… too simple. Lots of work to be done here. But there is lots of space to be filled. I guess that the developers are probably still working on this matter for sure.

Galaxy Map

The map is ok, a grid over the galaxy is displayed with all the planets in each grid square. It gives you a nice perspective of your location in the game. There are tow kinds of links in the map. When you click on the planet, you go directly to the colony information, when you click in the name of the player you see information which can be important to test your diplomatic skills…

Timescale

For me, the timescale is the best feature of the game. I´m not a fan of rush kind web browser games where everything happens too fast. I like to take my time when placing a strategy. In this game, just because I was away for two days this didn’t ruined the game for me … my planet was not burning and my credits were not at zero!… against what is usual in some other web browser games like … travian, or ogame. I think this game has done a serious effort regarding this issue, but anyway I’m only playing it for a month, so  I could be mistaken about this.

Gaming experience so far

I needed to do something relevant with the game to have enough juice for a first impression… so, after lots of research levels, I ordered the construction of two Outpost ships (odd name for a regular colony ship), it took me around 6 hours to complete them… After a 3 minutes travel (maybe a bit too fast for my taste), the colony ship reached a metallic planet in the same solar system… I clicked the button “Build Base”… and that’s all. I wanted to see more juice in the process. Building a base is not like building a small fighter, but in Astro Empires, in practical terms, is the same. At least a few extra options could be presented when starting a colony, maybe a small report, or some colonization options presented (native population present in the planet, artifacts/technologies found, decisions to be made that affect the planet quality, etc).

Future

The future of this game is promising. I felt that the game is a like a raw diamond with many aspects still to be polished. The game is quick to load and to interact with and it seems that the engine beneath is also powerful. Now, the next step is to take more advantage of this engine and allow the player to extract the maximum potential of the concept but introducing more content.

I will continue to play the game and, in the future, I hope to write a deep review. In the meantime, I’ll explore the battles concept, colony management of several colonies, diplomacy aspects and the trading mechanism. I don´t know if I got lucky not having a dangerous alliance nearby (you can also join an alliance later) which allowed me to take me time to do things. IF this is confirmed than if you want to start a game in a “non-rush” mode, Astro Empires is a valuable option for you.

Playing Ogame is like a breath of fresh air brought to the space strategy 4x gaming experience since it offers the possibility to play anywhere I have an internet connection while offering a rich and free multiplayer experience.

Other popular games of this type include:

• Travian: One of the most popular Antiquity – Empire building game;
• Earth 2025: Contemporary / Country Building
• Hattrick: Contemporary / Soccer Team
• You can find here a comprehensive list of other browser games.

Another excellent source of browser games I recommend is the Galaxy-News website.

Ogame is developed by Gameforge and is a space strategy game 4x like any other but you play it using solely your web browser. It features all the 4x essentials: research, resource gathering, colony management, spaceship building, fleet management and space combat but in real-time strategy style, against the traditional turn based gameplay, which means that everything in the player’s Ogame universe is happening real-time for all registered users. One can start researching a technology in the morning before breakfast, start building a spaceship during lunch time break from work and launch an attack on a nearby player right before bed time.

Ogame is free? What’s the catch?

There’s really no catch at all. The majority of these recent browser-based games are free of charge. Anyone can register and start playing them in a few minutes. In spite being free these games do have their own limitations (sounds like catch alert to me? .. not really, keep on reading). Many browser-based games you will find are completely free of charge, others offer free play with advertising, others still offer free play with micro-transactions or optional paid subscriptions. What this last type of games offer are bonus packs, extensions or exclusive add-ons that are not available in the standard game features and are only granted through small additional payments. Normally this is not a big deal if you want to play the game free of charge because usually this does not hurt the game experience too much. At least for Ogame that happens to be the case, I’m playing it for almost 3 months by now and I don’t really find the need to pay for any extra features (but others may find it useful of course).
You can find a list of many browser-based games of the different charging categories here.

Now back to Ogame: The game basics

When you register and start playing Ogame you start with your home planet empty. No mines, no technologies, no ships, no nothing. All you have is your tiny planetary base production needed to bootstrap your first production buildings: mines for metal, crystal  and deuterium (your three main resources). You

have a wide range of planetary improvements you can start building like a shipyard: required to build spaceships and planetary defenses; storage warehouses to store resources and the research lab to research new technologies. Each building can then be upgraded by constructing successive additional levels. So you start with your buildings all at level 0 and then you go on evolving them one by one for more production capacity, more research capability, etc.

Things take a looong time in Ogame

As I mentioned above Ogame is not a regular PC space strategy game 4x, where one can play for five hours straight just by clicking the end-turn button. This is a game where everything happens in real-time with hundreds and hundreds of players playing simultaneously, so you will end up needing to wait for your metal mine to finish, which can take you, for example, 1:30h to complete, or your battleship that will take you about 3 hours, or a technology that will take 24 hours to research. At some stage of play all is done at that time and you simply log off. Then you login later to check on your empire status.

Research and Technologies

The technology tree is complex enough to keep you busy wondering what to research next. There are plenty of technology dependencies. You can make breakthroughs in several categories: New buildings, research fields, spaceships and new planetary defense systems. In the left you can see an image for the Weapons Technology that boosts the spaceship weapons efficiency in 10%. Each evolution of this technology will add another 10% to weapons efficiency.

The Spaceships

Building spaceships will require you to unlock specific technologies and construct the appropriate building levels. There are several types of standard spaceships available for you to build: colony ships, transports, drones, regular fighters, heavy fighters, cruisers, battleships, destroyers, bombers, interceptors and even a dreaded Death Star. There is no spaceship customization, you have these models at your disposal and that’s it. However the process of unlocking all the spaceship models is complex enough to keep you busy for a long time waiting for your next space toy to be available for production.

Fleet Management

Managing fleets is quite easy as the interface is simple but effective (considering that the user interface is a browser). You can move your ships around; set them for colonization, spying missions, raids and transports of materials.

No Diplomacy?

Well, in Ogame there is no concept of Artificial Intelligence as there is no computer AI to compete with. All the players in Ogame are Human players (or at least they should be) so the diplomacy features offered to players are practically nonexistent. Basically players can forge alliances with other players or other alliances of players and all the rest must take its course via normal human-to-human message interchange from there.

Tips and Strategy Guide to get you started

You can find many tips and all kinds of information regarding Ogame in the web. You can have a look at the official OGame forum here. Another simple but effective source of tips and faqs can be found at GameFAQs, a strategy guide/FAQ maintained by Xeigrich. However if you’re aiming for a single source of condensed information you can also have a look at the “Ogame Tips Strategy Guide” e-Book published by “OgameTips” that you can get here.

The Good

• Free of charge
• Simple to register and start playing
• Very suitable for players with not much time in their hands that want to play occasionally
• Portable technology which allows the game to be played practically everywhere (only internet with browser availability required)

The Bad

• Not enough depth for the more demanding
• Not much going on, specially on early game stages
• Slow paced game not suitable for players eager for instant action

Conclusion

Considering that everything is done via a web browser client and that the game is free of charge Ogame is a space strategy game that at least deserves you to have a look at. The game may not be for everyone but could be for many of you that simply don’t have much time in your hands and cannot keep up with the micromanagement needs of most 4x space strategy games. If you’re a fan of space strategy gaming you will like to try this lightweight space strategy gaming experience that is Ogame.

You can find more information about Ogame here.

You can register and start playing Ogame now by clicking here.

OGame: Free Internet Space Strategy	Space Sector score: 6.5 (about the score system)