Free Realms: Robbing people of their lives since April 29
 

MMORPGs just got more addictive with the somewhat recent launch of Free Realms, a kid-oriented MMO for the PC and eventually, the PS3. What makes this one stand out is its very liberal approach to progression: combat is completely optional, and you can choose to invest as many levels as you wish into any of the available jobs.




It's very easy to get started. You register at the site, and create a character which can be a human male/female or, if you swing that way, a pixie male/female. You download a small exe file, and start the client in your browser. The rest of the client is gradually streamed unto your hard drive as you progress through the game.

The sheer amount of variety you encounter is overwhelming at first, but you can find the profession most appropriate for you fairly quickly. Like dicking around? Be an adventurer, explore and collect loads of collectible items. You want some twitch-based gameplay? Become a destruction derby driver or a kart racer. Puzzles and other minigames suit you? Become a crafter, or a gatherer. Dungeon crawling's your game? Choose one of the bazillion combat jobs - and you can do it all on one toon. Furthermore, you can unlock even more content by becoming a paying member which, at five bucks a month, is very much worth it.




At this point, the game is slightly unpolished, with some itemization issues, bugs and a crash here and there. Still, it's an addictive and entertaining experience which I can heartily recommend.

Doesn't work with Windows 7 :(

A random guy on one of the fansites said that running your browser as an administrator makes it work.

Apparently it's due out on the PS Triple some time soon, I might give it a look then.

The racing is surprisingly fun, but last I checked you couldn't gain any experience or get any new cars/clothes, so it's kinda limited.

Wow late reply, but I just stumbled onto this thread (hey, I don't check the forums much) and I was wondering if you guys played the TCG. How it's like? I love the YGO TCG (don't laugh, haha).

I've played many free MMOs and haven't stuck around with a single one of them but this one looks pretty interesting, although I've said the same to the other ones I've tried.

Update: Ah well just spent some time playing and it's pretty darn fun with these mini-games. I'm enjoying cooking and the TCG the most.