“Free Realms” is a free MMORPG which I got to play the Beta of. The interesting thing about it is “Free Realms” is free to play (but more on that later). Starting off you can choose if you want to be a female human or pixie or male human or pixie. There is some customization as you pick from a few different hair styles, hair colors, eye colors, clothes, etc. Then you can get going. There is a tutorial level which you can leave whenever you are ready. Then you are in the game.

There are different towns listed on your atlas (one has a maze, one is on the beach, one is in the snow) and there are little areas in between the main towns that are not listed on the map (a zoo, gardens, and more) that you will stumble across. At first to get from one area to another you have to run and it can take some time to get around. The good thing is once you get to a new town if you come across the Warp Stone it will now appear on your map and you can warp there from now on instead of running there, this will also happen when you discover the areas that aren’t on your map. I was very glad when I started opening up Warp Stones as it can take awhile to run from one side of the map to the other and my finger did get tired holding down one button for that long. There may be a way to have your character run on its own but I haven’t been able to find it and neither was another person on our message boards.

As you journey you will notice that some people have question marks or exclamation points over their heads. You can walk up and talk to them and you will then be offered a quest or training session, you can choose to take them up on the offer or to decline. The jobs help you level up in various career choices. You can try to be a brawler, a pet trainer, a cook, etc. Or if you rather you can just level them all up. The challenges are pretty basic and you can tell that this game is meant to be safe and slightly easy for children. When you fight it is pretty much point and click, cooking is similar to the game “Cooking Mama” where you have to move the mouse in certain ways in a set amount of time. Other challenges include having to find things in a set amount of time, games where you have to highlight 3 or more images that are the same and touching, driving, and running around finding other people to deliver messages or items to. You will gain experience in whatever field the challenge relates too, items, clothes, and coins. But it can take some time to level up and there is a chance you could grow bored doing the same tasks over and over.

Now earlier I said the game is free and that is true. But you can opt for the $4.99 extra a month to open other things in Free Realms such as other career options like a ninja, being able to control up to 3 characters, and some of the quests also require you to be a paying member. There is also the option to put a small amount of money in here and there to buy other little things without actually being a member that pays monthly. So free yes; but to upgrade on some things or to get to access everything in the game you will need to pay.

Please remember that I was playing the Beta version so not everything is fixed or running how it should be when the game opens up to the public. I decided to go for pet trainer as my career. I worked on leveling up and found adoption locations where I could play with a pet for 10 minutes. However after completely one training session I was told I could not go any further without actually adopting a pet. I could not figure out a way to adopt a pet so I went into the forums. Here I discovered that the adopting feature was temporarily removed. There was also talk about when the game goes live that perhaps they may charge actual cash for you to adopt a pet. I do not know if this is something they will do or not; but before you choose a career you may want to check in and see if everything with that career will be free or if you will need to pay down the road to keep going.

I experienced glitches, slow loading, freezing, blank screens, and jumping as did some other people; but then others that have played the Beta have had no such problems. You will need to make sure that your computer has the set requirements though to make your game-play experience the best it can be (mine did reach the requirements but once again it is Beta).

So if you are part of the whole WOW scene, this game is going to be a little childlike for you. But for children and adults that enjoy mini-games and working to boost characters but find World Of Warcraft intimidating “Free Realms” may be the route to go. It can be completely addicting and hours can pass before you even realize. Add in the fact you can talk with other people that are playing the game, add them as friends, go on missions with them and you could very well get sucked right in. Since it is free you will also be able to walk away for large amounts of time without feeling like you are wasting money. Worth checking out if you have always been curious about MMORPGs but didn’t want to pay for it and risk not liking them or you want something that’s a little more of an easy challenge where you don’t have to be a computer/gaming expert.

Just remember to use the forums to find out what issues or questions others may be having with the game (this can help you out greatly) or look for a Referee that is in the game (they are wearing a black & white striped shirt and it says Referee over their heads) and ask them your question. Be sure to read up on what will cost you actual money vs. what is truly free. And if you see bugs or glitches be sure to report them so it can be fixed and everyone can enjoy a smooth game.

This game will also be released for PS3.