Games like Blacklight: Retribution

[The Apple BOOM]

The question is pretty simple, are there other games out there like Blacklight: Retribution? I love the customization and sheer variety that game gives you, but it is slowly falling out of favor, and I'd prefer to play a game where I'm not constantly seeing the same names again and again. I just can't seem to find another FPS with similar levels of customization or variety at all.

CoD and BF4 just don't cut it for me. CoD has terrible map design and is mainly a twitch fest of who sees the other guy first, and BF4 is just a different beast due to the vehicular emphasis. The absolute worst part for me, though, is the way they phase out old maps and make you pay for them again in the newer versions.

I'm going to stop myself now before I start ranting about how much I dislike modern CoD and BF, but can anyone help me out here? I'm looking for a good FPS, doesn't need to be FTP, with a large amount of variety and not terrible gameplay.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Tribes Ascend may have what you're going for. There's quite a lot of potential for customization in both weapon loadouts and character classes and skills. There's light, medium and heavy armour types and nine fairly distinct classes and the weapons range from rather standard bullet firing guns to all kinds of explosive spewing mortars and disc launchers. There's quite a learning curve though due to the unconventional weapons and jetpack/ski mechanic and it can be rather grindy, though seeing as it's free to play it might as well be worth a look. With the discontinuation of additional content (IIRC) and dwindling player numbers, it also seems to be slowly dying, so you might as well check it out before it fades away completely.

Planetside 2 has a continuously expanding assortment of aesthetic choices for your stuff, all kinds of camo patterns and colors for both your soldier and your vehicles, however the more essential stuff like new guns, attachments and character upgrades all in all take way longer to unlock than they should and are for the most part identical to stuff in the later battlefield games. If you've been through BF3 and 4 and not liked their customization options you probably won't like these. Despite what the devs claim there's also a fair amount of pay-to-win/grind-to-win here with things like significant armour and weapon upgrades. It's a bit like League of Legends in this regard; it doesn't turn you into an able to play with hands tied behind back death machine but it will screw you over somewhat early on.

While it's a very different game Chivalry lets you pick one of four classes, two weapons plus an accessory like throwing knives or a shield and sends you out into crazy bloody melees. There is a huge variety of weapons in this game, blades of just about every size and shape, hatchets, crossbows, slings, several types of shield, a bunch of different spears and other polearms, all of which can be unlocked fairly quickly. Every weapon has at least three different kinds of attack and while some take a lot of getting used to or seem easily countered, just about everything in this game seems worthwhile and stands a reasonable chance against anything else if used properly (you can check out videos of or even see ingame things like a guy playing a lighter, faster, dies-in-one-hard-hit class taking down knights with many unpredictable dagger strikes or knights cleaving through said lighter faster guys with very well timed blows and a lot of patience; basically everything can at least to some degree potentially kill everything else, it's not something like CoD where primarily using certain weapons is a guaranteed death sentence). Basic stuff is relatively easy to get your head around but more complex things, like how each of the weapons/weapon types work take a lot of getting used to and you need a solid graphics card and at least 4GB of RAM. You do not want to get an epic FPS drop when that double-headed axe is about to cleave your head in.

 

[adventurist8]

Unfortunately, Blacklight: Retribution is a one-of-a-kind game. To my knowledge, there are no games out there that compare to the customization and variety that Blacklight: Retribution has, while delivering the satisfying gameplay and the top-notch graphics. I would recommend Planetside 2 for the customization and variety, but like Ultratwinkie said, 'Planetside2 isn't worth it'. I do hope that Blacklight: Retribution will stay as it is. I want to see a game that doesn't have sequels, but continually adds new things to keep it fresh. That would make for a fun, long running game. It's really too bad that Blacklight: Retribution just isn't popular as it once was. The problem is that it takes a bit too long to earn GP to purchase items.