The first thing I noticed about Sony Online Entertainment’s family-oriented MMO, Free Realms, was the inviting and pretty art style–cartoony, but not obnoxious; colorful, but not garish. This is a place you want to come. It’s a place I could see letting kids play around in, and probably a place that parents wouldn’t mind playing around in, either.

Another thing that really impressed me was all the embedded functionality. The character creation screen is actually a website, and your character profile is part of a Facebook-like network. On the right hand side is a list of your online friends, and clicking on anyone’s name will zap you right to their location in-game.

Contrary to many popular MMOs, you won’t have to fight a single enemy if you don’t want to: “Combat is just our biggest mini-game,” the developers told us. There are lots of different jobs to perform, including the warrior/medic types, but also mail delivery, blacksmithing, gardening, training pets, and even just exploring the environment a la Assassins Creed, to find flags. In fact, you will never be attacked unless you walk through a big gate with a danger sign on it and change your outfit to an appropriate profession.

All your different jobs gain experience in their own way, whether by playing Bejeweled-esque puzzle games to mine crafting materials or by fighting enemies. As you level up you’ll earn visual upgrades that show off how advanced your character is at that skill set. The ninja starts off pretty tattered-looking, but the final armor gleams.

Actually the Realms are only 60% free, but a premium account only costs $4.99 a month. Microtransactions will be tied to your PlayStation Network account–the game will launch first for PC and later on PS3. They’re also introducing a pretty exciting family plan–five accounts for $9.99 a month. So, the demo spiel goes, kids can visit their grandma’s house. Honestly, I sort of hope that kind of thing happens. It just seems like a nice world for it to happen in. I’m really looking forward to the beta later this year.

Tags: E3 08, Free Realms, Sony Online Entertainment

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3 Comments » dandello09 on April 19, 2009 8:56 pm Hey guys! Found this on twitter this morning, and thought I'd pass along: be one of the first players of Sony's all-new 3D interactive experience Free Realms. Follow Free Realms on Twitter to win a beta key this weekend at: http://twitter.com/freerealms sandy on July 2, 2009 6:11 pm Whoa! Free Realms has just passed the 4 million player mark! That is SO cool, and I'm glad that other gamers are enjoying this MMOG as much as I am! To celebrate the milestone, FR will be hosting an in-game bonus from July 2nd- 8th where players will receive double treasure tickets! These can then be used in Sanctuary to get sweets rewards. Find out more about the bonus here freerealms.com/article/detail.action?articleId=134 sandrar on September 10, 2009 11:45 am Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.