The game is a shooter at heart, with the option of third-person and first-person viewpoints. While the FPS mode may be tempting to use, firing automatic weapons is susceptible to unfathomable amounts of recoil. This isn't much of an issue, as in the third-person view, it's much more manageable, and also feels better when using melee weapons. Accuracy isn't sacrificed either, with the controls lending themselves just as well to headshots as its counterpart. Weapon types vary from Rifle types that specialise in long distance marksmanship and usually feature high damage attacks, Pistol types, which are effective at both long range and short range, and melee weapons, which as you'd imagine, only deal in close-ranged attacks. An erstwhile traveller will usually keep one of each weapon type handy for all situations, and if ammo becomes scarce, no one will begrudge you beating the mutated snot out some wasteland creature.
Crafting is an integral part of Fallen Earth. Your Crafting tutor says "In this world, craft or you're daft!", and no other in-game advice is truer. Scavenging the remains of your enemies will only give you second-rate equipment, or the tools to make your own better items. Crafting is done by purchasing recipes from books from the merchants that are scattered across the world. Using these recipes, you can, at any time and with the right ingredients, create any item you like. Much of your time outside of quests in Fallen Earth will be made kitting out your character with the best items you can, and it is via the crafting system that this becomes a reality.
Speaking of quests, you'll be spending much of your time doing missions for people throughout the wasteland. While some may simply be killing a certain number of a certain enemy type in a certain area, or the fetching of some particular item, there are other types of missions as well, such as the Track & Kill types, where you follow the trail of someone and eventually kill them. You gain most of your experience by doing quests, as opposed to slaying people and creatures. All quests have level requirements set on them, so you may find that, after a time, there are no more quests to complete in the area. Hence, grinding isn't really an option unless you're really determined, and it's usually a sign that the game wants you to journey on. Levelling is quite a slow process, and quests are the only reasonable way to improve yourself.
For the most part, the game is almost entirely PvE, or Player vs. Environment. The enemy is entirely AI driven, and aside from communicating with your fellow players, you generally go it against the computer. However, there are clearly signposted PvP, or Player versus Player, areas dotted throughout the realm, where the only enemy you'll find is your fellow man. While existing on the same server as the PvE gameplay, they are decisively partitioned, so you won't find yourself wandering randomly into one without prior notice.
The biggest fault with Fallen Earth is the ever-present lag. While it can certainly vary from player to player, and can vary at different times, they were hardly isolated events in our experience. And not just ours either, as chatter in the chat log relayed many similar plights, so it seems to be commonplace for everyone. While it's never as devastating as the movement-displacing, game stalling latency that can be found in other online games, sometimes enemy movement can jitter a bit. This can lead to a lot of wasted ammo, as shots that were aimed at your enemy's ripe craniums simply end up disturbing the sand behind them.
Nonetheless, Fallen Earth is an MMO that nails the essentials. Bringing together a rich setting, gameplay that presents a real-time action-based approach, deep character improvement systems, and a highly populated game world ripe with quests and opportunities for achievement, it creates a game world that will deliver an enjoyable and long-lasting experience. While it may not be overly ambitious and risk-taking in its design, it's a fine MMORPG that will not leave anyone disappointed.
