Dirty Bomb is a free to play game, that is at least worth trying out.
I have played over 6 hours so far and I have personally enjoyed it so far, I do like the objective base idea for a online shooter, working together to either destroy the objective or defended it.
You start with two free characters, a medic with a shotgun, that uses a healing station and can revive your teammates instantly when downed. The second character is a assault rifle merc with a neat airstrike which I am sure plenty of new players have had plenty of enjoyment with, who can also ive out ammo cases.
The rest of characters are locked away with a few available on a free rotation alike to League of Legends, all having there own unique weapon and abilities.
Dirty Bomb's unique idea is with its loadout cards, there are a number of loadouts to unlock either by purchasing creates (which you can obtain a standard create, or purchase a elite create) or purchasing the loadout itself for real money.
Each loadout card is locked with three weapons (main weapon, side arm and melee) also you can unlock perks, depending on the level of the loadout more perks you can have. (up to three perks). Its not a bad idea but unless you purchase the loadout you want, its down pot luck and there are a good number of loadouts so getting the one you want is unlikely.
The gameplay itself is fair, its shooting mechanics are as good any-other shooter out there, but the objectives which the game is based around can be seen as bland. The company itself is known for creating this kind of objective based games, with brink and quake wars good examples of there work before. With the experience of developing them two games I have expected the genre they created would have evolved but it really hasn't, they haven't enhanced it at all.
I have also found in my time of playing, certain maps are very easy to defend or attack as long as the teams are equally skilled, the objectives are not bold enough, its simply fix this ev, c4 that and deliver this. gamers should really be asking for more creativity.
Graphically nothing to boosted about, that might be down to wanting the game to be playable on as many set ups as possible, but when you have a high end pc you really don't want to be playing a standard looking game.
The free to play model, a model that I don't personally approve off because of its restrictions, which are frustrating when your only able to play a few mercs at the start, it can make the game tedious, especially if your not a fan of any of the mercs or their weapons. You get credits a free currency you unlock for winning games, and completing challenges. Challenges you obtain every 3 hours, giving you a different challenges to complete, for example win so many games with a certain merc in your squad, or obtain so many xp with a support. The challenges them self don't make the game anymore interesting instead puts more restrictions on you.
The levelling in this game seems pointless, obtain a boost in credits and that's probably all its good for.
Unlocking mercs seems like a real grind, which is understandable as the developer wants you to pay money for each merc, but I much rather have paid for the full game, or something similar to smite where you can obtain all characters for a reasonable fee, the grinding/ paying for each merc individually is very unappealing.
To sum up my review
Pros:
Objective based Shooter
Each merc is unique
Loadouts are a decent idea
Cons:
F2P model = alot of grinding or a lot of cash spending
Objectives are bland
Restrictions
Levelling is pointless
Graphily very standard
6.2 out of 10 would be my rating.