If only it is what it was
I first started playing in November of 06' (CB1, Second Wave). Right from the beginning of the little tutorial I was already hooked.
Exteel is a futuristic third person shooter with big robots and equally big guns. Despite being 3 years too late (in the game it's labeled as an 05' production), the graphics are still sound and the animations surpass those of many other games (even the newer ones!).
Exteel is Free to Play, but also has a cash shop system where you can purchase NCCoins in order to acquire special items. There is also a way to convert NCCoins into ingame Credits.
Combat is based around a Soft Aim system. This is the one part of the game where the vast majority of the hardcore gamers leave in droves. For as long as I know there have been many people arguing that the soft aim makes the game incredibly easy because whenever you lock, it hits. However, these people have obviously never gotten to a higher level of play where even the most seasoned FPS players would be struggling to land even a single shot against the veterans. Of course, there are also weapons that do not lock such as Swords, Spears and Rockets.
The first thing that you can complain about is the lack of hit detection. Bullets that appear to hit the destructible parts of the scenery (such as boxes and certain signs) may do no damage at all. In my opinion this lack of hit detection is to allow for poor connections to be able to play this game with success.
Also, if you have ever played the Korean version (hereafter referred to as Ksteel) the content is sorely disappointing. Overall, the English version has less than 50% (perhaps even less than 25%) of the content in Ksteel. There have been promises of content from the development team, but in the grand scheme of events there has been a negative amount of content.
Overall, Exteel is one of the top free online shooters on the internet. Despite being very old and lacking in content (relative to Ksteel), the gameplay is highly addictive and that alone can last you a full year before wanting more. I should know because I've lasted 3 months of CB1, 8 months of nothing, then the last leg being the negative content.
Official Website: http://www.exteel.com/
Official Forums: http://boards.exteel.com/