Bittersweet: Finding Balance In The Value of Free-To-Play Games

So, I'm going to write like I haven't skipped a year-sized beat in the Tumblrverse. 😅
For the past couple of months, I've kept myself busy with Electronic Arts's free-to-play mobile game, "Need For Speed: No Limits" as one of the ways to entertain myself on my long commute. My "elevator pitch" review for this game is that it's probably one of the best mobile arcade racing games I've played on a phone, providing great graphics, surprisingly good sound (specifically, the individual engine sounds for every car I've driven), and possessing the most intuitive control schemes in a mobile game. I also appreciate that EA hasn't left this game to fend for itself on the App Store or Google Play unsupported. Even after three years, they've gone out of their way to continue to add cars to the lineup, which gives people a reason come back to the game, especially if they're a fan of the new car.

Mmm....shiny.
Throughout the years, I have voiced my opinion about F2P games, saying that they can be just as entertaining as AAA games without "paying the entrance fee." There is a benefit to trying a game for free, whether you end up liking it or not: if you like it, you played a great game for free, and if you don't like it, you can kick it to the curb and walk away without having to lose money over the affair. Sounds great, doesn't it? Admittedly (and obviously), there's more to it than that. First and foremost, you don't have to dig past the surface to see that F2P games are hot messes more often than not. While they can occasionally just be genuinely bad games, the crappiness of a F2P game usually correlates with how obvious the game was designed to get as much money out of players as possible. From game to game, the level of aggressiveness towards targeting players' money can vary wildly, from blatant to subtle. The gameplay mechanics in most games I've played suffer from the cash-grabbing aspect, but other games have it better-integrated. "Need For Speed: No Limits" falls on the "better-integrated" side of the spectrum, but the pressure of paying to progress in the game ultimately came before I had my fill of the game.
I am the type of gamer that isn't afraid to spend a few bucks on a F2P game. I believe that if a game is worth playing, they deserve the support for making a good game. The developers stuck their necks out to make a game where players can come and go without giving a dime. The objective of playing F2P games isn't to see how much game one can squeeze out without paying anything, but just playing a good game and giving credit where credit is due.
In the three months I've played "No Limits," I've put $15 USD into the game, in $5 increments. The money directly went towards the progression in the game, and I thought it was worth it. It’s no different than paying $15 up front for a good game. But as I wind down on my third month, things have started going south.
The “fool me once” axiom applies here, since I had a similar experience with EA’s “Real Racing 3,” where the accessibility of progressing through the game decreases, as the necessity to give money increases. Both games allow you to breeze on through at a reasonable pace (even with that annoying “energy” mechanic that many mobile games employ), but after you’ve collected a good number of cars and have had your way on personalizing each of them, the pay-wall comes up from underneath you, leaving you spinning your wheels in the air without getting anywhere. Like any other veteran gamer, I have a tolerance for the grind, where I use up all the energy units gathering resources to upgrade my vehicles’ performance, and race the same race to amass funds and fulfill missions to get more in-game currency. Unfortunately, the paywall came up faster than my patience had the opportunity to run out, and I don’t like it when I can’t walk away from my experience on my terms. While I still have around 15 more days left on my investment, I have been discouraged from continuing.

I won this Hoonicorn Mustang earlier in the game, but because it requires high-rarity items I haven’t unlocked yet because I need stronger cars to progress through the Campaign Mode, this is pretty much the ONLY way I can upgrade this car. $20 USD is not worth it, installments or otherwise.
This experience left me with the bittersweet feeling, as if I “rented” the game. The game cost me $15 I can’t get any portion back, unlike the games you buy outright if you sell them. But on the flipside, unlike Steam games, I don’t have to worry about being left with a game I don’t want to play anymore because I can’t sell it. I can just uninstall the game and walk away, but it pains me to feel that this game is good. The game has such an impressive presentation for a mobile game and flow of progression would be great if the cash-grab mechanics weren’t around to interfere.
As for “No Limits” specifically, I would recommend this game to try out for free, almost just for experiencing the controls. The control scheme should be the standard for all mobile racing games. The aesthetics are a good perk, too. As for Free-To-Play games in general, I still strongly recommend giving that market more credit than its given, but as a word of caution, you might have to wade through some crap before you find a gem.