They originally planned way too much for the game. Like a huge seemless world. I've heard the stories of it being very mismanaged and as a player during cb/ob it seemed that way.
What they delivered in open beta was solid though. But perhaps not enough of a hook? I had every frame they had around the time of OB release. BUT, in closed beta I mostly enjoyed the PVP. They removed the PVP. FFFFFUUUCK.
The PVP was great. It even had great esports potential. I participated in a couple tournaments, getting my ass kicked while I played with randoms against organized teams who have practiced. Was good fun regardless.
They had a great twist on the CTF format. Sorta like that UT mode. You got a ball, you can pass it around. You can run it through your opponent's goal for points, or run it through.
The game had a ton of movement skill. But they actually dumbed it down a bit IIRC. Some of the coolest moves you could pull off were just using the physics engine they had. Timing your jet packs you could fly across the map in one direction while having a high skill firefight looking the other direction. Holy shit I wish this game had the PVP they had in CB.
They should relaunch the game as a MP pvp game imo. I know not enough people played it in CB, but they never gave it a solid chance in OB. The PVP they eventually added was shit compared to the original (I say this loosely because there was more than 1 version of PVP in CB), super balanced PVP where your gear did not affect your damage or health pool. Give us the original movement system too.
Red5, if you read this. I think you're missing a huge opportunity here to salvage some of those millions and millions of dollars you invested in firefall. Rebrand it if you must, but you should at least explore this possibility.