It’s landed with quite an impact. Plenty of people have
turned out for Sony Online Entertainment’s (SOE) revival of its unique
franchise, Planetside. Remarkably there have been no real attempts since the
original to deliver multiplayer combat on a massive scale. Planetside 2 dwarfs
rivals such as DICE’s Battlefield series. Thousands of players battle each
other to take control of the planet Auraxis which is split over three huge
continent maps.
The launch has had a few bumpy moments, leading to some
quick server down time and quick patching. But for the most part, the game has
done a good job of getting players straight into the action; giving them a real
taste of the gameplay right from the start. Once you’re online; you pick from a
choice of the three factions, character gender, name and face. Not a great deal
of customisation, but for the most part you’ll rarely see an opponent’s face
behind their helmet. The majority of the customisation comes from cosmetic
items purchasable through the in-game shop.
As soon as you hit go, you’re given a brief introduction
into your faction and the planet being fought over. After that you’re promptly
deployed in a drop pod into the heart of a ground battle. I ended up in a close
quarters scrap, defending a tech plant from an assault by the Vanu Sovereignty.
Having played the beta, I was able to get my bearings pretty quickly and jump
into the thick of the fighting. But for a new player; it will be a little
overwhelming as none of the mechanics are explained, and there’s no tutorial to
get you up to speed either.
This was my biggest criticism of the beta and SOE have done
little to fix it. The first time you enter some of the menu screens, you get a
pop-up to explain its purpose. But beyond that there’s no explanation of
anything. Want to know how to capture that base? How to acquire vehicles?
Customise your loadouts? Well you best find an explanation on the internet.
There are some very useful video tutorials produced by SOE which are linked to
on the game’s launcher. But why isn’t there an in-game wiki or help function?
Providing an easy way for new players to get answers would build on the great
first impression made by the initial drop into combat.
Most importantly, the game design leads to the natural
formation of large scale conflicts between players. This is a big plus for the
game. Seeing armoured columns roll out to the nearest battle is a sight to
behold. Objectives are clearly marked on
the map, allowing you to set both squad and personal waypoints to advance too. The
map also highlights areas of activity and allows you to redeploy reach the
front lines faster.
When in range of a base, the current capture situation is
displayed above your mini-map. Points are fought over in a tug of war style.
Holding key objectives and killing opponents will increase your team’s score
towards victory. However in some of the large scale facilities, this system can
feel slow. Especially when your opponents are stuck in their spawn point with
no chance of repelling you.
Spawning is generally well handled throughout the game. On
the deployment screen you’re given an overview of the map with a current list
of held locations and what vehicles can be obtained there. Added to this list
will be any deployed Sunderers and squad spawn beacons. These are activated by
players to create forward bases. Allowing teammates to quickly spawn nearby and
support the offensive; rather than having to travel several hundred metres from
the closest base.
To try and prevent any spawn camping. Which is always the
most infuriating tactic in any multiplayer FPS; team colour coded shields cover
the entrances of any base spawn point. This allows defenders to freely fire at
any attacking force, without the risk of being killed as soon as they appear.
This would be incredibly imbalanced, but clever placement of these areas means
defenders still have to leave the sanctuary of the spawn point to achieve
anything useful. As soon as the base falls, the ownership of any spawn points
changes. This will slowly kill off any stubborn defenders who refuse to die
like men and allow attackers entry to gun them down.
The gunplay is well done and up to the standard of any
current FPS. There’s a wide selection of gun unlocks for all classes and
vehicles. Each provides a unique feel though the combination of recoil, damage
and ammunition capacity. Successful hits are displayed through the crosshairs
flashing red; which hits a nice balance by being simple and unobtrusive, whilst
providing satisfying feedback. There are plenty of additions to attach to every
weapon to tweak its performance. However it will take a long time to customise
any weapon with all the available options.
All unlocks are obtained through the certification system.
Simply get two hundred and fifty experience points to earn one certification
point. Everything costs a certain amount, but the order of unlocks is entirely
your decision. No horrible, set linear progression system which has been the
staple of many FPS recently. You can play however you want to earn experience,
and then invest your hard earned points how you want.
Sadly this freedom of choice is let down by how the free-to-play
economy is set up. Many useful weapons such as lock-on missile launchers cost a
lot of certification points; representing a significant time investment. You
can certainly have a good time with the default equipment, but unlocking one
new weapon can feel like quite a grind.
Now obviously the time investment has to be fairly steep.
SOE would like to make some money and they have to encourage players to get out
their wallets somehow. So far developers like Riot have led the way by showing
how popular purely aesthetic items are to the consumer. And SOE have followed
this format somewhat. There’s already an excellent selection of helmets, body
armours and camouflage patterns to buy. These will no doubt make a fair bit of
money; nevertheless weapons are purchasable and at incredibly steep cash
prices. At the moment, the combination of pricing structure and the default
equipment comes across as a bit greedy.
So will Planetside 2 expand its player base and thrive in
the free-to-play market? Almost certainly, as it offers an FPS experience like
no other. Being part of the fight in Planetside is simply epic, both in the
scale of combat and how it’s presented. The sound design is excellent, it puts
you into a war where explosions are thunderous and gunfire is everywhere.
Graphically it will make your PC chug for middling quality. I’ve ended up
playing with many settings on low to keep the framerate high. Especially during
night fights where gunfire lights up the sky in spectacular displays.
If you want to jump into the action, the game client is
available directly from the Planetside 2 website and through Steam.
