Before we start things up with this review, let me take a moment to explain that I have never played Planetside in my entire life prior to PlayStation 4’s release. My PC friends have always informed me of how good this game was in their world, so my hopes were high when it was first announced for the PlayStation platform. In short, this is a new world for me, so my impressions come from my innocent Planetside mind.
Without further delay, let’s get this baby rolling.
The gameplay in Planetside 2 can be directly compared to any recent first-person shooter — at least on the surface. Your player begins their adventure as one of three competing factions (Vanu Sovereignty, Terran Republic, New Conglomerate — my PS2 PC friends claim there is an advantage with choosing one of these, but I disagree) and then shifts to choose the type of class they prefer to be, which are broken down into the following:
– Light Assault
– Heavy Assault
– Combat Medic
– Engineer
– Infiltrator
– Max
Each class has their own type of gameplay associated with them. Heavy Assault people are beasts. Medics are always welcomed into the bunch for obvious reasons. Engineers are valuable during stressful moments of attack, and when things are needing repairing. Infiltrators are sneaky little bastards, while Max folks are just huge and slow (but powerful). The favorite of mine was the light assault. That class is easy to use, easy when it comes to avoiding gunfire and has the ability to use a variety of weapons, and awesome gear. Regardless, it’s nice to see such a diverse amount of classes in a single game. PS2 gives you some nice class options when it comes to style of gameplay. If you don’t like one class, you can switch to another when you’re at your home base. Easy-peasy stuff that is flexible.
What would a first-person shooter be with a robust amount of weapons at your disposal? Again, depending on your class, you’re regulated to certain types of weapons with adjustable parts on them. The weapons are plentiful and the upgrades (scopes, muzzle, ammo) are impressive, yet not too complicated to feel overwhelming. This is the type of loadout selection a Call of Duty or Battlefield game might have attached to, but far less complicated when using. Also, the weapon balance is a lot better than what I was expecting. Using a sniper rifle in the game was as easy, and effective, as using a submachine gun. Sure there is a variety of different weapons with some stronger than others, depending on configuration, but in the end the weapon of your choice still gives you a good enough chance to survive. Anyway, in addition to the weapons and weapon upgrades, you can also upgrade a character’s gear. For example, my light assault self can get upgrades in jump jets (to make him float higher/better), grenades, knives and even appearance. There’s a lot of detail here, folks, but there is also a lot of devil in them.
You can adjust the weapons as you see fit, but you have to be very aware of how much Battle Cash (5,000 BC = $44.99 in the PSN store) you’ve got on hand or how many Certification Points (Cert for short) you have available. While BC can be bought, Cert can be earned through experience points (one point = 250 XP). So, while it’s possible probably not to pay a dime, it’s easier to use BC to get upgraded quickly. This is where the free-to-play game turns into a decision-making funfest of how you’re going to upgrade and how fast you want to upgrade. For the last few weeks, I certainly haven’t felt the tiring, huge pull that an F2P game gives when the money runs out for upgrades. Honestly, I fully understand that Daybreak Game Company certainly has to make some money back (and this is the obvious way to do so), but it doesn’t feel like a drag in the financial department, at least for me. The paygrade (just made that up) isn’t too bad, and your gameplay won’t suffer too much because of it.
Weapons, cash and such aside, what about vehicles? Vehicles are generally a big ‘must’ when it comes to creating and selling people on a first-person shooter experience. Ask Battlefield and Call of Duty about the importance of those things. Anyway, there are plenty of vehicles to be had, at least initially, in Planetside 2. You can go by land or air in this game, and with the right upgrades each exceeds in its own way. To unlock vehicles, you have to level up hard. Level 10 is a tipping point, as it is with most MMO games, where you get to unlock some nice things. Expect ATVs, tanks, aircraft and large trucks at your disposal when you hit level 10. Customizable? Yep. And what’s frightening is that better things way for you once you get into the 20s with leveling.
Speaking of leveling, how easy is it to level up? This is a part of the game which feels a bit draggy. While certainly pointing and shooting is the name of the game, it’s a tough start in PS2 for new gamers. The main reason is that you’ll run into experienced, leveled up gamers that are already prepared to kick your butt. Some wonderful bastards know where the jump points and spawn points are in the level design, so they camp like little f****** praying on new players. The first few hours playing this game were frustrating because it was so tough to kill enough enemies to gain enough XP to inch through early progression. It does get easier, but it feels impossible at the beginning to get any sort of progress going. What’s equally frustrating is the load times between spawns. Sometimes it’s instantaneous and sometimes it actually takes 10-15 seconds to respawn. I know the latter part of my complaint here will get solved eventually, but consistency would be nice.
Overall, the gameplay is nice and complicated, yet somewhat straightforward. There are a lot of nice options the game provides, some technical frustrations and some things it really needs to smooth out. At the end of the day, though, the name of the game is point and shoot, and it works just fine in that regard. I could spend hours upon hours capturing territories, playing with some great teammates without a hitch and just exploring several lands. What more could you want from an MMOFPS? Besides some technical improvements, not much. The gameplay package is pretty solid for an F2P.
On the graphics end of the equation, I’m completely split on how I feel about Planetside 2. On the positive side, the sheer girth of the game is amazing to behold. You can run and run and run and run through a lot of terrain before you smack into a stronghold. The numerous environments offered up in the game and the details that come with them, which are unique to each place, is impressive. The game certainly makes it feel like you’re on an entirely different plot of land and there are plenty of beautiful places to snipe someone until they’re dead.
On the negative side, the graphics aren’t quite up to par with current generation expectations. The lighting effects, atmospheric effects and the amount of initial details are fine, but you still get quite a bit of texture rendering, as well as sometimes bland, awkwardly edged graphics…especially in war-torn sections of the game. I have hope that the creators of the game will figure things out in the near future, but right now it’s a large notch behind an MMO like Final Fantasy XIV, which have a similarly large layout.
The girth and span of the lands certainly outweigh the details, but when you’re playing a PlayStation 4 title, you’re expecting some major upgrades to graphics. I do firmly understand that online-based games maybe don’t bring the details because of the server workload, hell even The Elder Scrolls didn’t look that great on the PS4, but the desire to see a push forward with graphics, beyond last generation’s, is great at this point. And don’t misread anything I’m saying here because the game still looks good, but it just doesn’t look ‘spectacular’.
Now, the audio side of this presentation coin is just revving its engine. You get some pieces of audio that spring forth when enemies are taking strongholds or other small events begin to happen, but nothing consistent and amazing. The atmospheric sound effects that vary from land to land is pretty cool, though. Also, I love that you can talk to people around you, even if they’re not on your friends list. I wish more online games had that for the PlayStation 4 (looking at you, Bungie).
With all of the above said (or typed, or whatever), is this game worth playing? There is so much room to grow your character in this game, so many options and upgrades to fiddle with on the way through. Firefights that last from 30 minutes to nearly two hours are going to make it seem like it’s worth your time. For me, I can see myself playing this game on and off. I would certainly be far more dedicated to it when it cleans up a bit more. It has come a long way since its beta, and it’s far more stable than most games of its type right out of the gate, but it still needs some improvement. It will get there, I have faith.
So, in short, yes, it’s certainly worth a go.
