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PlanetSide
by Jolex Del Pilar
Thursday, July 10 2003
The first MMOFPS on the market is put under the VGLN.com microscope. How does it do? Find out inside.
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Title:
PlanetSide
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Platform:
PC Windows, Pentium III 1ghz, 128MB Ram, 32mb video card, Internet Connection,
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Publisher:
Sony Online Entertainment |
Developer:
Sony Online Entertainment |
#
of Players: Hundreds. |
Genre:
MMOFPS (Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter)
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Origin:
United States
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Expected
Release:
June 2003 |
Grapevine:
Planetside had been in development for over 2 years before its release. |
Sony Online Entertainment has really been turning them out lately. First Everquest for the PC and PS2, then Star Wars: Galaxies and now Planetside. Of course Everquest and Star War: Galaxies are both traditional MMORPG’s, while Planetside is a MMOFPS (Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter for the “newbs” out there). The very concept of Planetside is an intriguing one and doesn’t fail to attract; a variable game world with a constantly evolving conflict of which you are simply one of hundreds of participants, all vying for control of an alien planet. In essence, Planetside is a virtual war, played online for a moderate fee of $12.95 per month. What does that fee go to? Well for one thing, SOE maintains no less than six different servers that serve thousands of gamers across the United States. That cost a lot of money in terms of maintenance and technical support. Also, Planetside is continuously being updated and changed. Just last week, a new vehicle, the “Liberator” Bomber” was added. Updates such as these help keep the game fresh and new. While most games are supported for a few months (if that) after release, SOE plans to keep updating and supporting Planetside with new fun stuff for the next couple of years as they have done with Everquest.
The question on most people’s minds is probably, “How does it play?” Well after spending about 2 weeks with Planetside, I would have to say it plays fairly well with a few small, but present quirks (get to those later). The story behind Planetside isn’t exactly original or new but it fits the purpose. Planetside takes place on an ancient alien planet with equally ancient, but alien, technology. Three factions on the planet are vying for power and you must choose to join one. The three factions are the Terran Republic, New Conglomerate, and the Vanu Sovereignty. Basically which ever faction you pick will determine what type of weapons you will be able to use, as well as vehicles you’ll be able to pilot.
One thing most people will notice is that Planetside bares an uncanny resemblance to Halo on the Xbox. In terms of weaponry, vehicles, and the overall visual feel, Planetside owes more than a passing nod to the Xbox multi-platinum hit. Who can blame the designers of Planetside? Halo was a visually outstanding game, and the same can be said of Planetside. Although it’ll take a good machine to enjoy the visual splendor in all its high-resolution glory (we’re talking Pentium 4 2.0 ghz, 512 Ram, and a Geforce 4), this reviewer believes that’s the only way to play Planetside. The terrains in Planetside are varied, including levels that will span the whole weather spectrum, from snowing glacier continents to arid desert expanses, it’s all here for the gamer to enjoy.
When it gets down to it though, the basic draw here is the combat, and Planetside delivers it in droves. Planetside controls like most first person shooters, movement with the keyboard, and aiming/shooting with the mouse. It can all be customized too which makes it all the easier to fit the game to your personal controls. Piloting the vehicles is sometimes troublesome (especially the air vehicles) but nothing that a few hours of practice won’t overcome.
This advanced scouting party has the advantage of air support.
Now, being a FPS player will definitely help you in this game, but you won’t stay alive for long if you don’t find some friends. One of Planetside’s biggest strengths is that the game almost pushes the gamer towards finding or forming a squad. This can be done by the chat console, or by simple walking up to other players at the base or on the battlefield and asking to join up. The benefits of joining a squad are numerous. First off, there is power and safety in numbers. Secondly, whenever one of your team mates makes a kill or does something else noteworthy, the whole squad benefits in terms of “experience points”. Finally, a squad allows you to undertake much more dangerous (and fun) missions. Experience points are important in that they allow you to gain battle ranks. Battle ranks are sort of like “levels” in an RPG. For every battle Rank you achieve, you get special points to spend on abilities. Hence, a player of battle rank 10 will have more access to vehicles, weapons, and gear than a player of battle rank 5. Some of the things you can spend your points on include heavy armor ability, hacking skills, and even sniper gear.
Once you’ve found your squad, and have spent some points for gear, you usually go find a battle. This can be done in two ways. You can either look on the global map for “hot spots” which are areas where major battles are taking place, catch a HART shuttle from your home base (aka The Sanctuary), and drop into the battle literally from the skies, inside a drop pod. You have to be careful where you drop however as the atmospheric trail your pod makes from dropping will give enemies a hint as to where you will drop and they will use this to get the jump on you. The other way is the “instant action” option which can be accessed by pressing the escape button and picking from the drop down menu.
Once you’re in a battle, the action heats up pretty quickly. On average, most major battles involved more than a couple of dozen units vying for an installation, whether it is a base, or bio lab. Sometimes well organized squads may use tactics, but most of the time, the battles usually get wild and chaotic. Players die commonly and respawn a lot. During the course of a battle you may be forced to respawn over a dozen times. Vehicles usually have a longer lifespan but driving these things is like wearing a bright red suit, everyone soon learns to point their weapons at you.
Some instances in the game will test your close quarter combat skills.
The battles in Planetside are fun, and varied, no one battle ever being the same, but I do wish there were more missions than simple “take the base” melees. Some suggestions I got from actual players on the servers were escort missions, convoy attack, and even sea-based battles. Seeing as how Planetside is an ever evolving game both from a software and gameplay view, I’m sure the designers may implement these changes in the near future.
Another thing I must warn future Planetsiders about is that the game, still early in its lifespan, is sometimes a pain to get running right. Even on my hyped up Athlon 1.6ghz, 512mb ram, GeForce 4 system with a 768kb DSL connection, the game sometimes was simply unplayable. Lag deaths, lost lag kills, and even numerous drops were sometimes a fact of life on particularly evil days. Granted, the drops would occur when there were probably near a hundred players in the same proximity, but one would think the designers would have anticipated this.
That being said, Planetside is probably the first game of its kind. It’s extremely entertaining and will probably have most of you playing into the early hours of those long summer days. Although “pay for play” might not be your cup of tea, Planetside does offer the only experience of its kind currently, and cost about as much to play as any other online pay-for-play game. Even with it quirks, Planetside is an ambitious idea that began grand in its vision and doesn’t disappoint (too badly) in its execution.
--- Jolex Del Pilar
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