If you’re interested in learning more about the next MMO in Sony Online Entertainment’s arsenal, then these new GDC-based previews of PlanetSide 2 should do the trick.
IGN:
As a basic foot soldier you’ll have a number of ways to fight. You can carry a basic rifle and pepper enemies with bullets like you would in any standard shooter. The difference in Planetside 2 is that instead of simply playing in a small server, you’re playing in an open world where you could quite literally be fighting against hundreds of enemies at once. You could be on the ground trying to pick off a sniper perched on a nearby cliff while tanks roll by on all sides and the air is clouded with flying vehicles and explosions. In a full population server, it’s easy to see how thrilling a game of Planetside 2 could be.
Roles exist for all types of players. There are assault classes with jump jets that focus on basic weaponry and those built for support. Medics, engineers and specialized infiltrator classes are all available to help out with healing, surprise strikes and repairs. Considering how gigantic the continents are, managing respawn points will also be especially important. A vehicle called a Galaxy can be set down near the front lines of a fight to serve as a mobile spawn point. If you’re the pilot, you gain experience every time another uses the Galaxy to spawn, rewarding those who prefer to stay off the front lines and encouraging team play.
Game Informer:
Like many other MMOs these days, PlanetSide 2 embraces the free-to-play financial model. Anyone will be welcome to download the game, with SOE supporting the servers by selling players several customization options for guns, vehicles, and soldiers. SOE was careful to point out that because it wants to keep the competition pure, there will be no play-to-win style microtransations. Most of these purchases are purely aesthetic. SOE also plans to offer a membership to its biggest fans, but hasn’t determined what this will offer players yet.
As a re-imagining of the original concept, PlanetSide 2 doesn’t stray far from its predecessor. The same three factions — the Terran Republic, New Conglomerate, and Vanu Sovereignty — are still duking it out for control of a futuristic planet. When your faction gains control of enough capture points in a specific region, it will gain possession of the region. Controlling regions awards your faction with resources like new weapons and ammo.
PC Gamer:
Higby and his team dive straight into a game demo, with Higby’s goons mainly piling into tanks, while Higby gives himself the joy of flying his own Reaver. Old Planetside players will remember that the Reaver is the game’s gunship, a slower plane designed for ground-to-air combat. It’s interesting to note that, not only is Higby’s Reaver customised to be hugely more effective against ground armour, but it’s also been customised with his clan logo, its own camouflage, and that each faction has its own unique aircraft which implies that the reaver is the New Conglomerate’s airship.
To buy his Reaver, Higby accesses a terminal at his base, which shows the return of the Sunderer ground transport, Lightning light tank, the Vanguard heavy tank, the liberator bomber, and the galaxy, as well as a new small vehicle, the Flash). He lifts off from the base, throwing the Reaver all over the shop; (I do tend to make people puke when I’m flying,) he explains. The base is a biolab, one of the many facility types, and is only capturable by infantry, to encourage combined forces when assaulting bases. It looks very much like one of the biomes from Sim City 2000.
1UP:
The main changes, besides the obvious fact that it looks like a game from 2012 rather than one from 2003, appear to be inspired by modern shooter design. Taking someone out or completing an objective splashes experience points on-screen. Being killed triggers the ubiquitous kill-cam. Player progression gets outfitted with factors such as weapon proficiencies, and Certification points that unlock new weapon loadouts and vehicle upgrades. The game tracks player performance in the vein of Battlefield 3’s Battlelog or COD Elite or Halo stat-tracking. There’s a neat-looking day/night cycle. In a nod towards more tactically oriented shooters, the class system has roles like infiltrator, light assault, combat medic, engineer, and heavy assault. And in perhaps the most generous and interesting take on a non-combat support role for a class-based shooter, players can choose to be a pilot of the Galaxy transport — which flies around to provide a mobile respawn-and-resupply point.
Besides the above tweaks, SOE also plans on making the game simply easier to get into. On a base level, new players should be able to pick their kit and hit “join squad” to instantly hop online, find fellow soldiers in your faction, and get quick objectives to complete in battle. In a region holding up to 600 players, you can just focus on the 10 that are in your squad. Additionally, you can even gain Certification points to upgrade your soldier/gear/vehicle while offline — for new players who might not have the time to dedicate hours upon hours of shooting and grinding.
G4:
Weapon and character customization seems to be the same way, with nothing beyond making a gun look pretty or trading the rate of fire for lower damage. It seems as though the customization elements are more thrown in to allow room for microtransactions, which Higby claims will only be for cosmetic items and nothing that has an influence on gameplay.
Since the persistence of Planetside 2 is such a big part of the experience, SOE is launching an online ‘˜hub’ similar to Call of Duty Elite that allows players to check battle stats, character information and the state of their online world. This allows people to follow the game’s activities more closely and even see when their guild needs help defending against an enemy attack. Due to the strong community presence that the original Planetside had, SOE has taken all these tools that they created and will release them to the public so that web and app developers can create both new ways to use the information and new ways for players to access it.
And FPSGuru:
If air combat is not your cup of tea then perhaps tanks are more suited for combat. Jumping in and out of tanks is as seemless as aircraft. Tanks move quick and cover ground with effective cannons and laser shots. The tank interface is cool and creates almost a third person perspective when you start driving. The specs on the tanks are similar to the aircraft. You can side grade your tanks for different purposes just like aircraft. The tanks have a kind of midrange impact on the battlefield where they are fighting infantry and aircraft. However tank battles are a critical part of the game. Overall, it seems like tanks come in the middle of the broad in terms of use on the field. They are a great system for having an overall impact on the battlefield.
The last aspect of battles is the straight up foot soldier. PS2 hails its praise for the troopers taking on strategic positions and fighting it out on the open fields. Even though players have access to tanks and aircraft, the infantry are really the core of the game. The great news is on the maps and in the fortresses there are infantry only zones for the core of combat. This aspect was really great to watch as small groups of players stormed positions and held objectives. Even in the huge battle zones of the game, small groups of players still had a key purpose.
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