Quick Look: PlanetSide 2

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Really liking this game.

WestPlanetSide!

nice

TR for life.

A friend of mine described this as, "Battlefield x 1000," which I get in terms of scale but the gunplay is totally disappointing. It feels like a middling, sci-fi shooter and, as nice as the big skirmishes are, it's not very fun for me to play.

@DrJota said:

WestPlanetSide!

throw your P's up in the air!

Once I finally got my frames per second above 20, this game got pretty awesome, even with copious amounts of friendly fire.

Never played Planetside so when I first started playing this it was boring as shit. Then I watched the Youtube tutorials and now I get it. It's pretty fun.

There's a pretty decent learning curve to Planetside 2. It just takes a few hours to click in. Join an Outfit and get a mic. Coordination is key to great times!

Less than 30 minute quicklook for Planetside 2? The game is that bad, huh? I've technically been in the beta for months...I just never activated my key.

@iamtheconsensus said:

A friend of mine described this as, "Battlefield x 1000," which I get in terms of scale but the gunplay is totally disappointing. It feels like a middling, sci-fi shooter and, as nice as the big skirmishes are, it's not very fun for me to play.

Absolutely. Played a bit of the beta and a bit of the game at launch and the whole time I was just thinking, "Why wouldn't I just play Battlefield instead?" The game was just totally bland. I was so soured by the experience I went and played Tribes: Ascend again, only to find the devs screwed up the F2P model of the game and most people had abandoned it. Argh, frustrating.

Drew, great work asking questions - the Jeff/Drew combination works!

Playing Planetside alone is viable, you just have to do things that aren't "Run toward enemy stronghold in open field" if you want to have success with it. It's a good game, and if you've never experienced MMOFPS chaos you aren't losing anything to check it out. Looking up and seeing 20-30 incoming enemy aircraft is a hell of a feeling.

Tell me more about your free-to-play-ness.

System requirements for this? I'm afraid my laptop would burn...

this game is a ton of fun

@Porkellain: Higher end Core 2 or higher, and at least something as fast as a GTX 460. This game is pretty beefy.

@doomocrat: Ouch. Well, seems like I'll be playing this when I get my new machine assembled for Bioshock Infinite. Thanks for the info duder.

Jeff needs to take some tips from this guy on how to play infantry.

If a planet is a perfect sphere, does it even have any sides? What is games? What is even real now?

Unless they changed it the MAX units are not unlocks, you just can't spawn as them. You need to hit a loadout console and Redeploy as a MAX to get one. Like at the back of that Sunderer you were spawning at.

Played a bunch of the beta and like 30minutes of the release but if you don't have a crew with you the scale does more to hinder than help. Even with 2-3 other dudes you can feel like you are actually contributing to the fight instead of wandering around the battlefield getting killed.

It's a good game apart from the bit where its an FPS.

Audio is a bit out of sync.

@paulunga said:

Audio is a bit out of sync.

Ok, good. So I wasn't just imagining things then haha

@Waffley said:

If a planet is a perfect sphere, does it even have any sides? What is games? What is even real now?

Earth isn't a perfect sphere. It's an oblate spheroid. We are slightly wider than we are tall. Like a squashed orange.

To a new player who isn't rolling in with an outfit from GB or otherwise (Which I recommend, outfit squads are the key to lots of certs and kills) pick the faction that best suits your infantry playstyle.

Right in their lousy faces/best starting sniper: New Conlomerate

SMG junkies: Terran Republic

Longer range rifle style aiming: Vanu Soveriegnty

If you're going to go it alone, that may really improve things.

@krabboss said:

@iamtheconsensus said:

A friend of mine described this as, "Battlefield x 1000," which I get in terms of scale but the gunplay is totally disappointing. It feels like a middling, sci-fi shooter and, as nice as the big skirmishes are, it's not very fun for me to play.

Absolutely. Played a bit of the beta and a bit of the game at launch and the whole time I was just thinking, "Why wouldn't I just play Battlefield instead?" The game was just totally bland. I was so soured by the experience I went and played Tribes: Ascend again, only to find the devs screwed up the F2P model of the game and most people had abandoned it. Argh, frustrating.

Why would you not play battlefield? Maybe because Battlefield doesn't have 2000 fucking players on one massive map?

@simkas said:

@krabboss said:

@iamtheconsensus said:

A friend of mine described this as, "Battlefield x 1000," which I get in terms of scale but the gunplay is totally disappointing. It feels like a middling, sci-fi shooter and, as nice as the big skirmishes are, it's not very fun for me to play.

Absolutely. Played a bit of the beta and a bit of the game at launch and the whole time I was just thinking, "Why wouldn't I just play Battlefield instead?" The game was just totally bland. I was so soured by the experience I went and played Tribes: Ascend again, only to find the devs screwed up the F2P model of the game and most people had abandoned it. Argh, frustrating.

Why would you not play battlefield? Maybe because Battlefield doesn't have 2000 fucking players on one massive map?

Not sure why it matters, for two reasons. There's no reason to think more people means more fun. And also, the areas are much larger so it's not like the player density is super high. Each little zone you go and fight in is basically a single Battlefield map, only worse.

@krabboss: It's totally circumstantial and nothing you should take on faith, but more people = more fun is exactly the experience I've been having! Sure there are smaller scale fights, but there are many that require battles en masse.

On the Esamir continent, there's one tech plant in the middle of the map. Only the holder of that plant can spawn main battle tanks. That means any time it's near contention, I get to ride around in my hovertank against 10-15 enemy contacts while screaming in platoon chat for air cover, rockets are exploding everywhere... it's chaotic, but it can be rewarding! I love me some Battlefield.

@iamtheconsensus said:

A friend of mine described this as, "Battlefield x 1000," which I get in terms of scale but the gunplay is totally disappointing. It feels like a middling, sci-fi shooter and, as nice as the big skirmishes are, it's not very fun for me to play.

Absolutely. Played a bit of the beta and a bit of the game at launch and the whole time I was just thinking, "Why wouldn't I just play Battlefield instead?" The game was just totally bland. I was so soured by the experience I went and played Tribes: Ascend again, only to find the devs screwed up the F2P model of the game and most people had abandoned it. Argh, frustrating.

My friend told me that this game is better than sex but I've never done the sex so I wouldn't know. Seems OK in this Fast Look though.

@krabboss said:

@simkas said:

@krabboss said:

@iamtheconsensus said:

A friend of mine described this as, "Battlefield x 1000," which I get in terms of scale but the gunplay is totally disappointing. It feels like a middling, sci-fi shooter and, as nice as the big skirmishes are, it's not very fun for me to play.

Absolutely. Played a bit of the beta and a bit of the game at launch and the whole time I was just thinking, "Why wouldn't I just play Battlefield instead?" The game was just totally bland. I was so soured by the experience I went and played Tribes: Ascend again, only to find the devs screwed up the F2P model of the game and most people had abandoned it. Argh, frustrating.

Why would you not play battlefield? Maybe because Battlefield doesn't have 2000 fucking players on one massive map?

Not sure why it matters, for two reasons. There's no reason to think more people means more fun. And also, the areas are much larger so it's not like the player density is super high. Each little zone you go and fight in is basically a single Battlefield map, only worse.

It matters. Even the small conflicts in Planetside 2 will be larger and involve people than any map on BF3.

I'm only disappointed in that this QL was only 26 minutes long. Normally (read: usually) PC games especially, get longer QL's. Not that it matters, but I thought Jeff (and Dave, Vinny, Patrick even, etc the PC kinda dudes) would have wanted to show more of the game. But hey, this is awesome either way. I'm curious to see how the GB crew reacts to the game as it evolves over time actually. Especially Jeff and Drew.

@krabboss: To some people it will, to some it wont. If you want to have a continuous battle for hours and hours without reloading a map over and over or having to worry about your K/D maybe planetside is for you. Or maybe you have 20+ people on vent and are all looking for something to do, otherwise some will like the more structured fights and more concentrated personal performance of battlefield.

And its free I guess.

Audio sync ?

Anyways, the game looks cool. Tried to play the beta a while back, but the lack of any tutorializing sorta made me lose interest. Guess I might aswell check it out again since it's free.

I predicted that Jeff was going to die by crashing into something when he spawned that mosquito.

This game does Battlefield better than Battlefield 3 did Battlefield. Also, 7th Luchadeers4lyfe, ya'll!!

I didn't know this was a first person shooter; while I probably won't play it 'cause it's on PC, and it doesn't seem to have any story, it looks pretty neat.

Other reviews said it better: You will only enjoy this game if you play with friends in a squad using voice chat. Any other way will mean running around confused until you get sniped off.

@year199X said:

I predicted that Jeff was going to die by crashing into something when he spawned that mosquito.

Who didn't? Even he said that lol

Yeah, audio sync is effed.

Free to play is going to kill this game for me.

Also hate the fact that cert points are now for unlocking your sick red dot sights instead of actually certifying your character in things like piloting or what have you.

@Solutha: A pretty good trade off for fully customizable vehicles.

I spent a lot of time with the first time, even though my computer at the time wasn't really powerful enough. Predictably my current machine isn't really powerful enough for the sequel either.

The biggest problem with the first one was that the three armies just tended to run around in circles in packs, capturing the bases that the previous army had just vacated. If your squad tried staying behind or running the other direction you'd just be overrun. The best moments were when two or all three main armies converged on a single point which was utter chaos and mayhem, but that sort of required the BR50s to agree to it beforehand.

Also death to smurfs and Barneys.

"Decent cockpit!" I see what you did thar

This is bullshit. I don't believe in space.

@Vuud said:

Other reviews said it better: You will only enjoy this game if you play with friends in a squad using voice chat. Any other way will mean running around confused until you get sniped off.

That's not true. I play mostly solo and I'm enjoying myself immensely. It also helps that I'm a veteran from Planetside 1. Once you know your way around the game and can figure out the best way to get xp there's nothing stopping you from lone wolfing.

In fact, all you really have to do is follow the zerg around the map and you'll get most of the xp as the organized players. Being in an organized squad or outfit just helps you understand the game more and helps give you direction and purpose, thereby making the game more enjoyable. Once you know how the flow of battle goes you can start to enjoy it solo and not die every minute.

That map is intense.

This game can be both good and bad. The parts where you find a good squad marching into battle and eventually capture a base are fucking great! But the parts where you're not aren't. Sadly, even if you know the game to the fullest, you'll still find yourself in those moments. The game doesn't want to entertain you. You have to find the way to entertain yourself. Which is good in it's own way. Jeff did his best to show this game's mechanics and I understand how he feels about it. It's a love it or hate it thing.

I love so many things about this game but "Monotonous" is a great word for it. In the end I feel so aimless playing this and feel no reward at all. The concept sounds great on paper but I think I prefer matches, at least it keeps you on your toes.

But yeah, pretty fun game to keep on the hard drive and play casually from time to time.