Reviews / previews
With as many as 3500 players per game, the multiplayer mayhem in PlanetSide will be truly massive. The action will be mostly first-person shooting, but you'll also be able to drive vehicles or man gun positions. As you fight for one of three opposing empires, you can join and lead teams (or clans), using hand signals to communicate in battle, or you can fight as a lone wolf. Implants will give your character artificial powers, or you can develop such abilities as healing.
-- 0 / GamePro
Dont think RPG fans get all the online fun; Sony Online is about to change that with the first massively multiplayer first-person shooter, PlanetSide. In PlanetSide, youll align yourself with one of three global empires and fight with thousands of other players, using guns, tactics, and vehicles. Youll have to explore to find and capture bases, which will give your side a foothold in enemy territory. If youre not into shooting, youll be able to play as a pilot, driver, or even a general that enables you to command troops and rise in prestige.
-- 0 / GamePro
The makers of EverQuest have traded in their Centi Longswords and Thurgadin armor for Infiltration Suits, rocket launchers, and hover tanks. In so doing, theyve created one of the coolest first-person shooter experiences on the planet, one any FPS fan would be silly not to check out.
Choose a Side
The difference between PlanetSide and the other team-based FPS games out there is that this time your team consists of hundreds of other players, many online at the same time, all throwing themselves into constant battle over 10 huge continents. As you play, you level up, gaining you access to more equipment choices and combat roles. As your character gains in Battle Ranks, you may add new equipment and weapons to your repertoire.
In PlanetSide, there are no NPCs, no easy experience points. Either youre on an attacking team or a defending team as your group tries to take over entire continents. Everyone you see is another player, trained and ready to gank you if given half the chance. This can be a very frustrating game for newbies and players who like to go it alone as loners and rookies will find themselves staring at the respawn screen as often as theyre out there fighting.
Group Up, Soldier
PlanetSides greatest strength lies in the squad structure. Squads of 10 soldiers (one of them designated a leader, who gains Command Experience) are the optimal and most typical units. Group-friendly players will find a wealth of teamwork and squad-level action in PlanetSide, and just about every possible roleheavy weapons, scouts, infantry, hackers, medics, vehicle pilots, etc.is needed in the big fight.
The biggest concern about PlanetSide is that the constant battling can get old after a while. Once a base is conquered, theres more incentive to go conquer another base than there is to defend the ones you have. While each base held grants bonuses to your other bases on the continent, those bonuses are almost unnoticeable to all but the most experienced commanders. Once the games been going a while, continentwide strategy should pop up, giving the games action more of the context it sorely needs.
Wild World
PlanetSides neverending conflict and rewarding squad experience should be a godsend to FPS gamers out there looking for a huge and widely varied play experience. If youre looking for a massively multiplayer Unreal Tournament, however, youre just going to get yourself killed.-- 0 / GamePro
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