Pros: Huge open persistent world, infantry vs armor vs air combat, immersive war simulator
Cons: Population can dip at times and servers aren't as busy, it's very easy to die when just starting out which can be a little off putting
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 7
Performance: 9
Overall: 8.5
For our latest review we check out Daybreak Game' futuristic first person shooter PlanetSide 2, a free to play battle for territory between three major factions duking it out on the distant planet of Auraxis and throwing men and women by the millions into an endless war. Having been just over four years since the game was first released PlanetSide 2 has gone through a number of updates, but has still managed to stay true to its initial goals at creating a realistic persistent war where Infantry, Armor and Air units all come together and fight it out in intense battles.
New players can choose their faction from the Terran Republic, Vanu Sovereignty and the New Conglomerate; each faction has it's own feel to it (Terran feel quite imperialistic, NC feel like U.S. roughnecks and Vanu are the more alien of the three); as well as this each faction has weapons and vehicles that are unique to it offering advantages and weaknesses in different areas. When first starting out none of this really matters, but choosing a faction will lock you to it for that server, anyone wanting to play on a different faction will have to start another character on a new server.
The tutorials are simple enough, showing the key mechanics and features in place, how to control your character, interact with objects, fire turrets, and switch between different roles each of which has something unique to them. There are six key roles that a single character can alternate between at a console; Light Assault (who can fly for a short period using a rocket-pack), Heavy Assault (heavt shields and rocket launcher for anti-vehicle), Combat Medic (can heal and revive allies), Engineer (drops ammo packs, turrets, mines and repairs vehicles), Infiltrator (a cross between ranged sniper and cloaking hacker who disables consoles), and MAX (the Mechanized Assault Exosuit walking tank).
Outside of the six classes players can also jump into various vehicles, from quads to quickly get around the huge map, Sunderer personnel carriers that drive a squad of players and act as a mobile spawn location when deployed, as well as armored tanks to round off the land domination. However, it's not just land that players can conquer; with various fighter-style aircraft, huge bomber planes and carriers to enable paratroopers to drop into enemy locations, the game has a three way Infantry vs Armor vs Air battle going on constantly.
With this many options it is further opened up by the level of customization that we have for every role and vehicle type, as we played and got kills, repaired vehicles, hacked terminals or healed players we earned Certs appropriate to that role or vehicle which we could then use to unlock access to new weapons and modifications to refine our own playstyle. If we wanted to be the guy driving their Sunderer truck into the fray we could choose to kit it out with turrets for other people to man, or a battering ram that could crash through energy shields of bases to allow our units an instant infiltration into the area. We could design our character however we envisioned them, albeit it was early days and it would take a while to level our characters up.
Combat is fairly constant, from the safety of your own homebase you can drop ship in or instantly deploy onto the front lines spawning in at an occupied location or Sunderer, a glance over the world map showed the status of the four continents and which areas were being contested by our forces or the enemies. The world is persistent and each continent covers a different terrain type (jungle, forest, desert and arctic) and the maps are broken down into dozens of individual sectors with their own control points, however, there are no loading zones and we could move freely from one territory to the other choosing which frontline we wanted to fight on and which objective needed our help the most. Everyone on the server plays in the same persistent world, which is the best thing and the worst thing about the game.
Jumping into a new area you are typically surrounded by 20+ other teammates heading to the same objective, from an initial glance it was obvious they were kitted out far better than we were, they were able to spawn the best vehicles and head into combat. We were fighting alongside veteran players, all in the same world, rookies alongside experienced fighters, there was an element of awe as you watch these players set up attacks, put down huge construction fortifications; they knew what they were doing and we just felt like bystanders in THEIR war. Once the fighting begins and the enemy approach over a distant hill and start taking long range sniper shots we just did our best to try and not get killed and assist in a kill or two of our own. Once you get one shot killed and it comes up saying you were killed by a Battle Rank 120 player (the highest rank) it can be a bit of a bitter pill to swallow, it feels like maybe you have no chance and skill and gear are going to keep you pushed down, but surprisingly that's not really the case.
Sticking with the game and getting a feel for one or two of the roles and you quickly see where you can help; our go to was the combat medic and being on the very front lines, running out into the field under enemy fire and just trying to get our fallen comrades back on their feet so that they could continue their push. One of our most memorable battle being an attack over an ice covered river where to get our tanks to the other side we needed to take a long wide bridge to reach the enemy, an enemy who knew we were coming and who were waiting for us at the other end. The moment our forces got halfway down the bridge the frontline of our armor was destroyed, hindering access for the rest of our forces and us all being bottlenecked as the enemy just kept firing on us. Sunderers parked at the other end of the bridge meant our spawn point was safe enough and our forces could keep streaming into battle, with use dashing from one fallen ally to another to get them on their feet, engineers trying to repair through the tank damage, Infiltrators taking sniper shots on enemy Infiltrators who were picking off our men, a covert squad heading under the bridge to pick off the enemy at the back. This time we managed to push through to the other side with persistence, but there are plenty of times we got pushed back and our own forces were overwhelmed, this is just one war story of the many we experienced in our short time playing PlanetSide 2.
At first the game can seem overwhelming, there's a lot of options and a huge open world to fight across, but sticking with it and getting a feel for the game and you quickly find where your position is, whether a footman on the ground, or in the drivers seat or cockpit of your favourite vehicle.
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