[E3 2012] PlanetSide II

[Psykoboy2]

Nothing like sending a guy to an E3 full of sequels that has never played their originals, huh? And so the tradition continues with PlanetSide 2. I can’t tell you how intimidated I was to be looking at this game. If you’ve listened at all to any of the current episodes of IGC, you can get an idea of how important this was going to be. So much so, I actually called James on my way to the booth to find out what I needed to ask or to look for. Ultimately, it came down to just playing the game.

But before I could play the game, I had to watch a quick catch-up of sorts on the title and what was new for PlanetSide 2. The game is an MMO FPS, but unlike anything else out there today that falls into that genre. Where the first game dealt with hundreds upon hundreds of players, the sequel will be dealing with numbers in the thousands. And it’ll do this with the brand new ForgeLight Engine to make it all happen.

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There’s three factions in PlanetSide 2, each with their own type of weapons and vehicles. There’s the Terran Republic. They have a high rate of fire with their weapons but this also means they burn through ammo pretty quickly. Then comes the New Conglomerate. They hit pretty hard with their weapons and attacks, but this comes at a cost to their movement - they’re pretty slow getting around. Finally, there’s the Vanu Sovereignty. This is the alien race of the group. The plus side for them is that they use energy weapons so ammo isn’t an issue for them, but overheating is.

There’s a class system in place for all of the factions and you can choose between a number of different types each time you hit the battlefield and even during the skirmish you can find a load out station and change it up if you want. There’s the infiltrator, who is pretty much exactly what you think with a name like that - stealthy and good to go in first to give a layout of the land to the rest of the team. There’s the light assault who’s your all-around type of character with faster movement but isn’t so great at getting shot at. The heavy assault class is your main grunt of the game. Movement for the HA isn’t as swift as the LA, but getting shot isn’t as much of a threat. The other classes to pick from are an Engineer who can repair vehicles and lay down support turrets and other helpful advantages, the Medic who does exactly as you would think, and finally the MAX. The MAX is a brute. This class duel wields, moves slow as snails, and can take two missiles to the face before being put down. If you need a distraction to get the rest of your team around a position on the map, this is your go-to guy.

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Each faction also has vehicles to pick from covering both the ground and the sky. For ground support you’ve got an ATV, then a rather big truck that I am guessing can hold a good group of troops to carry into battle and then there’s the tanks. Each vehicle costs a resource to spawn and each come with advantages and disadvantages. That goes for air support too. You’ve got your single troop ships that are fast moving and come with a mini-gun and missiles as usual and then you’ve got the Galaxy ship. This is a gigantic troop transport able to move a good group of guys from base to the battlefield. During my time spent with the game I tried as best I could to fly one of the single troop ships, but just could not get the hang of it. Crashed every single time. This is more likely due to being thrown into battle with not much to go on by way of controls. After that, I stuck to the ground. The battle wasn’t very far away so I grabbed an ATV and just headed in.

So a class system, right? Well, that means you’re going to need all kinds on your team in order to win the match. And vehicles that can carry you and a group of people into the battle. This is a game about teamwork and when a team works together with communication and class support, things can go wonderfully well. I can’t stress the point of this enough - PlanetSide 2 is a team game. It is a must to work together to succeed. You CANNOT go in alone against another team who’s got their shit together or you will lose every time. Teamwork is so essential that there is a squad system in place where you can join a platoon and that platoon can then join an outfit. Imagine the In-Game Chat platoon teaming up with the Co-Optimus platoon and joining the Colony Of Gamers outfit with all of their platoons!

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The battles are huge and are ever persistent. These things just don’t seem to end. You sign off for the night and sign back in the next day to have a completely different layout of how things went overnight. That’s right, these things can span days. I must have spent an hour playing and there was no end in sight. You just stop playing and someone else comes in and joins up. It goes on and on and on. And it’s completely free to play. Everything in the game is highly customizable from load outs to outfits themselves, so expect to spend some money on how you look if that’s a way you want to go, but if all you want to do is play the game, it’ll cost you nothing at all. The game will come with a built-in VOIP as well.

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People who’ve played the first game already know some of what to expect from PlanetSide 2, but for people like myself who has only just tasted what the experience is like...my mouth is watering for this release. I need it and I need it now! Sadly, there’s no expected release date for PlanetSide 2. There will be a beta, but even that hasn’t been nailed down yet as to when. Still, keep an eye out for this one folks. It’s going to be an awesome experience.

[biosc1]

Certainly very excited about this game. I'm not much for one to play MMOs, but I made time for Planetside (back in the day).

[Zecon]

Are there any gameplay videos available?

[Vandabo]

Really can't wait for this! Sign me up for that beta giveaway!

Planetside was/is such a unique experience, something that has never been fully realized again. I have really high hopes for this.

[Sly Marbo]

TR for life. Can't wait.

[AversionFX]

Zip! Zam! Zoom! So stoked for this.

[Vandabo]

Originally Posted by Zecon

Are there any gameplay videos available?

The thread in the PC section has a bunch of videos. Totalbiscuit has hours of footage, including a long interview with the devs.

[shunoshi]

Awesome. Sign me up for the giveaway. Played the original back in the day and loved it.

[ClannerDelta]

I'm a bit bummed about the new look for the Sunderer. I loved how incredibly boxy the first one was.

I'm getting excited to an unfortunate degree. I think I might cry if this is terrible.

[GrrSnort]

Good preview. The more I see of Planetside, the more I need it. Sign me up!

[Krispy]

I will play this game. Why the hell not?

[Shjinta]

Sign me up, Can't wait to spend many hours with this game

[Codicier]

Saw this first through totalbiscuit's previews. Looks so awesome.

[Zecon]

Cool, thanks.
Edit: misquoted

[Zecon]

Originally Posted by Vandabo

The thread in the PC section has a bunch of videos. Totalbiscuit has hours of footage, including a long interview with the devs.

Cool, thanks.

[Dirtbag]

I can't wait for a new planetside

[bgizle]

I can't wait to try this out, crossing my fingers for a beta invite!

[Zecon]

I will pass on this, but thank you.

[bean]

Huge fan of the original and I'd love to get the beta.

[tacitus]

Gots to give it a shot!