Developer & Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Reviewed by Atari on 6/6/2003

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First Impressions:

Graphics:

The character models and their animations are nicely done, although I would have liked to see more character customization. You can only customize the head and voice of your character. Most of the time, people don't even see your head since you are wearing some form of a helmet.

The three empires (New Conglomerate, Terran Republic and Vanu Sovereignty) struggle to secure bases scattered along 10 different islands. Tall trees, volcanoes, deserts and snow are common landscapes seen in the game. These landscapes play an important role in the strategy used on each island. Trees are often used for cover against flying vehicles and are great for ducking behind to reload your weapon when you are fighting against infantry. Snipers also look for good hills to set up camp and boulders can help you keep out of sight while you sneak closer to an enemy base.

Stormy weather fronts move across these islands and are trackable via an in-game map. They are somewhat neat but they don't play a major role in molding the strategy. It would be nice to see this element develop to play a bigger role in the game (for example, if there is an electrical storm, it might be nice if the power for affected bases would go out temporarily allowing a window where an enemy empire might want to attack). Alas, no such thing exists at the moment and for now it just makes for an interesting weather map.

There are around 5 different layouts for bases, some of which are in desperate need of exit signs. I got lost going in circles through the bases many times before I learned the layouts (it also helps to note the icons showing which rooms are which on the minimap). Once I figured out the different base layouts, I noticed the level designer(s) had made some good design decisions. All bases have multiple routes to get inside. If you can't get to the control center room to take the base, then you could always go take out the generator of the base and force the people who are camping the control center room to go save their generator. The layout allows for multiple strategies on doing this. A defending squad or squads can also use turrets, air support, ground support and patrols to help keep their base locked down making it quite defensible.

The interface is intuitive and simple. Your minimap helps you find your way around and shows you where close members of your squad are located. Each squad member is assigned a number from 1 (which is the squad leader) to 10. These numbers show up on the main map to help you locate each other. The beauty of this system is that I can see who number 4 is and where he or she is going without having to ask in squad chat. With one quick glance of the map, I get a good idea of what I need to do next and where I need to go.

The chat screen could use some improvements. Right now, all chat goes through one window and cannot be broken into different chats. Additionally, squad chat shows up as the same color green as outfit chat and commander chat. When you have 80 people talking in outfit chat, that can quickly get annoying. Then again-- how often are you going to be chatting to each other when you are in the middle of intense fighting?

Sound/Music:

Maybe the reason why Planetside doesn't seem to have a sophisticated text chat system is because it has a voice conferencing system built into the game. Unfortunately, they are still heavily working out the kinks in voice conferencing. I have yet to get into a squad which was able to get it to work. I cannot seem to get it to work with my router either. My husband was in one squad where someone had it working and he says it sounded way better than the Roger Wilco software.

The choices in voices are not too impressive. It would be nice if they cycled between 5 or 6 different statements when choosing a voice so I could get a better idea of what the character would sound like. They don't have creative scripts for the voices either. You can say stuff like "wow" or "stop" but nothing that indicates personality like "bring it on scumbag" or anything particularly humorous.

The sounds for the vehicles (especially the ones that fly) and weapons are well done. When people are shooting at each other, you can get a good sense of distance and direction. This is particularly important for FPS games as you need to keep aware of the activity around you. There appears to be no ambient sounds (like crickets chirping or waves splashing). You know, I don't really miss them. I'd rather be listening for that fire fight in this particular type of game.

The music selection is a bit odd for an FPS game, yet it too plays a role. The music changes when a base has been hacked to a more alerting and somewhat sinister melody, making it a functional and informative tool in the game. This allows me to easily identify when a base has been hacked by paying attention to changes in music as well as my visual cues.

Gameplay:

So what do you get with an MMOFPS that you don't get with an FPS? In a nutshell, organized action.

In games like Tribes and Battlefield 1942, everyone has the same goal but rarely do people work together to accomplish that goal. Unless people are in a specific clan or team, they tend to do their own thing. Planetside is setup so you can easily start and manage a squad by laying out waypoints, talking with other qualified commanders to organize raids with multiple squads, and being able to quickly glance at the map to see where your squad members are and where they are going. Squads are encouraged as your chances of being able to successfully capture and hold or defend a base increases with the number friendlies. With all the different kinds of specializations someone can have, it's good to have varying expertise in your squads. You'll need an engineer to repair your vehicles and body armor, a hacker to break into enemy bases and hack their control consoles, air support, ground support, infantry, etc. When you go out solo, you can't do everything all by yourself. And yet, if you wanted to go out and solo, you can still do some damage to the enemies and have a great time without a squad. You just won't be very effective at taking defended bases by yourself. Solo players will probably enjoy the "instant action" feature of the game that ports them directly to a station where heavy fighting is occurring.

In Planetside, you are not sitting on a small server of 32 people fighting. You have vaste empires which are trying to conquer networks of bases. You have teamwork that goes beyond your own squad. I've been in battles with around 100 people and my computer didn't even flinch.

Additionally, there is the MMO element that is unique to this game in both genre and execution. I have not played an MMORPG yet that a newbie could jump into and play with the highest level characters and STILL be quite useful to the group. Planetside accomplishes this without making you feel like you wouldn't care about leveling your character. The benefit to leveling is not an increase in power, but in choices of weaponry, armor and vehicles. When you start the game for the first time, you have 4 certification points to use. These points can go towards a number of different skills like piloting a reaver, learning to hack bases and consoles, or wearing MAX (heavy) armor. Don't worry if you get certified in something you don't want. You can untrain it and try something else if you don't like it. As you kill people and capture bases, you gain experience. Everytime you level, you gain 1 certification point. When you level up to battle rank 6, you get your first implant. Implants give your character special abilities like being able to see stealthers or view other people's health levels. They too can be changed out for other implants if you don't like your selection.

Enjoyment:

Prepare to be frustrated for the first day or two. There are no "easy monsters" to kill while getting your feet wet in this MMO. This game is completely player versus player (PVP). You will need to learn what you can take on with your character and when you need to run for your life. Don't be surprised if you used to be an awesome Quake player with an amazing aim and can't get more than a handful of kills on the first day. This game is extremely well-balanced. Part of being a successful fighter in it is understanding that balance. Defend against aggressors using the appropriate counter to their methods. It takes a little time to fully understand what works and what doesn't. When you figure it out, you'll be addicted.

The tutorial is a bit long, but helpful in understanding how bases operate. I would suggest going through the tutorial and testing different weapons, armor and vehicles in the virtual reality training room at your empire's sanctuary to get a taste of your options.

Multiplayer:

Planetside has two east coast and three west coast servers which claim to be able to hold 3000-5000 players per server. The game encourages balanced empires by giving the "underdogs" more experience gained per kill while subtracting experience from overpopulated empires.

Overall Impression:

I think the game will have some difficulties convincing the FPS crowd that the monthly fee is worth it. Additionally a lot of the MMO players who are typically used to time-based leveling may not like switching to a more skill-based model for an MMO. I believe if the FPS crowd gives the game half a chance, they will not be disappointed.

Personally, I am hooked. I have gotten hours of enjoyment out of this game. I don't know where the time goes when I play it. It's insanely fun.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

You can play a female character, but overall the game is pretty gender neutral.


I'd like to give a special thanks to my husband for putting up with our frequent nightly debates on what works and what doesn't work with this game. ;) He also provided many of the screenshots for this review.