PlanetSide 2 isn't interested in explaining itself. Want to know why the planet Auraxis is caught in a three-way tug-of-war between red guys, blue guys, and purple guys? Go read a wiki. Having trouble understanding some basic gameplay systems? Tough luck. Not sure where to go or what to do in general? You're on your own, pal.
No, Sony Online Entertainment's free-to-play MMOFPS doesn't deal in explanations. Mostly, it's in the business of serving up carnage on a ridiculous scale, as well as constantly dishing out amazing, player-driven moments that you'd swear were scripted -- a flying gunship exploding because a somebody steered an orbital drop pod through it, for instance. And though it might be jarring the first time PlanetSide dumps you into its massive world, those who brave the learning curve will discover a gorgeous, dynamic shooter with bigger firefights than any other game of its kind.
If you've played much of the recent Battlefield games online, then you already have a head start in comprehending PlanetSide 2. Like Conquest mode in DICE's FPS franchise, PlanetSide basically amounts to one big land grab. The game's three factions compete over territory by overwhelming control nodes in key areas of the map; once a team owns a majority of a region's control nodes long enough, then that segment of the world becomes their property. The main difference here is that PlanetSide 2's three maps span entire continents, each of which could easily swallow up more than 20 of the largest Battlefield 3 multiplayer levels.
PlanetSide 2 justifies such huge environments with an equally outsized player count. Servers top out at 2,000 people, which, even split across three continents and just as many factions, absolutely dwarfs anything possible in games like Battlefield, Call of Duty, or MAG. At peak hours, this translates to literally hundreds of combatants gunning for the game's most valuable objectives all at once. The seamless nature of the maps also helps create circumstances totally unique to PlanetSide; for example, if a fight starts to go sour for a detachment assaulting one part of the map, they might cut their losses and spill over into conflicts in neighboring regions. A sudden influx of reinforcements like this can be either devastating or miraculous, depending on your point of view.
The sheer size of the armies in PlanetSide 2 makes teamwork a necessity. Lone wolf types occasionally slip behind enemy lines and carve out a bit of territory for their team, but they're just as likely to have their work undone by a coordinated group with superior numbers. And while the jetpack-equipped basic infantry play an essential role in combat, support classes like medics and engineers can completely turn the tide of battle with their ability to keep soldiers and vehicles in the fight. Even the game's exceptionally lethal mechanized units are at their best with a few squadmates bringing up the rear.
It's fairly easy to form squads, thankfully, and PlanetSide 2 further incentivizes team play by awarding bonus experience for assisting fellow squad members. Beyond that, squad leaders are able to unlock special perks like spawn beacons, allowing teammates to drop from orbit into designated war zones. They also have access to squad-specific chat and voice channels, though the latter doesn't meet the quality standards of external VOIP options like Mumble or Ventrilo.
Every piece of land in the game confers some sort of bonus to the team controlling it. Sometimes that means a periodic influx of resources for purchasing things like troop transports or aircraft. Other locations offer increased health regeneration or access to the most powerful tanks. And locking down an entire continent will grant a global discount on either infantry equipment, ground vehicles, or aerial units. These little advantages give you a good reason to single out specific objectives, but PlanetSide does such a poor job illustrating this that you might play for hours without realizing these systems were in place.
In fact, it's the complete lack of a tutorial that's responsible for many of the biggest problems in PlanetSide 2. For example, if you want to know a surefire way to separate the newest players from veterans, look no further than tech plants, bio labs, and amp stations. These futuristic, Cobra Terror Drome-looking bases provide some of the best passive benefits in the game, and, as such, are very well defended. Specifically, they all come equipped with large energy shields that prevent ground troops and vehicles from easily breaching their perimeters. It's possible to disable the series of generators powering these barriers, but because the game never spells out how to do this, you'll invariably find swarms of clueless infantry clustered around force fields like flies drawn to a bug zapper. The end result is pretty similar in both scenarios.
As a free-to-play release, PlanetSide 2 relies on a backbone of microtransactions. On the in-game store you'll find the typical assortment of temporary experience point boosters and cosmetic items ("Check out the sick rims on my APC, brah!"), but, admirably enough, virtually none of the core character advancement is tied to spending actual money. All of the major class skills, vehicle upgrades, and gun attachments need to be purchased with certification points, and those only accrue when you're earning experience. Weapons, on the other hand, have prohibitively high certification costs and, at between $2.50 and $7.00 a pop, comparatively affordable cash prices. The developers also allow for one free half-hour trial per weapon, so there's little chance of accidentally wasting money on some crummy peashooter. It's all quite tastefully handled.
Once everything finally clicks, PlanetSide 2 delivers a thrilling, delightfully chaotic multiplayer experience that's as worthy of your time as any of its $60 competition. Just be prepared to do a little homework first.
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