Planetside

Rating:
Summary: PlanetSide's Explosive!!
Review: This is the best MMOG that I have ever played! It's also good to be in the game from the beginning, because we get to see it as it develops into a better and better game!
There are some lag issues, but the Producer gives really good updates on when things will be addressed and what the plans are to make this game even more awesome!
If you haven't tried an online game... this is the one to start with! There is a training area and everything!
Way to go Sony Online! I look forward to the improvements.
Like I said... give this game a chance! It's well worth it!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent ,but lacking in areas
Review: Planetside starts out very confusing. The first day that I played of it was boring. Once I figured out the basics, no help to the rather dumb offline help, it was all good.

Lets face it, this is not an RPG based on role playing. The more killing you do, they cooler your armor looks , with no effect to how much damage it absorbs, and how many new things you can do. There is not stregnth, agility, dexterity, etc., like found in most typical RPGs.

Not a pilot? The flight model in the game is a hover-style so most everyone can fly the planes. The downside, however, is not barrel rolls, no cool stunt flying, and no good evasive manuvers.

At this point, they are releasing patch after patch, but not so much as to improve the game, only fix the errors. The DEV team has a good outline of what is to come, but I think they could have fixed the little problems before putting it out on discs.

Enough, you say!
*Great game if you play a lot.
*No such thing as 'instant action'.. You must learn how to find it.
*Get recommended requirements, trust me, it will lag otherwise.
*Unless you like Quake/Half-life/Unreal then this game is not for you.

Pros:
*Big battles
*Risk - like strategy
*Entertaining

Cons:
*Laggy at times
*Buggy in places
*Takes some time to find action

Remember, the cons of this game can be fixed easily and it will not remain this way forever. Thanks

Rating:
Summary: Save it
Review: The game was never ready for release,so many bugs and server side issues. Sony pushed the dev's and the damn dead lines, because of marketing BS. The bottom line here, NO ONE FROM SONY, reads what there customers write them about the game, they never respond, they have 0 and I mean 0 customer service.

John

Rating:
Summary: Awesome game, and the Dev's are active
Review: In en era where most MMO's are either vaporware or crud, this one makes it to the top.

Like most other FPS's, the main goal of the game is too shoot people...over and over. And this game does it well.

Grand scale battles (150 vs. 150) are incredible, and with the new lag fixes, there is little noticable choppiness (except for the overpopulated Emerald server).

The Dev's have actually been talking and interacting with the community, already bringing in new content (no, I don't want to play ... mods, I want monthly content dangit), and are constantly improving the game.

True, its not as l33t as Unreal 2k3 (the combat model is kinda simple), and it doesn't have near the graphics of DoomIII, but other qualities MORE than make up for this.

Note: Have at least 1 gig of RAM and a good vid card to run the game at a decent setting with no choppiness.

While the gameplay may suffer somewhat from repetitiveness at times (take the base...take the base...take the base...), the fun-factor with friends is simply immense (I didn't get NEARLY as many LAUGHS playing other "hardcore" FPS's QuakeIII, MoH, CS, Tribes, etc...just trust me on that)

Rating:
Summary: Not for all players, but great for team-combat players
Review: Planetside has gone live, and its three-faction setup helps ensure that there's always a battle going on, and something to do! In essence each faction is battling for control of the planet, across continents, battling with the other 2 factions in a space-combat setting.

We were playing this non-stop during the beta, so we were familiar with the game when we bought the full version. Still, the built in training is very helpful, and doesn't require you to be on line. The virtual practice areas let you keep practicing if you have more questions.

There are a variety of terrains and environments to fight in, and the graphics are well done with lots of detail. You can customize your character's voice and look and of course be male or female. Your character can have a variety of skills, helping you fit into the needs of your faction. You can be a heavy-duty soldier, or the guy who flies the dropship, or many other roles.

The game does a great job of encouraging team play. There are many ways in which team members can help each other out, gaining experience and cash as you go to get more skilled and wield more weapons and armor. With an "Instant Action" option, you can even teleport immediately to where a battle is taking place!

As with much of the web, people with slow connections or hosting through slow ISPs are going to have issues. The graphics and volume of users playing mean that it pays to have a decent machine with a good video card. But that's no different than any other on line play. It's always worth the investment to keep your system up to date if you want to play the newest games.

You end up with massive battles for control of key areas, and just like "real life", lots of grunts end up dying in these. The better you get, the more you stay out of the mud and take on more advanced tasks, like sniping out key individuals and organizing the attacks.

The game is easy to get going with, lots of fun to build up levels in, and holds a lot of challenges once you get good at it. Well recommended for an on line combat fan who doesn't think "every player is a Rambo". It's not about an individual having super powers - it's about skilled players working together as a solid team. Which is extremely encouraging to see in a game!

Rating:
Summary: Very Fun at times, but can be very boring
Review: Having played the Beta and the retail version (for a short while) I discovered that planetside can be very fun, but very boring. The game is "plagued" by stability and lag issues. The servers are down often, the patches are annoying and at times, even with a DSL line, there is serious lag. When capturing a base that's a hotspot, you cant effectively assist the capture because your target jumps from lag. The only way you can kill a person at times like these are explosives or firing wildly, hoping to hit. When trying to get in a squad, the most common thing you will type and see is "/b (broadcasts) BR __(whatever battle rank you are which are similar to levels) *Certifications go here* LFS (short for Looking for Squad)". Very frequently you are standing around in a six man squad, looking for a galaxy pilot (transport). I had to wait 30 min for one. However, on the the bright side of things, when you get an experienced squad going with a CR (command rank, ranks earned for leading a squad) 1+, the experience is like none other. When lag isn't a problem and your teammates aren't, this game is 5 stars. ... (note, i still think the fun experiences outway these problems enough to give it a 8.5). ... I would recommend this game for people with time, and money, to blow. And of course, people who are willing to wait 30 minutes to have a great time.

Rating:
Summary: Pros/Cons/Arguments
Review: It does get laggy (on a 56k, i understand it's very different on broadband/cable) sometimes when there's more than 60 people in your area (a huge number compared to most online games...it's a lot better).

It *can* get repetitive.
However...thisis mostly to people attacking bases.

experience is *not* needed to have fun in this game. If you complain about capping bases being boring, then DON'T cap bases. I like to hide in the desert with my guided missile launcher and pick off people from a distance, fighting for towers in the middle of nowhere rather than the laggy boring base caps. And i have unbelievable amounts of fun doing it.

One thing I read on this forum said that battles are won by numbers, not skill.

Welcome to reality. Watch Saving Private Ryan. Do you see the mass amount of skill they had on DDay affecting anything? Real war is about numbers, not about skill. You don't see individual heros often in real life, and PlanetSide replicates the true attrition of real battles. And it's tons of fun, IMHO.

This game is defnitely worth a free trial, of which you get one month. Each box comes with a 7 day free trial in addition to the 30 day, so ask a friend who has it if you can play the 7 day trial.

Rating:
Summary: Unbearable Lag at times but very fun
Review: Let's start off by saying that this game is a ton of fun. The bad part, and it can get very bad...is that this game is VERY laggy. I have a high end system and I can't enjoy the luxary of cranking up the graphics. IMO this game is not playable as promised. It is not up to par. It will be once they address this lag issue. Until then...

Rating:
Summary: Ferrari Chassis racing in circles
Review: Planetside has a LOT Of potential. I played it in beta and I had a lot of fun zipping through the different strategy possibilities and still have many possibilities left. That said, I don't think I would play this game for more than a month. The game never changes. As another person observed, you really only have 3 types of battles: tower battles and open field battles tend to be short and one-sided where numbers carry the day. Base seizures are the most common type of battle. This is the single biggest problem with Planetside IMO. The vast majority of xp you get will be taking bases from the other side. Not killing enemies, but taking bases. And the problem is that there is no similar xp to be gained defending bases. As a result, nobody wants to defend. They just take turns capturing each other's bases and harvesting xp. So there are no big D-Day or Gettysburg type battles. Most battles are American Tanks vs. Republican Guard battles. Unless the designers fix the way the game is played, the game will have limited replay value. Fortunately, it would be easy for them to create new base types, new scenarios, etc. They should play Team Fortress or Counterstrike for a while to get some ideas for scenarios beyond 'Capture The Flag'.

Rating:
Summary: Server Lag
Review: Planetside is an amazing game with great groundbreaking ideas that will hopefully lead gaming by leaps and bounds to a new level.

There are reasons why, though, that the reviews are divided. There are the people who love it, and the people who don't like it (and all those in-between):
For some people, gaming for one goal (world domination) is extremely fun, and constantly taking back bases and capturing new ones doesn't get repetitive for them as battles are almost always unique in their own right.
Then there are others who grow quickly bored of doing the same thing over and over again.

There are also reasons for the reported lag. Being a fan of MMO games, I know that when a new expansion is released, such as the Legacy of Ykesha, the first downloadable expansion for EverQuest, there was a definite new height to the lag. Server hiccups, so-to-speak. That is where mass people get disconnected at the same time. This is probably the case for PS, though, instead of a new expansion coming out, there are hundreds of people signing up and logging on for the first time, causing the servers to get stressed out.

I agree that the monthly price for PS is too high, though it will probably drop down over time. However, with the steep monthly price, we are almost guaranteed constant updates for bugs fixes and new material. I do not believe that Sony Online will fall asleep on us.

>> Expect lag to die down dramatically.
>> Expect constant updates.

But it wont happen over night, and it will take a bit.
A suggestion if you want to be careful: I would wait for the price to drop for PS and watch specific PS gaming sites ... for updates on how the game is progressing ...