lose up on a desert valley, setting sun in the sky the color of magma. Gunfire rat-tat-tats in the distance, punctuated by bursts of tracer fire. A reaver whooshes overhead, slows and turns, considering—then beelines south and out to sea. A sniper pauses in the chest-high scrub and reloads his Bolt Driver rifle. Better hurry, he thinks, squinting into the finder and pointing the scope at the tangled foliage downhill that's bordering the New Conglomerate stronghold. Vanu squads'll be here any minute, and they're counting on me for the flush. ...
Teamwork is the name of the game in Sony's new 5,000-player online bonanza that's part role-playing skill cruncher, part first-person shooter. Sometime in the future, humans fire an expeditionary force down the gullet of a wormhole to colonize a planet dubbed Auraxis. Alien artifacts are discovered, the wormhole collapses, and the expeditionary force splits into three warring factions: the loyalists (Terran Republic), the revolutionaries (New Conglomerate) and the alien-technology-huggers (Vanu Sovereignty). Each faction's imperative becomes to take and hold as much territory as possible.
After completing training and creating a character, players are deposited in their team's "sanctuary" zone. These safe havens offer a chance to try out equipment, weapons and armor in "virtual zones" before purchasing certification upgrades, as well as jaw with comrades and assemble squads. Outside the sanctuary zones, the world of Auraxis is divided into 10 Battle Continents connected by warp points, with environments that range from desert to arctic. The goal of each faction is to conquer and control continents for its empire, scored according to the number of facilities owned per continent.
Advancement is measured in terms of Battle Experience Points (BEPs), which are acquired by killing enemies, destroying their equipment and capturing their bases. BEPs raise a character's battle rank, which in turn builds up certification points and increases implant slots. Primary certifications include weapons, armor, vehicles and equipment. Thus a character can specialize in sniping, cloaking armor and advanced hacking for a "stealth" experience, while another could specialize in heavy assault weaponry, MAX armor, pilot an assault tank and go full frontal. There's even a combat medic certification for players interested in playing rearguard support.
Blast-'em-up fun with a few fixable flaws
The key to "getting" Planetside is willingness to forego the solo gig and give in to the siren song of teamplay. Simply put, the game is unplayable without utilizing cooperative tactics. At a typical volume of 500 players per continent, this is not a game for vigilantes, which may be off-putting to some. It it also a game that rewards balance and coordination in squad makeup. Squads are composed of up to 10 members working as one unit toward a common goal, usually some combination of support and assault specializations for versatility. A balanced, well-coordinated squad will almost always take down a team with superior firepower. And that's the game's stroke of genius—a tight focus on teamplay that consistently rewards thoughtful tactics over random anarchical suicide runs.
Consider the game's clever implementation of resource management. Operational facilities require power, referred to as Nanite Technology Units (NTUs). NTUs are mined using Advanced Nanite Transports (ANTs). In order to power and control an operational facility, faction members must take turns piloting ANTs to warp gates, harvest the NTUs, then return the NTUs to the facility silo. ANTs are weaponless, leading to skin-crawling gauntlets across defenseless terrain with (or without) point guards. It's a brilliant little bit of real-time strategy carried over in its most simple form, but requiring (once again) carefully synchronized teamwork to keep the power on and the supplies flowing.
It doesn't hurt that Planetside is easy on the eyes, too. In a genre that continues to suffer from 3-D-feature-lust, it's nice to see a little art in the corkscrew tree trunks, haloed cloud formations and rippling energy domes (though the building architecture—inside and out—is strikingly bland). It's not as steroid-popping as Halo, but it easily clobbers its online competition.
The only serious problems with the game (and they are serious) include a tendency to lag, like playing Quake in the old days on a 28.8 Kbps modem, odd graphical anomalies that mar an otherwise gorgeous palette, and a slew of bugs that hinder gameplay (including the simple ability to quit out of training!) in the retail release.
But these are relatively minor quibbles, and several of them have already been fixed or enhanced in updates downloadable from the game server. Let there be no doubt, Planetside is best of breed when it comes to online shooters with a tight focus on capture and command tactics. There are no "winners," and gameplay is merely an endless cycle of advancing and retreating, but at the same time, pointlessness has never been quite this much fun.
With its "no-win" scenarios and endless combat, I can play it only for a few hours at a time, but oh, what sweet hours. ...
— Matthew
Back to the top.
