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Planetside 2 is a massively multiplayer online first person shooter (MMOFPS) developed most masterfully by one of the best devs in the business, Sony Entertainment Online. And yes, you read that right — this is a massively multiplayer online first person shooter. Great idea, huh?
Possessing epic battles of truly, without a doubt, living-up-to-the-true-definition of epic proportions, Planetside 2 combat takes place amongst not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands of players, all possessing air, ground and primary infantry vehicles, tools and weapons. It truly is the game that we probably all imagined and yearned for when thinking of the future of massively multiplayer online war games. And it’s finally here.
So let’s take a look at the basics, shall we?
Publisher: Sony Entertainment Online
Number of players: High
Type of MMO: FPS
EXP Rate: Moderate
PvP: Open World
Filesize: 1GB+
Worth Your Time: Absolutely, positively
Pros: Insanely large-scale, epic combat; varied ground, air and sea vehicular combat; three player factions/guilds; dynamic, realistic day and night cycle.
Cons: May take some time to get back into the “shit” (see also: action) after re-spawning.
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>> GAMEPLAY
Planetside 2 effectively takes all of the groundbreaking features from the original Planetside — see: massive, epic multiplayer battles, distinctly different empires to rally around, and truly enormous continents for the insanely intense ground and air combat to unfold — and adds even more features that modern games now expect from both their FPS and MMO games. In effect, this unsurprisingly makes the game even more amazing, entertaining and just plain fun than before.
Possessing a new SOE proprietary game engine called Forgelight, Planetside 2 is able to offer truly epic, competitive and visceral FPS experiences, with massively huge and epic warfare, customization options and community to boot!
New players can choose to join up with one of three distinctly different empires:
THE TERRAN REPUBLIC
Possessing a militaristic government, the Terran Republic uses its Imperial authoritarian might to effectively impel humanity to peacefully coexist through any means necessary.
NEW CONGLOMERATE
A loosely-connected group of various rebel factions and idealistic freedom fighters, the New Conglomerate fights against the all-imposing hegemony of the aforementioned Terran Republic.
VANU SOVEREIGNTY
A technocratic faction whom believes that the only way for humanity to evolve is for it to rediscover and effectively tap into the lost technology of the Vanu.
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>> GRAPHICS
One might normally expect such an amazingly fantastic, deep and entertaining game such as Planetside 2 to have to sacrifice something like the graphics. Thankfully for us all, this is simply not the case. While Planetside 2 won’t require the absolute most top of the line gaming rig to run like many other non-MMO titles, it certainly can hold its own in graphical firepower, with a lush, various and colorful world and soldier skins.
Somehow, the graphics don’t even hang when the thousands upon thousands of various players all clash together in the air, on land and at sea, and effectively clog up the entire map. Some dips in framerate do occur and are, of course, to be expected, but certainly nothing that hinders the gameplay or is even noticeable for very long.
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>> THE BOTTOM LINE
Planetside 2 is without a doubt one of the finest MMO’s on the market today. Even better, it manages to expand the scope of most other common MMO’s into a realm that’s truly impressive and awe-inspiring. When you hear the term “truly epic MMO” you should think first and foremost of Planetside 2, because — without a doubt — there truly isn’t any other MMO on the market today that can even come close to the truly epic feel it offers.
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FINAL SCORE: 9.5 out of 10 stars
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