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dkirschner's Planetside 2 (PC)

[January 5, 2016 08:05:36 PM]

Backstory: I downloaded some multiplayer FPS games (Planetside 2, Tribes: Ascend, and Counterstrike: Global Offensive) because I played some Star Wars: Battlefront at a friend's house a few weeks ago and had a lot of fun. I haven't played a good multiplayer FPS in a long time. That used to be one of my go-to genres, probably ending a decade or so ago when I discovered WoW and entered a long MMORPG phase. But I used to be pretty killer at Unreal Tournaments, Call of Duties, etc., and figured I should pick a good shooter to play!

SO, I'd long heard of Planetside 2 and wanted to check it out, one of these "MMOFPS" games. Sure enough, it's a persistent shooter and there are hundreds of players in the same spot at the same time. To say it's hectic is an understatement. I didn't quite know what was going on aside from "kill other team." You start off in a newbie area with some instructions to get you accustomed to the game and its varied objectives. Here's the rundown: There are 3 factions who constantly fight one another for land control across several continents on a particular planet. You choose a faction (these have various strengths and weaknesses regarding speed, armor, weapon rate of fire, etc.), create a character in that faction, and in you go. It starts you off cushy on an intro continent full of other newbs who don't know what's going on. That was clear enough. You learn controls, get a feel for attacking and defending checkpoints, learn classes, etc.

I quickly got bored of the small map and used "instant action" to drop into a hotbed of activity on one of the main continents. Holy crap. Hundreds of people. Tanks, planes, stealth people, snipers, alerts everywhere! I tried to go solo, died a lot. I tried to team up, did a little better following squad mates. I tried a medic, healed some people. Tried a light assault infantry, got ahead of myself, died a lot. Saw who killed me in the kill cam and it was routinely people who were "battle rank" (level 30, 40, 50...100). Seeing as you use experience to purchase better guns and upgrades, I was horribly outmatched. Lame. I generally spawned, ran from A to B and died immediately. I rarely if ever won in a 1v1 shootout even if I'd stick my crosshairs on their head and hold fire. I'd see that the enemy had less camera shake, took less damage when falling, all kinds of little perks that helped them out in a fight.

It was really cool to see the scale of the game, but I felt completely hopeless dying over and over. I've played a lot of Tribes: Ascend in the last couple weeks and immediately enjoyed Planetside 2 less. I don't want an MMOFPS I don't think. I just want to drop in, play some capture the flag or team deathmatch, and drop back out. Planetside 2: neat game, not for me.