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PlanetSide

	Author: Chris Abele, Jim Zabek Article Type: PC Game Preview Publication Date: 5/12/2003 Developer: Sony Online Entertainment Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment Related Categories: Science Fiction, First Person Shooter, Tactical, Online or Multi-Player

One Fine Looking MMOFPS

Despite their stratospheric system demands, Sony Online has managed to create an attractive game world, one that competes with even the gorgeous space MMORPGs of the past year. The world of Auraxis is filled with a wide variety of worlds, from rolling green grasslands to towering cliffs of ice to great plains of desert. The game even features night and day periods which really show off a unique purple and orange hue the game designers have used to simulate the planet's sun. Our only niggles are with the aggressive draw-in distances for the grass and smaller objects and of course, the high system requirements to view these visuals.

Regardless, the visuals in PlanetSide are some of the best we've seen in any persistent world game. But don't take our word for it, let the visuals speak for themselves:

Team vs. Team vs. Team

PlanetSide has been in development for a few years now, and its aim has always been to attract first-person shooter enthusiasts into the realm of persistent world gaming. While it perhaps isn't the first massively multiplayer game to try it, PlanetSide offers the most convincing mix of the two genres. The game is set on a futuristic world at war, with three different empires vying to take control of the planet Auraxis and its mysterious alien technology. There is a storyline which details the reasons behind the existence and motivations of these three empires, but it hardly plays a role in gameplay and only really affects how the game is balanced.

In the red corner is the Terran Republic, the faction which represents the old guard. The original colonists of this planet before their numbers were cut into three, they want to bring all the colonists back into their fold. In the purple corner is the New Conglomerate, a group of colonists seeking independence from the other colonists. Finally, in the blue corner is the Vanu Sovereignty, a group of colonists who've fallen under the Vanu alien influence, which mysteriously emanates from the planet itself. Each warring faction in PlanetSide is defined by differing styles - the Vanu Sovereignty has light and fast Alien technology, the New Conglomerate offers powerful but slow armor, and the Terran Republic has a balance between the others. While certain empires have some unique weapons, for the most part the major weapons share similar characteristics, though damage and reload times vary among each of the three groups.

Peace by Force

In addition to the weaponry, PlanetSide offers MMORPG-like "leveling" in the form of classes. The levels of skill are determined by Battle Experience Points (BEPs). Like specialty classes found in first-person shooter games such as Battlefield 1942, each particular class carries its advantages. For example, players can specialize in piloting land vehicles, sniper support, computer hacking, or the Mech-like MAX class of infantry. Vehicles in PlanetSide range from mega "Galaxy" troop transport ships to lightweight air speeders to a devastating three-man tank. All told, each empire has about 12 different vehicles to offer its soldiers, plus two unique vehicles for each empire.

But not any soldier can drive these vehicles. Like the weaponry mentioned earlier, PlanetSide characters must first qualify for certifications to drive these vehicles. The point-based certifications allow players to qualify to drive or fly each of the vehicles in the empire's inventory. How are those points acquired? Through battle experience, which can range from killing individual players or working as a team to capture a base, players build up their "battle ranks" level by level - just as players do in MMORPGs.

All this weaponry and equipment works towards one common goal of capturing another empire's bases in conflicted continents. On the planet Auraxis, there are ten continents in conflict, each of which has several bases which consist of the control points. Travel between the continents can only be done through jumpgates - Star Trek like transporters which beam players between locations, but players can travel about the continents on foot, in land vehicles or in the air. Each empire has one safe zone, known as the Sanctuary, from which players can regroup or pick up new certifications.