PlanetSide 2

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1356 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 800 out of 1356
  2. Mixed: 281 out of 1356
  3. Negative: 275 out of 1356

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  1. BlueSmiley
    Dec 21, 2012
    10
    I've been playing Counter-Strike 1.6 since I the day I got internet. Friends from school were talking about that game whole day long and it directly was my favorite game on day one. I have never played such a great game after it...untill now... PlanetSide 2 is perfect. I'm playing this game since the first day of the beta and I have never played Counter-Strike again. The multiplayerI've been playing Counter-Strike 1.6 since I the day I got internet. Friends from school were talking about that game whole day long and it directly was my favorite game on day one. I have never played such a great game after it...untill now... PlanetSide 2 is perfect. I'm playing this game since the first day of the beta and I have never played Counter-Strike again. The multiplayer experience is amazing, the graphics are very nice, the developers are very helpful and friendly and it's free to play! I am sure that i'm going to play this game for many years to come. Simply said: It's the best game EVER.… Expand
  2. Macros
    Dec 20, 2012
    2
    Metacritic cutted my review in half , i won't bother rewriting all that text again .... -.-'
    I'm changing my score to 2: and adding more issues: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can't get out of vechicle, magically disappearing vechicles, vechicles and soldiers falling through the ground, the game breaking bug - sunderer    Metacritic cutted my review in half , i won't bother rewriting all that text again .... -.-'
    I'm changing my score to 2: and adding more issues: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can't get out of vechicle, magically disappearing vechicles, vechicles and soldiers falling through the ground, the game breaking bug - sunderer spawning doesn't work or works at random. Reviving doesn't work. Heavy assault shield not working. Poor explanation of anything for e.g. most people don't know that engeneer have 2 ammo pack, the second one is when you press 'B' befor deploying your turret. Fps dropping to 0.5 ( my computer isn't strong but i get the avarage of 30, 0.5 fps after loading the game is a bug). Poor performance on better computers. Spawns placed in a way that encourages spawn camping (with tanks.... pointing at the spawn.. usually there are about 50 tanks in such place... yes you shouldn't spawn there, that doesn't change the fact that 90% of spawns are located in such places that ->encourageleft arrow->backspaces(to erase /say command)->write /platoonsay, but that's not the case for for e.g. /squadsay that's sticky after typing it once. Whole text chat (e.g. channel switching) is counter-intuitive. If your teammate spots something (Q) most of the time it won't pop on neither your minimap nor HUD which makes the most important aspect of that feature broken, most of the time you don't know exactly where is enemy even everyone is spotting them. Infiltrating enemy base and spotting targets is useless for your teammates but will get you killed as enemy can hear you shouting. Only thing that spotting can be used for is spamming it in every direction to find a well hidden sniper. Deploy and redeploy button sometimes doesn't work. Drawing distance is different for infantry and vehicles thus most of the time when flying you're being shot by enemies your not even close to seeing. And that's just a peak of the mountain. (no longer valid score: Why 5 and not less?) If you want to know what are the good sides of this game read any other review. Just forget about the "so much teamplay" arguments because there is none. Just mindless zerg rush one spawnpoint -> one cover (so much people helping me, so much teamwork aka 30 snipers at the only hill that's not outside the drawing distance, that are most of the time killed by other clases or driven over by their own tanks). Ps. I think that metacritic should allow for at least some text formating... enters and such... you know    … Expand
  3. Maniacxxl
    Dec 20, 2012
    9
    Planetside 2 is a MMO First-Person-Shooter, published and developed by SOE. The player can choose from three different Factions which fight over control
    of the Planet.
    The Game world consists of three different continents and each of them has a few dozens of areas that can be controlled through conquering certain key points. The player is given the task to increase the influence of    Planetside 2 is a MMO First-Person-Shooter, published and developed by SOE. The player can choose from three different Factions which fight over control
    of the Planet.

    The Game world consists of three different continents and each of them has a few
    dozens of areas that can be controlled through conquering certain key points.
    The player is given the task to increase the influence of his faction by fighting for control
    of the areas. For this purpose you can choose from about half a dozen classes and vehicles per faction, which all can be customized even further. It makes sense to organizing in squads
    to increase the success rate in the battles and i highly recommend doing so, since playing alone
    makes no fun in the long run.

    Planetside 2 has beautiful graphics and looks really polished, however the areas repeat themselves a lot and there are no real highlights, which is acceptable considering the sheer amount of players taking part in fights and the game still running fluid.
    What really makes the game unique are the gigantic battles with hundreds of players participating, which sets the game apart from most other game of its genre which play all alike.

    Planetside itself is free to play, so everyone who has interest in playing, can do so
    without paying. It finances itself through an real-money shop in which you can buy additional
    weapons and visual adjustments for your classes and vehicles.
    Even though you can buy equipment for money it doesn't give u an advantage, because the weapons everyone gets for free are pretty much all-around weapons and bought stuff only widens the repertoire.

    I can only recommend everyone who enjoys playing shooters at least once in a while to try
    out Planetside 2, for this is one of the best games of the year and by far the best free game of the last years.    … Expand
  4. SoopChoons
    Dec 19, 2012
    5
    Great idea, poor execution. Overall, it's not a bad game, and it's pretty fun to play (but only if you have friends to play it with -- playing solo is significantly less entertaining due to how the game is structured). It is HUGELY demanding on your PC, even high-end gaming rigs like my own still sometimes struggle handling this game (not due to lack of PC power, but rather due to lack ofGreat idea, poor execution. Overall, it's not a bad game, and it's pretty fun to play (but only if you have friends to play it with -- playing solo is significantly less entertaining due to how the game is structured). It is HUGELY demanding on your PC, even high-end gaming rigs like my own still sometimes struggle handling this game (not due to lack of PC power, but rather due to lack of optimization in the game itself). I'm the type of person who enjoys options and variety -- sometimes I feel like playing an engineer type, sometimes a medic, etc. But in PS2 you would need to shell out HUNDREDS of dollars in order to have "decent" gear for your characters. Focusing on a single character with a focused skill(s) would be expensive by itself, but you can forget about having multiple characters and any sort of variety in your options without shelling out cash. They have definitely gone as far as they could when it comes to milking players for their money. However, the battles in this game can be very huge, intense and downright amazing at times. But expect yourself to pay, either in huge amounts of invested time, or huge amounts of invested cash, in order to really experience this game to it's full potential.… Expand
  5. wrobothor
    Dec 19, 2012
    8
    To be able to enjoy this game completely you must join an outfit. Very frustrating at times but rewarding as well, scale is enormous but the entire war is repetitive and often you will find yourself pushing back the enemies advance only for your efforts to be undone soon after and enter a vicious cycle. Graphics are amazing on good rigs but of course that means lower powered computers canTo be able to enjoy this game completely you must join an outfit. Very frustrating at times but rewarding as well, scale is enormous but the entire war is repetitive and often you will find yourself pushing back the enemies advance only for your efforts to be undone soon after and enter a vicious cycle. Graphics are amazing on good rigs but of course that means lower powered computers can struggle in large battles(i myself have crashed aircraft numerous times after i temporarily freeze during a dogfight). It is a long grind to unlock new weapons and the alternative payment of Station Cash is $1 per 100 SC(often ending up a weapon costing around $7.… Expand
  6. ChirpingCricket
    Dec 19, 2012
    8
    Planetside 2 certainly has flaws. The game will drop you into combat without any real direction. You can spend the first few hours dying constantly, leaving you with a sense of frustration. Which is understandable, because those first few hours are frustrating.

    I stuck with the game and after a day found myself grinning from ear to ear. The scale of the battles is what keeps me    Planetside 2 certainly has flaws. The game will drop you into combat without any real direction. You can spend the first few hours dying constantly, leaving you with a sense of frustration. Which is understandable, because those first few hours are frustrating.

    I stuck with the game and after a day found myself grinning from ear to ear. The scale of the battles is what keeps me coming back. I still die all the time and my kill-death ratio is a horrendous .4, yet I keep logging back in. The scene of a dozen tanks and aircraft vying for supremacy alongside dozens of infantry is just...stunning.

    Unfortunately, there is a bit of Pay2Win in the game. The game is F2P, and you can unlock all the weapons in time without paying a dime, provided you're willing to spend several years at it. The certification points accrue slowly. After several days of game play I've managed to reach 255, just over 25% of what's necessary to unlock one of the better weapons.

    If you can overlook the bugs and the fact that you'll be blown up by some guy who just dropped $100 on his aircraft then you'll be happy. I certainly am. If you're looking to be competitive without spending any money? Yeah, that's not happening.    … Expand
  7. HighwayUK
    Dec 19, 2012
    9
    Free to play alone sells this game, but add to it high production values, massive maps, huge player counts, one of the most complex perk upgrade systems in any game i've seen, good graphics... the only real weak spot of the game is floaty controls but other than that, it's a must have for any PC gamer.
  8. Heresticus
    Dec 17, 2012
    3
    Planet Side 2 is a "free-to-play" but "pay-to-win" game which is so far away from entertaining me. A huge sized map with no enemies around, sucking game mechanics, bad spawn locations, buggy graphics and horrible fun factor make the game unplayable for me. You can give it a try like me; I tried it and gave it 3/10.
  9. notyourbuddy
    Dec 17, 2012
    6
    New player? Enjoy a horrible learning curve. No in game tutorials and to kick you in the balls harder they immediately dump all new players right into a battle without even allowing them to change their hotkeys or in game sensitivity/graphical settings. Congratulations your dead. Welcome to Planetside 2. In game store? Enjoy being asked to pay 7$ for an item with no proper in game previewNew player? Enjoy a horrible learning curve. No in game tutorials and to kick you in the balls harder they immediately dump all new players right into a battle without even allowing them to change their hotkeys or in game sensitivity/graphical settings. Congratulations your dead. Welcome to Planetside 2. In game store? Enjoy being asked to pay 7$ for an item with no proper in game preview system. Pretty much have to blind buy your cosmetics and hope they don't look like toilet. SOE was even lazy in that half the weapons they are asking $$$$ for don't even have their own models/skins. Gameplay? If you stick around for 5-10 hours to learn the ins-and-outs of the game you'll be rewarded with some fun battles here and there. Sometimes fun little skirmishes other times the big cinematic battles the game promises. You may even begin to think this is a great game, but soon the dark underbelly of this beast will reveal itself. Nobody plays defense. Why? 1) There is no incentive for doing so. 2) The maps are designed to favor attackers. Try to play defense you will be zerged and you will be spawn camped hard. Its a pointless waste of time and everyone knows it. You'll get to defend for 2 minutes or so then time to just respawn elsewhere and surrender the base. This has turned the game into nothing but traveling around the map in your own faction's offensive zerg capping empty base after empty base. Infantry play? Infantry have been neglected and tanks + airplanes rule the day. Bit of a joke to the point this game has earned the monicker Tankside/Vehicleside/Airside etc among people who have played it any decent amount of time. Infantry's main role tends to be getting farmed by vehicles. Sure you can have a few fun fights here and there, but you can always count on a vehicle zerg to ruin that quickly. The developers have even gone out of their way to make it extremely easy for vehicles to farm infantry by giving all vehicles free texture hacks. Yeah, those things that FPS try to ban SOE gives to you for free. Cover, day/night, camo... all irrelevant as vehicles can see you anywhere you go and one-shot/two-shot you with ease. Go ahead. Download it. Play it. Its worth a good 20 hrs or so until you discover the faults I mentioned above then you'll find yourself getting annoyed at its repetitive pointlessness. Not all hope is lost of course. It has only been about a month since release so there is still plenty of time for this to become an amazing game. All the ingredients are there. Interesting weapons, vehicles, and the framework for large scale battles. The developers just have to be willing to modify their horrid map designs to encourage the right mixture of infantry/vehicles and offense/defense on its battlefields. Definitely a game I will keep my eye on over the next few months to see what direction they take it, but as it stands right now, a mediocre 6 is all I can muster.… Expand
  10. Z30-pro
    Dec 17, 2012
    9
    PlanetSide2 is an amazing game, unique and normal at the same time. How things look is what strikes you first as you enter the huge world of Auraxis, the game is free2play and still has stunning graphics. The game is a ton of fun to play and keeps you interested because of their level system and the fact that it's so interactive. You have to play as much as possible to take over as much asPlanetSide2 is an amazing game, unique and normal at the same time. How things look is what strikes you first as you enter the huge world of Auraxis, the game is free2play and still has stunning graphics. The game is a ton of fun to play and keeps you interested because of their level system and the fact that it's so interactive. You have to play as much as possible to take over as much as possible, after all you don't want to let your faction down.… Expand
  11. Twitch375
    Dec 16, 2012
    8
    After experiencing more than 3 hours of Planet Side I have to take back my previous review. Starting out you are going to get owned. You have to climb a huge wall just to become good enough where you have a good chance of killing someone without dying 5 times. You will rage (maybe break a keyboard like I did) but once you get passed this "introduction period" you will enjoy yourself likeAfter experiencing more than 3 hours of Planet Side I have to take back my previous review. Starting out you are going to get owned. You have to climb a huge wall just to become good enough where you have a good chance of killing someone without dying 5 times. You will rage (maybe break a keyboard like I did) but once you get passed this "introduction period" you will enjoy yourself like no other game has ever provided. Fighting along side 20-100 other people in 1-5 hour attacks on a single base is amazing and by playing this I now realize how much **** other fps are. The only thing that can come close is BF3. Planet Side 2 is just bigger, better, and more compared to other games. If you really want to feel like you're in a war this game will satisfy and more. Just be willing to sacrifice a keyboard or 2 for that fun (Luckily I had a spare).… Expand
  12. purutaru
    Dec 16, 2012
    6
    Promising game by SOE, maps are huge and battles have an epic feel to it (when during peak hrs). Graphics are beautiful but overall the game is marred by the following:
    1) poor tutorial - after creating character game throws player into battle immediately without allowing them to even bind keys or figure out what to do.
    2) bugs - flickering screen, falling thru the maps. 3) sloppy cheat    Promising game by SOE, maps are huge and battles have an epic feel to it (when during peak hrs). Graphics are beautiful but overall the game is marred by the following:
    1) poor tutorial - after creating character game throws player into battle immediately without allowing them to even bind keys or figure out what to do.
    2) bugs - flickering screen, falling thru the maps.
    3) sloppy cheat detection and policing by GMs - well-known aimbot hackers are able to keep playing to ruin the game even after being reported in game and outside of game via support tickets. 4) overpriced cash shop items - 7 USD for a gun that is single class only, single character. 5 USD for a weapon skin. To earn some essential weapons (like anti air missiles or rocket pods) normally in game, need over 50hrs of playtime on average.    … Expand
  13. Ohams
    Dec 15, 2012
    3
    New player experience is horrible in this game. No tutorial, no training grounds, nothing. You just spawn in the middle of a warzone having no idea what the objectives are or how to achieve them. While you try to figure out how the game works you keep getting killed over and over. Worst first impression ever. For me, this is indicative of an unfinished product. Uninstalled after 20New player experience is horrible in this game. No tutorial, no training grounds, nothing. You just spawn in the middle of a warzone having no idea what the objectives are or how to achieve them. While you try to figure out how the game works you keep getting killed over and over. Worst first impression ever. For me, this is indicative of an unfinished product. Uninstalled after 20 minutes. I'll check back when it's a complete game and not a torso.… Expand
  14. maddocks2379
    Dec 15, 2012
    1
    After issues starting the game, all the text was bugged and saying ##ui and i had seach for a fix... i tried to fix and crash. reboot and fix the text issue and crash again... so loaded and play for about 5 minutes and find there is no guide or idea whats going on, then it crashed again
    in total i played for another hour and decided its boring, graphics are average to poor and gameplay is    After issues starting the game, all the text was bugged and saying ##ui and i had seach for a fix... i tried to fix and crash. reboot and fix the text issue and crash again... so loaded and play for about 5 minutes and find there is no guide or idea whats going on, then it crashed again
    in total i played for another hour and decided its boring, graphics are average to poor and gameplay is like bf3 with no excitement.
    The only saving grace is its free and been an online game there might be some large updates which make the game interesting.
    Back to BF3 for me    … Expand
  15. Tecco
    Dec 14, 2012
    2
    Could be so good but it just isn't.
    You as a new player will have little fun in this game unless you wanna spend a decent amount of money. After playing a good 20 hours i havent even got 1/10th of the points needed for a decent upgrade. The grind you would need to do as a new player is just ridiculous, and the starting weapons is utter useless, same goes for the tank and plane weapons,    Could be so good but it just isn't.
    You as a new player will have little fun in this game unless you wanna spend a decent amount of money. After playing a good 20 hours i havent even got 1/10th of the points needed for a decent upgrade. The grind you would need to do as a new player is just ridiculous, and the starting weapons is utter useless, same goes for the tank and plane weapons, wich means not only will you have the disadvantage of not knowing the game, but you will also have your skill removed due to ridicilous spread and weapon recoil, lesser health lower wpn dmg ect. ect. As a guy who normal do average in shooters i ended with a K/D ratio less than 0.3. Nuff said.    … Expand
  16. TCNeal
    Dec 14, 2012
    0
    This really is one of the worst games I have ever played. This is not a snap decision about the **** interface and ugly graphics - I played for over 30 hours before writing this review. I was a fan of the first Planetside, and I play many other FPS games, so I wasn't unaware of what I was stepping into, and really wanted to love this game. It failed me, totally. What I found in droppingThis really is one of the worst games I have ever played. This is not a snap decision about the **** interface and ugly graphics - I played for over 30 hours before writing this review. I was a fan of the first Planetside, and I play many other FPS games, so I wasn't unaware of what I was stepping into, and really wanted to love this game. It failed me, totally. What I found in dropping into this game was a severely unpolished and unbalanced festival of frustration and endless active waiting.

    If you like constantly running through empty expanses of nothing, only to be shot and killed in less than a second upon encountering an enemy (you had no idea was there) only to wait to respawn so you might do the same thing again, and again, and again, you will love Planetside 2. If you want an experience that is fulfilling in any other way, look elsewhere. It's free, but you get what you pay for. Everything about it is designed to make you want those real-money-guns just so that you might manage a kill or two, and the fun might actually start. They won't matter, you're still going to be randomly killed from any angle before you can locate an enemy. Ideally, you could play long enough to buy them with in game points, but in the 30 hours I played waiting for it to get good I only racked up 150 out of the THOUSAND I'd need for ONE GUN. Seriously, save your time, and definitely save your money, because you don't want to award that to this poor piece of f2p marketing garbage.    … Expand
  17. HellRaiser1026
    Dec 13, 2012
    7
    An addicting and and pleasant surprise to the MMO genre in short. The impressive draw distance coupled with impressive graphical fidelity for such a massive game does give the good impression of a massive, persistent open world. While the landscape and locations are decently varied from location to location somewhat less care was given to player assets such as weapons and vehicles.An addicting and and pleasant surprise to the MMO genre in short. The impressive draw distance coupled with impressive graphical fidelity for such a massive game does give the good impression of a massive, persistent open world. While the landscape and locations are decently varied from location to location somewhat less care was given to player assets such as weapons and vehicles. Roughly half of the vehicles available to each race are the same as the ones available to the others. As well as the vast majority of the weapons are shamelessly visual copy and pastes with very minor changes if any at all, only having changes in their stats. Despite this each race has a unique look and style that works for them. The game play is the old tried and true class based multi-player first person shooter. Each class has their own special abilities and equipment that can be upgraded using "certs". This is where the balance issues start to glare at you. Acquiring certs is paced like dragging a 1000 pound bag of sand down an endless road through 2 feet of snow, stopping every ten miles to receive a dollar to put towards a million dollar sleigh to help you pull the bag faster. What I'm trying to say is that it's a free to play game, but it's pay to win. The people who choose to invest in the game will stand head and shoulders above those who actually want a free to play game. This obvious issue turns certain players into bullet sponges while leaving others as glass tissues on the battlefield. While you're given bonuses for investing larger amounts in the game, the cost of weapons in the game probably lies between 6 and 7 dollars on average. Given that there are hundreds of things to buy, and certs and spent money don't carry over to other characters you create, this is a huge problem. I might be focusing a lot on this, but it really is a glaring issue. If you can find the time to acquire enough certs however you'll find a functional and enjoyable FPS that offers massive battles on a scale that we haven't seen in games since the total war franchise. The levels are laid out on a honeycomb gird that shows territories that are fought over by the three factions. The levels have varying terrain with strong holds and towns dotting the landscape. There's a unique feel to each of the continents you fight on, and each base type have a different strategy required to take control. While the actual bases and building are going to start to seem familiar to frequent players it's the area around the bases that creates a new and distinct feel at each location. A strange bit of poor design, being a little richer due to better environmental design. Overall, I give PlanetSide 2 a 7 out of 10.… Expand
  18. Victory
    Dec 12, 2012
    10
    Incredible. A few bugs here and there but will be ironed out carving this game into a 10/10 no doubt. It's quite difficult to get into and is very confusing at the beginning but stick with it and you'll be fighting like the best in no time. The scale of this game really is like nothing you've seen before and the wide variety of roles will keep me playing for a long time.
  19. vonDogg
    Dec 11, 2012
    3
    Planetside 2, some mix Massive shooter with RPG (?), in my opinion idea this game is great and underdone.
    On the + : Big maps, vehicles, graphic (not bad textures for that big game maps), re-spawn protect (!),
    On the - : Fight and flight too much arcade style, where is RPG system (?), after 40 min. is boring
  20. YB1980
    Dec 10, 2012
    3
    Massively overrated. If your not being killed or run-over by your own team-mates, your either running to a fight and generally one-shotted by enemy players that you could have been unloading a whole clip into their head. Either that or they are lag jumpping around. I have a high end PC and i find the graphics for this disappointing. If you get in a good fight of 50 to 150+ it can beMassively overrated. If your not being killed or run-over by your own team-mates, your either running to a fight and generally one-shotted by enemy players that you could have been unloading a whole clip into their head. Either that or they are lag jumpping around. I have a high end PC and i find the graphics for this disappointing. If you get in a good fight of 50 to 150+ it can be interesting but thats all this game is, an endless fight over buildings nothing else… Expand
  21. Rmathieson
    Dec 10, 2012
    7
    Having never played PlanetSide, but having heard lots about it, I was quite intrigued to try PlanetSide 2. The whole idea of scale and options within a FREE game seem very appealing to me. I knew what i was getting in for though. It's a pay to pwn game, but not as much as others in its class and I don't hold that against it. For first time players like me, the first few games are a littleHaving never played PlanetSide, but having heard lots about it, I was quite intrigued to try PlanetSide 2. The whole idea of scale and options within a FREE game seem very appealing to me. I knew what i was getting in for though. It's a pay to pwn game, but not as much as others in its class and I don't hold that against it. For first time players like me, the first few games are a little daunting - once you get over the learning curve and figure out whats actually going on - The game opens up and consumes the minutes, hours, days of your life and replaces them with some sort of satisfaction. The game is fast paced, its tactical, it has all of the elements of squad based FPS you would expect but at the same time adds more, the scale is unbelievable and theres a very cool feeling that washes over you as you convoy towards an enemy's base with 50 tanks and 100 troops around you.. Graphics: - Are okay, they obviously had to make some compromises to manage the scale, it's not a huge let down though. I play on a laptop (high spec gaming laptop) and it handles the settings on max without any problems. A fun game, worth picking up and enjoying!… Expand
  22. Zyromkiru
    Dec 10, 2012
    8
    The game is fun none the less but has fllaws..
    Graphics: + Phsyx is in this game (but currently turned off)
    + The environment and changing of day and night is a nice touch - blurry/low res areas - Not really something special compared to other games but due to the size of the planet... its good Gameplay: + The game is a nice futuristic game and plays out well and is much more    The game is fun none the less but has fllaws..
    Graphics: + Phsyx is in this game (but currently turned off)
    + The environment and changing of day and night is a nice touch
    - blurry/low res areas
    - Not really something special compared to other games but due to the size of the planet... its good

    Gameplay:
    + The game is a nice futuristic game and plays out well and is much more exciting than halo 4
    + It really draws you into the war feeling since there is a lot going on
    + Vehicles are fun and useful
    + You can upgrade basically anything you want to and use the classes you like the best or all of them
    - When you are cornered the game feels like a repetitive camp fest where the other team wont back off and you continuously die BUT if you spawn elsewhere there isn't really any helping the team fight at all.
    - bugs, bugs , bugs, bugs, and more bugs... Some people with lag or bad computers teleport and go through walls... some people can be looking 1 way on your screen and actually be looking at you on yours.

    Sounds:
    + Nice in game music (AT TIMES)
    + Have their own sounds for guns
    - You can randomly hear people talk on their mic that aren't in your squad - Not really the best "killed by" screen..

    Other:
    + You can buy skins, etc. to pimp out your characters/vehicles
    - You can buy weapons, etc. instead of saving up to purchase them with in game currency so in a way it's too easy for some to have much better weapons.

    The game is fun, new, frustrating at times, and buggy. Basically it evens out although it still needs some polishing and the performance isn't really the best I've seen but that's okay since it just came out.    … Expand
  23. BarkSpear
    Dec 9, 2012
    0
    I'm not enitrely sure of the words to sum this game up. Ambitious, yes. Technically brilliant, yes. Amazing idea, certainly. But there are also other words that apply. Boring, buggy, overrated, uninspiring, underachieving, poorly reviewed by 'critics' (as always) and rage inducingly unfair. This is a free2play game, so some might say being overly negative isn't appropriate. I disagreeI'm not enitrely sure of the words to sum this game up. Ambitious, yes. Technically brilliant, yes. Amazing idea, certainly. But there are also other words that apply. Boring, buggy, overrated, uninspiring, underachieving, poorly reviewed by 'critics' (as always) and rage inducingly unfair. This is a free2play game, so some might say being overly negative isn't appropriate. I disagree however, the game is still an income source and therefore should be revealed as it is, an image different to that shouted out by the masses it would appear.
    Positives- The big battles. This, apart from ambition, is the only thing I can find good here. When hundreds of people actually bother to attack a target instead of pretending to be lone rangers the action gets intense, tactical and most importantly, fun. It's also important to note the technical achievement. Que applause. The Negatives- Where to start? People. They kill this, ironically. The forums are a hotbed of rather pathetic trolls and juvenile kiddies. Ask a question, expect 9 trolls, 6x10-7 flamers and 1 genuine answer. F2PNewbs. In game, team killing is common, and rather annoying. It is a good concept to add, but nobody bothers where they land/drive/walk. They then complain and revenge team kill because they can't accept their mistake. Coordination is also particularly hard if you aren't in an outfit, as everybody disappears or gives up halfway through battles. I'm forever suddenly finding myself alone in the middle of an enemy base because nobody can be arsed to drive another few sundy's up, or spawn a tank. The much hyped big battles are cool, but so rare that anyone who isnt blinded by a shiny new game will instantly realise the game's main point isn't so 'main'. Flying is dame near impossible. Even if you make it out of the spawn area, good luck mastering the controls before you're shot down. They make absolutely no sense whatsoever to anyone who's ever flown a real plane, or a simulator, or even ace combat. Health intrigues me. Countless time in my play testing, both in beta and the 1.0 release I have flanked and shot AFK's at the enemy rear. One clip later they turn and headshot you. Clearly a bug, but an extremely common one, unfortunately. The same occurs during firefights, I've emptied whole clips into individuals (and hit, flamers) and they still kill me with a 1 second burst when I pursue them. Weapons. Or water pistols, whichever you prefer. They all look the same, sound the same and do puny amounts of damage to the rather large health bars. I haven't once felt like I've been carrying a real weapon, even in a hugely overpowered MAX. Bugs. I couldn't even begin to list them, there are far to many. Learning curve. Point and shoot isnt hard. Abilities, flying, deploying tactics etc. are never explained and rather backwards in their implementation. Anti-air is useless. You can sit on the crowns top level shooting away all day and probably get only one or two kills. Fighters are too fast to hit, defeating the purpose of anti-air as MAX's and tanks can hit the galaxy's better than turrets. Direction. There is none, and as previously said, rarely do people actually attack en masse.

    Conclusion-
    Whilst this game has potential, it is killed by these factors:
    -People(kiddies) thinking they're clever ruining the games online rep through immature forum antics
    -People not playing properly
    -People team killing
    -People pretending it's a solo game
    -Endless bugs
    -Poor direction
    -Poor controls
    -Completely atrocious health/damage balance.
    -Terrible guns(underpowered, generic etc.)
    -A pervading sense of boredom and frustration.

    That last point is most important. You can look over the game's endless drawback after one good firefight, but its just like a drug, alcohol for example. Once the effect wears off and you realise whats actually going on you're left feeling crap and swearing never to play again. Especially when you read the sickeningly stupid 'critics' reviews. I'll admit, I see their profession as next to pointless. That's why I spend my time on this site. People's opinions are often far more 'on Earth' than these strange layabouts. But in this case, both are outrageously pathetic, although some have seen the light and look at the game past its face value, something which the ordinary bullet spamming, COD noob masses fail to do, making this game seem so much better than the failure it actually is.    … Expand
  24. Cameirus
    Dec 9, 2012
    6
    approach with caution.
    Not a bad fps, but its got faults. Its very zergtastic, you wont often get into big battles, people just endlessly zerg undefended bases. And whilst there is supposedly pop control, there is no population balance on continents, meaning that each continent tends to eb dominated by one faction.
    Air is stupidly overpowered, and ground based AA is pathetic. And cert    approach with caution.
    Not a bad fps, but its got faults. Its very zergtastic, you wont often get into big battles, people just endlessly zerg undefended bases. And whilst there is supposedly pop control, there is no population balance on continents, meaning that each continent tends to eb dominated by one faction.
    Air is stupidly overpowered, and ground based AA is pathetic. And cert prices for weapons is very very steep. It is bordering on P2W.

    However, if you can get a decent infantry battle going on in a Tech/amp/biolab or such, then this game shines. but endemic hacks is ruining it right now, speed hacks, wall hacks, aimbots....and no anti-hack program to stop it.

    Couldbe a great game, but SOE need to get a handle on balance and hacks asap.    … Expand
  25. Ordish
    Dec 9, 2012
    5
    I love the concept of the game but the implementation is sorely lacking. First and most important for any online game. LAG. The game is just lag ridden. I understand there is always going to be some lag in games but when I can play Battlefield 3 on ultra with no lag, I should at least be able to play PlanetSide 2 on low with no lag. NOPE. It is a great concept, an ongoing war between 3I love the concept of the game but the implementation is sorely lacking. First and most important for any online game. LAG. The game is just lag ridden. I understand there is always going to be some lag in games but when I can play Battlefield 3 on ultra with no lag, I should at least be able to play PlanetSide 2 on low with no lag. NOPE. It is a great concept, an ongoing war between 3 factions. It is like a futuristic ARMA without going overboard on the realism. If not for the lag I would rate the game much higher. As it is, it is almost unplayable if you are interested in actually aiming.… Expand
  26. ParagonRenegade
    Dec 8, 2012
    8
    (Forewarning; I apologize for the inevitable slaughter of my format by Metacritic, huge walls of text are the only option :c) The PROS:

    +The game has the largest battles to be found in any game, ever. Barring very special cases in certain strategy games (Namely, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and Total War) you will never see larger battles. It simply dwarves all contemporary games    (Forewarning; I apologize for the inevitable slaughter of my format by Metacritic, huge walls of text are the only option :c) The PROS:

    +The game has the largest battles to be found in any game, ever. Barring very special cases in certain strategy games (Namely, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and Total War) you will never see larger battles. It simply dwarves all contemporary games in sheer scale.

    +Many of the mechanics from the original game (PlanetSide) have been completely revamped and/or replaced. It is no longer a chore to play. In fact, the gameplay is VASTLY improved, featuring full hitboxes, well-defined class roles and strategic thought simply not present before. Quite simply, its a blast

    +The futuristic setting is very interesting visually and audibly. The lighting, draw distances, shadows and SFX are stunning. I especially enjoy when you fight at night, as it is one of the only modern games where the dark of night is... dark. I have a feeling you will enjoy looking at the immense star and moonscapes in awe, they're spectacular.

    + The game is Free to Play! In case you didn't know, "F2P" means "Free to Play"; Huzzuah! + There are three teams per server, as opposed to the regular two-sided fights that are the norm. This introduces an interesting dynamic with three-sided battles. Extremely fun.

    + While the factions share several things in common, notably certain vehicles and the classes, they each have a unique set of strengths and weaknesses that give you incentive to play as all three. While the lore is not particularly strong (This is an MMO after all), I suspect you will choose your first faction based on their backstory. I prefer the Vanu, being a transhumanist scum in real life.

    +As goes naturally with the large player counts, the maps are enormous; expect to travel in various gunships and APC's more than on foot when trying to get from place-to-place.

    The CONS:

    - My primary concern with the game is the system requirements; you will require a very powerful rig to run the game at a level of 30 FPS or higher. Lower-end computers or older ones will have some problems, most notably in the larger battles. I had no problems with this, as I very recently constructed my own computer with high-end parts, but for the majority of people performance will be a factor.

    - There are quite a few bugs and glitches int he game as-is; friendly tanks running you over push you into geometry, muzzle flash sometimes continues even when not firing,You spawn from a "slanted" perspective... You know, pretty typical stuff.

    - Game-enders; Every now and then, you will have a CATASTROPHIC crash that may require you to disable/reset your router and modem, or at least restart your computer. These are very infrequent (I've had it happen once) but keep this in mind.

    -There are some balancing issues, most relating to the MAX quasi-class/mech and to the power of air vehicles/Anti-Air weaponry.

    - The "Certification" system in the game allows you to purchase weapons and other gear/perks with in-game experience. You "buy" them with things called "Certs" (Short for certifications) which are earned in gameplay for doing essentially everything. The number of Certs you need to buy some things (Notably weapons) is huge, and you earn them very slowly. I place huge emphasis on "slowly" . You can, optionally, circumvent this problem by directly buying things with real money through microtransactions, or buying a $15/month subscription (Which isn't mandatory in any way!) to increase the rate at which you earn things.

    - I mentioned the lighting effects, particle effects and such earlier? Those are great, but the actual TEXTURES in the game are not particularly good, on-par with the industry standard five years ago. This is for the sake of game performance, a necessary evil, but it is still a definite weakness.

    -Tutorials are very weak, you are simply thrust into the game for lack of a better term. I suggest watching youtube videos to get a grasp of the game before you play

    CONCLUSION:

    PlanetSide 2 is FILLED with great times to be had if you have a decent computer, all for the low, low price of $0. Keep in mind the game is somewhat hindered graphically and in terms of performance by the large player counts and huge maps, but simultaneously remember the good vastly outweighs the bad!

    It gets an 8/10 - The game is superb with several minor problems and one somewhat big one. I expect the developers will support the game for years to come, so I will likely amend my score to 9/10 in the future as the performance is boosted and the bigs patched. You have nothing to lose by downloading it, just do it!    … Expand
  27. hegyitaho
    Dec 8, 2012
    0
    what's wrong with the critics?? this game is painfully dull and pointless. fps on a mmo scale? great idea except for the massive lagg which kills the whole zergfest. even being free this does not worth the bandwidth to download
  28. EdwardiVV
    Dec 7, 2012
    10
    Game is incredible. Ever battle is massive and scales hundreds of players. People giving it low scores have crappy computer or internet. This is the game of the future and requires a decent computer. I have laptop with nividia gforce 200m series graphics card and 6Gs of ram at college and this game runs fine. If you want an awesome game that blows battlefield out of the water ,and makesGame is incredible. Ever battle is massive and scales hundreds of players. People giving it low scores have crappy computer or internet. This is the game of the future and requires a decent computer. I have laptop with nividia gforce 200m series graphics card and 6Gs of ram at college and this game runs fine. If you want an awesome game that blows battlefield out of the water ,and makes call of duty look sad...THIS IS FOR YOU… Expand
  29. MikoSquiz
    Dec 7, 2012
    0
    There are some amazing, inventive ideas in this game, its whole brilliant concept being something rarely if ever seen before (except in the previous title in the series, of course). Unfortunately, that sweet center is tucked away inside a crispy shell of pure manure: The actual gameplay is thoroughly rotten. With clumsy, awkward movement and dull, bland gunplay, Planetside 2 is only asThere are some amazing, inventive ideas in this game, its whole brilliant concept being something rarely if ever seen before (except in the previous title in the series, of course). Unfortunately, that sweet center is tucked away inside a crispy shell of pure manure: The actual gameplay is thoroughly rotten. With clumsy, awkward movement and dull, bland gunplay, Planetside 2 is only as good as its weakest link: Not good at all. The amazingly lazy visual design that ensures new players won't have the slightest clue what anything is without looking up in the wiki helps make it even worse. But at least you can buy yourself more hit points and other advantages with cash, right?

    Unless you're already a Planetside veteran, or have the patience of a saint and absolutely no money to pay for a real game, don't bother.    … Expand
  30. IIandrew
    Dec 6, 2012
    1
    Well after hours and hours of frustrating gameplay from the beginning of beta to the games launch I can honestly say Planetside 2 is the best continent simulator I've ever played. You don't know thrill until you have driven on a shaky ATV 4000 meters to a frontline only to get instantly killed and repeat the process. My framerate has been consistently bad on this game because it has 0Well after hours and hours of frustrating gameplay from the beginning of beta to the games launch I can honestly say Planetside 2 is the best continent simulator I've ever played. You don't know thrill until you have driven on a shaky ATV 4000 meters to a frontline only to get instantly killed and repeat the process. My framerate has been consistently bad on this game because it has 0 optimization for amd users. They released the game far too early and it is still riddled with strange bugs. I'm afraid this awful piece of crap software is going to melt my computer. I've known about this game for a long time and was a supporter of this amazing idea. Then I got into beta and realized that the devs do not know how to make a game and it's the same pay 2 win style of tribes ascend but with slow agonizing gameplay. At best this game is you charging up a hill and taking out as many of the enemy as you can with a grenade. At worst this is you sitting at a checkpoint trying to capture it for 15 minutes only to get sniped by a sniper who you LITERALLY cannot see because the game hasn't generated them yet because of some bug or something. No wait the worst moment is walking outside a spawn facility and getting shot by the 20 Vanu that are milking the place for kills and having NO way to stop them. Oh wait no the worst part is walking outside and getting killed by an overpowered tank. NO NO the worst part is that the heavy class that kills you in 2 shots after you fire a whole clip into them. WAIT NO the worst part is this game had such amazing potential and failed so badly. Planetside 2 is literally indescribable, it's like a whole new category of crap games. My experience in the beta is that the devs didn't listen and were aiming for a target audience that does not exist. They ignore the veterans, screw the noobs, and pander to the rich. I once stepped on a nail barefoot and had to walk 100 meters over rocky ground. That was a better experience than this game and was more friendly. Maybe if the devs had listened to the intricate 10 page posts some fanatics posted. Maybe if capturing bases wasn't a pain in the a**. Maybe if performance was good. Maybe if everytime I got killed it didn't feel completely unfair.

    Listen heres my advice. If you have 10 friends with good gaming rigs and high end processors you should get a hold of them and go play this game with them. Now for the rest of the population. Go play this game to waste your time and see how truly bad it is. If you like getting in a tank dominating for 4 minutes and then waiting 15 minutes to be able to spawn it again than you'll love this game. I give this game a 1 out of 10 because it is a good way to kill an hour when you first download it.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Best PC Game of 2012
13
#13 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
45
#45 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
  1. Armchair Empire
    May 10, 2013
    75
    The shooter fundamentals are all there. The visuals are great but the progression just doesn't seem to deliver any payoff for players outside of the hardcore. It's not quite as much of a shameless cash grab as something out of Zynga, but it definitely sours the experience.
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  2. Everyeye.it
    Feb 19, 2013
    90
    Planetside 2 is a good free-to-play, strong functional and very funny, which does not envy anything to the founders of the first-person shooter genre.
    Read full review
  3. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 4, 2013
    89
    It might look overly complicated, but PlanetSide 2 is nothing more than your average class-based, objective-oriented competitive FPS. What makes it stand apart from other F2P games (aside from the huge servers, of course) is the co-operation factor with other players. [February 2013]
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