[Aptorian]

I'd been ignoring this game because I'm weary of MMOs and there were more interesting videogames I was keeping on eye on in November and December. Today I decided to download it and take a look since it's one of those free-to-play mini-transaction type of games.

It's surprisingly good. Like, really fun and challenging. Imagine if you took Battlefield 3's big maps, support classes and vehicle combat, expanded the maps and added a ton more players. That's basically Planetside 2. There's something extremely thrilling about assaulting a gigantic mountain size machine with a hundred people battle back and forth for control of various key positions while airplanes hover around the installation raining death on everyone.

I'm considering pumping some money into the game just to see what difference it makes in my upgrade speeds but right now it doesn't even seem necessary. It's really well designed in the sense that you don't feel like you're being forced to pay to play.

Anybody else checking this game out?

[MTS]

I saw a trailer for it while I was up at Shiara and Luci's in November and was quite intrigued, even though I don't really like most MMOs. Haven't gotten around to it yet due to so many other games to play but I might just bump it up a few notches based on that description alone.

[Aptorian]

I'd been ignoring it as well but I thought that it was probably smartest to check out the game while it was in the spotlight and a relatively large user base. Nothing worse than checking out a multiplayer game when it is already dying and only the hardcore remain.

From what I experienced right now the game is rife with newbs just scuttling about being a waste of space. That means there's plenty of cannon fodder to pick out but it also means it is a pain to complete group objectives. I single handedly took out a small base and was holding 3 points simultaneously while waiting for control to switch to our side and it was impossible to get any assistance.

The cool thing about the game is that it located points of heavy action for you and offers to throw you into the fray from the start so that you don't have to spend time trying to find something to shoot.

[Trull's son]

I played this in beta. It was great fun at first. I focused on heavy infantry and dabbled in some tanks. It was fun teaming up with a few friends to coordinate base attacks, which occasionally degenerated into heated back and forth and eventually large scale battles; these were great, the best aspect of the game by far.

Then it took a turn for the worse. A couple weeks before launch they gave players a few thousand certificates to spend, so I decided to invest in the mosquito (TR), an aircraft that I had not spent much time on. It was the most fun I had in game, and so I decided to invest all certs after launch into this vehicle rather than spreading it out. I had planned out the play time it would take, based on my previous experience, and I was looking forward to launch. Unfortunately, a couple days before launch they severely restricted cert gain to the point where buying a single weapon attachment on a vehicle could range close to the thousand mark (as opposed to a couple hundred, pre-launch); they reduced cert/hour and cert/exp. What I assumed was going to be possible with a few weeks of hard/semi-casual play became, post-launch, a daunting task that would now take several months. I understand why they did this (they do need to create an incentive for investment), but the contrast to the beta cert gain (which seemed decent enough) shattered my plans and left me feeling like any attempt would either cost me more money than I was willing to spend or more time than I had to spend.

Maybe I should have invested some cash? A friend payed $60 to get the premium package (or whatever it is called), and was still getting less than we were getting mid beta. He also received enough cash points -- whatever they are called -- to afford a couple weapon unlocks (2 or so). Maybe I'm just cheap, but I'd love to spend 60 dollars to buy the whole game, rather than 60 for an experience boost and a couple weapons. As is, 60 dollars, if I recall, won't even unlock a single infantry class. Not even close.

I'm obviously a little disgruntled. Paying money for the game would give me a boost of experience and a gun or two, but having a reference point from which to see that side, I was still unimpressed. It is certainly worth a try, but insofar as customizing a play-style or acquiring upgrades, I think my time is better spent elsewhere.

That said, it is a fun game that can keep one occupied without upgrades for several hours. The vistas are cool, and there's nothing quite like a 30 tank caravan with air support moving out to take a single objective. They may have also updated since launch, so some of my criticism may no longer be valid. Several hours of fun gaming is not bad though,especially since it's free!

ps: I should mention that upgrades are mainly "sideways", meaning the different weapons are largely stylistic changes, and do not create damage imbalance and problems like that. The game is fun with the default set up, but when that gets old and you look to more interesting builds, you may be left disappointed.

[Ulrik]

i played it for about month...its very good MMOFPS, but...for multiplayer FPS I go for battlefield 3, this is fun rather with your own clan (classic feature).

[Silencer]

Luci and I spent a good couple of hours playing this the night before I left Brisbane; pretty fun. Very standard MMOFPS fare but done well enough. I haven't really touched it since because I need to download it again (it was on Shiki's computer, heh) and it's definitely a team-based game I'd need to play with friends to really have fun. And it's very easy to get...bogged down around capture points. Taking a base can take a loooong time.

But yeah, worth a shot if you're into FPS/MMO games. And the free-to-play aspect is, of course, awesome.