A Search for the Best Free to Play game : Episode 4 – Planetside 2

In today’s Search for the best free to play game out there, we try out the MMOFPS Planetside 2.  Planetside 2 is based on 3 warring factions who fight to hold and conquer territory.  Equipped with spaceships, guns, tanks, and other vehicles, each player is part of a grand scheme to dominate the world.  Once territory has been conquered, the players must then fight to defend that territory at all cost, causing a continuous push/pull battle to the end.

Starting out

When Planetside 2 begins you’ll need to choose an Empire.  The only differences between the empires is based on their technologies.  Each empire contains different vehicles, weapons, and agendas.  You can  choose your empire based on their technology, or you can be like me and just choose which empire based on their music.

Once your empire is decided, you can pick the server you’d like to play on, and create your character.  Think of it like any other MMO, one server can hold so many people, so if your friends are playing be sure to ask which server they’re on before creating your first character.  Character creation is simple, you simply choose a name, gender, and a face then your off to the world.  Something unique to Planetside 2 is the ability to choose your class while playing the game, not before.  What I mean by that, is you can play as a sniper on the same character that you can play as an assault on.  Your character isn’t limited to a pre-selected class you choose during character creation, you’re free to change your class anytime you’d like (except during battle of course).

 

Playing the Game

You’ll begin your day in Planetside 2 by being air dropped directly onto the battlefield.  This gets you into the action the second you start the game, however it will probably leave you scratching your head at first, as it can be quite overwhelming.  A typical battle may involve anywhere from 10 to 100 players battling it out for a small piece of land.  I suggest taking these first few minutes of the game to learn the abilities your class possesses, familiarize yourself with the weapons, and if you understand enough, try aiding your team in protecting or conquering a stronghold or outpost.

Chances are though, you’ll have no idea what to do just like I did and probably quit playing your first day.  This game is really one of those games you need to research a bit, or play with a friend, before you can fully understand what is going on.  I suggest going back to the warp gate by accessing your map and clicking on the icon over the warp gate on the map.  This too may be slightly difficult, but you’ll get the hang of the map after a few uses.  The Warp Gates are the only permanent structures in the game, meaning they are also the only safe zones in the game.  At the Warp Gate you can visit a weapons terminal to upgrade and resupply your character, change your class, or visit a vehicle terminal to purchase a vehicle.  This is a good place to play around with your classes, test the weapons, and hop in a vehicle where you’ll probably fly directly into a building and blow up immediately.  What I’m saying is, get used to some large failures before you completely understand how to play.  You just can’t jump in a game this large, and this complex without failing a few times.  To make it a bit easier, let us take a look at what is available to you and what it does.

 

Resources, Weaponry, and Vehicles

Resources are used to purchase grenades, and different types of vehicles.  These resources are generated depending on your empires performance on the battlefield.  They are capped however and deplete only when used, so use those resources when you can to get an edge over the opposing empires.

Here’s the classes, and vehicles that Planetside 2 offers.

Classes:

• Light Assault – Light Assault carries an assault weapon, and a jet pack.  These are ideal classes for capping enemy bases, as they can access areas other players can’t and are able to jump to the highest tier and cap the base while the enemy is outside fighting.
• Heavy Assault – The heavy assault is just like the light assault, however they carry larger weapons, an anti-vehicle weapon, ammo to throw down for team mates, and lack the jet pack ability.  They excel at laying down a lot of firepower and helping kill enemy vehicles that may be causing a nuisance.
• Infiltrator – The Infiltrator is a spy/sniper hybrid… or just an infiltrator.  They are equipped with a sniper rifle, a cloaking device, and a  flare gun type device that reveals cloaked enemies.  Infiltrators also possess the ability to hack enemy terminals and turrets converting them to your empire.
• Engineer – The engineer is equipped with a carbine type gun, a repair gun, and the ability to toss down a heavy machine gun type device.  The machine gun provides a protective shield everywhere but the player’s head, and can lay down firepower enough to make any enemy cower.  The engineer is also important when a team-mate is in a MAX suit, as only engineers can repair them.
• Combat Medic – The medic is equipped with an assault rifle, and a “healing gun” that has the ability to both heal and resurrect team mates.
• MAX – The MAX is actually a vehicle, not a class, however it feels more like a class than a vehicle.  The MAX is actually a suit that the player wears turning them into a human sized tank basically.  The MAX has two guns, one on both arms, which can either be anti-vehicle or anti-air guns.  You can also choose to have one of each, it just depends on what you’d like.  To spawn as a MAX you’ll have to spend your vehicle credits, and there is a timer associated with it, so be careful not to die too quickly.

Vehicles:

 

Ground Vehicles

• ATV – Your typical ATV type vehicle.
• Tanks – There is both a light tank and a heavy tank.  The light tank is a cheaper 1 seater, while the heavier tank is a 2 seater allowing an AA gunner.
• Sunderer – The Sunderer is a vehicle designed to be deployed in the battlefield to allow fellow soldiers to spawn directly on to.  A well placed sunderer can get you a lot of points for allowing team mates to spawn on you.  It can deploy 3 guns located at the top, and hold a total crew of 12 people.  When deployed it can provide infantry with resupply, and the ability to change class.

 

 

Air Vehicles

• Scout – There are scout type vehicles which are made for air to air combat and the occasional air vs infantry.  Once upgraded, these can be both pesky and effective.
• Medium Aircraft – The medium-sized aircraft are designed for 3 players.  One player drives the vehicle and has a gun on the front of the vehicle, a second player has a gun pointed below the aircraft to attack infantry and ground vehicles, and the last player is the rear gunner put there to protect the aircraft.
• LARGE Aircraft – Lastly there is the Galaxy.  This aircraft seats 7 with a total of 5 gunners.  While the Galaxy can be devastating, waiting for a crew to fill it up, and its slow movement speed can prove to be painful.

 

Diving Deeper into Gameplay

There are 3 different planets to inhabit in Planetside 2 and each planet is huge.  It will probably take you 15 minutes to fly from corner to corner in the fast air vehicle available to you.  Fortunately Planetside 2 comes equipped with a fast travel system that alerts you to where the battle is.  To get to the nearest battle you simply can open your map, select that location and wait a few seconds until it transports you to the battle.  Once in the battle, you’ll find yourself in an extremely large-scale battle with action that can literally never stop for days.

The more you fight, the more certification points you gain.  These certifications points can be used to purchase infantry and vehicle upgrades.  Like most free to play games, you can obviously choose to purchase some upgrades to your weapons immediately by buying certifications, however I wouldn’t suggest it.  In Planetside 2 the only benefit you’ll have from buying currency is either getting weapon unlocks faster, or buying some cosmetics for your character or vehicle.  Even if you decide to invest some money into a weapon, you still can’t purchase the unlocks, as those can only come from in-game currencies received by performing in-game.

Gameplay Planetside 2 can be whatever you want it.  Often times I find myself in an air vehicle driving around destroying enemy turrets for a few easy points, only to find myself in an air to air dog fight for 30 minutes.  Or when  the crap hits the fan at one of our points, you’ll find me in the hallways blasting through enemy troops on foot.  If I’m feeling generous I’ll use my resources to purchase a sunderer and help my team execute an assault on an enemy base.  Whatever it is your in to, Planetside 2 can offer it free to play.

 

Overall thoughts

Planetside 2 is probably the least “play to win” free to play game I’ve seen yet.  You really never have to spend any money, unless you just want to get a jump-start in the beginning, or want to add some flare to your character or vehicles.  I’ve seen better game mechanics when it comes to infantry, however they’re by no means bad.  The air combat was designed very well, and offers you the ability to play the game whatever your style may be.  If you have some time to spend over a rainy weekend, this game is worth giving a try.  It is a little complex, and does require some team work, so playing with a buddy will definitely benefit you.  However with in-game voice chat, and the ability to join groups within the game, you can become social without the need of knowing someone who plays the game.

To get in on the action, head over to the Planetside 2 webpage and get started!

 

So far in our search for the best free to play game we’ve reviewed 4 games.  Tomorrow marks the last day in our round up, with a final decision coming soon after!  Check out what we’ve looked at so far:

For Episode 1 where we play the free to play MMOFPS Warframe click here.

For Episode 2 where we play the free to play FPS Artic Combat click here.

For Episode 3 where we play the free to play tank warfare game World of Tanks click here.