shots
| PlanetSide: After Lattice PC preview | |
| developer | Sony Online Entertainment |
| publisher | Sony Online Entertainment |
| author | Marcin |
| date | May. 1, 2003 |
Chromehounds
NA Review by Marcin
Oblivion-The First 3 Hours
PC Quicktake by walTer
Comic Quick Takes January 25, 2006
Feature by Mike
In our previous PlanetSide preview, I've discussed the basic assumptions of the game (how it plays), given some info on specific classes, empires and vehicles (what you get to play with) in the game, and briefly talked about the current state of the beta (what it was like right then). Since then Sony's released a very large megapatch, several smaller patches that are almost daily in frequency, and patched the servers innumerable times. How does PlanetSide stack up after all of these changes? Let's find out.
In the balance
Let's quickly rehash for those just coming in the door. Terran Republic (TR) uses a rapid inaccurate hail of bullets, think chaingun; New Conglomerate (NC) prefers slower but more massive punches, shotgun-like; Vanu Sovereignty (VS) uses alien energy weapons that can easily target soft and hard targets alike.
When we first met these empires they were quite a bit unbalanced. First of all, the Terran's inaccurate chainguns and cycler rifle were entirely too accurate, giving them an unfair advantage at long range; the TR anti-infantry MAX was a human death machine as well. The New Conglomerate's Phoenix rocket was also the source of much discontent as it was (and still is) the only weapon that can be fired without even seeing the target (it's optically guided, much like Unreal Tournament's Redeemer). Finally, it was universally noted that the VS weaponry was vastly underpowered; the punch they packed did not make up for the miserably slow projectile speed.
Other aspects of gameplay that were at the center of much dispute was the "musical bases" syndrome. Basically it consisted of isolated groups capturing bases, then after capture immediately leaving for another base - at this point another force came in and recaptured the base. There was no incentive to base defense, and it was far more worthwhile to hunt out poorly defended bases than to coordinate attacks on stronger ones.
The debate between the first person shooter crowd and the role playing game crowd continues (although it's not nearly split into such clear divisions as I imply here). The RPG crowd wants a richer experience for the long-term player, and rewards to match devotion and dedication. The FPS crowd wants a quick fix - to jump in, have a glorious fight and leave. These two goals are incompatible because to satisfy the FPS crowd, you and your opponent must be on roughly even footing; the RPG crowd would prefer to have longer-playing characters develop skills to make them unmatched in battle.
There were tons of other minor issues having to do with game stability, ease of use of the Sanctuary continents (each empire's safe havens), servers' capacity to handle players, player animation tweaks, sound effect changes and much more.
The fixes
Despite vocal fears that Sony was running out of time for patches and global fixes, the development team has done an outstanding and (to me) incredible job in addressing almost all of the complaints. Such willingness to turn the game upside down this close to release bodes very well for future expansions and a continuously improving game.
The largest change is perhaps the Continental Lattice system, which creates the concept of battle fronts. No longer is it viable to capture a base deep in enemy lines - heck, there were no enemy lines before this patch. Now you can only attempt to capture a base that is directly linked to a base that you already control. This forces each side to funnel forces to only a few hotspots on the map, not be forced to react when random bases are attacked on the other side of the continent - only to arrive too late time and time again. Check out the screenshots to the left to see the lines of "hackable" bases, and the concentrations of base ownership by each specific empire - before this Lattice the map was a hodgepodge of neutral bases and random ownership.
It is still possible to move behind enemy lines, create strike forces to weaken resupply lines, and take over towers to hamper enemy respawn - you just can't capture a base willy-nilly on the map. The 100 vs 100 battles created by this system more than speak for its efficacy. Amusingly enough, the people crying out for more, focused, larger battles previously are now crying out to stop the zerging (zerging - to send out a large swarm of poorly armed, poorly organized forces in hopes of overwhelming a superior tactical force with sheer numbers) which basically are focused, large battles; some even go as far as to suggest that to achieve large battles you have to...eliminate large battles. I'm not sure how that works, but those are some of the suggestions in the beta forums - for those unfamiliar with beta forums, this is about standard behavior.