This might sound weird, but the biggest thing that impressed me about PlanetSide 2 was the map. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay and all that's on offer is pretty great. But the scale of everything is just insane when I was taking a look at the map. You have games like Battlefield gloating about their huge maps (and they are), but you can fit several of their biggest maps into just one of PlanetSide 2's map easily.

Part of having huge maps also means having a ton of players fighting, and in this case you're going to have thousands and thousand of people playing on a server going at it on foot, in tanks, and in the air all the time fighting for objective points all over the map. I was shown an overhead map view during gamescom where I could see all the action was taking place at any point, and see who is in control of what territory that's constantly shifting hands. PlanetSide 2 features three playable teams, and the goal is to dominate the map. 

I have this thing where I like to know how long it will take to get from one side of the world to the other on foot. Usually no one can ever answer my question because no one ever wants to try it out. Josh Hackney, Executive Producer over at Sony Online Entertainment, at least told me he's gotten across a map on a ATV, which took him about ten minutes to do. The fastest jet in the game will take you around two minutes, and he tried demonstrating that for me. It was really cool seeing battles happening all over the ground as we were flying across the level. Sadly we weren't able to make it all the way as a enemy plane ended up taking our jet down. 

The game will be simple enough for anyone to just jump right in to go shoot at things. But there's also going to be a level of strategy involved where you will have to real plan, and design your loadouts appropriately. While it's great that it'll be easily accessible, I think players ignoring the larger aspect of the game will be doing a real disservice to themselves. The fun here will be working with others as you try to conquer everything you can. Things evens gets as complex as having to create different loadouts for the day and night cycle. Your daytime loadout won't cut it when you have to get around in the darkness of the night. 

PlanetSide 2 is also a free-to-play first-person shooter, so you can use in-game money you've earned or real cash to buy things for your characters. The team is being really careful with what they let players buy with actual cash. Specifically, you can spend your money (in-game or real) on equipment that act more like side-grades for your characters, and you can also spend real money on cosmetic items. Otherwise, actual weapons and vehicles will only be purchasable through the in-game currency. 

There's a lot on offer with PlanetSide 2, and I'm looking forward to playing with thousands of others at once. 

Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)

RiotControl

Damn right your mind is blown! Planetside is shaping up to be amazing.

I just hope there are no concessions made in development for a potential console release. I'm a little bit weary about the influences from Call of Duty and Battlefield, but that certainly wouldn't stop me from playing the game as there is no doubt in my mind that it will live up to be a worthy successor. Let's just pray they do the micro-transactions the right way. I've yet to play any SOE F2P game, so I don't know how they do things.

Wedge

Planetside is great game for clan-size groups. You can get 10-20 or more people and make an armor column of tanks or an organized group of drop ship soldiers or whatever. And even then you're only a small part of the battlefield.

omicron1

So, about 4-8 square miles, then. (Going by an approximate 45 mph top speed)
Good to know. Not the largest map ever (see also: Skyrim, that insane Just Cause 2 multiplayer mod), but respectable.

omicron1

edit - 64 square miles. Misread the text.

Emshumi

Arma 3 compared to Planetside 2 and Battlefield 3 map.

Andy Schutzman

@Emshumi
How many players does Arma 3 support?

Marc Allen

Jesus cant say how much im excited for Planetside 2. Never played the original but this is looking to be simply amazing. Definitely going to be there playing.

Gundy

The fights at night are some of the most chaotic and beautiful things i've ever seen. Also, i love how epic every battle can be.

For instance, i was tagging along in a dropship about to attack a major base and everything was quiet. It looked like we could take a point or two before they realised what was happening, but we were wrong. Dead wrong. The Vanu were just waiting for us.
As soon as we touched down all hell broke loose. We lost half of our force within the first 10 seconds. Once we had gathered our remaining squad we pushed forward. But it was too late, they had brought in air support and wiped us before we made it inside.

Arttemis

Fucking sweet!

KillyV

Mmmh ? Isn't Chernarus one of the biggest with 225km2 ?

My Landlord

@Emshumi

Oh gawd.

Kyera

ArmA 3 is going to be amazing so long as it isn't terrible.

ShAiOnEi

BUY 3000 DOLLAR COMPUTER JUST TO PLAY!!!!......no thank you.

PalinRMA

Yet PS2, best MMO of the year, been playing for a while not much more I can say.

That guy with the gecko hat

The thing that most impressed me about PlanetSide 2 was the water.

Let me repeat: They handed out PlanetSide 2 WATER at the booth!

Soulcage

Just going to throw this out there...

Large maps are great and stuff, but travelling for 2 minutes only to die in 5 seconds is not fun. Either give me plenty of vehicles to reach the action, or make spawn points that I can select. I imagine PS2 is probably a combination of both. I think it would be hard to give a huge map a sense of scale that is is in fact huge, while allowing the players to reach the action quickly.

Sightless

Soulcage:

The first Planetside had a mobile command center truck which could be driven out to any point in the field and turned into a mobile spawn point. In addition, spawn points are littered around the map. Any small tower or large base your faction captures has spawn points. It wasn't a big issue there, and I wouldn't predict that it will be the largest issue here.

Besides, you can always just do what I did and spawn at the base that's currently under attack. There is ALWAYS somewhere under attack if you just want to fight.