PlanetSide
greeted me with one of the best musical scores Ive ever heard in a
game, and in an instant I knew it was something unique. From the sound,
to the graphics, to the atmosphere, I knew that Planetside was something
special. This was it. This game this ingenious, beautiful game
was going to be my first five star rating. Nearly four years of
drawing lines between good and bad, and this would be the first time I
was going to hard out a best of the best rating. I could feel it. I
could feel it during the start of the tutorial; I could feel it as I
took control of my first airborne vehicle. I could feel it as I swooped
across the games massive universe in search of combat, a rich battle
lust in my veins that reminded me of Halo. This game was meant for me,
this was my destiny. I called my friends, and to the weird ones who seem
to enjoy watching me play games instead of playing them personally, I
said, "Come over quick. Ive got my first five star review." To those
who might have grown bored watching me play and wanted to play
themselves, I said, "Theres been a gas leak at my house," and "Dont
call me. Ill call you."
Then
I found combat, and my system hiccupped. There was a momentary flash of
red as I spotted an enemy, there was gunfire from both my own teammates
and the opposing forces, and then there was a long pause. As soon as I
encountered enemies, the connection lagged. After a ten second stretch
of watching the motionless screen, vainly shaking my mouse in hopes of
extracting some sign of life, it informed me that I was dead, and, due
to the frequency of my deaths, would take five seconds longer than
before to return to life (If I get to heaven and God says, "Thats five
deaths in 200 years, Aaron. Twenty year penalty for you," Ill think of
this game).
PlanetSide
is a brilliantly designed game, with strong environmental elements, a
gigantic universe, excellent team combat, and one of the most versatile
weapons and vehicle use systems Ive ever seen in a game yet youll
notice that this is not a five star review. In the core of its design,
PlanetSide carries itself with a sense of majesty, plays with grace, and
is one of the best massively multiplayer experiences around, but it is
not a perfect game. Unfortunately, some of the best moments are hindered
by lag time between players, drawn out moments where the system tries to
keep up with the action, and at times, instant deaths after those
moments without ever even having a chance to see an enemy.
Once
into the game, it quickly becomes evident that the story is virtually
irrelevant. Three sides battle it out in what amounts to a massive and
never ending game of Capture the Flag. Soldiers spend their time island
hoping from one location to another, banning together with those of
similar political colors, and marching, flying, or driving off to
assault one base after another. For all its complexity, Planetside is a
fast paced game with fortunes that turn to and fro in a blazingly rapid
tempo. Its not uncommon to succeed in overrunning an enemy outpost only
to discover that the base you came from, the one you sacked not thirty
minutes before, has been lost to an opposing army. The speed lends
itself to a constantly changing landscape. Signing on in the morning to
discover that the island you spent all night capturing is now in the
complete control of someone else can be downright depressing. Luckily,
its the recapturing of those islands thats most of the fun.
At
your disposal during combat are a variety of weapons and vehicles
aircraft, cars, tanks all of them make an appearance. From the little
one man four-wheelers to the massive airborne troop transports, each and
every one can be learned, purchased, and manned by the players. Using a
skill system that allows you to learn and unlearn abilities, such as
your pilots license, Planetside resists the temptation of keeping the
fun toys out of the newcomers hands. Instead, if one so desires, you
can be in the air or carrying some rather hefty weaponry within minutes
of starting the game. As you gain experience, you are able to learn to
use even more advanced weaponry, special skills, and better armor. After
learning the basic controls, the feeling you have as you take to the
battlefield for the first time is nothing short of epic. It is
magnificently done.
Sadly,
technical limitations serve as the weak spot in the heel. It took three
installations on three separate computers before I had a single fully
functional program. On one, the system consistently locked up fifteen
minutes into the game. On the second, the tutorial wouldnt complete
how many times can a man learn to drive a vehicle before the computer
allows him to move on? Whatever automatic switches were supposed to turn
over when they detected I had completed one section of the tutorial,
thus moving me on to the next, simply dropped the ball. Therefore,
having to bypass the truly excellent tutorial, I was thrust into a world
beyond my understanding. I was subsequently crushed like a bug.
Of
the technical issues, though, the most significant is one that isnt
really an error, and which unfortunately every player will have to deal
with at one point or another. Its lag time. Unlike many other massively
multiplayer games on the market, combat is not made up of a point
system, turning the details of who lives and dies over to the computer
to be calculated out like my taxes. Being a first person shooter, life
and death, who kills who, is derived from skill. Did I shoot you before
you shot me, and is my gun bigger than yours is? Because your success is
determined by how well you can aim, lag significantly hinders any
operation in the game. How can you be expected to combat efficiently
when each small motion of your mouse moves you a foot to the left and
takes three seconds to do so?
Part
of the great disappointment is that the problem is nonexistent most of
the time. When you first step out the door into your teams sanctuary,
you are greeted with a smooth and beautiful world. Get into your
aircraft and youll be able to soar the skies without a glitch; but as
soon as you encounter enemies in great numbers, expect your system to
hang miserably. First youll be hit by a bullet, and youll turn to see
where its coming from. Your screen will pause, then jump to try to keep
up, youll overshoot, try to correct, and ultimately find yourself
putting holes in your feet. Since lag is the result of information
getting lost between computers, and since more information tends to get
lost when there is a great deal of it, lag tends to strike when there
are numerous players in your vicinity; exactly the time when you cant
afford to be searching for toe jam. Often youll be dead without ever
seeing, or having a chance to see, your enemy.
Point
and case. I had just acquired a Mosquito (an air unit) and spent several
minutes finding a good battle. My team and another were facing off over
a water channel, with the bridge being the focus of combat. We were
making progress, but were taking heavy casualties; the bodies of the
dead and destroyed scattered the bridge from one end to the other.
Bullets were flying from both shores. From above, I could see that the
enemy held a ridge overlooking the bridge, and were using it to rain
chaos on our approaching troops. What we needed was someone to blanket
the enemy position, to clear out the entrenched with a hail of bullets.
I was in the perfect position for the job. As I approached, my aircraft
was peppered with ammunition. Red lights appeared on my dashboard. I
turned my cannons on a nearby enemy, lining up my guns and accelerating
for a pass-by. But no, my system lagged. My controls were disabled, I
could no longer pull up, let alone adequately aim. The best I could do
was pick a crash site and try to take out an enemy as I came down. I
have no idea if I landed on the little trooper I was aiming for; it was
far to hard to see moving in leaps and bounds every three seconds.
However, I did earn my next battle rank during the crash, and so I
assume hes jelly by now.
Lag
was a significant problem on every system I tried, and my office is
wired with both a commercial grade wireless broadband connection, and
two separate wired DSL connections. Encountering problems on a system
far above recommended specs, I can only imagine what the average 56k
user can look forward to.
Though
like most massively multiplayer games Planetside requires a bit of time
to truly get used to, its design and execution are impeccable. If not
for technical issues, Planetside truly would have been a five star
product, but since those technical difficulties affect the very
fundamental aspects of what makes Planetside fun, its difficult to
overlook. We can only hope that subsequent patches help smooth over what
currently brings down a masterpiece. So while the game itself offers a
grandiose feel, and extraordinary potential, were still waiting for the
perfect game.