Planetside Beta - For everyone! (1 Viewer)

[Chris Flynn]

http://www.fileplanet.com/files/120000/122855.shtml

Now everyone can give the Planetside Beta a shot! I'm downloading now, and going to give it a try this afternoon.

 

[Rob Speicher]

I have a Station.com account from EverQuest and I downloaded the 1.3GB beta client, but it still made me submit an application for the beta process - have yet to hear back from them. Are you supposed to be able to just download the beta client and start playing?

 

[Chris Flynn]

Rob, this is what I had to do:

Download the file, click on the link to sign up. When you install the file, it gives you your personal account key. You enter that, and your Station name, and you should be good to go.

 

[Dean Cooper]

Ugg, I hate file planet, 540 minute wait and its 1:00am..WTF

How is the game Chris?

 

[Chris Flynn]

Dean,

It's ummm, interesting. It's hard for me to judge it, mostly because there is no manual, and I have to use online documentation (none is included with the beta) to figure things out.

The graphics from the two areas I saw were very Tribes 2 like. Lots of open space, and pretty bland. There does seem to be a really large expanse of playing area, and I like that, but bear in mind I've only seen two areas so far.

The vehicular aspects of it look good, as there are a bunch of vehicles to choose from, and they seemed pretty cool. There are dropships, buggies, a Warthog style jeep, etc.

I haven't had any combat, mostly becasue I can't figure out what to do once I get in-game. And I think I'd most likely get my butt whupped if I did find any combat.

I'm pretty underwhelmed by it at the moment due to the lack of a manual, and the fact that I really don't know what the hell I'm doing.

 

[Romier S]

I haven't had any combat, mostly becasue I can't figure out what to do once I get in-game. And I think I'd most likely get my butt whupped if I did find any combat.

Youll find things exponentially easier once you figure out that hitting the tab key engages and disengages mouse look. I saw all these HUD menus around me and just couldnt figure out how in the world to access them. Hit the tab key and youll be able to move the mouse instead of your view. Then you can access the inventory, character sheet and the hot slots on the bottom.

When you first get in the game go up to the buy terminal and pick what you want to use. Nothing cost money, just grab what you want. Armor goes from light to heavy (heavy making you slower but has more room). Once you have your armor you can pick your weapons and supplies. For instance the infiltration suit only allows 4 inv. slots and one hand gun slot. But you can stealth. (by hitting k on the KB).

Once your done with the buying get your butt to your a training facility (go into each building, your bound to find one). Grab every weapon, create and pilot every vehicle. Select and test all items. TEST AND TRAIN WITH IT ALL. Every time you test an item or get a desription you get XP. If you go into your character sheet you'll see how much XP you have and soon you will increase in battle rank (which will give you more certification points).

In the starting base you will also find certification terminals. You basically need to decide what kind of character your going to be. Soldier, Hacker, Troop transport, so forth so on. You would select certifications based on that. For instance Im a Battle Rank 9 Hacker. I have certifications in Hacking, Advanced Hacking, Pistol/Gun, and certification in using the Wraith (small 4 wheeled vehicle that will stealth along with my suit.). I carry a pistol, ammo and the hacking tool (RED unit if I remember the name right) with me).

Hopefully the helps some.

 

[Steve Deacon]

All very informative, but is it any fun? Especially considering the whopping download involved.

 

[Romier S]

All very informative, but is it any fun?

Yes its decent fun. Now is it worth the monthly fee? I'd have to say no at this point. The game doesn't really provide much more than say Battlefield 1942 (besides the RPG elements) and that is free. There are just far too many high quality online FPS's out there (Black Hawk Down, Raven Shield, BF 1942, Tribes 2, Medal of Honor Allied Assault) to make this game worth the monthly fee.

Its got a nice graphics engine (Its especially nice running with 2x anti-aliasing and 8x anistropic filtering). The vehicles are fun, voice chat is a great addition and the combat and character "classes" are interesting but you can find almost all of these same features in games that are number one (repeat after me) free and number two.....better (again BF 1942 comes to mind).

 

[Steve Deacon]

Ah, didn't even realise it was a subscription based game. I'll definitely be giving that a miss then. I'm just too much of a cheapskate to part with money every month to play a game when there are so many free alternatives.

It's going to be hard to change people's perception of pc gaming from the current model of buy the game, play it free online for as long as it interests you. From what I can see of Planetside, it offers nothing significant enough to warrant paying extra per month.

 

[Max Leung]

Well, I've been playing it all day and night yesterday. It's alright. It has fewer bugs than Tribes 2 when Tribes 2 was in retail for a few months!

I'm surprised how little lag there is in the game.

My beef with the game is the lack of variety in the bases and towers. They are all the same! And hardly anyone fights far from the base, because of the dropships. More variety in the "levels" please!

It's not worth the monthly fee until they address that...

 

[Bill Griffith]

I've been playing for almost a month now.

I enjoy it and if you find a group of guys to form a squad its even more enjoyable.

The graphical detail is damn sweet. Definatly improving on the Lag, and I rarely notice it anymore.

The game is RPG/FPS, so you get experience and can pick different learning paths for your character.

Right now its far to easy and quick to gain experience, while the game play is fun its very linear. (Take base move to next, take base move to next, defend base, take base move to next) and like was said earlier there is not alot of variation in the buildings or game play.

The weapons are cool, as are the vehicles.

However unless some major things are added to spice up the game I don't see this game lasting a very long time.

I'll probably pay for 6 months of play and see how it turns out.

 

[Scott_W]

I downloaded it and tried it for a bit last night. It looks fun, graphics are pretty good, and voice support could be cool. I'd be tempted to grab it for $35 or so after a couple weeks, but I can't see paying a monthly fee. Nothing really stood out to make the game worth it. I think, on the whole, Battlefield 1942 is a better game, and free.

The RPG elements really don't seem to make a big difference. If you're good, you're good, beyond a few extra skill additions.

Anyway, I'll follow it, and play a bit more tonight. Maybe I'm just missing something.

 

[Bill Griffith]

Scott, I don't think your missing anything. The RPG aspect of the game has the potential to be pretty nice but they don't seem to be focusing on it. I find that to be the only dissapointing part of the game.

 

[Max Leung]

Had some good battles last night. Was quite a lot of fun actually, reminded me of the best battles in tribes, except with 30+ players trying to take/defend the base in one big-ass furball!

Tanks and aircraft everywhere...lots of machine gun fire, people getting knifed by cloakers, ebb and flow of the line, lots of charging on both sides. We prevailed in the end!

The key is finding the big battles. Loads of fun.

 

[Bill Griffith]

The thing I like about this is that 1 out of every 10 assaults seems to be really well arranged, with good leadership and lots of communication. When this happens you trounce your opponent in no time and its pretty cool.

Fight starts off with Heavy Artillery bombarding city while Reavers and Skeeters give air support and do strafing runs on Base. Than the sunderers and harrasers move into the base with some maxes and infantry to take out the units outside. Shortly after securing the perimeter the hackers open the doors and evryone floods inside. Awsome stairwell and hallway battles erupt. It probably only lasts about 20 minutes till the base is clear and then your waiting for 10 to 15 minutes more for the cap.

So far still having loads of fun with this game.

 

[JayV]

Oops, "For everyone" means everyone with a half-gig of RAM. Too bad, I wanted to give it a try.

-j

 

[Joel Mack]

Throw another stick or two in there. RAM's cheap as hell...

No one should be runnning with less than 512MB these days...

 

[JayV]

It's a laptop, and it's kind of just throwing good money after bad at this point. I'll have to wait until summer/fall to get a new system. :frowning:

-j

 

[Joel Mack]

It's a laptop

Oh. My apologies.

 

[JayV]

Oh. My apologies.

Well, you hardly have to apologize -- generally speaking, it's still good advice!

-j