The Firing Line: PlanetSide 2 in a thousand words or less
PlanetSide 2's launch sneaked up on me. It's not that I didn't know it was coming this week, but I had resigned myself to watching from the sidelines on account of not having a guild and spending most of my MMO time in SOE's DC Universe Online.
I couldn't help it, though, as the seductive lures of sci-fi and a huge open world conspired to consume most of my Tuesday evening and a good bit of Wednesday morning. Here, then, are a few initial thoughts in no particular order.
Huh, that's a curious opening cutsce... whoa, OK, the ground is coming up fast and is the heat-shield on my drop-pod working? Hear me baby, hold together.
Wow, purty desert, nice terrain graphi... Thunk. Ah, the respawn facility.
Hell yeah, there's a hundred people in here! Excuse me, pardon me ma'am, out of my way sir, I want to see what's making that engine noise outsi... Thunk. Back of the respawn line, buddy.
So, I can deploy anywhere I want on Auraxis at any time, apparently, and it's a good thing I chose the Engineer class because I'd need an engineering degree to understand this world map.
Pick me! Pick me!
Hmm. I can spend 700 Station Cash and instantly receive an M9 Skep Launcher that locks on to ground targets (as opposed to the dumb-fire ML-7 Heavy Assault starter tool). Or I can grind out a thousand cert points to unlock it, which at my current rate of advancement will probably take me the better part of a month. Nope, definitely not pay-to-win.
MMOFPS = this game, PlanetSide, and Battleground Europe. That's it. The term is officially off-limits unless you're talking about one of those titles.
Where the $%&# is my screenshot folder?
You know, I could honestly sit here all night and watch the Galaxies, Liberators, and Mosquitos arriving and departing. Bravo, SOE; this actually feels like a staging area.
Except for that guy, who clearly flunked out of flight school. Cool crater, bro.
How does that dude have a jetpack and where do I get one?
What the... where the hell is my ammo counter? Oh, that little thing on the far right of my monitor? Grrr. Hmm, settings, general, centralized HUD mode, check. Ahhhh.
Squad leader Rapenthusiast? Really?
Whew, thank god SOE had the foresight to build in a tutorial. And giving us time to set up our keybindings before being hot-dropped into combat was a stroke of geniu... thunk.
Oh hell yes, 350 aerospace resources. Galaxy time, baby!
Thirty seconds and one big fireball later... Huh. I wonder how long it takes to get 350 aerospace resources.
First-person view on the Flash ATV should come with a barf bag and a disclaimer. That's a compliment.
Medic!
Holding the right-mouse button to aim down the sight is a giant pain in the butt. Settings, general, zoom toggle at the top. Check.
Wow, that was pretty jerky.
Oh thanks, very kind of you.
Holy... these firefights are pretty hectic. I'm not dead yet, lulz. What the... don't run in front of the Heavy Assault with the rocket launcher please. Oh. Yep, this game has friendly-fire.
A kill! A kill! I got my first kill! /flex /pose ...thunk.
Whoaaaoooaaahhhhhh. Derp, I have a joystick. Mmm. Ahh.
I miss vehicle entry and exit animations, not to mention that whole launching-into-the-stratosphere bit prior to a drop in the original PlanetSide.
Passive cert gain, eh? I can get behind that, even if they did borrow it from EVE.
Speaking of EVE, I wonder if Smedley is still playing it or if he's here on Auraxis (and thereby shootable in the face). OK, the leg. I like Smedley.
This game sounds as good as it looks. Maybe better.
Thunk.
Charge! Click click click. Sigh. Thunk.
Sunderer deploy points are the coolest thing ever.
OK, maybe those invisible sci-fi slingshot things that send you careening a hundred meters through the air toward a heavily defended base platform are the coolest thing ever.
Woo! One of my friends actually fell for my sure-you-can-play-PlanetSide-2-if-you-suck-at-shooters line! Two-man newb squad represent!
That MAX is dry-humping the back of that Mosquito. Single-player ship, dude, L2P.
Damn, it's 4:00 a.m. and I have to work in the morning. This morning. Pretty much now, actual... Thunk.
The Firing Line's Jef Reahard has a twitchy trigger finger, a love of online shooters, and an uncanny resemblance to Malcolm Reynolds. OK, maybe not, but at least if he ever kills you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing him, and you'll be armed.
