After I lost interest in Eve Online, I was kind of missing a main game. Now on Linux, Destiny 2 was not an option, as Bungie still refuses to release the game for Linux, even though it would run without any issues. New World, on the other hand, couldn’t hold my attention for long - maybe I just didn’t have anyone to play with.

Somehow, I then stumbled upon Planetside 2. A game that a Steam notification (“Jezaja is playing Planetside 2”) had brought to my attention over a year ago. Back then, I uninstalled it in confusion after 30 minutes. But I wanted to give the game another chance and roped Jezaja into playing a round with me. Unfortunately, he’s not that deep into the game either, and I realized: this isn’t going to work on my own.

After a short search and extensive comparison, I ended up with the German Sovereignty (Discord) on the Cobalt server. With a new character, since my only character so far was on the wrong faction. And so began my journey into the world of Auraxis.

A Bit of Lore First

The History of the War

I’m probably one of the few players who appreciate a backstory in games. Planetside 2 has this backstory, albeit a very spartan one. I’d still like to summarize it briefly here so you can better understand what’s going on in the game.

In our near future, humanity is descending into chaos. Resources are running out, and war rages across the entire Earth. It takes several centuries of conflict before the Terran Republic is founded. Although democratic, strict laws are introduced to ensure a stable society.

Shortly after, a wormhole opens near Pluto. But before it can be investigated more closely, the wormhole collapses, destroying Pluto in the process. Years later, an adventurer and his crew travel to the planet’s debris and find an alien artifact. Upon touch, it shows the chief scientist a vision and then becomes inactive. It is decided to keep the find a secret, as the wormhole is expected to reopen soon. This is assumed because the wormhole had already been open 90 years before the Pluto incident, and those 90 years are almost up.

The adventurer uses his fame to become president of the Terran Republic and, after his resignation, receives its support for a fleet to explore the upcoming wormhole. And as hoped, the wormhole opens as predicted, and the fleet begins to traverse it. But as fate would have it, the wormhole collapses during the passage. Many of the ships that were already on the other side were destroyed by the collapse. In the end, only a few ships remained, including the adventurer’s - sometimes it pays to be first.

There was no habitable planet in sight. Deprived of most of their resources, harsh rules had to be introduced in the fleet. This led to unrest, which ultimately culminated in the assassination of the former president and the tightening of the rules. This is also when the New Conglomerate, a coalition of entrepreneurs with a penchant for independence, began to form.

Unexpectedly, a planet named Auraxis was discovered, terraforming began, and colonization started. It wasn’t long before the first artifacts of the aliens - called the Vanu - were discovered. Research on these artifacts was, however, outlawed by the Terran Republic, so the scientists had to conduct their research in secret.

One day, tensions between the Terran Republic and the New Conglomerate escalated into a war. The Vanu Sovereignty, which had grown in secret, seized the opportunity to declare war on the other two factions.

And here we are in Planetside 2: as a soldier for one of the three factions, you fight for dominance over Auraxis.

On Land, At Sea, In the Air

A Large Arsenal Wants to Be Used

That was more history than I planned. But now, on to the game itself. Let’s start with the genre: Planetside 2 calls itself an MMOFPS. A first-person shooter with more players than you’re used to. In the game, Auraxis consists of five continents, but you can only play on a part of them at any given time - depending on the number of active players on the server. During the day, often only one continent is open, in the evenings two, and briefly a maximum of three. What does “open” mean in this case? At some point, a continent goes into an alert mode, which starts a countdown. The faction that holds the largest share of the continent when the countdown ends is declared the winner, and the continent is locked. In its place, another continent opens, if there aren’t enough open already.

As briefly mentioned, each continent is divided into territories. At the start, these are either evenly distributed among the factions or inactive; depending on the player count, more or fewer territories are opened. Hence the MMO in MMOFPS. Up to 900 players can be active per continent, so 300 from each faction. In world record attempts, there have been over 1,200 players. Accordingly, there isn’t just one conflict in the middle, but small skirmishes in all border regions and usually one or two larger battles at strategic points.

You choose one of five classes, with the sixth only being unlockable through payment:

• Infiltrator: Can turn invisible, hack terminals, and use sniper rifles.
• Light Assault: With his jetpack, the Light Assault can quickly get to almost any location.
• Medic: As a Medic, you heal your teammates or revive them.
• Engineer: Repairing vehicles, but also using stationary gadgets like shields or turrets are the Engineer’s specialty.
• Heavy: Heavy weapons, strong armor, and a rocket launcher.
• MAX: A powerful armored suit and strong weapons. But it also costs 450 Nanites.

To clarify right away: the MAX doesn’t cost real money, but Nanites. You start with 750 Nanites and get 50 Nanites added to your account every minute. This is to prevent players from spamming the MAX, as well as other heavy war machines.

And there’s a lot of this war machinery. Several jeeps, flying and driving troop transports, fighter jets, and tanks. There’s something for everyone. But don’t worry, in my experience so far, these vehicles are a support for the infantry and can rarely operate alone.

From the spawn, the goal is to get to the front as quickly as possible and either defend your own territory or capture an enemy one. Most territories have one or more flags, similar to Battlefield. If you approach them without an enemy nearby, you capture them. Once you’ve captured at least 50% of the flags, a countdown for your faction begins. If it reaches zero, you’ve captured the territory. As an alternative, there are also territories that you capture through Capture the Flag. To be honest, that’s less fun.

The gunplay is very well done, and the different weapons offer a lot of variety. This applies to the different types like sniper rifles, shotguns, SMGs, and so on, but also between the factions. While the Terran Republic has a higher rate of fire, many weapons of the Vanu Sovereignty have no bullet drop. Every weapon and every vehicle has its own pros and cons, without being completely useless.

Graphics and Sound

2012 Says Hello

You can tell from the graphics that the game is from 2012. It has received some improvements over the years, but in the end, it’s a 2012 game engine. Textures are very blurry, edges have little anti-aliasing, and details like grass are barely present. The graphics are functional, but not pretty. The only advantage is that the game runs quite smoothly on average PCs. Due to the number of players, the CPU is heavily taxed in this game, so you should definitely have a more powerful model here.

Particle effects and shadows are okay and shouldn’t be turned down too low. You can often see more when these two effects are at least activated in their basic form.

The sound is fitting. The weapons sound different, vehicles are distinguishable. Some might prefer a bit more oomph, but for me, the sounds are realistic. The music? Like in most competitive games, I disabled it right away. In the end, it just covers up important sounds or the voice chat.

Conclusion and Game Feel

What I Expected from the Battlefield Series

Unfortunately, I discovered Planetside 2 quite late. At first, the game looked pretty dated to me, and the many options in the game are overwhelming at the beginning. I can definitely recommend finding an outfit, aka a clan. Getting started is quick, but understanding all the equipment and grasping all the mechanics is quite a task.

But that’s also the appeal of the game. It’s not Call of Duty. It’s the clear evolution of the Battlefield series. Not the new installments, but of Battlefield 2. It’s not kills that count, but teamwork and tactics. If the formula of Battlefield 2 had been further developed and expanded, something like Planetside would have been the result. But would it still be successful? Who knows.

If you like science fiction and shooters, and you had fun with Battlefield 2, then you should definitely check out Planetside. But importantly: give it at least 20 hours of playtime. Otherwise, you won’t get a feel for the full complexity of the game. If you’re alone and need support, feel free to contact me.