Planetside

Ok so I tried out a new game called Planetside from Sony, which is going to be followed by Planetside2 sometime in the near future.  I paid for a month and I feel very overwhelmed right from the start.  I also feel very undergeared and unsure of what exactly I should be doing.  It does have the feel of a larger scale Unreal Tournament that I was looking to do.  The new game is a big improvement in graphics based on the video, though I'm not sure how the game play will be.

So here are my thoughts about the game from the few hours I've tried of it.  There is a huge assortment of weapons and vehicles to choose from, which felt overwhelming trying to navigate.  The weapons and vehicles were slightly different for each faction, though I imagine the differences were purely aesthetic as far comparable level weapons or vehicles are concerned.  There are three factions which are fighting for domination on several "planets", and on each planet there are a certain number of strongholds which the factions are able to fight over.  In order to travel between these planets there are large teleport structures which are for use by any factions.

One thing that I noticed right off is the amount of legalese I had to go through to install this game.  I had to "read" through 4 separate legal agreements, all of which said about the same thing, before I could get to the login screen.  Also before I could log in to the game a second time I had to agree to yet another set of legalese, in which I am unclear but I may now owe them my firstborn child in lieu of payment.  It makes sense that Sony would want to protect itself from all possible litigation, but it seemed like customers have to go to court just to play the game.  I also had to sign up for some sort of download system which required it's own login.  The game cost $9.99 to $14.99 per month depending on how many months of service you want to sign up for.  Of course if you want to have the biggest and coolest the game has to offer, much time must be spent being cannon fodder and building ones way up through the ranks.  I really felt that as a new player I was not contributing at all to the battle I participated in.  I tried to aim my weapon at the few enemy players I was able to see before dying, but the larger personal weapons all seemed to be fully automatic with a random spray pattern and the pistols are, well, pistols which are puny in every video game I have ever played.

I know that I will probably never have the resources or remotely stand a chance of competing with a powerhouse like Sony, but I think that Apoidea: Hex Wars could still bring something to the market that hasn't quite been done yet.  I'll be sure to play for the time I have bought to see what else I might be able to learn, though I still think that people would prefer a simpler, yet fun, game.  I guess time will tell.