Now, I think we can all agree that most of today's FPS could use a little more time in the oven, baking out all those little glitches and what not, and the same could be said here, but this here is still pretty damn tasty. I have watched PlanetSide 2 grow from the early stages of beta into its release and if there is one thing I am very happy about, is the community side support. The game took huge strides with improvement when it game to game play during some patches. Of course like most betas, the bugs ensued with new patches, but as the last ones came out, most of them were gone. This game really does deliver when it comes to large scale battles and every battle has the decision between brute force or using tactics. Teamwork and a good gun at your side are always a must. Ground or Air Vehicles. Lasers or bullets. Your choice really stands true here.
Keep in mind this is also an MMOFPS so the action is not always a constant, and part of the problem solving in the game is getting from base to base. Although, they did a fantastic job of fixing the problem of logging in and not being able to get to a battle. Now you can spawn on your squad leader at beginning and that makes everyone happy. This really is going to be a great game for a very very long time, especially if the community support is as good as it has been.… Expand

If i was one of the lovely people that gave this game a negative review, I COULD have said something about how the game doesn't run at top speed on my non-gaming computer. I COULD have poked at the fact that it's not the most noob friendly at times. But if I did that, i would be forgetting the part where the game has a) an extremely large map for a shooter b) some sense of teamwork that no other multiplayer shooter has and c) pvp battles in a scale that has never before been seen in any game. Really, a few weeks ago i got in a tank battle that had at least 1000 people duking it out across an entire valley. If 'modern shooter' means '20 person death match' to you, then you can keep your modern shooter. I'll take this instead.… Expand

It started as an 8 at release. The constant development based on direct community feedback has made it a 9 now and by the time it's on PS4 this game will be a 10. It's basically a Battlefield 3 on crack with more Battlefield moments than all Battlefield titles combined.

Why should you play this?
1.Very solid shooter mechanics, it's out there with the best.
2. Massive, epic scale battles. This game actually feels like you're in a real war.
3.The designers really listen and interact with the community to constantly make it better. Huge patches with new features every two weeks or so, what other game does this?
4. Teamwork on an unprecedented level for a shooter. You can play it alone but when you're part of a multiple platoon operation run by your outfit, this is where the game really comes to life.
5. It's free2play without pay2win. As long as we keep playing it, they're making it more awesome.… Expand

I played the original Planetside and tested this one since the tech test. This game is definitely the sequel of the original MMOFPS. Planetside 2 is MASSIVE and unique with thousands of players across three factions playing simultaneously on the same server. The Sony developers took on a behemoth of a job to recreate the feelings of warfare on monumental scale all around you, that familiar feeling from Planetside where at any minute you could be walking, driving, or flying into a three-way faction showdown. The gun play has been brought up to date and feels responsive and tight as a modern first person shooter should they also have new realistic vehicle physics. The game is built around customization and has so many options your head will spin; you can upgrade your starting weapons, purchase new side-grades from the Depot, and even customize your unique solider or vehicle with different armor and camouflage. Everything in game is purchasable with certifications that you unlock during game play which is very rare for 'Free-to-play' games; you can play the whole game and never spend a penny if you wish. The only thing that you must spend money on is personal customization skins for your solider, vehicles, and weapons; which is not needed for advancement. The developers motto is this game will NEVER be 'Pay-to-win' and they have kept their word. The game play mechanics aren't brand new but they are very coherent and are built from the ground up to support team play. The continents are divided by hexagonal bases that can be captured by any of the three factions. Controlling land is very important because different bases give resources that the factions use to purchase vehicles, grenades, personal med-packs, and other personal items needed for war. Planetside 2 also has a brand new meta game that allows a unified faction to dominate a continent and lock-out the other two factions which gives the winning faction unique passive bonuses for their war machine. There is a lot more that this game has in store for it's players and all this is just the beginning! Thank you for reading my review of the game and I hope to see you on the battlefield!… Expand

No other game quite like it, 2000 players on a seamless continent makes for some amazing massive battles which can sometimes last for hours. On top of that the game is free, of course there is a cash shop, but all weapons can be earned through gameplay and are made to be 'sidegrades' rather than just power increases.

It can take a while to get a handle of it, there's a lot to take in and finding out where you need to go on such massive continents can sometimes be difficult for new players. It all pays off though, well worth a download.… Expand

Been playing this game since the early beta. It has come a long way since then. Optimization is still a must but my god is this game fun. Solid gun mechanics (nearly perfect ttk), great environments, fun vehicles, and excellent team play. Nothing seems severely imbalanced. The outfit (clan) functionality is excellent and the inbuilt voip makes coordination very easy. First game I've seen that people are actually working together efficiently. Once you witness a tank column of 20 rolling through a ravine while you are perched on top looking across the battlefield cloaked as an infiltrator you will realize that no other fps really compares. Landmark achievement. I'm worried that it's high learning curve might scare some people off so please give it a chance and support the game. We need more epic games like this.… Expand

A truely awesome, epic game. Everythign is well done. And these is just so much to do. You will not see huge FPS battles with tanks and planes Anywhere else. Love it!

COMPACT REVIEW FOR TLDR: Planetside 2 will not run on 'standard' systems easily. Planetside 2 is everything that it said it is (FPS,MMO,RPG,Free Roam,Very Customizable,Huge Battles). It is free so try it, and don't downgrade it because your system is not up to date. It is made to play with groups of buddies, but fun either way. The Graphics are awesome. The game is not played for story. It is 100% pvp. There are tanks, apcs, atv, and futuristic aircraft you can fly + more. SOE is not amazing, but these devs are funny and put time into what they do. I have only given 3 or so games a 9/10 in my life, this game is one of them.… Expand

In a genre that doesn't see an awful lot of games (good ones at that) Planetside 2 sure is a fresh breath of air for me. The choice to go Free 2 Play certainly doesn't hurt the playercount on the large continental maps that SOE have coughed up.

Visually the game has the potential to be great - On par with many modern day shooter if applied a few tweaks to unlock the "Ultra Settings".


The gameplay (the most important aspect of course) is great. Once you join an Outfit (clan) in the game and start playing in groups, you'll really see where PS2 shines. Planning coordinated strikes using a large selection of vehicles and capture (back) bases that are critical to your advance on the enemy.

There is still plenty of room for improvement - continents that aren't "square" shaped being one of my bigger gripes (and the complete lack of water on the playable battlefield), bugs in the marketplace module of the game and various launch day bugs that will hopefully be squashed soon enough.

Final Verdict: 9

Because the game is rather unique in its presentation, it has a dedicated dev team backing it and it shows great potential if nurtured - this may well become the single largest MMOFPS on the market in its lifespan.… Expand

Planetside 2 is a very successful fusion of the FPS shooter with MMO genres. Including very solid first person shooter game play, with customization through unlockable weapons and perks comparable to talents and equipment from your standard mmo. Its a "Free to Play game" and all the weapon choices can be unlocked with time or money. The only things you cant unlock with "cert points" (the game's version of currency used to unlock perks and weapons) are cosmetic items and experience boosts. So i definitely recommend everyone give it a try because nothing can compare with fighting with hundreds of other players to take over a small outpost being defended by hundreds of other players… Expand

Epic mmofps . Thousands of players all on the same map.
The first planetside was revolutionary the 2nd is much the same. It's in my all time if not the best game I have ever played. I can't recommend this enough! First time player has a bit of a learning curve but get in a good squad and or platoon and the fun really starts!

One of the best FPS', if not games of the year. Want tactical action? Check. Large scale battles? Check! Vehicle and infantry warfare? It's all here. Free to play? That's just the icing on the cake.

Want some advice, get into a good squad and outfit as soon as possible. Even a small tactical squad of 5-6 will increase your enjoyment tenfold.

I have been waiting for this game ever since I first saw "Planetside Next" being mentioned somewhere several years ago. Planetside being my first ever MMO (of any genre) just stuck to me. When it went downhill (Duo-Core CPUs causing players to exploit and "cheat" with movement speed etcetera) I quit playing and hoped they were going to fix it all. Eventually I gave up hopes on it and when I noticed the PS website being ruined some years later I hoped that they would some day make a Planetside 2. FINALLY!

Planetside 2 is a great successor to the original Planetside. While I do feel that the way bases are handled now are somewhat more harsh and lengthy I am also happy that they decided to get rid of the base resource system. The battles are bigger than ever as well and bases also yield unique bonuses to your faction if you have them under control, making them worth fighting for.

Graphics are awesome. If anyone tells you that they're outdated, from a previous era or whatever, ignore them and tell them to buy a pair of glasses.
The weather system is a great addition to the game as well as the day/night cycle although the latter can be somewhat frustrating at the time. I do like the combat at night as it gives you the opportunity to try stealth tactics with your squad, platoon and/or outfit.

Combat is great. Think Battlefield but instead of 64vs64 it's 2000vs2000vs2000 PER CONTINENT. You won't ever have a situation where every player of every faction is in one spot because of the extremely large continents and the well spreaded base locations. Unlike the old Planetside base capturing mechanics you now have multiple bases that you can assault. This can lead to interesting results since the base you're rolling out from might get flanked from the south by the New Conglomerate while your intentions are to move east to battle the Vanu Sovereignty and capture their base there.

Years of waiting patiently has paid off. I already had several epic battles. One of them lasting for over 3 hours at a single base, which we eventually lost but regained after 3 hours of fighting making a total of 6 hours of awesome combat!

Certification Points are given at a steady rate per hour (even when you're offline) as well as for every 500 experience you earn and are used to upgrade your weapons, add attachments to them, unlock new weapons and other class specific abilities/utilities as well as unlock things for your vehicles.

Early on you could think that everything is way too expensive but once you start shooting enemies around you, you'll forget about this problem and get used to the way they're earned.

I do have a couple of issues with the game at this time.
* The queue system does not work properly at the time of writing this review
* Players experience random freezes which lead to crashes. Because of the population on the first few servers this leads to long queues.
* I feel that the resources spent on air vehicles vs the countdown time is somewhat unbalanced. Early on, without certification points, it takes up to 20 minutes to buy a Mosquito so players that spend Station Cash are at an unfair advantage as they're able to buy early upgrades which means that players that did not spend any cash have a high chance of losing a battle (if skills are equal or close to).
* Infantry resources give me mixed feelings. I'm pretty much always capped unless I spend everything on grenades and mines.
* The servers are extremely laggy up to the point you see players teleport around (the game just launched so nothing new really. Wasn't expecting a perfect launch although I hoped they were a bit more prepared, see below).

This aside, the game runs smooth even with massive combat going on and the lag will most definitely settle down once everything has been sorted out by SOE.

While I feel SOE could've prepared better (and keeping their past failed MMOs in mind) and should've done more early on, the hype this game created and the amount of players that tried to push their way through that small doorway called "server" shows that there is still a great fanbase out there that's eager to play this wonderful game as well as many new players that want to give this game a try.

I give this game a 9. No game is perfect. Every game has its flaws.
The negative points I brought up have absolutely nothing to do with the fact I did not give it a 10. I just feel that giving any game for that matter a 10 would mean that the game in question is supposedly perfect and wouldn't have any issues/flaws/downsides at all.… Expand

Not the best game, but definitely the most fun game. Actually I take that back, it's the best game.

Where is the 9.5 rating? I'll take away .5 for somewhat limited meta-game and vehicle options at release; however this is coming as the devs stated.

Massive battles.. nothing like it. All PC gamers need to give their time/money to this fantastic game.

The first few hours you play this game, you'll most likely be very frustrated. Once you figure out where things are, and how the world works. You'll have a great time, and It's unbelievable how well this game handles mass scale battles (300+ people in a small area).

Getting is a squad/platoon of people who actually communicates, and work together, can make for some insanely fun online times.

I've paid 60 dollars for games that were less polished, less graphically pretty, less entertaining, less technically brilliant, and balanced worse than this totally free game. Under normal circumstances I might resent the cash shop, but given that the majority of what actually makes you a superior player needs to be unlocked via play and cannot be purchased, and given the fact that the cash shop is the only way that the developers are making money, I have absolutely no qualms. The gameplay is deep and the scale truly massive. Persistent war with hundreds of people fighting over territory in a never-ending battle across three huge continents using infantry as well as ground and air vehicles. They have create an enormous amount of content and made all of it relevant, available to everyone regardless of how much they paid, and crucial to gameplay. When I saw that this game was absolutely free I had my doubts about how deep the gameplay could be, or how much of it would be locked away behind a cash shop, but they really did go above and beyond, providing an experience that many triple-A premium-priced titles fail to deliver without segregating the paying players away from the free players.

I don't know how they did it. But they have managed something brilliant here, and I wish them great success. Not only for breaking new ground and taking a risk on giving their game away for free, but I would love to see more quality titles that follow in their footsteps.… Expand

I am not quite sure what everyone is talking about with in game bugs as I have not experienced any game breaking ones over the course of my play time thus far, at least nothing worth giving this game a 0.... The only inexcusable bug would be the total lack of optimization for AMD based processors... I am lucky enough to have had a Intel/Nvidia based system so it runs beautifully for me. I did not play Planetside 1 so I have nothing to base this game on but as it stands I have never played a FPS MMO that is this engaging. I can almost RP in this game, patrolling, guarding, attacking, infiltrating, outposts and small bases on my own. And the sheer volume of players in the large skirmishes on the map is mind boggling. If you have never played the first one and have an Intel Based System give it a shot! Its like no other FPS you have played.. If you are familiar with the first Planetside game you might be a tad disappointed in this one. And since it is free what is there to lose? Bandwidth? Try it out either way your not losing anything.... AMD users wait for a patch.… Expand

Long story short: Planetside 2 is a non-story driven MMOFPS which uses large-scale Battlefield gameplay mechanics to control territories in a Tribes-like universe. Is it a new idea? Not really. But is it fun? Yes, very much so.

When you start the game, aside from a few pop-up windows and small descriptive boxes, you really don't know WTF you're doing. Now I know this may discourage new players, but I actually really enjoyed it. Spawning in a room with soldiers frantic running all around me, I just sort of joined the fray and followed the guy in front of me and I was fighting in a couple of minutes.

The guns feel solid and while you don't start out with many weapons, there is enough diversity between the classes' arsenals to last you a while. Every FPS has a learning curve when you're factoring in bullet-time, recoil compensation, and tracking enemy movement past a firing muzzle while sighted in, and Planetside 2 is no different. Learn your weapons early on.

The battlefield feels like a war with no generals, so each player must decide his role on his own. Provide support for a frontline defense, sneak past the enemy to provide sniper support from the rear, or just go out guns blazing, there are tons of options here. The terrain makes for very interesting battles and provides loads of unique cover opportunities. For those of you looking for a real reason to fight, you'll be a bit disappointed. You're signing up for a gigantic turf war that gives you little reason to care about your territory being lost other than the fun in defending it and pushing back. I'm really hoping they add some more story elements to the game, it feels a bit hollow in that department.

Aside from a lack of story, everything about Planetside 2 feels solid. The environments are engrossing and the battles have a way of becoming very believable. SoE didn't re-invent the wheel with this game, but they definitely did a good job of oiling the crap out of it.… Expand

Planetside 2 is the spiritual succsessor to Planetside 1, and it offers a product and experience as unique as the original. 2000 people on a map, 64x64km large, in a never ending battle for supremacy and bragging rights. Planetside offers every facet of war to a player, and at the low cost of free. While other games gouge players with necessary transactions to enjoy the full experience, SOE has decided to leave their experience relatively unsullied by adhering to a very inviting and honest F2P model.

Truly the only game in the market to offer massive battles you're sure to talk about for days, Planetside is not without its faults in early stages. The game still has a few minor bugs and a steep learning curve. If attacked as a MMO, Planetside's learning curve is rather par for the course, but lacks good tutorials in games, mostly because it lacks the grinding mechanics that offer tutorials in other games. If apporached as a shooter, which it can easily be basically seen as.. the lack of a tutorial campaign and simplicity of play can be jarring to some players.

That being said, Planetside 2 is a remarkable game. A remarkable experience, and hopefully just the beginning for an evolution in MMOs from point and click to full interactive awesomness.… Expand

If you have a good gaming PC that can handle the rendering of hundreds of players and like shooters like Battlefield 3 you owe yourself to play this game. I am completely 100% addicted to it and thing this game is a one of a kind experience.

Excellent free 2 play game. Factions (and overall gameplay) are extremely well balanced . Skill always wins over $$. Graphics and performance are good. Epic scale. This is my favorite hardcore mp shooter on the market. Well worth learning how to play if you are up for a challenge.

This is the ultimate FPS, taking it to the next level. Have you ever felt the adrenaline rush when about 50 enemy foot soldiers and three tanks are approaching your location and you are all alone? Didn't think so.

I was lost in the beginning, but what would you expect when you get dropped down into the middle of a war zone without any kind of tutorial. I had chosen the Vanu Sovereignty (also known as the VS) due to their futuristic battery powered laser weapons. I soon got the hang of it though, once I died I switched to Combat Medic due to me being a team player and their long(er) range primary weapon. I spawned at the recommended spawn and just went with the flow. Soon I was out at the front lines again.

This game is nothing for casuals, it has friendly fire and you are not going to be able to take damage like in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for example. Between five and ten direct hits with the Combat Medic's primary weapon will kill you.

I eventually dragged some friends into it and we all joined an outfit. Soon we were all in-game, sitting in a Sunderer (a 12 person vehicle with dual anti-artillery cannons that can be used by two passengers) moving towards the front lines. Once we were there we deployed it, making it a mobile base. The developers have really thought out the team element and playing in a group makes this whole game a lot better.

I haven't had this fun in a very long time.… Expand

The things Planetside 2 does are astounding, the scale is almost unbelievable. And to think that they have an Ultra graphics setting which isn't even released yet...this game proves by itself that PC gaming isn't dead by a long shot. No console could do what Planetside 2 is doing. The development team is one of the best I have ever seen at worrying about what the players want. I'm saddened by the amount of negative reviews of people that want a totally free game. The game is fun when playing by yourself but if you join an outfit and have a teamspeak or ventrilo server going it suddenly unfolds into one of the best games you've ever played. The sheer amount of strategy and communication needed to dominate the battlefield makes this game more of a military simulation than any other on the market. The room for growth for this game is unimaginable too, SOE isn't even close to done. If you write this free to play game off you are going to regret it. Don't be phased by all the people that just want a free ride and don't want to support the development team at all.… Expand

AS a PS1 player it wasn't hard for me to get into PS2, and its by far a better game from the get go. The game runs pretty smooth for me and its got to be one of the most beautiful games to date, especially for how many players can be active at one time. It tops all multiplayer games in epicness. Its got its issues, but what new game doesn't, especially in the mmo department. The vehicles could be better but I feel I cannot judge them as you have to unlock so much potential which leaves me to this: I would rate it a 10/10 if it weren't for the FTP system. I think this game should have had a price tag and FTP system for cosmetics, but the unlocks take far to long to unlock and I'm not a fan of spending cash on items I don't even know if I will like. But for the base free game, spend a few dollars and you can have a butt load of fun in battles larger than anything you will see in that **** COD game.… Expand

I'm giving this game a 10 to counter balance all the scorers who have given it a 0 cause their machines suck. That being said in reality this game is a solid 8, it has its faults, and can be glitchy at times, but if you are an FPS fan you will get an experience in PS2 that no other game in this generation will be able to touch. It is also NOT pay to win, some the the upgrades in the planes may be a little OP or need a tune, but this isn't anywhere close to being pay to win, so Ignore those idiots as well. Plus how can you give a 0 to something that is FREAKING FREE!… Expand

Not many shooters can keep me hooked like Planetside 2 can. The combination of addicting and compelling gameplay and teamwork with the responsiveness of the dev team make this a game that will last

Planetside 2 is the best MMO of the last 5 years, it is very fun and pretty and addictive, if your PC can run it I highly recommend it (I use a midrange CPU from 3 years ago and a midrange video card I bought in 2012 and I run the game on Ultra just fine)

I'm not sure where the anger comes with regard to difficulty yes, if you try to charge out of your spawn room when you're alone and 2 platoons are capturing your base you are going to have a bad time, that's how the game works, you're supposed to spawn elsewhere if you get overrun. Also, the cash shop is very reasonable given that the game is totally free to download and all weapons can be earned through gameplay. Many of the most powerful and widely used weapons, like the CARV and the SAW and MBT HEAT rounds are available by default: the SAW and HEAT Rounds in particlar have only become more popular with successive patches. There's no conspiracy by SOE to make default guns worthless… Expand

i have to give props to sony online entertainment for actually trying to make a triple-A MMOFPS title AND doing a great job at it!!!!!! most FPS games that come out now have a story mode and an online mode, while i believe that it should be one or the other (story mode OR online mode). if you love online FPS, you're gonna love planetside 2!!!!!!

Planet Side 2 is freaking awesome! The graphics are really good and the gameplay is fun. There are much bugs, but they will be fixed soon. The game itself isn't really hard if you fight with your squadmates. The point of the game is to work as a team. The vehicles are really fun to drive, but the tanks are slightly overpowered and should be balanced. The classes should also be more balanced. Don't listen to the guys that is saying that this game is crap. The game is amazing and the bugs will be fixed soon. The game is still in beta you know. When the final version of the game is released, I will be playing this game 24/7. I will give this game 9/10. I recommend you to download and give it a try. You have nothing to lose! AND IT'S FREEEEEEEEE!!!… Expand

This game is far from being completed and will likely be added to for years. What they have already is amazing, and they are constantly patching and adding more stuff. If you are not working with a group, the game is not the same honestly. If you have a full platoon of 48 people all working together? Oh my god the feeling is unmatched. The feeling of turning the tide of a major battle involving hundreds of players? It is amazing! Orders are given and things get done and it is one of the most rewarding feelings I have ever had in any game ever. The game still needs a ton of work, but it is getting better daily. It is also free to play so really, there is no reason not to try it.… Expand

Great game that will continue to get better! Love it...while there are a few bugs that need some ironing out, this game has a bright future ahead of itself.

I find it amusing the people giving this game low scores are crying it is too hard or you need to spend hours getting the 'good' weapons. I have been playing this game for a while now and still haven't spent a cent and manage to more than hold my own. If you came from a COD background then this game is definitely too hard for you it involves tactics and skill. Battlefield players will feel much more at home and the depth of customisation is a breath of fresh air in this game genre. The large scale battles and varying roles you can play make for some great extended gaming sessions and unique battles. Having a mike is essential as there is no time to type and noone pays attention to the typers anyhow. The only issue is the same as with most other online games gen i jerkoffs who think they are gods gift polluting the airwaves with their ridiculous dribble.… Expand

The game is phenomenal. Its restored my faith in MMOs. There's nothing quite like shooting at a rational target for a change over NPC mobs with deterministic AIs. Player driven content is the future.

This game is EPIC, massive battles, medium and small skirmishes in 3 different continents. If you liked any of the Battlefield saga games you will love this one. It takes some time to get used to the mechanics of the game but now there are hundreds of videos showing the basic features/gameplay.. The game gains a lot if you play it along with some friends, up to 12 players in 1 squad. You can join 4 squads to create a platoon so there's enough room for everyone. The unlock system it's a little bit slow, so it's important which upgrades/unlocks you pick, decide carefully. The game requires a good connection and a decent pc. Probably one of the best shooters of the year.… Expand

Personally so far with the game it is great. The game is rough around the edges but for what it is its very good. The first game sacrificed so much to have what it had and yet people say its better, the shooting was horrible. This game has fixed that, the devs listen to the community. And so many people also complain about technical difficulties, that's not really a game flaw. If you actually searched for the problem you would find it is most likely the render distance option. The lack of in game tutorials is mostly solved by the fact that there are lots of people willing to help you, the game automatically puts you in a squad so you can just ask them. But is it really hard to point and shoot at the people in different colours? My experience with the game was great, seeing huge battles last for days and finally after lots of work taking that continent and then dropping over to another to fight there. I love the game, and for a free game it beats any others I know of.… Expand

Huge scale battles and absolutely no game crashes or bugs. Huge scale battles and absolutely no game crashes or bugs. Huge scale battles and absolutely no game crashes or bugs. Huge scale battles and absolutely no game crashes or bugs. Huge scale battles and absolutely no game crashes or bugs. Huge scale battles and absolutely no game crashes or bugs.

This game is amazing, the environment, the vehicles, the battle, just everything is great. I am not going to say that the game is perfect, but it is pretty friggin' close. You do have to have a semi decent machine to run it at a decent frame rate, but you do not need the newest tech out there. Of course there are still some bugs, but one can easily overlook them when in the heat of a massive, and i do mean truly massive, battle. I love this game, since it is free to play, I would say at least give it a shot.… Expand

I have been playing this game since launch and it has gotten much better since then! I have increased my score for the game because the devs have added so much to it since launch and because they continue to add new content every week.

Don't be fooled by the people that ragequit from this game because they only played 10 minutes. I will admit this game has bugs, and in your first few hours you will be a little overwhelmed. But as long as you bring a friend with you that already knows the game, then you will be fine. In the last update bugs sprouted like crazy, but within a day, SOE (the creators) Fixed most of them, and made the game normal once again. There are a huge amount of players in every server, so most of the time, you may be fighting a losing battle, if you are, simply retreat, or go to another continent until it cools down. Most of the bad reviews here are from a few weeks to a month after the game was released, and most, if not all of the bugs they are speaking of have all been patched. The graphics are really good for a MMOFPS F2P game, and can be turned down if needed. Teamwork is a must in this game, so the first thing you NEED to do is join a squad, or outfit. The game is greatly more fun when your playing with other people, and most people don't understand that. Next up is that the developers have now implemented their new "roadmap" system, which gives players the chance to say what, and how, they want certain features added, if at all. i have already seen three or four ideas not used in the newest update, due to players not wanting it in the game. This "roadmap" is MUCH more than i have seen any F2P game developers use to gauge a player wanting certain things. Most developers will just add it, and say "Meh, they will have to like it". Next on the list is that this game IS NOT "Pay 2 Win" Every gun is used in a specific way, and, while some are better than others, there is no "Super gun" that kills everyone and is unbeatable. each and every gun has it's strengths and weaknesses, like the gun i currently use has a small mag, for a LMG (50 bullets, instead of the usual 100), as well as lower power, but a higher fire rate than most LMG's used by the Heavy Gunner. At this point in the game, there isn't much Metagame, but the developers are planning on an achievement system, as well as a system that allows you to capture whole continents until one of the opposing teams has to FORCE their way back into a warpgate, making the conquerors feel accomplished that they have taken all the land in the area and continue to hold it. Some people say Max's (a Mech like suit) and Main battle Tanks are Too Overpowered. But As long as you know how to deal with them, you are fine. Tanks may be OP, but If you get hit with an HE shell in a battle in real life, you're going to get blown to pieces. Now, lets touch on the factions. There are three, The Vanu Sovereignty, The New Conglomerate, and The Terran Republic. Each one with their own strengths and weaknesses. Borrowed from a guide on steam about this*** The Vanu Sovereignty favors futuristic directed energy weapons. These weapons reload quite swiftly and generally don't require much deflection shooting ("leading the target"), but don't quite pack the punch of the New Conglomerate or have the numbers of the Terran Republic." "The Terran Republic favors standard bullet weapons that pack little damage per shot, but have high capacity cartridges, high fire rates, and high reload times." "The New Conglomerate believes in brute force. With a strong focus on massive, deliberate strength, the New Conglomerate can easily outgun the other factions, but only if they can make their shots count." Showing each faction has it's own strengths and weaknesses. This game is about as realistic as i have EVER seen a full-scale battle on another world, and i will continue to support it, until it dies out, or we Get Planetside 3. I give this game a ten, even if it has bugs and annoying people, because it is a great all around game, and the developers are at the very least TRYING to always game it better. As a final little thing, if you get bored, go try playing another faction on a different server, it will bring the game back, at the very least a little bit. ***http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=113201458#2765… Expand

If you love FPS you will love PS2. It has a lot of potencial with the metagame if they develop more tools for leadership. of course, its difficult to understand concepts, remeber structure of a lots of bases but one more time. the potential is enourmous. I dont play a lot of games too much. I always get bored a few months later. But with ps2 iam really addicted. Its´s massives fights are rreally incredible. Of course, sometimes you have moments of borings because a base take too many time to capture or you have to move 3000 METERS with your tank, buts it worth it!!! sometimes some unbalanced weapons or situations frustrates you but those are details. it´s imposible to have a really full balanced game when you have dozens of guns, lots of air and ground vehicles. I really love this game. And of course, ITS FREE TO PLAY.… Expand

Planetside 2 is very harsh for new players because there's barely any tutorial BUT as soon as you understand it its awesome you like big fights but most fps don't deliver that scale? Try Planetside! you easily get 100+ player fights and sometimes around 300 on each team fighting in one base against each other

Planetside 2 falls short of Planetside 1 in about every category, but it's still a lot of fun and the best recent shooter out there. Be advised it's poorly optimized at the moment with some netcode issues, but hopefully when those are ironed out it will be fun for everyone.

Their customer service team is responsive and fast. Haven't run into any obvious hackers yet.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Anyone who rated this below a seven simply didn't bother to put the time into it. It badly needs a tutorial, which is why this didn't hit a perfect ten, but for chrissakes, PLAY a game before you damn it. Besides, there are tutorial vids that it shoves in your face in the gorram launcher but hell, I've been playing since before those, and it only took me about a half hour to figure everything out. Stop pissing yourselves and wrecking the score on an awesome game. Out.… Expand

This game is amazing capturing immersion and epic sense of war no matter what gamer you owe it to yourself to download it. It can make you rage but the pros far out ways the cons

The incredible scale of this game is amazing, when you and a few hundred other team mates go head to head with another couple hundred people to try and claim as much land as possible.
Though at first when you start the game it can be a bit overwhelming mainly because it is so big and so many people to kill you end up learning who is more of a threat and where to spawn to quickly get in the fight with out getting killed straight away.
I thoroughly enjoy this game and will continue to play as it is so different having a good fps mmo game that has such a great community (ask for help and you will probley get it due to the nature of the game you need to help team mates to concore as much ground as possible)… Expand

This is the dream shooter if you're a certain type of player. It fulfills the promise of Battlefield 2. Remember squad based com and objectives setting? Remember driving to the front in a variety of vehicles while planning strategy? And large scale? This game does all these things, and better. Communication, team strategy, opening up new flanks with mobile spawn points, a flanker class, combined arms, a map with strategic features that lives and changes, coordination in a small squad up to a platoon of 48 or several platoons, ...in short team strategy and tactics in large scale shooter! What's more, they got the pay to play (not pay to win) model right and the development model is a thing of beauty. Here we have devs playing all over the game, in clans (or 'outfits'), broadcasting and generally dialoguing with the players all the time. Rich community. They have a roadmap where players set dev objectives. They iterate and patch nearly at the level of a League of Legends. And all in discourse with the players. Heck, there are many continents to come.

Other stuff: sniping as a real thing (not strictly CoD style twitch sniping), stealth against real human beings, vehicles (tanks, atv's, fighters, gun ships and transports), emergent story up the wazoo, whole swathes of the game that emphasizes priorities other than twitch shooting (egs. leading w teamwork/objectives, hacking systems, healing, repairing, spotting...) There is much to dig into and learn to up your game. This is a great, great shooter. It's f-in' free. Check it.… Expand

Gonna go ahead and give this game a 10. I've never given anything a 10. Ocarina of time? Nah, that deserved a 9.5 at most. World of Warcraft? maybe a 7 for effort but Planetside 2 delivers on nearly every concept I've wanted in a video game since I've started playing them nearly 20 years ago. I've played 80+ hours of this game since the start of February... and I'm not the type to play games that much. It's seriously scary how addictive this game can be.

For those who dislike this game upon first play, Planetside 2 gives you as much as you put into it. You can't really just "jump in" unfortunately you've got to give it time, look up videos for newbs, and learn the basics. If you're a leading type, this game is for you. You can head your own platoons against the enemy forces using Air, Land vehicles, and Infantry forces all with a wide assortment of specialized weaponry and abilities. It's truly amazing how much variation there can be between players. Communication is key to winning and gathering large groups for organized assaults. If you're not much for talking to other people online, you're going to have a hard time having fun with planetside 2.… Expand

Great game. Has some issues including cluttered visuals, latency issue, and some player distribution trouble between areas of the map. These are minor complaints in my eyes though. Over all you can always find a good fight if you look hard enough. It is easy to learn, looks great, and isn't a grind Wow clone. What more do you want from an MMO.

this game is the Best f2p online game ever its free to play and isn't really pay2win and has a lot of vechiles and weapons witch has a lot of attachments and with awsome events updates is this the best f2p online game ever

The reason I gave it a 10 out of 10 is because I'm a big battlefield 3 fan and this was like battlefield 3 but in space and more chaos and I liked it.

This game is essentially everything I imagined in my 'army' fantasies as a kid. Remember when you used to run around with your mates pretending to shoot stuff and blow each other up? Well this is it writ large. Huge battles with air, armour and soldiers lighting up the night with tracer fire and rockets. It's such an intense experience that will probably leave you quite addicted. I know it did me.

It's also quite nice to see the devs really putting in the effort and being responsive to the community with weekly patches and updates. I see a lot of longevity in this game. I should also point out that the community is a lot more mature than most and are usually a pleasure to interact with.

Gold star. A+… Expand

This is the most fun I have ever had in a multiplayer shooter.

The game has some rough edges, performance most importantly, but what simply amazes me is that it works at all. There are hundreds of players on one map, with tons of vehicles in between. Especially fights at night are a sight to behold.

Another thing that elevates this game above many others is the fact that the developers keep improving upon it, and interact with the community a lot. They post on the official forums as well as Planetside Universe (the biggest fansite) and other communities such as /r/Planetside on reddit.

They also have regular live shows showing the outfits (guilds) in the game, talking about upcoming additions and fixes and good entertainment all around.

The game is certainly worth giving a try, especially considering it is free to play.

Oh and no, the game is not pay to win in any respect. All weapons can be gained through gameplay in a reasonable timeframe. (Though really, the standard weapons are the best allrounders. You only need to buy others if you want to specialize in a specific playstyle.)

So yeah, go check it out!… Expand

I have been playing PS2 since before it was released, back the so called "tech test" before closed Beta. Even back then I knew that this game was going to be very special, the raw potential of the tech SOE was displaying was incredible. 2000 players fighting on one massive continent, battles including hundreds of players at once, aircraft, tanks, infantry! But that's common knowledge, and those features only make half of a game. It is the development team that truly shoots this game through the roof for me.

The game receives at least 2 major updates a month, with hotfixes whenever they are needed (and they are usually very quick with those), which all include both new content and game fixes. The devs make regular efforts to join discussions on their forums, on reddit, on twitch livestreams, on podcasts and even on their own internet shows Friday Night Ops. This level of communication really jacks in the developers to the needs and concerns of the community, and coupled with their own limited brand of restraint the decisions being made for PS2's future have been extremely good. It is constantly evolving, constantly adding new content and constantly surprising me with the user generated shenanigans that a 64 square kilometer map filled with 2000 gun wielding immortals can create.

The F2P model has been extremely kind to the non paying player, the initial guns that everyone starts with are very often some of the "best" guns available. I put best in quotations because with few exceptions every gun in the game has downsides that counterbalance their upsides. Even the weapons that have been identified as straight upgrades (Around 5 or 6 weapon classes in number if I had to guess) have also caught the attention of the devs, who constantly tweak and change those weapons to bring them to an acceptable level.

The only downsides that I can think of for this game are the difficulty a new player has in figuring out what to do (a tutorial system is already implemented and is being expanded on as I type), and that many older computers will have difficulty running this game (especially laptops). AMD graphics cards also seem to fare less well than NVidia cards for whatever reason. I do not believe there is much more the devs can do in terms of optimization, as it is quite a demanding game.

Since those are the only two negative points I can think of, and in the shadow of the myriad of positives I have given, I bestow upon PS2 a 9 out of 10. The game will only get better over time I believe, as the developers really have their heart and soul in the game and have promised to keep working on it for years to come.… Expand

First thing to do after entering this game is to find an nice Outfit (guild) that is running a recruitment squad, ask for their vocal chat server, and enjoy this incredible gaming experience.

Don't stay alone too long, this game is huge and the dev team is giving it an fast and perpetual improvement, with a great ability to listen to the community.

- push you out of the transport plane, at a 1000 meters altitude from the enemy base … Expand

If you are a CoD child, dont bother. You will die a lot, and will whine and cry, because you are used to no-skill tiny corridor shooters.

If you like larger size games, vehicle gameplay and tactics, this is the game for you. Children who are easily frustrated and think they are 'super leet' need not apply. Read the negative reviews here to see how idiotic you have to be to dislike the game. Basically every bad review is a butthurt 12 year old.… Expand

Large battles featuring up to 2000 players per continent and is a complete blast, never had so much fun with an online FPS in my whole gaming-life PlanetSide 2 is awesometacular

I have no clue what people are talking about this is the best f2p game of all time no questions asked. Play it on a decent pc then come back complaining. There are no lag or bugs or whatnot people are complaining about.

Great game, played since beta. It's one major flaw is that's it's near impossible to unlock anything, even for a free game. You usually start with simple one point certifications, but then the price skyrockets to 100's for a simple bonus. In fact, there is not a single weapon in the game for under 100 certifications.

While the learning curve in Planetside 2 is, it has to be noted, quite steep (there is no tutorial yet, but the developers are working on it) and it is buggy (hands up if you've been crushed by a turret), Planetside 2 is one of the best cooperative FPSs in years. It has it all- aerial combat, vehicles, enormous battles, stunning maps, and an overall sense of camaraderie when you and your faction win a hard-fought battle and capture a crucial outpost. It's a hard game to play well if you're a lone wolf, but if you're part of an organized platoon or squad, the map is yours for the taking. I'm also impressed with the immense size of the continents and, for the most part, evenly balanced classes. A drawback of PS2 is that, at times, it can be hard to find a fight if the your comrades have given up an outpost for the moment. But it depends on your point of view. For me, that too can have me enjoy the game more - the thrill of finding a solo enemy, or walking into a full-blown firefight after minutes of searching if your drop pod is cooling down. Lastly, ITS FREE! Yes, you read correctly. FREE! What more could you want? Its a game rivaling the likes of the Battlefield series and Halo 4, for none of the inflated price. Overall, while PS2 does require some tweaking, don't count it out- this game is one of the best.… Expand

Planetside 2, where do I start. First I must say that this game has revolutionized the way I have thought about FPS games. Most people work as teams, and this game has you making friends and following people into huge battles. This game is still amazing and I've been playing since priority beta. Good job SOE!

It's basically Halo + Battlefield 3 on a map that is about 75 km^2. Well balanced, and lots of fun with a good amount of character customization. Plus, it is completely free. If you choose to pay anything, the items you can buy are entirely side-grades and flair, and do not make you a better player. A level 10 that pays will be on equal footing with a level 10 that doesn't pay (not that character level matters too much anyway, a max level character might be ~20% "better" than a level 1 because they can do minor things like add grips to their guns, carry more ammo and repair things quicker). My one complaint would me a lack of a meta-game, as you never get to a point where you "win". You can take over a continent for a brief period of time, but there is never a screen that says "round over, you win!". Only a permanent game over territory control. Capturing a base after a several hour assault still feels good though :P… Expand

Planetside2 is the epitome of modern FPS games. It belong to the MMO scene and brings a different approach to warfare. Forget about 16,32 or 64 battles. In PS2 2000 players can fight in the same continent creating some very huge and epic battles.
But the most important thing is that the developers listen the community and bring improvements in regular basis. I haven't seen any other game where the development team participate in the forums and discuss several issues with players. The game is Free to Play so it is very easy to try it and play without giving a dime. It needs some focus in the beginning because of its scale but soon you will understand how to play.… Expand

A truly epic game. BF3 on a massive scale, and whether your preference is flying, tanking or infantry, you will immense fun. All 3 playstyles are well implemented, and have a significant role to play in the game. There are myriad guns, explosives, and weaponry to choose from, and customizing your trooper / vehicle is a lot of fun. These can be trialed for 30 mins before you spend your cash/cert points too … Expand

Epic. It's a word that is thrown around quite a bit, but it perfectly describes what Planetside is. Many other games have "epic' scripted events to make you feel like you are part of something massive. In Planetside 2, those events happen organically and often and with real players. The massive scope of this game is literally not found in any other fps game. While you will need a top of the line computer to get the most out of this game, it is still very playable on my computer with is 3 years old (some parts are even older). To me, this means the game will age well and still look great years from now.

The game is certainly free2play but definitely not pay2win. I have not dropped a single penny into the game and I have never felt at a disadvantag. Everything that is not cosmetic can be purchased using in-game experience. You never have to spend a penny to get any weapon or attachment that a paying player can have.

While the game is certainly more fun playing in groups, I've had a great time just exploring the game by myself. However, the community is very open and friendly so joining an outfit is easy and rewarding.

I have already had experiences in this game that I have never had before in any other game, and there is still so much left for me to explore. This is a game I've been waiting my whole life for, and I can see myself playing this game for years to come.… Expand

Planetside 2 is a genuinely enjoyable experience that combines the elements of a number of FPS games that I prefer. I enjoyed battlefield 1942 the first time I played it, primarily because I enjoyed the "epic feeling" that the game had to it; Planetside 2 simply brings this to a whole new level. It's a massive game, and the combat's scale is unrivaled. The factions are balanced, and easily distinct with their own unique play-style. The combat itself is really good, easily comparable with the best FPS's on the market to date.… Expand

Its a great game and I would recommend it to any of my friends looking for a good fps to play.

The game has its fair share of bugs and problems but most should be fixed soon seeing as the game hasn't even been out for a month yet. Once you get started in the game and find a good outfit you'll find yourself sinking hours and hours of time into this game.

amazing game! best fun you can ever have :)

been playing it for 2 days , very addictive, great graphics, wonderful game play through out.

best online experience I've ever had

Game is incredible. Ever battle is massive and scales hundreds of players. People giving it low scores have crappy computer or internet. This is the game of the future and requires a decent computer. I have laptop with nividia gforce 200m series graphics card and 6Gs of ram at college and this game runs fine. If you want an awesome game that blows battlefield out of the water ,and makes call of duty look sad...THIS IS FOR YOU… Expand

Incredible. A few bugs here and there but will be ironed out carving this game into a 10/10 no doubt. It's quite difficult to get into and is very confusing at the beginning but stick with it and you'll be fighting like the best in no time. The scale of this game really is like nothing you've seen before and the wide variety of roles will keep me playing for a long time.

Epic battles in an epic environment, with day and night cycle, feels like an MMO since there are no "rounds", its a persistent world in war. It gives you the choice to engage in big battles, small battles, or maybe camp in the nearby mountains sniping from a far? You choose. Best Battlefield I ever played.

COD fan boys beware! PlanetSide 2 does not focus on holding your hand till you nuke the map, pretending you obtained this with any form of skill involved. Know that this game is challenging, rewarding and hardcore. If you're looking for a AAA massive shooter, this is your only option. Just look at the negative reviews and laugh as the same Modern Warf@gs cry about how the game is not a super easy bore-fest. Chest out, chin up, this is war! There is no room for cry babies on the battlefield!… Expand

It Action the **** out of your brain, world war how you never see it again! Epic battles, huge maps, many vehicles to play! The best F2P Shooter since Team Fortress 2!

Planetside 2's concept with massive battles, multiply platoons of soldiers running head to head, is a fantastic idea. No game today does these kind of things, and it's free, so why do so many people seem to dislike it? First of all, the bugs. Game series's like CoD, Battlefield, Halo, etc. They are all games with a low amount f bugs, they are also kind of similar, People then assume this game, with also is a fps, have the same amount of bugs or lower than the other games. But planetside 2 is much larger and much more difficult to make bug free as the other games so of course there will be bugs. You could the say that the release was to early. Bugs is far from the biggest problem in planetside 2, there are only one gamebreaking bug (which seems to be fixed now) and that was your screen randomly flashing white for a long time. The biggest problem with the game are the gameplay, which i often just one big kill farm (they are working on this, the last patch made some great changes with this). And this game is FAR from pay2win, you can get everything that is gameplay changing with in game currency, and the stock weapons are perfectly fine, if you don't want to use the stock weapons until you got enough in game currency, then you buy a weapon with real money, but those weapons are just sidegrates really. This game i worth a try, and are always evolving, just remember P2W are not any real issues, and the bugs are far from gamebreaking. I could be talking about all the good things about this game all day, but i don't have anymore time. See you on the battlefield.… Expand

Planetside 2 is a gorgeous, intense, and frustrating Free 2 Play title that has almost unlimited replay value. Every aspect of the game is near perfect, with good (but hard to learn how to fly) planes and strong tanks. There are battles everywhere, with balanced classes and weapons. Support and Attack classes both have their advantages, however the weapons and camouflage are ridiculously overpriced; some examples include guns that cost $7 or camouflage that cost $5. I understand that SOE needs to make money from their games, but in my opinion more people would buy from the Depot if the guns and camouflage were priced at $5 tops. This is an amazing game, and I encourage and FPS fan to try it out, that is if your rig can run it.… Expand

Others like me thought Battlefield 3 was amazing. The hug maps, huge lobbies. I thought nothing could get bigger. Then I saw Planetside 2. I never thought that SOE would make another Planetside. I was so excited for it, but the sad part was when I signed up for the beta I found out my PC could not run it so I was handing beta keys left and right. Then after the game fully launched was I able to get a new PC and the first game I downloaded was Planetside 2. Man oh man is it fun. It holds true to what PS1 had. The massive map (one base is about as large as a BF3 map and there are 3 continents a snow one, jungle one and a desert one), massive battles (you've got about 60 people attacking a smaller base while you can get 100s of people assaulting the main bases and another 100 defending it) and the best part. The game never ends. There are no rounds. The game is an on going battle and does not and never will end. The few problems with the game is the lack of a tutorial. It gives you a quick 30 second intro video with your factions music and announcer and then you're dropping down in a drop pod in the middle of a battle so it's best you join a clan. There are tons of clans recruiting through the forums and most if not all use Teamspeak, vent, or mumble. The in-game VOIP could use some working on but other wise it's decent. Over all the game is amazing once you start playing.… Expand

Its Great. Would have scored 10 but hackers are ruining the fun. Join a clan and get involved. You need a beast of a PC to run it on max settings but looks amazing. There is a lot to learn but its worth the effort.

FIRSTLY: the considerations.. 1. This game IS an MMO with a typical MMO learning curve. Any first person shooter fan that likes to just jump into a game and just terrorize an enemy platoon is not going to find that easy to accomplish on HIS OWN.

Why? Because when you single yourself out in an MMO shooter, you pit yourself again an entire virtual world of enemies!

2. It is free to play and still has some bugs, OK! But they are still building on the game and releasing content as we speak.

FREE TO PLAY

I may be a little older (28) but I know a thing or two about gratitude and let me say: the ones complaining about this game are little kids that don't yet have the experience in life to understand the value of typically anything and in most case, talking to you America, yes I live here too, their own health.

3. HUGE battles, very confusing at first and nobody will respond to you on open chat.

Get your feet on the ground and press INSERT twice and viola! That easy, you are in a squad and can follow their waypoints. "V" key is your commands and requests.. anybody that has played a PC game should be able to relate, I am missing the part where this is SO complicated it is worth a rating of "2"?? Ignorant.

I am rating it a 10 because that is my personal opinion. It is a damn cool world with a huge living combat arena where I am making online friends and hearing a-lot of perverted jokes! There are also plenty of ladies kicking ass and taking names in this game so keep that in mind, nothing is pickier than a female gamer!

GRAPHICS ARE UP TO PAR!

PHYSICS ARE BALANCED!

SHOOTING MECHANIC ITSELF, THE ACTUALLY GAMEPLAY ASPECT.. FEELS SIMILAR TO CALL OF DUTY, VERY TACTICAL AND YOU ARE PITTED AGAINST OVER SHIELDED CYBORGS!

YOU CAN TELL YOU SHOOTING A FLESHY TARGET BY HOW QUICKLY THEY DROP, OR HOW THEY RESPOND POORLY TO HEADSHOTS!

Game is a process hog, however! I am running it on a 9460 4g ddr and a single 8800 gt!! Graphics obviously reduced quite a bit but the game is holding a great framerate and doesn't look bad.

Other pc is an i5 quad core with 16g of ram and sli 680s looks mighty fine. All in game models are very well detailed and animated, particle effects, lighting.. this game really looks great!

Give it a try and keep in mind it will take at least 3 hours to get a grasp.

The developer provides instructional videos for the NooBS!

Enjoy!… Expand

You dont have to pay to be the best player. you have the OPTION to pay to get weapons that you can earn by killing people. and whats the big deal 5-10$ for a gun. this game is amazing and people dislike it because they suck at the game. Most of you say graphics are 6-7 out of 10 well thats because you computer is Overall its a well made game that you have to have skill in order to be the best player.… Expand

Summary: An excellent game that allows FPS action on a scale above your average shooter
Pros: Free-to-play done right, epic FPS battles, fantastic co-operative experiences
Cons: Resource hog, steep learning curve

I love Planetside 2. The game itself is fantastic, giving players access to a three-way war between factions each with their own style and gameplay traits. Released in November 2012, the game is constantly being improved with new content. On the day of writing, the tenth major update has been released.

Planetside 2 is, at heart, a shooter. But it's a unique one. While most shooters are designed around small-scale and 1v1 encounters, Planetside 2 (hereafter 'PS2') is designed around massive battles with hundreds of players and assorted vehicles. As a result, the game experience is truly unique.

It is also free to play. Some reviewers have said that the game is pay-to-win, but I strongly disagree. All weapons in the game (with the exception of identical weapons of different colours) can be unlocked with the in-game currency 'certs', which are automatically given along with experience. As such, it is simple to unlock a weapon. You may not have every weapon, but that's unimportant the stock weapons are in no way bad, and are designed around catering to most playstyles. Other weapons will be better at, say, long-range firefights, but lacking in close quarters, so you can unlock/buy a weapon that better suits you, but you won't be worse off with the default equipment.

The battles are amazing. Often, a single base will have over 300 players fighting over it, in a two-way or three-way battle that can go on for hours. This provides a real sense of accomplishment when you finally take that base, or when, at last, the enemy stops attacking and you begin the counterattack! The game's huge maps ensure that there are plenty of unique locations to fight over!

Furthermore, the game is not really designed around individual encounters; rather, it is designed on an empire versus empire basis. Sure, you might have a stock character, but your faction will have many players who have unlocked every weapon in the game. In PS2, you will lose if you're ill-equipped to the situation, but the individual player is simply a tiny part of the massive battles.

The 'new player experience' (or 'tutorial', as most players call it) is, to be honest, somewhat lacking. The developers have stated that they wish to improve it and, now, you get a chance to learn the basics of movement and combat before you're dropped into the biggest battle the server can find! The game can be hard to get into, but it's worth it once you get there.

Where PS2 really shines is in co-operative play. Groups of players (known as 'outfits') will use VOIP and suchlike to organise massive operations, from tank formations to airborne drops. Joining an outfit, or even creating your own, will allow you to experience PS2 at its best. There are many outfits that are happy to accept new players try checking the forums or asking in-game.

PS2 is a resource hog. As such, check the recommended specs before you download! The players who say that they can't run it probably don't meet the specs, and if you don't either, then your PC will struggle that's what the specs mean! Bear in mind that the devs are constantly working on making the game rub better since release, I've seen a 10 frames/second increase in heavy combat, with about 30-40 frames/second increase in less populated zones, with improvement every update.… Expand

Since launch the game changed by a large amout. Most of the initial annoyances are gone, and the dev team is putting much work in it. It's nice to see from such a large company like SOE that they listen to the fanbase, which rarely happens nowdays. It's a shame that the initial launch was rushed, but now the game is becoming what it should have been.

I've been looking for a game to play with passion for abut the last 4 years but have been feeling sort of forced to. Planetside 2 definitely made my bells go off and I was pretty sure I'd be a game for me since I played the first one a little because of a computer. Now Planetside 2 is here and it's a hobby for me.

The true value of Planetside 2 isn't it's FPS mechanics but teamwork and the scale. I'm an extremely experienced squad leader and moderately experienced platoon leader and it is that teamwork and tactics that makes me come back to this game. Sure there are new bugs coming and going constantly but it doesn't matter in the bigger picture.

I'm definitely here to stay and expect epic moments like I've had so far.

For organised teamwork outfit gameplay of this game check youtube channel by a guy named Raumance.… Expand

I have been Playing Planetside 2 since launch. For a Free to Play game this has to be one of the best games I have gotten my hands on. The devs work with the community on a daily basis to make sure the game is ever evolving into something spectacular. I have no qualms with giving SOE my money for this amazing game. I see a lot of frustrated people below. The best advise I can give you is to find an outfit to run with. If you are not having fun you are in the wrong outfit. I run with TRGgaming in the Terran Republic and The 666th Devil Dogs in the New Conglomerate. A Good outfit makes this game hand over fist better than any other FPS I have played, period.… Expand

Your first few hours in this game will be brutal. You will find yourself blown to pieces, stabbed and riddled with bullets time and time again. You'll scream as enemy infantry fly over your head, pop additional shields, cloak into barely visible blobs and generally do things you might not expect. Most of all you will find yourself caught in the crossfire of hundreds of players. But as you stick with it you'll learn how to survive and once you know how to survive you'll find that fighting hundreds of players at the same time is ridiculously fun.

It has its bugs, it's still relatively new and doesn't have a huge amount of content. But it's easily one if not the most fun shooter out on the market right now. It's also free so you may as well try it.… Expand

The game had some flaws at release, but the development team is really dedicated on making the game better!
The games teamwork mechanic and gun play are both really fun!

I'm looking forward to what this game turns into in the future, and I love playing it!

Planetside 2 is unique in it's massive scale and multifaceted combat. There is something for any type of FPS player. It's like a never-ending game of Battlefield 3 crossed with Halo. The best thing is the superior team behind it coming out with updates every few weeks. If you tried the game at launch and found it lacking in some way, give it another chance. On hint, the game is MUCH more fun and easier to learn if you join an outfit (the Planetside equivalent of a clan). The game is hard to learn because of it's scale, just give it time and find a good outfit willing to teach you the ropes. It's a blast when you pull off a successful raid or base defense as a team.… Expand

The sheer scale and organization of PlanetSide 2 really overwhelms a new player, the thrill of running along with hundreds of teammates, doing large scale operations, is just one of a kind.
Not to mention that its graphics are basically god-tier, up there with Crysis and Battlefield for sure.

The game is definitely not pay to win: I play for free and I'm doing great. If you want to upgrade every class and every vehicle, it's going to take some time though. Excellent game overall, with an extremely dedicated dev team very close to the community. They are doing great work.
The game is very rough CPU wise though.

Without a doubt the best and most rewarding strategic FPS out there today. There is nothing that matches its scale and excitement and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

The first thing that's worth noting is that many of the reviews on this page (including possible this one) are very dated, and vast amount has changed since then, so do try and ignore the most outdated, as many of the comments are no longer relevant.

The learning curve is still relatively steep but I think this is in PS2s favor when the alternative in the generic dumbed down FPS we're all used to. With that in mind definitely make sure you give yourself long enough when you play to get to grips with things before forming an opinion, as the pure scale of the environment and battles can be overwhelming.

The best fun, especially early on, is had when playing with a friend or ideally a group, or an outfit. As you gain experience lone wolfing is very enjoyable too, but remember the game is designed with team play at the forefront. Also playing with friends definitely helps smooth out the learning curve.

The free to play model is fair with anything that you can buy for money for the most part being sidegrades so you can still have a great time playing for free. That being said I think it's important to remember that someones gotta pay the bills and a subscription or occasional SC purchase if you can afford it will pay off and reward the devs for their hard work.

What's more I think SOE are earning their keep in terms of patching issues with the game, adding new content and promoting a community. The game isn't perfect but its always improving and so I feel happy that I'm getting my money's worth committing the time and the subscription fee.

If you're a fan of FPSs that have a great deal of strategy, depth, scale and variety then you owe it to yourself to give PS2 a try!… Expand

Impossibly huge in scope and scale. I can't believe that it's a free game. The fact that it's an MMO astounds me. Nowhere do I see the slightest gameplay sacrifices because of it, even though the game can support literally thousands of players in a server. This game is a gameplay gem, and a technical masterpiece. There just isn't anything else like it.

Perfect thrilling game! You only must learn to fight in this game and then everything will be all right. For a newbie this game will be difficult but when you fight together with your brothers-in-arm, when you step by step will study how to win the enemy then you will receive a lot of pleasure playing this game.

Free to play alone sells this game, but add to it high production values, massive maps, huge player counts, one of the most complex perk upgrade systems in any game i've seen, good graphics... the only real weak spot of the game is floaty controls but other than that, it's a must have for any PC gamer.

I read the first negative review I saw (from bi0mech81) and quite frankly everything the said has no bearing... Im sorry your terrible at playing a average difficulty FPS/MMO but the game cant help you there. Snipers are not a real problem, go heavy and thrown on a shield expose them and kill them. Tanks are what they are for power... they cost an ingame currency to buy to keep players from repeatedly spawning tanks to use. If you spawn in the middle of tank fight as a new person, SPAWN ELSEWHERE since it is actually impossible to have a spawn point ONLY in a battle as every team has a "safe zone" area so you cant be "pushed off" the map. This game is HUGE with thousands of players in a map, if a medic could heal a heavy and keep him alive under fire the game would be incredibly imbalanced. As a medic healing will ALWAYS get you xp if you sustain it to do the other player any good just flashing them a quick heal with your heal gun doesnt help them and hence wont reward you. When I started this game I did spawn into a battle and died a few times but quickly figured most things out. To start my game I went with a heavy player since they have a large clip and a shield to further increase tanking ability. The game is incredibly fun and open, the weapon/armor/vehicles can all be customized with different attachment etc to a depth even better than battlefield. There is a learning curve, it took me probably 3 hours or so to get all of the major gameplay aspects down and I would consider myself an average FPS guy, far from expert. Part of the beauty of a game like this is the sheer numbers required to make big differences in the game, sometimes in a large battle you will get killed with little you can do to prevent it (save hiding) just due to the number of crosshairs pointing back at your large group of soldiers assaulting a particular location. No single player of any skill level can capture a defended zone by himself because the game is so big everything significant will require a sustained effort from many individuals and that makes this game a hell of alot of fun in my opinion.… Expand

Most of the people that gave this game a poor score have not a PC that manages to run it properly. This is a fact. You need a high-end machine to appreciate this awesome MMOFPS to whom I can't find any real lack, a part a bit of lacking content. Its gameplay is fun and immersive and it just needs more development. Since it is fullt free to play I cannot give it anything less than a top score.

My journey with this game started with frustration, I've installed game from Steam, wanted to fly, but joystick didn't work back then.. I came back few months later, and... everything worked great. I don't play a lot games, and I didn't play multi-player except for Starcraft 2 which was uber frustrating. But. after 80+ hours of play I can say that Planetside 2 is unique and very addictive With great number of classes, vehicles, tactics, and ways to develop your character gameplay is one of the best I've seen in my whole life. So, play, play, play and see you on the The Crown shouting "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" … Expand

If you are a new player, go google some tutorials and look on the website before hopping into the action.

Now, Planetside 2 is an AMAZING MMOFPS IF you have the machine to run it, if not, then I feel bad because you are missing the most wonderful modern gaming experience today. Even if playing alone, the breathtaking large-scale battles are extremely enjoyable to participate in, and the customization allows you to modify your character to your own playstyle. DOWNLOAD NOW… Expand

Planetside 2 is a game that has unbelievable polish for what is a free game. while i admit that it has lag issues and bugs there are moments in this game that are absolutely spectacular. Plus its FREE so go play it for yourself

Probably my favorite game of all time. Alot of people say it's pay-to-win but it's really not, the base weapons are better than the ones you can buy. The weapons you can buy though do cost quite a bit I won't lie but like I said the base weapon is usually the best out of them all. Certs can be slow to make to but if you want quick certs I just repair turrets after a battle, most of the time you will be the only one repair (because everyone scatters to the next area) and it can get boring and long but you'll make a good amount of XP and certs.
Lastly, you can play this game with a lower end PC but do note that you will have to play on the lowest settings (like me) even on the lowest settings I tend to crash every three or four hours. But that doesn't bother me at all. So yeah, I suggest a higher end PC to have the best experience.… Expand

I'll be clear, if you are a person who wants a game easy to win, then this game is not for you go play world of warcraft or something for the average player. This game is amazing, in graphics and game play, battles of 200vs200 in one zone is great, you have to use tactics and learn from your errors. join a squad to be coordinated, I started to play this game and died ALOT I got used to the easy FPS games like COD or BF, but this is not easy and makes you want to be better everyday, and is NOT pay to win, you can get everything with game points, the only things you cant buy with game points are just visual nothing else. It's like league of legends. If you don't know how to play find an Outfit, log in the forums, ask for help, look the planet side 2 wiki google it! you will learn.… Expand