GWN Review (94.14 Score)

Squeeky · 2003-06-04, 10:26 AM

The GaneWatchers Network has up a PlanetSide review. GWN gives PlanetSide a rating of 94.14. Yet another awesome score. Here is a snip of the review

Now that I�ve confirmed its reality, let me give you the run down. Planetside at its core is a big gerbil wheel of, well, it�s a gerbil wheel dammit! The key of course is it�s a fun gerbil wheel. Planetside is a Massive Multiplayer First Person Shooter. There is a fa�ade of capturing bases, towers and continents as the goal of the game, but that�s just a thin cover for the real purpose. Kicking ass. Yep, killing other players en masse. That�s the real core, and it�s something you do over and over and over again (aka gerbil wheel).

Check out the full review linked below. Wanna chat more? Hop onto our IRC server at irc://irc.planetside-universe.com

http://www.gamewatchers.net/displaya...icle=95&page=1

TekDragon · 2003-06-04, 10:48 AM

A 9.4 is a score that should go to a game that is revolutionary in its field, has groundbreaking graphics, and solid design.

How the hell does PS fall into any of these categories? MMFPS? Meh, 10six did it years ago and had more content/fun to boot. Cookie cutter weaponry? Meh, Tribes had better weapon variety years ago with more skill emphasis to boot. 5 bases? Meh, ive seen more variety in Doom2. Crashes consitently and thoroughly for anyone using one of the most popular and powerful video cards? Meh. 13$ a month for less content than ive seen released in other FPS by no-name developers? Meh.

What the friggin hell. The only way i can see PS getting those 9.0+ scores is if the reviewers had a fat paycheck bonus in their pocket when writing it.

Please. This game is ok. Thats it: ok. It doesnt break the field in anything. Its a poorly thought out FPS thrown into a beautiful setting with above par graphics.

Gamespot was going in the right direction with a 7.9 but in my opinion they were too leniant. 6.5, MAYBE in my opinion.

Ill stick around for 2 more weeks until my free month runs out, then im returning this game to the store for something worth the money. I imagine a whole slew of people will be doing the same. SOE didnt learn from turbines mistake with AC2. People will NOT pay for low content and poor gameplay mixed with pretty graphics. Guess im stuck waiting for Tribes 3.

kerosene31 · 2003-06-04, 11:00 AM

The problem with giving PS any kind of numerical score is that there is no game to compare it to. PS is a unique game that has nothing similar to it right now.

Regardless of what number it gets, I am playing and having lots of fun and at the end of the day that is all that matters to me.

TekDragon · 2003-06-04, 11:21 AM

The problem with giving PS any kind of numerical score is that there is no game to compare it to. PS is a unique game that has nothing similar to it right now.

Wrong. The art of reviewing is not to look at a game and go "Hmm, what game is this most similar too? What score did that game get? 8.0? Well this game looks a bit cooler ill give it a 8.5". No, No and NO!

When (real) reviewers review a game they look at the components of the game. Then they compare those components to the overall theme in the market relating to game in its category.

PS is a FPS first and foremost. The MM is icing on the cake that deserves its own review section. The first thing the reviewers need to do is review PS based on the fact that it is a FPS.

FPS ASPECTS

Weaponry: Sub par. The weapons, while having pretty effects, are all cookie cutter. A rocket launcher does diddly to infantry. An armor peircing bullet does diddly to infantry. A regular bullet does nothing to a vehicle. The weapons also lack variety. My 6 year old neice could think up cooler weapons. Hell, why didnt they just hire someone from the Tribes team to help them think up some inspired weaponry?

Fighting mechanics: Sub par. Emphasis on weapon firing cones over skill. Very little movement related combat. Any newb with a 2 minute discussion on how to fire in bursts will be a pro at fighting. To completely knock out twitch and skill fighting is a huge step backwards for a FPS.

Vehicles: above par. The variety is good and they each serve a purpose. Driving mechanics need some work but overall this field is a good bit above average for FPS games.

Graphics: average. The graphics are pretty, no doubt. But AC2 had better graphics and so will Star Wars Galaxies. Plenty of other games have graphics just as good as this, if not better.

Content at release: Poor. Uninspired, cookie cutter weaponry split across 3 factions. 5 bases. Thats it. The only thing going for the content was the vehicles.. but even that amount is small compared to what it could/should be for a MMFPS.

MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ASPECTS

Communication: average. Other MM games have done better, others have done worse.

Player interaction: sub par. The tools to organize outfits (one of the key features going for the game) are lacking, greatly. There is no way to see the equipment for your men and there is no way to organize them into sub squads and assign roles from there.

Latency issues: average to above par. Coming from a guy that played UO when it first came out I can say this game doesnt have much lag. But when you look at other MM games that have 20 to 30 times more stuff running through the server with the same amount of lag you get the feeling that not much of your 13$ is going to the server bill.

Content after release: So far, terrible. All weve seen so far is patches that fix bugs that should of been fixed in beta. And patches that then fix the bugs that come from the previous patches. The only thing weve gotten besides that is the "promise" of some new vehicles and a basic pencil drawing of what one of them will look like.

FINALLY

Initial Fun Factor: Good. Despite the fact that the game is sub par in almost every category theres still the attraction that comes from being in a large scale battle with other players.

Lasting Fun Factor: Poor, but largely unknown. Unfortunaltey, ive already gotten bored with capping the same base over and over. Every day that goes by I play less and less on my nephew's PC. On the other hand, my college buddies still link up every night to play CTF on Blood Gulch in Halo. Who knows though, maybe SOE will pull their heads out of there ass and give the game some content.

Overall Score: 6.0-6.5

kerosene31 · 2003-06-04, 11:32 AM

Well, you can look at it however you want. If you don't score games by comparing them to others, then it comes down more to the personal opinions of the reviewer IMHO. For example, you say the weapons are "cookie cutter". That is fine, but that is your opinion. You are entitled to your opinion as I am entitled to mine. I think different. So, that is why reviews tend to be more opinion than fact.

Onizuka · 2003-06-04, 11:45 AM

The lowest thing they gave the game was graphics!!?!?

The graphics are spectacular id give them a 95.

kerosene31 · 2003-06-04, 11:50 AM

The graphics are quite decent, but not great. The dev team already mentioned that they could not make things more complex without making the game totally unplayable.

Look at games like Raven Shield which have terrific graphics. Of course that game only has a few people on screen at one time. PS would never work with that amount of detail.

NightWalker XI · 2003-06-04, 11:57 AM

WTF...

TekDragon shut up, all you do is bash PlanetSide, the game is good, don't like it then thats jsut too bad cause I do believe the rest of us here like it and its score is well deserved and its got that score WITHOUT the up-dates...this game IS revolutionary

NightWalker XI · 2003-06-04, 11:59 AM

Also about the graphics, I use an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, I run the game on Highest settings and guess what it looks better than AC2, looks awesome for an online game with NO lag, not on Werner anyway, I also don't get any lag on Markov (where I made a NC character hopping to play with Freedom Corp)

Happy lil Elf · 2003-06-04, 12:07 PM

Wow, Tek found another thread to bash PS in. Lucky guy

Kaltagesta · 2003-06-04, 12:12 PM

wtf are u even doing on these forums? if you dont like the game, why do you 'waste' time coming on the forums of a game you dont like? since release it seems that all the **** in beta who were bashing iot have cleared off, but you just cant seem to let go.

in short, fuck off.

NightWalker XI · 2003-06-04, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by Call-The-Gestap
in short, fuck off.

Amen to that :o

Lise · 2003-06-04, 12:32 PM

What I like is the fact that this reviewer gets it. A lot of people whine about the "point" of Planetside. The POINT is to kill a lot of people! The base capping is just an excuse to do so! And Planetside makes all that killing so much fun (even for a 56Ker who lags a lot ^_^) Sometimes I do wonder why people want a "point" to Planetside... are they really so desperate for fulfillment in their lives that their games need a higher purpose?

And Tek, a 90+ out of 100 score can be given to two kinds of games: ones that, as you said, create a whole new genre or subgenre and do so brilliantly, or ones that take a genre/subgenre (like the MMOFPS, which 10six and WW2OL HAVE already tried, admittedly) and do it right. (Which the previous two examples certainly did NOT do.) Planetside is deserving of it's score. Perhaps it is NOT the first MMOFPS, but it's the first one to really get the whole thing right.

Hamma · 2003-06-04, 12:46 PM

Originally posted by TekDragon
A 9.4 is a score that should go to a game that is revolutionary in its field, has groundbreaking graphics, and solid design.

How the hell does PS fall into any of these categories? MMFPS? Meh, 10six did it years ago and had more content/fun to boot. Cookie cutter weaponry? Meh, Tribes had better weapon variety years ago with more skill emphasis to boot. 5 bases? Meh, ive seen more variety in Doom2. Crashes consitently and thoroughly for anyone using one of the most popular and powerful video cards? Meh. 13$ a month for less content than ive seen released in other FPS by no-name developers? Meh.

What the friggin hell. The only way i can see PS getting those 9.0+ scores is if the reviewers had a fat paycheck bonus in their pocket when writing it.

Please. This game is ok. Thats it: ok. It doesnt break the field in anything. Its a poorly thought out FPS thrown into a beautiful setting with above par graphics.

Gamespot was going in the right direction with a 7.9 but in my opinion they were too leniant. 6.5, MAYBE in my opinion.

Ill stick around for 2 more weeks until my free month runs out, then im returning this game to the store for something worth the money. I imagine a whole slew of people will be doing the same. SOE didnt learn from turbines mistake with AC2. People will NOT pay for low content and poor gameplay mixed with pretty graphics. Guess im stuck waiting for Tribes 3.

Why are you even here anymore?

Go bash PS on the OF like everyone else.

vawlk · 2003-06-04, 01:54 PM

Originally posted by TekDragon
A 9.4 is a score that should go to a game that is revolutionary in its field, has groundbreaking graphics, and solid design.

yup

What the friggin hell. The only way i can see PS getting those 9.0+ scores is if the reviewers had a fat paycheck bonus in their pocket when writing it.

yup...or free lifetime accounts...or maybe they just like it more than us. I like it, but it's no tribes. But it is a good diversion until something else comes out.

Ill stick around for 2 more weeks until my free month runs out, then im returning this game to the store for something worth the money. I imagine a whole slew of people will be doing the same. SOE didnt learn from turbines mistake with AC2. People will NOT pay for low content and poor gameplay mixed with pretty graphics. Guess im stuck waiting for Tribes 3.

Heh, I played AC2 for 6 months...this has been much better than that. I can't even go in to the hell that was AC2. There have been a few bugs and crashes, but they seriously reduced the amount of crashing problems in the last 2 weeks of beta.

I too am waiting for Tribes Vengence, but thats a long way off and I have my doubts...I don't like them using a 3rd party engine but we'll see in a year or so. Unfortunately I need something to play until then...pong just won't cut it for me.