PlanetSide 2 Latest Information

Alongside the release of the PlanetSide 2 announcement trailer earlier this week, Sony Online Entertainment have released a fresh batch of information and artwork about what to expect from the game. It seems clear that the developers are keen to stay true to what made the original a unique experience. However, they seem keen to emphasise that they hope to bring some new elements to Auraxis to bring the series into the current generation of FPS games.

PlanetSide 2 is being built on a brand new engine created especially by SOE for MMO games called “Forgelight” that promises to offer enormous environment for combat. Alongside these massive areas, the developers are aiming to have equally large character customisation options and skill trees. The player character, weapons and even vehicles will all be customisable to allow for free-form class gameplay.

Offering players the option to rally around certain empires will clearly still be key and battles are set to have players fighting thousands of others at any one time. Air, sea and land combat will all be routine in the struggle for resources and important strategic territories. PlanetSide 2 will feature battles that can rage for days at a time that will need careful teamwork and foresight to win for a particular empire. Forging alliances and creating specialist groups of soldiers is the key to victory and presents a range of unique tactical choices for the various sides.

The three key empires will return: the Terran Republic, the New Conglomerate and the Vanu Sovereignty. Battlefields will hold important resources and maintaining control of them will yield fuel, tech and ammunition bonuses for the occupying imperial forces. Team work will be essential to success and dedicated voice and text chat will be necessary to win. Maps are promised to be “enormous” in scale and will take in a diverse selection of locations including towns, open battlefields and inside large structures.

SOE have announced that there will be 20 basic weapons that are fully customisable to cater for different players with modifiable attachments and equipment. Similarly there will be 15 vehicles, two of which are specific to each empire. These vehicles are also customisable and as payers progress they will unlike new abilities and upgrades for them. There are also options present for the creation of different guilds, known as Outfits, which will offer teamwork on a smaller scale within these larger battles.

PlanetSide 2’s announcement has certainly got us excited and the degree of involvement with the original title’s fans is commendable. SOE have a lot of work to do to compete with the dozens of large MMOs out there, but the hook of PlanetSide’s pedigree and the promise of MMOFPS gameplay is certainly an exciting one. A release date is currently unknown, but expect more information on the game to emerge next month when we will hopefully spend time with the title.

All Planetside 2 Screenshots

All Planetside 2 Artwork