ZAM gives its rundown on SOE's Sci-Fi FPS MMO

The class system is mainly a loadout reticule, switching from one set of weapons and linked abilities with ease – as long as you have access to a terminal. Under attack from a high-flying liberator gunship? Head to the weapons terminal and get into the MAX exoskeleton, remembering to put on the correct anti-air attachments. Or perhaps switch to Heavy Assault and grab your anti-aircraft missile launcher?

For every situation there are choices to be made on the best approach and the equipment and tools are provided for you to make those decisions for yourself. The game does not force you down a path; instead it wisely opens up possibilities and lets you run with them.

This approach makes the player the center of the action rather than the surrounding minutiae, leading to utterly memorable moments that you will chat about repeatedly, be it that time a dozen of you held off a hundred rampaging Vanu, or when you accidentally flipped a galaxy  -- flying troop transport -- and killed everyone on board, again.

War stories indeed.

The game still has issues it is working through. Infiltrators – the snipers/rogues of the game – can be limited in effectiveness as their strength of long range kills can be hampered by issues with draw distance past 300 + meters; particularly when there is a large mass of combatants in one area.

Optimization is still an ongoing process and sporadic vanishing of opposition troops, fluctuating frame rates and other issues crop up on occasion, but the gears are greased regularly and updates are moving the game onwards in regard to performance across a large range of rigs.

The extensive certification system enables a great deal of customization, such as rewarding those selfless pilots who want to chauffeur their team from hot zone to hot zone with perks to make them more capable. Almost every weapon, armor and vehicle has a series of options that you can unlock by earning Cert points – gained from XP earned by taking bases, killing the opposition etc.

There is still confusion in the way that some weapons are rated; in fact some of the current ratings on the power or range of guns are baffling when you compare them to the actual effectiveness on the battle field.

It can take quite a while to unlock the certs you desire, though 100 in a decent play session is regularly attainable, some of the unlocks cost 1000 points or more.

Of course, this approach is to encourage use of the cash shop, which is not surprising as SOE has to make money somehow. But though using Station Cash is a shortcut to getting a new weapon, you will still need to earn the certs to customize its utility – such as buying a new scope for your sniper rifle, or a forward hand grip for a carbine. All weapons can be earned, so cash will not give you a distinct long term advantage, it will just give you the option of jumping the queue a bit.

Balancing is still ongoing, but there are not many occasions where one weapon will completely dominate others in a similar classification. They will simply have a different effectiveness; less stopping power, more range; more power, less accuracy etc.

The cash shop in PlanetSide 2 is an example of how to encourage players to provide a revenue stream by making them want to spend money on the game. This is preferable to trying to make those F2P options so egregious that you would rather subscribe, which is what the studio really wants anyway – a tactic employed by some I won’t mention. Well, OK, BioWare and SWTOR.

Even without spending a single cent, you can experience everything there is in PlanetSide 2 without feeling completely disadvantaged or held back by gating in any way -- except if you are in a queue for a server or continent; Premium Members get priority.