2012 Gaming Year in Review: Planetside 2 (August)

Planetside 2 by Sony Online Entertainment seriously revives its original Planetside game by enhancing its multiplayer, graphics, weapons and vehicles.  When the original was released in 2003, computers of that time lacked the advanced networking and processing capabilities required for thousands of soldiers on a single battlefield.  However, now that we have the technology, Sony has decided to take a second crack at it, and has now brought a total war online raging with more soldiers than there are people in small countries such as Tuvalu.


Through the creation of dozens of games over the past decade, Sony has continued to grow in graphics development, and planetside has definitely shown how much experience Sony has in making graphically appealing games.  With landscapes ranging from deserts to polar regions, Planetside 2 brings everything to life, although your main focus should really be taking life away from your enemies.   

Aside from beautiful scenery, Planetside incorporates beautiful aircraft of the future such as the Liberator.  It is great fun to soar around in one, but even better when one of your friends happen to man the 105 mm cannon that can be attached to the belly of your plane.  Other great planes can be found here.

Land vehicles are just as plentiful as aircraft.  If you are cheap or low on Mechanized Units (type of currency you earn by capturing bases) you can always buy a flash, which is basically an atv, which you can eventually upgrade to mount a machine gun.  On the other end of the spectrum, you can purchase a heavy tank, which is great for getting stuck if you’re a bad driver due to its low torque and weight.  

On the last frontier of war, sea vehicles...simply don’t exist yet, but hopefully in the next Planetside, amphibious attack craft will begin to appear, and Sony will have finally made the ultimate MMO FPS.