169 people found this review helpful
12 people found this review funny
Not Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 1,693.2 hrs on record (208.7 hrs at review time)
Posted: May 15, 2020 @ 5:03pm
Updated: May 22, 2020 @ 10:10am

The entry level requirements for this game just aren't what they used to be where any casual player could enter and have a meaningful experience alongside other players. Now the game and its various servers are dominated by veteran outfits that dictate the flow of the game at everybody else's expense.

With the introduction of A.S.P. (end game upgrades), infantry Implants, construction and outfit specific abilities (the latest being the Bastion orbital vehicle) the devs have continued down a path of dividing veteran players from the general population and the result has been a pathetic capacity to retain players and a decent population. Alienating newer players who suffer on the receiving end of this late game content.

In an effort to try and appease existing veterans to stick around the devs have been introducing more content specifically for them at the expense of newer players. A player without battle Rank 100+ A.S.P. upgrades, implants, vehicle upgrades or access to outfit/construction abilities is just a bug on the windshield for other players that really shouldn't dictate the play as much as they do now, certainly not in such an unfair capacity if this game is to ever have any kind of continued longevity. Some examples of this unfairness include abilities like being able to equip two primary weapons rather than a secondary sidearm, which has further compounding impact with class upgrades like the Infiltrators powerful Stalker cloak which ordinarily limits you to a mere sidearm but can now be played with significantly greater potential.

Add to that the relatively recent force move to DX11 that has performance bottlenecked the game for many players that could previously get much better performance on older machines. This game has the unfortunate engine symptom of locking ones weapons rate of fire to their computers frame rate, should it [RoF] be higher than the frame rate. Previously where i played the game on high i now have to play it on low and still get latency issues that limit my output and this leads to very frustrating infantry dual experiences on top of the existing battle against late game content.

I cannot with good conscience recommend this game to isolated newer players or even either veteran players below BR 80 and/or those who previously played on servers that now have lesser veteran outfit presence than the other factions. Such as NC on Cobalt whose lack of veteran outfits leads them to consistently get farmed. Even if previously i have personally had many good hundreds if not thousands of hours in this game and would have recommended this game at that time; and with the increased population due to pandemic lockdown keeping people online i have to recommend the game in its current state and not what it used to be years ago even in spite of its many other improvements to the base game play.
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18 Comments
Narwhal Jun 14, 2020 @ 12:08am 
Just want to say that you're probably right but after 10 hours I've killed loads of BR 80+ people and still managed to have fun, there's still enjoyable things here, just maybe not enough to want to commit to
zodIIac Jun 13, 2020 @ 6:23pm 
Hey, thanks for the useful info. Spared me frustration and disappointment.. Gotta look for something else.
|||||||||||||||| May 30, 2020 @ 1:27pm 
This is really accurate. I came back to give it a try and was sort of shocked at some of the changes. I guess as you mentioned that's their way of trying to keep people who are already playing it to continue playing it: building an "end game" of sorts, but I'm not logging in to play a shooter so some jack ass in the FPS equivalent of "epic gear" can miss me with 60% of their shots while I'm nailing them and they still win the trade. It's a shame because the concept itself is good, but you can tell the devs at some point compromised vision for cheap gimmicks to keep the playerbase playing.
Amaze May 30, 2020 @ 9:07am 
I was going to try it out again, but you reminded me that it's still garbage. (Last I played was in January 2017).

Imagine playing this for 2000+ hours lol pathetic
< blank > May 28, 2020 @ 10:20pm 
Doctor G is a goomer who beats his wife when she accidently disturbs his 2,000th hour of planetside 2 for some fresh tendies. Sad!
grazr May 28, 2020 @ 2:59pm 
Except that it isn't 200 hours free play. I've been playing since CBT, those hours are only Steam Syncronised hours; and i've purchased from the store twice. It's clear that you're being deliberately obtuse on account of your favourite toy being trashed on.
Doctor G May 28, 2020 @ 12:08pm 
LOL like the man said 200 hours free play your a chuck! a freebie free monkey looking for cookies. Well said :steamhappy:

jesus i love you guys
grazr May 28, 2020 @ 9:34am 
Doctor G, "Your attitude is awful thinking some one OWES you"

It's not a matter of being owed anything. Expecting a balanced game is an industry standard for any chance of retaining players. Just because a game is free does not exempt it from critcism on any design flaws it may have.

The fact that PS2 achieved something truly unique and otherwise brilliant i consider it worthwhile to chuck in some money on what ever you want and i have actually done so myself, but it should not be on content you need, it should be on content you want.
Cos May 27, 2020 @ 8:23pm 
I was gonna give this game a shot again after two years, but this review reminded me what happened last time I took a shot at getting back into it. This game has changed a lot since 2016. I'd hoped they would've cleaned up the P2W bull by now with player counts a lot lower even 2 years ago, but what can you do. Thanks for saying me the time to re-download something I'll enjoy more. Maybe Chivalry.
< blank > May 27, 2020 @ 4:22pm 
"This seems a lot like a newer player gets outplayed by veterans too hard and thus isn't having much fun. With 218 hours you are still new to the game"

Dude if 200 fucking HOURS is still "new" to you, then you're are crazily out of touch. No wonder this game is dying. No one wants to play a video for over 200 hours of misery just to finally get to the "fun" part.