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 Since the release of Quake from id Software, first person shooters have slowly pulled more and more emphasis on the multiplayer experience, some more than others (such is the case with id Software’s own Quake III: Arena and Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament). Then consider the success of the massively multiplayer online role playing titles like Ultima Online, and it the conclusion is natural: why not combine the two? Verant Interactive, hot off the success of their MMORPG EverQuest, is attempting to pull off exactly that with PlanetSide.
The overall goal of PlanetSide is for a territory to have as much power as possible over the rest of the world. Every player belongs to a military corporation where each person decides what their job is, whether it be to attack the competition so that the company can expand to new locations, or to squat on the ground and wait for the troops to assault your base. PlanetSide’s ability skills will allow each player to custom tailor their character in different areas that will allow him to be best suited for specific situations and tasks that he’s interested in taking on. On the surface, PlanetSide seems to be EverQuest simply taken to the first person shooter genre, but it is far from that. Verant is designing the title specifically so that players won’t become bored of running around and holding the fire button for hours upon hours. Strategic elements will be crucial in order to advance anywhere in the game in terms of rank and respect, and spicing up combat is the inclusion of vehicles on the land and the ground that players can use to attack or transport comrades around in. In order to keep things at balance, Verant will also be able to change the world status in real-time, which will add all new variables and dynamics to how battles are played out. In order to compensate for the massive amounts of people playing the game (up to approximately 3,500 people per server), Verant is dividing up the territories into separate continents and even planets (the game is being designed around a single planet, at the moment, but depending on the game’s popularity, more planets may be created) so that things don’t become so overcrowded that all battles are kamikaze runs without any strategy involved. But just because you’re started in one area doesn’t mean you are constrained there for the entire duration of the game; there are drop ships that circle the universe that will transport people from continent to continent, planet to planet. Unlike the normal sets of first person shooters out there, PlanetSide will not magically let players store an unlimited amount of firearms and ammunition on themselves, but there will be storage containers scattered throughout the world where people can place their weapons equipment until it’s needed. There will also be apartments for each person, which servers the dual purpose as a haven from the surrounding destruction and a place to store possessions. Of crourse, we couldn't go on without mentioning the incredible job that Verant is doing on PlanetSide's graphics engine; the initial screen shots that have been released are looking stunning for a title that’s being made to support perhaps hundreds of people on the screen at one time. We’re sure the hardware requirements are going to be up there, but if what we have seen is an indicator, it’s definitely going to be worth picking up that faster processor or upgraded video card; the environments, character models – the whole deal – is shaping up very, very nicely. As much as we mentioned, there’s far more to go around in this first-ever massively multiplayer first person shooter, and here are a few of the features we haven’t mentioned yet: - Player roles to fit the situation, ie. join a team to conquer territory, fortify a base against attack, or support any offensive or defensive maneuver.
- Character development and advancement through ranks
- Team tactical combat for control of planetary regions, with real-time updates on control of territory
- Seamless worlds on a massive scale with large indoor environments
- Real-time weather and environmental factors
- Full team support
- Dynamically assigned missions based on real-time planetary conditions
- Vehicle physics and flight model
PlanetSide still has quite a bit work left in the development process, but already we’re excited at the prospects, and hopefully we’ll have a better look at how the title is coming along at E3 this year, and the eventual beta testing phase.
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