not necessarily. i know a guy who's a hardcore souls fan but he didn't like bloodborne that much. the presentation of the game may be the same but it is still its own IP.
do you like hack n slash gameplay & ragdoll physics? you may like bloodborne but like the souls games, it is really effing hard.
Permalink | 8 commentsThe first time I witnessed what is Planetside 2's undoubtedly most climactic type of battle, I was speechless. The three rival factions of the game met to take a facility near the central region of Amerish, and the resulting conflict was such a spectacle I found myself laying in bed that night just thinking about it. As the defenders, we were pinned to the safety of our base, while outside New Conglomerate and Terran Republic forces clashed in an attempt to each wrest control of the fort from our bloody fingers. When the Terran finally took it from us, it wasn't long until we were given the directive to retake it. Before I knew it, hours had vanished under a hail of gunfire as that little fort was taken and retaken countless times.
Such is the tug*of*war nature of Planetside 2, a free to play massively multiplayer shooter for the Playstation 4? you'll spend an evening conquering a whole continent, only to have it stolen from you while you sleep. But it is in those moments, when everything about Planetside 2 is moving in perfect concert, that the battles you fight can astound you with their immensity. You'll run through valley floors as columns of tanks exchange fire and aircraft engage in dogfights and strafe your position reviving downed players as a combat medic. You'll jetpack your way onto a facility roof alongside your squad, ambushing several pesky infiltrators with sniper rifles picking off your main force. But for each of these thrilling encounters, there are plenty willing to strip you of any significance you might have felt. Planetside 2 has its moments, but their impact is almost always threatened by its numerous issues.
Those issues start right from the moment you first log in to Planetside 2 and you're expected to choose a faction to fight for. Each of the three factions in Planetside 2 have their own aesthetic and flavor in combat—none of which is ever communicated to a new player. But that is only the first chapter in one of Planetside 2's biggest problems. Simply put, the new player experience sucks.
You'll first arrive on Koltyr, a much smaller continent than the other four you'll battle endlessly for. Here, Planetside 2 will attempt to chop of its many complicated layers of warfare into more digestible chunks, mainly relying on its somewhat intuitive directives to point you towards combat and a voiced narrator instructing you on various functions and tools. Basic training objectives will also appear on screen to help guide you to try out various activities during your time on Koltyr, but the problem is that all of this does so little to take the sting out of Planetside's opening hours. Many will certainly play an hour of Planetside 2, toss their hands up in frustration, and walk away forever. I would never blame them. There are moments of greatness in Planetside 2, but getting to a point where you can appreciate them is an overwhelming and confusing journey.
But slowly, with effort (and maybe some light reading), Planetside 2 will begin to make sense. You'll learn the importance of surveying terrain and positioning, you'll learn how to handle your weapon and contend with the sluggish feel of your soldier, you'll know where to be and when you should be there, and once you know that, Planetside 2's terrible first impression begins to fade.
Though you may never know why, there are four continents that you will battle endlessly to conquer. Each one offers something entirely different from the other not just in climate and general aesthetic but also in tactics. The dense, swampy forests of Hossin, for example, can make navigating with vehicles—especially aircraft—a real challenge, but are perfect? ? for infantry ambushes. Each continent has a corner occupied by one of the three factions' warpgate, a home base that cannot be taken. From each base, a "lattice" extends connecting neutral bases and zones of strategic importance. This lattice helps direct the flow of action, requiring you to conquer points in succession preventing you from flying to distant parts of the map and capturing zones uncontested way behind the frontlines.
With three factions, those frontlines are always changing, and even during off*peak hours, you can always expect to find a modest fight. This is also partially due to directives, which are dynamic objectives that point you towards conflicts and help keep you moving while playing. While I appreciated how these objectives helped steer the action, I also found them to be, at times, too heavy handed in forcing me to be where I did not want to go. Multiple times I would die in a conflict I was invested in, only to use the quick respawn option and find myself miles away at another battle entirely. It taught me to always be suspicious of how Planetside 2 handles its automatic respawns—something that proved a source of irritation on more than one occasion. Of course, part of this is also due to how poorly the complexity of Planetside 2 seems to have been translated to the Playstation 4. Menu systems are often downright unresponsive and tedious to maneuver through. The respawn map was finicky, forcing me to cycle through respawns instead of just selecting the one I wanted. During combat, the map can sometimes take upwards of five seconds before loading—often leaving me wondering if the game even registered my button press. When selecting which continent you fight on, you are denied access to more specific statistics of how your faction is doing unless you first warp to the continent, a process that involves a lengthy load screen (one of many you will need to contend with).
While I certainly admire Daybreak Game Company's ability to bring Planetside 2 to the Playstation 4 largely uncompromised, it becomes painfully obvious how many behind*the*scenes sacrifices had to be made. Technically, Planetside 2 is sorely lacking. The framerate maintains a smooth 60 fps outside of combat, but during heavy fights it can struggle to keep up, often hanging and stammering during especially explosive moments. Visuals have been noticeably downgraded with draw distance being the greatest casualty. Audio bugs also persist almost constantly, like your gun sounding like it's being fired from a distance or jumbled soundbites playing during loading screens.
That said, even though I certainly had my moments of total frustration, Planetside 2 was successful in keeping me coming back every time. But it's disappointing that so much of its potential is squandered by how rough the experience can be. When that potential is realized in battle, however, Planetside 2 becomes something else entirely. Vehicular combat stands out as an especially well*realized aspect of the game and joining in massive ground pushes with a battalion of fellow tanks is an unparalleled experience. As infantry, you can choose one of five classes to fight as, each with their specific uses in combat. Though you'll want to specialize, learning when to switch classes to account for the changing tides of battle is one of the keys to success.
Success also has its merits outside of capturing territory for your faction. Every objective you complete and kill you score will earn you experience which will level you up and unlock new vehicles and customizations for your various classes. Certs are a type of currency that you will earn rapidly at first and then painfully slow later on. Using certs, you can purchase new weapons, improve your abilities, or blow them on a huge host of cosmetic items to trick out your soldier.
Fortunately, despite being free to play, Planetside 2 is almost assuredly not pay*to*win. Though the slow rate that you earn certs will certainly tempt you to spend some cash to speed up the process of beefing up your character, those differences are almost always negated by superior skill and positioning in combat. Even better, it would seem the consensus by many members of the community is that many classes already start out with guns that are more favorable than other options, so upgrading weapons is usually more of a horizontal progression.
If you're willing to keep your chin up and weather Planetside 2's tumultuous first hours, there is so much to enjoy about its brand of futuristic warfare? there just isn't any other game capable of providing an experience quite like Planetside 2. It's a shame that so many times that experience had a wet blanket thrown on it by elements that, in a perfect world, should never come between you and the thrill of combat. But, sadly, they too often do. Technical faults aside, Planetside 2 remains a wonderful online experience capable of absorbing dozens upon dozens of hours. That endless tug*of*war might seem exhausting from the outside, but once you're in the thick of battle it is as thrilling and engaging as few games ever manage to be.
Final Score 7.5
- GAMEPLAY: 8 – Planetside 2's epic combat and endless struggle are always home to astonishing moments of chaos. Playing just one soldier in a much greater machine of war is an experience unlike anything found on consoles.
- VISUALS: 7 – A far cry from the gorgeous fidelity of the PC version, Planetside 2 deserves recognition for being one of the few games running at 60 frames per second, even if it tends to dip heavily during the most strenuous of battles.
- POLISH: 5 – Menus are often complicated, tedious, and unresponsive. Information is not always displayed as intuitively as it should which proves frustrating when trying to make educated decisions. Glitches and bugs abound.
- LONGEVITY: 8 – The endless combat and diverse ways you can engage your enemies? make Planetside 2 a robust shooter with more than enough options to keep you interested.
- VALUE: 8 – As a free to play title, Planetside 2 offers a substantial amount of content without needing to cough up money up front. That said, upgrades will come painfully slowly before long, which will eventually put pressure on you to break out the wallet.
Pros
Battles are of a scale unlike anything else on console
Multitude of options for how to play & contribute
PS2 isn't pay to win
Cons
Directives don't always put you where needed
Intimidating & confusing for new players
Painful learning curve
Performance issues
Reviewed By: Steven Messner
Reviewed On: July 31, 2015
it's Official Now. details belowCountdown surprise revealed a day early.
For the past week, Koei Tecmo has been counting down to the announcement of a new game from Dynasty Warriors developer Omega Force. It’s an Attack on Titan game, according to the 17th Attack on Titan manga volume launching on Friday, and it’s coming to a PlayStation platform this winter.
The news comes via an ad on the wrapper of the manga volume. While it doesn’t specify which PlayStation platform the game will launch for (it could be multiple), it does have a QR code that leads to the gamecity.ne.jp/shingeki/ URL, which is currently not live.
An official reveal is expected tomorrow.
Thanks, Anime News Network (via Hachima Kikou).
Read More
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Attack on Titan from Omega Force, Game Announce, Koei Tecmo, Omega Force
Koei Tecmo-published game due out in 2016.
Koei Tecmo and Omega Force have announced Attack on Titan (working title) for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita.
The action title, based on the hit manga and anime series, will launch in North America, Europe, and Japan in 2016.
“I am very happy to reveal we have started developing a new action game based on the phenomenally successful Attack on Titan,” Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma said in a press release.
Watch the teaser trailer below.
[YT]_doTab4qcg4[/YT]
Read More
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Attack on Titan from Omega Force, Clips, Game Announce, Gamescom 2015, Koei Tecmo, Omega Force, Trailers
source: Gematsu& Siliconera
We previously reported that an Attack on Titan game is in development for a PlayStation console, and Koei Tecmo made it official by announcing Attack on Titan (working title) for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. Watch the teaser trailer below:
The Attack on Titan game will be an action title that will launch in Japan, North America, and Europe sometime in 2016. The game is being developed by Warriors game makers Omega Force of Koei Tecmo.
Read more stories about Attack on Titan & Koei Tecmo & Omega Force & PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4 & PlayStation Vita on Siliconera.
Also with
Inti Creates in the process of finding a publisher.
Gal Gun: Double Peace is getting a worldwide release, developer Inti Creates announced.
The PlayStation 4 and PS Vita shooting game about finding your fated woman before the days end launch in Japan yesterday.
Right now we are at the beginning stages of the this project, which means we are now searching for a publisher to work with to bring this game to you, Inti Creates said in a blog post.
As of right now, we are aiming to release the game on PlayStation 4 and PS Vita just like we did here in Japan. Since it is the newest game in the series, we want to bring Gal Gun: Double Peace to you first. If the game is as successful as we hope it will be, that could open the door to other possibilities for the franchise.
Inti Creates adds that it will be moving full-steam ahead on the localization soon, and will share any additional information as soon as it has it.
Read More
PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Alchemist, Experience, Gal Gun: Double Peace, Inti Creates, Localization
source:GematsuKoinuma interview reveals new details.
Dengeki Online has an interview with Koei Tecmo managing director Hisashi Koinuma on the company’s newly announced Attack on Titan game developed by Omega Force.
Games Talk did the dirty work of picking through the interview for the juicy bits, which we’ve translated below:
The Attack on Titan game is due out for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita in North America and Europe in 2016.
- The project began from around the end of 2013 into January and February 2014.
- It’s an action game that factors in the elements of being “united with your companions” and the “sacrifice of your companions.” It’s different from what many refer to as a “hunting game.”
- The game also incorporates ideas offered by the original author Hajime Isayama.
- The game will follow the original story written by Hajime Isayama.
- As an action game, Koei Tecmo wants to establish an image where players can move around the world of Attack on Titan as they like. It won’t be a ‘defeat the enemy, progress the story’-type game. At its core, it’s an action game and within that, players will be able to understand the story.
- The game will start from the beginning of the original story.
- From its initial planning, Koinuma was moving forward with the title on his own. After becoming managing director of Koei Tecmo in April, Koinuma’s connection to the project became difficult, but he did not move away from development and supervised the game’s direction and management.
- The game is being developed with PlayStation 4 as the lead platform. Previously, Koei Tecmo would base its games on PlayStation 3, brush it up for PlayStation 4, and release a PlayStation 3-level handheld version for PS Vita. This time, PlayStation 4 is being given priority.
- The game’s action parts have been built and scrapped over three times—repeated trial and error. The story, side elements, and systems are doing well, though. Somehow, Koei Tecmo wants to release it in Japan “this winter.”
- The 3D Manuever Gear is the most important element, making sure you move and fight comfortably with it and without compromise.
- Whether or not the player takes on the role of Eren Yaeger is still a secret.
- They plan to make the action draw you in with quick and elegant take downs.
Read More
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Attack on Titan by Omega Force, Gamescom 2015, Hisashi Koinuma, Koei Tecmo, Omega Force
source: GematsuNintendo cites Splatoon for 10 percent software boost.
U.S. video game sales results for the month of July 2015 are in.
General
Consumers spent $541.9 on software, hardware, and accessories in July 2015, up six percent from the $513.3 same period last year.
“Overall video game sales [growth was] driven by modest hardware growth and double-digital accessory growth as software sales remained flat compared to last July,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
Callahan noted that the nearly $13 billion console-gaming industry continues to thrive even as people continue to spend a similar amount on software.
Top ranking standalone software for the month include:
(These figures only come from new physical games and systems sold at retailers. The NPD Group does not track digital or used game sales.)
- Lego: Jurassic World (360, 3DS, PS3, Xbox One, Wii U, PS4, Vita)
- Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
- Minecraft (360, PS3 ,Xbox One, PS4)
- Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
- Rory Mcilroy PGA Tour (PS4, Xbox One)
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
- Destiny (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3)
- Mortal Kombat X (PS4, Xbox One)
- FIFA 15 (PS4, 360, Xbox One, PS3, Wii, Vita, 3DS)
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
Sony
PlayStation 4 topped both hardware and software sales in July 2015, according to the NPD.
“We are truly humbled by the success of the PS4, and we would like to thank gamers for making it the top selling console and No. 1 in software sales in the United States in July,” a Sony spokesperson said in a statement provided to VentureBeat.
Sony noted that the Batman: Arkham Knight PlayStation 4 bundle it launched last month again helped get the system into consumers’ hands in July.
“We are looking forward to delighting fans next month with the launch of the Limited Edition Destiny: The Taken King PS4 bundle on September 15,” the Sony spokesperson added.
Microsoft
“Xbox One and Xbox Live continued to see strong sales and engagement in July,” Xbox marketing boss Mike Nichols said in a statement. “Xbox One sales in the U.S. [were] up 44 percent over July 2014 and active global Xbox Live users — Xbox One and Xbox 360 — up 22 percent.”
Nintendo
Sales for Wii U are up 10 percent through the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2014, Nintendo announced.
Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are still selling, but Splatoon contributes to much of the platform’s software growth.
“Much of [Wii U’s software] growth can be attributed to Splatoon, which inked nearly 85,000 total units in its third month to bring its lifetime total to nearly 540,000 total units in the United States alone,” Nintendo said in a press release. “As of June 30, the game has sold more than 1.6 million total units around the world.”
3DS continues to do well. Through the first seven months of 2015, sales of the handheld platform have increased by nearly 35 percent over the same period in 2014, Nintendo said.
Nintendo still has a number of upcoming first-party releases slated for 2015, including Super Mario Maker, Yoshi’s Woolly World, Star Fox Zero, and Xenoblade Chronicles X for Wii U, and Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, The Legend of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes, and Yo-Kai Watch for 3DS.
Thanks, VentureBeat (2, 3).
Read More
Industry, NPD, Sales
