BlueSmoke - Preview : PlanetSide

		Date	: Jul 23rd, 2001
		Genre	: Action
		Developer	: Verant Interactive
		Author	: Jin-Ning Tioh

When PlanetSide was showcased at E3 this year, one couldn't help but be awed by just how much potential this game has to offer. Even in its current state, it is already capable to take the market by storm. So you ask yourself - Why should I be excited about this game? Well, we're here to answer that for you.

The game takes the player into the middle of an armed conflict between three great empires - The Terran Republic, The New Conglomerate and The Vanu Sovereignty. Each empire wishes to take control of the known universe by force. Unique armor, team colors, and character models are available to each empire. Propaganda videos are provided to the player in order to allow him or her to choose which side she wishes to fight and die for. A nice change for once is that there is no good or evil in the game, just pure motivation. Players are provided apartments to live and store their equipment in. As your prestige and position in the empire rises, better weapons and apartments will be provided to you.

When creating your character, keep this in mind - You're not just creating an alias like in Quake3 or Unreal Tournament. You're creating a character that will rise in rank and gain recognition over time, not to mention keep up to date statistics on everything you do in the field. You'll choose a face and hairstyle that people will be able to see in the home cities of each respected empire. Home cities are safe areas in which players will be able to walk around and converse with one another as well as other citizens without fear of getting shot at or killed.

Like Tribes, players are given the option to choose from three different armor types - The lightly armored but fast Scout armor, the better defended but slower Medium armor, and the heavily armored but slow Tank armor. Your armor will also change to reflect promotions that you have received, with new symbols or medals appearing. Players will also be able to customize certain skills to better mold their character to their liking. Besides this, you will also be able to choose from several different implants. Some will increase your targeting while others will help hack computer terminals faster.

When a player dies on the battlefield, his corpse becomes open game to the rest of the players. Anyone can loot it for items and other things that you might have on you. This plays an important role, as certain items are only available for a short time only. After that, it becomes something likes a collectors item. The same applies to vehicles. A number of special tanks might be entered into the game for a week, and after that, the tanks remaining become the center of attention, with players battling over its ownership. But they didn't stop here. Verant will organize large campaigns once a month in which players will be able to take part in including large scale battle on continents never seen before.

To perform all this voodoo magic, the team had to develop a totally new engine. They wanted complete customization of everything. Battles will be fought on 13 continents, with different types of terrain thrown in for combat, including arctic, desert, and tropical terrains. Each continent will be able to support roughly between 400 and 500 players at once.

But thanks to the custom engine that they created from scratch, there's never a load time over these vast areas - meaning that they're completely seamless. This also applies to indoor / outdoor transitions. You can drive your quad bike up the side of the hill and into the enemy's hanger with guns blazing and it would go on without a hitch. Unfortunately, due to the fact your computer would overload with information and explode, you won't be able to destroy either terrain or buildings. But terrain isn't the only voodoo going on here. Players will be able to use the game's weather effects such as rain, snow, fog and electrical storms to their tactical advantage. For example, assaulting an enemy outpost during a heavy fog or taking advantage of an electrical storm and its negative effects on facility computers could seriously turn the tides of war against enemy forces.

If what we hear is any kind of indication, there's going to be a wide variety of land and air vehicles in PlanetSide. They'll range from the small but fast quad bikes and medium sized tanks to the gargantuan drop ships and lightly armored but fast jet type units. PlanetSide will allow one player to drive a vehicle and another player to control a gun turret if one is available. If another player is not available then the turret will function as if it were being controlled by a BOT.

To top it all off, the outposts and fortifications in PlanetSide are pretty advanced. Each has it's own sensor array, locking security doors, and other defense systems. Everything is controlled by a main computer system that can be either destroyed or hacked. The security doors, for instance, will only open for the team that is in control of the station. Enemy teams will have to hack their way past doors, into the base, and then try to deactivate the main computer terminal, thus unlocking the doors for the rest of their team to move in.

The conclusion? Even in PlanetSide's current state, it's shaping up to be a worthy addition to the gaming world. PlanetSide appeals to both the hardcore players who thrive on up to date stats and strategic gameplay, as well as the RPG fans who like to tweak and customize their stats, rise in rank, and so on. Keep a sharp eye on this one folks, it's going to be one hell of a ride. But to tantalize and torment you, here are some slick screenshots to bail you out.