Planetside Arena, a game that a lot of the FPS community seems pretty split over, finally has some gameplay footage. You can see it below. The game has gone through some tumultous history. As player counts continue to drop in Planetside 2, Daybreak will be looking to the future for the next evolution of the franchise, but things don’t look good judging by player reaction to this new game.
In terms of gameplay, it’s a pretty big departure from the feel of Planetside 2. Players will be restricted to three classes –Assault, Engineer, and Medic– each with their own loadouts and abilities. But a lot of the unique feel of the class systems from PS2 is being lost as each class has their own jetpack and personal vehicle. All in all, a lot of people seem confused about what the point of having three different classes is when you could just use a unique loadouts system.
The issues get further muddled when talking about the game modes and the dynamic battles that the franchise is known for. The gameplay experience will be split into two categories, one for those looking for huge battles, and another for everyone looking for a team-based shooter experience. The Massive Clash mode offers groups of up to 500v500 games, with groups being able to queue for games as a squad. The secondary set of modes is much more traditional though. Some of these other modes are Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, and Global Conquest.
Though the maps in some modes will be persistent to a degree, the factional warfrare from the second game is basically gone. The maps will be tailored to the game mode, with weapon and gear drops scattered around in the more traditional modes. The maps are clearly designed to mimic the natural flow of conflict in other battle royale titles. Apex players will now the concept of lanes well, and it’s being transplanted into Planetside Arena.
Even though the look and feel of the maps feels off for some, as some reactions describe it as trying to be Fortnite. It’s important to note though that you can switch to first-person view.
It all feels like Daybreak is trying to chase trends, and there’s a lot of suspicion that it won’t work out.
You can see the full gameplay footage down below. The full game will be launching on Steam for PC on January 29th next year.
