PlanetSide Arena....

 

I've been waiting for a while to see PlanetSide Arena. What I expected is not what I got.

This is my impression of the Alpha after a few matches. The game looks very PlanetSide, the feel is PlanetSide but the game modes are pure Fortnite and the grind(nanites) or pay to win system(battle coins)means that any 'Free to play' grinding player would soon be outclassed. That's what really turned me off from this game. Grind, game modes and the existence of pay to win all downsides.

Yes it's early access but the form and function of the game isn't for me. I can't see it changing much  between this and "release". If it does change very radically then I'd be surprised. 

For any PlanetSide 2 fans you might get something from Arena but do it for meaningless fun while you wait for something in the main game. Like I said it does look and feel like PS2 and "feels" the part.

The only glitch I found in the gameplay was when vehicles overturned and stayed on their roof. Still driving along as if on their wheels(taking damage and then exploding), kind of fun to see. 

For a much hyped, maybe too self hyped game with the promise of hundreds of players per side; This, it's first night of release barely had a handful of players. It was hard enough to get a 3v3 match in a 12 player squad mode. I spent 5 minutes waiting for my first match and over five minutes in that match trying to find an enemy to shoot. When I did engage I was killed in less than 5 seconds in an unflattering manner deserving retribution; But had to wait to be revived, bled out instead(because nobody is playing!) and was in spectator mode for a minute before I said sod this lark.

If there had been players to revive me at a station great but the maps are huge and nobody is playing. So greater strategic thinking goes out he window. If there were the numbers this game would have an epic feel but it feels like a ghost town(planet?!).

I wanted self spawning multiple times during a match, grinding spawns for an objective; Not running around gathering upgrades, resources etc only to get killed and then be pushed into spectator mode. It's not worth the effort. Not even to mess about with for fun. 

You can see that there's been a lot of work to make this game. But I'm disappointed that the game modes turned out to be nothing more that a Battle Royale clone in a PlanetSide looking theme.