Planetside 2: F2P or P2W?

Gameplay:
The game itself requires a good setup in order to enjoy it well without framerate issues, but asides from that, the game plays really well and I barely noticed framedrops when entering the huge battles so they really did a great job with that. The guns, though some of them lack visual difference, are balanced well over the factions with a slight disadvantage to the Nanite System weapons who are avalible to all factions. There are 3 factions in the game and they all have unique traits and visuals. The Terran Republic weapons have the biggest magazines out of the factions and the highest rate of fire. They also have the Prowler MBT which has a double-barrled turret for that extra punch. And to top it off they also use the Mosquito airplane, but I suck using airplanes in general so no comment on that. The New Conglemorate has high firepower and some sweet music during deployment, menu selection and in combat. Last but not least we have the Vanu Soverignty, who use lasers and high accuracy. They are the only faction who do not suffer from bullet drop cause lasers. Also they are a pain to see in the night (yes the game has a day-night cycle). Their MBT, the Magrider is a hovertank which looks really cool and the Scythe Interceptor which is dubbed as the best fighter in the game.

You have 4 regions: Hossin (Jungle area), Esamir (Snowy), Indar (desert-ish) and Amerish (Plains). Each has their own facilities and bonuses when you lock it (locking can be done by a random alert happening at a random time which requires your faction to have at least 51% of the map in their hands). You take sections of the map by grabbing control points and holding them for a certain ammount of time. But when you might be capturing a facility, somewhere else they are attacking your facilities. The bonuses are worth getting so when there is a alert going on somewhere be sure to help out cause 50% off of tanks, airplanes, Mech infantry (getting to that later) or consumables can aid a lot.

The game however is not made to go on your own to gun and run. Teamwork is a thing you pretty much need all the time. Going in a squad is very helpful but going into a outfit (sort of a clan) is the real thing to do to fully enjoy Planetside 2. You need teamwork in order to take facilities and defending them. Voice chat is even more helpful but going solo never works.

Classes:

With the Mech Infantry (aka MAX) included there are 6 classes in Planetside 2, each with their own abilities and specialties.

The Infiltrator specializes in long-range combat as it is the sniper class. However thanks to it's ability the Infiltrator can also be good in close-range combat. The infiltrator can cloak, making him/her invisible to the enemies for a brief period of time, but you cannot fire while cloaked. You aren't completely invisible either, a good PS2 player can see infiltrators when they get close and take them down while cloaked.

The Light Assault is the most straightforward of the classes. They use a jetpack as their ability to land safely when falling down a cliff or to get on a elevated position.

The Medic uses Assault rifles and does what the name says: heal and revive people. Having a medic near is always useful as reviving your squad is of importance to keep the momentum in a fight and healing them when they have low health aids a lot too. Their ability is a AoE healing field which heals you and your allies alike.

The Engineer repairs tanks, equipment and MAX-units, making them the medic of mechanical stuff, so just as important to keep momentum. Engineers also can refill ammo with ammo boxes and can deploy a turret to rain down suppressive fire when needed.

The heavy assault uses LMG's as their main weapon and their main use is to take down armor quite fast with rocket launchers. Their ability is a shield which stops extra damage, making them more durable than most soldiers on the field.

Then there is the MAX units which have a ton of health and can only be healed with Engineers. Their durability on the field plus their weapon vareity can make them useful in a lot of systems, though they cost nanites, unlike the other 5 classes.

What's the catch?

Since it is F2P, there must be a catch, right? Well the weapons in the game cost quite some certs (ingame cash) and they take a while to get aswell. The only stuff you actually need to pay for and cannot be accessed by ingame cash is cosmetics such as weapon skins.

Tanks and air units are like the MAX units bought with nanites which you get every minute so that's also done quite well by Sony.

They did a stellar job to keep this game as F2P as possible and you gotta hand it to them for making the game as it is in comparison to 2 years ago. To think they would listen to the community and actually do something with it... which is rare... for a AAA-title.

Conclusion

Planetside 2 is a great game and is worth the time, especially since it's free. The massive battles everywhere and thought of seeing these battles is just breathtaking. The improvement from 2 years ago is visible and it makes a huge impact aswell.

Final score: 9/10