GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Empires Mod vs PlanetSide 2

Empires Mod is an FPS strategy game from Empires (2008) while PlanetSide 2 is an FPS mmorpg game from Rogue Planet Games (2012).

Empires Mod

2008 · Empires

6.7GamingPickz Score

Free

Steam: Very Positive

PlanetSide 2

2012 · Rogue Planet Games

7.6GamingPickz Score

Free

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Steam files Empires Mod under FPS and Strategy. In contrast, it files PlanetSide 2 under FPS and Mmorpg.

Empires Mod

Unique strategy/first person shooter mix: One commander on each team plays from above, choosing research, placing buildings and giving orders. The rest fill the role of soldiers on the ground, with four distinct classes to choose from and customizable vehicles to drive.

Description from its Steam store page

PlanetSide 2

PlanetSide 2 is an all-out planetary war, where thousands of players battle as one across enormous continents. Utilize infantry, ground and air vehicles, and teamwork to destroy your enemies in this revolutionary first-person shooter on a massive scale.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Empires ModPlanetSide 2
GamingPickz Score6.7/107.6/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (87%, 1,061)Very Positive (80%, 74,813)
Critic aggregateNo aggregate84/100
PriceFreeFree
Install size8 GB
Steam Deckplayableplayable
Released20082012
DeveloperEmpiresRogue Planet Games

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Empires Mod vs PlanetSide 2, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Empires ModFPS strategy game
    PlanetSide 2FPS mmorpg game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Empires ModFPS, RTS, PvP
    PlanetSide 2Free to Play, FPS, Massively Multiplayer

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Empires ModScore 6.7 · 87% on Steam
    PlanetSide 2Score 7.6 · 80% on Steam · 84 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Empires Mod1,061 reviews · 8 GB
    PlanetSide 274,813 reviews

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Empires ModFree
    PlanetSide 2Free

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Empires ModPlayable
    PlanetSide 2Playable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

PlanetSide 2 takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Empires Mod and PlanetSide 2 on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: PlanetSide 2 (GamingPickz Score 7.6)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: PlanetSide 2 (74,813 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

FPSPvPShooterStrategyFirst-PersonTeam-BasedActionMultiplayer

Where they differ

Empires Mod is also

RTSBase-BuildingAction RTSTop-Down3DTanks

PlanetSide 2 is also

Massively MultiplayerOpen WorldSci-fiWarTacticalFuturistic

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Empires Mod is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. PlanetSide 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

Empires ModPlanetSide 2
Minimum GPU128 MBNvidia GeForce GTX 480
Minimum CPU3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher): Core i5-4460
Minimum RAM2 GB6 GB
Install size8 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Empires Mod · PlanetSide 2.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Empires Mod and 0 for PlanetSide 2. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Empires Mod and PlanetSide 2 in scope?

Empires Mod has drawn 1,061 Steam reviews and installs in 8 GB. PlanetSide 2 has drawn 74,813 Steam reviews.

Is Empires Mod or PlanetSide 2 better?

By the GamingPickz Score, PlanetSide 2 rates higher (7.6 to 6.7). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Empires Mod or PlanetSide 2?

Empires Mod is cheaper right now at Free, against Free. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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