Picture it ; a chaotic battlefield with a maximum of 256 players from around the globe fighting it out surrounding by burning vehicles, mortar fire, hails of bullets and violent explosions ripping through the bodies of your team mates. Yes this is the long awaited, highly anticipated MAG set to open up a new chapter in the FPS genre.Developed by Zipper Interactive, the studio behind SOCOM titles, and published by Sony, MAG is exclusive to the PS3. The FPS genre is due a bit of a revamp so has MAG brought enough to the table to shake things up a bit ? Personally I have been waiting a very long time for MAG and I’m just going to mention now that in my opinion it was well worth the wait.
[quote]The year is 2025. The optimism and harmony of the 2010s were completely eradicated by 2020. A global crisis loomed. Food shortages sparked riots,currencies plummeted, fuel reserves dwindled, and oil-producing nations began to ration what remained. It is a dark future. Governments earmarked money for humanitarian efforts, overseas security, and intelligence services which, over time, found its way the coffers of a small group of Private Military Corporations (PMCs). These three private armies (Valor, Raven, and S.V.E.R.) then began to recruit aggressively. Soldiers without a country, the contractors fight wars that never happened. This is the nature of the Shadow War.[/quote]
The main back bone of the game revolves around the three opposing parties S.E.V.R, Raven and Valor who are battling it out across massive battlefields in an attempt to secure contracts and become the leading private army force. Really what the game developers have acheived is to make the player feel like they are writing their own story in their contribution to the Shadow War and that their influence in the war is vital for their respective group.
The game itself is based around a system of hierarchy. This means that players with more experience who are more battle hardened will be granted the roles of leader for their squad, platoon etc. These experienced players will have greater influence on the battle, be able to earn more xp points throughout the mission, order in airstrikes, recon planes ,choose the objective for their squad – ultimately determining the whole plan of attack.
Similar to the Call of Duty genre the game, as mentioned, does have an experience system which grants you xp for killing enemies, healing team mates, planting/defusing bombs etc. A separate type of xp is awarded called a FRAGO bonus. This is a bonus given to a player whenever they contribute towards completing the objective. The players develop and level up much like its FPS competitors. However it has a unique reward system which awards skill points each time you level up. This enables you to unlock upgrades for different skill trees. The more points you pour into the skill tree the better upgrades/weapons you will unlock. What this means is that the experienced players will, as I said, find their job easier when coming up against enemies and this aspect of the game feels fairly well balanced
The main fault of this game isn’t as you may expect the connection between players (which is surprisingly good) but the overall gameplay experience. As weaponry goes the guns feel heavy and clunky. They also seem to have varying amounts of bullets that are needed for a kill, some guns don’t need to scope in and within the game there is a lot of hip spraying. It Just doesn’t feel as fluid as other FPS’ .However, I did enjoy the raw feeling to the game. The battlefield environments are impressive as are the soldiers, explosions and gun fire and there is a certain level of realism to the game that isn’t quite grasped in its competitors. Battles are won by team work not air support or people jumping off roofs spraying
gunfire all around them. I believe fans of realistic shooters will thrive in the environment presented in MAG.
Teamwork is essential and in this game communication is the best weapon you will have. Speaking between team members and alerting them to enemy numbers and positions. For this purpose it is worth investing in a decent headset but at the end of the day it will come as a great benefit to you during your gaming experience.
There are 5 separate modes for players to compete in. Suppression, which is a training ground for players to develop their skills against other members of their respective army. Sabotage mode consists of a 32 vs 32 match where one army is attacking and one is defending. There are two points that must be captured and after this is completed a third point arises and it is this point that has to be either sabotaged by a bomb or defended until the time limit expires. Acquisition mode places 64 vs 64 where the attacking team has to acquire two vehicles before the time limit expires. Domination is the infamous mode of 128 vs 128. This is where all hell breaks loose. The maps are enormous and basically the attacking team has to break through the defending team’s outer defences and infiltrate their gas pumps, capture them and therefore increase the damage meter.
When the meter becomes full the attacking team wins and if the defending team can sustain the attack for the time limit then they win. Finally, directives is a mode where you are pitted in an important battle which could be any of the above and you are entrusted with making the difference and securing the victory.
All right let’s talk visuals and noise. I have to say the visuals aren’t the best you will see in a video game but it doesn’t really take much away from the gameplay experience in that sense and battlefields are realistic. It doesn’t have the same vibrancy as games like MW2 but then again it’s supporting a much larger group of players and creating environments like that would be unrealistic and take away from the feel of the game. Many reviewers have called the environments bland, boring and all sorts of negative adjectives but these views are based on comparisons with established strong franchises. If you look from a different angle and appreciate that for any new title trying to elbow their way into the FPS arena they must look different and bring different mechanics to the genre and MAG has got off to a good start. The game works as a whole and I wouldn’t want to change it. Of course maybe a few other maps could be added as downloadable content but this will happen in time and people should be patient and not get to worked up about such trivial things.
The in game noises are fantastic and totally immersive. It really places you in a warzone. The ringing of your character’s ears as huge explosions erupt around them ,the racing of their heart whenever they are running and the destructive bullets whizzing past your head and embedding themselves into your team mates or enemies . It creates an engulfing atmosphere that really makes you feel like you’re in the thick of battle with the sounds of your teammates calling out enemy positions and numbers and asking to be revived. It is fantastic and I would say that the audio in this game is definitely an area in which it excels
Overall the game itself is very good ensuring many hours of fun .MAG is unique in its prestige mode as you can move to another army once you prestige. For instance you can play as Raven up to level 60 then have a go at Valor and so forth and so on. Unlike most FPS’ MAG leans more heavily on other elements such as team tactics and shooting doesn’t take center stage in the grand scheme of things. It’s in a league all of its own and deserves to be the template for reviewers to compare future, similar games to. It’s not so much an FPS game but a tactical, team shooter and really shooting doesn’t take center stage in the big scheme of things. It’s an excellent first outing from Zipper Interactive and I’m looking forward to plenty of downloadable content to expand the game. I really enjoyed MAG and I would encourage fans of the FPS genre to give it a go. Sure, at the beginning you may find the controls a bit different if you’re a COD fan but once you’re acclimatised you will experience unprecedented action !
marks out of 10
Story 6/10
Gameplay 8/10
Visuals 8/10
Audio 9/10
Replay ability 8/10
Overall 7.8/10
