MAG

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Zipper Interactive
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release Date: January 26, 2010
Platforms: Playstation 3
ESRB: T - Teen
Reviewer: Dan

In the very crowded world of First Person Shooters, it is becoming increasingly difficult for developers to differentiate their game from the competition. It seems as if every developer out there has released a game based off of World War II. There's almost an equal number of bald space marines running around. We're even starting to see a glut of modern combat. While MAG does fall into the modern combat category, it does something that no other first person shooter has accomplished. When the fewest number of actual people in an online game is at 32, you know you're in for something special.

The story in MAG is somewhat lacking, but you really don't play MAG for the story. But if you must know, MAG is set in the near future. While the world's governments sit peacefully by, the major PMCs (Private Military Corporations) of the world wage all-out warfare for supremacy in the global marketplace. Think of it as if Ford, GM, and Chrysler ran around shooting at each other. The three factions involved are S.V.E.R., a poorly equipped but tough group of Ex-Russian and Middle Eastern military, Raven, a high-tech group of mercenaries brought together from various European countries, and Valor, a battle-hardened group of former members of North American and British forces.

When starting the game for the first time, you must choose between one of the three PMCs. The one annoyance I had with this is that you are basically stuck with one group. The drawback to this is that you need to make sure all of your friends are in the same PMC, otherwise you won't be able to fight together. You are able to switch PMCs, however you'll have to start a new character when you do so. This wouldn't be such a big deal if there wasn't such a robust RPG / Leveling element to the game.

When you do start out as a brand new character, you're given rather limited options on what to equip your character with. You're given the option of an assault rifle, a light machinegun, and a sniper rifle. You also have your choice of various support gear that you'll need on the battlefield. All of your loadouts can be saved in one of 5 available slots. As you gain experience by either killing the enemy or completing other tasks on the battlefield, you can unlock other abilities, weapons, and gear to add to those loadouts.

One of the nicer things about the loadout system is that it is based entirely on weight. This means that you can add as many things to your gun as you want, carry in multiple types of support gear, but you may have to sacrifice the heavy armor for the light armor in order to carry it all. The type of game you are playing, as well as your style of play, all factor into what loadout will make you the most successful on the battlefield. And boy, what a battlefield it is!

While it may seem like a small number, there are 4 basic types of games you can enter. The first is Suppression. This is your basic Team Deathmatch. As the story goes, this is just the basic training mode for each PMC. Two teams of 16 players from your own PMC battle it out on your training ground.

Sabotage is the next step up from this. This mode is where you begin with the PMC vs. PMC combat. One side attacks while the other side defends three different objectives. This is still comparatively small 32 vs. 32 combat, but you start to see how the squads and platoons are broken up. Two squads of 8 are assigned to guard / attack point A, while the other two squads of 8 players each go after point B. When point A and B are both captured, everyone moves to defend / attack point C. You'll also notice one of the neat ways in which MAG handles voice communication. Only members of your squad will be heard through your headset, while other players on the battlefield will come through your TV speakers if they happen to be in voice range.

Acquisition is the next type of game you can play. This is where MAG really starts to show off it's true nature. In this mode, the attacking PMC must steal two prototype transports from the defending PMC. The number of players once again doubles to 64 vs. 64. This is also the first time you'll realize the importance of Squad Leaders and Platoon Leaders.

When your character reaches a high enough level, you can apply for the position of Squad Leader. As Squad Leader, you are responsible for determining which targets your squad should focus on attacking / defending. While each player can go off and do their own thing, it benefits them to go after that target because of the Frago Bonus (I have no idea why it's called this). With each kill, revive, heal, repair, demolition, or capture, a player is awarded double the experience if done near the Squad Leader assigned target. Squad leaders also boost certain abilities of the players around them, creating even more of a benefit for a squad to follow its leader.

Squad and Platoon leaders also have the ability to call in recon< drones, airstrikes, and artillery barrages much like the killstreaks found in Call of Duty. The only difference is that these are based off of cooldown timers and not how many people you kill in a row. The great thing about this is that it almost gives the player "more guts" on the battlefield because they aren't always worried about dying. The cooldown timers and exclusivity of these strikes also reduces the number of things trying to kill you from above.

But if you want the true MAG experience, you'll want to hop in a game of Domination. This is the fabled 128 vs. 128 combat that you've probably heard so much about. In this mode, 4 platoons of attackers try to fight through 4 platoons of defenders to try and destroy their fuel reserves. Along the way, each squad will have to attack / defend multiple objectives before reaching one of 8 pumping stations that each squad must destroy or defend. It is by far one of the best experiences you'll have in a first person shooter...that is, of course, if your squad and the squads around you are competent and actually follow orders.

That brings me to one of the potential drawbacks to MAG, your teammates. MAG is really different from a lot of the Player vs. Player shooters out there. Sure, there are co-op modes in a lot of other shooters, but that's just you and your fiends against computer-controlled drones. What MAG brings to the table is a co-op style of gameplay in which your team must really work together in order to actually be successful.

The need for teamwork is magnified by the fact that the enemies you face will all be living, breathing, and (hopefully) thinking human beings. If half of your squadmates treat the game like any other Team Deathmatch mode (well, excluding the TDM mode in MAG), your squad will fail miserably. If you happen to be attacking, even one sniper on your squad is probably one too many.

The game also does have friendly-fire turned on. While the damage your teammates can do to you is reduced, one trigger-happy grenade-spammer can ruin your squad's chances for success. Happily, each squad has the ability to vote a troublesome player off of their squad and out of the game. I really wish this feature was added to a lot more online games, as it would help to reduce some of the douchebaggery out there.

Communication is also vital. Letting your squad know what is happening around you and coordinating movements is very important if you want to actually be successful. Even though I often find it annoying that I have to mute nearly everyone on a Xbox Live game, Microsoft was pretty smart to add a mic with their systems. What Sony should have done with MAG is perhaps offer a headset bundle with the game, much like they did with their other online-only titles Warhawk and SOCOM: Confrontation. However, I did discover a rather nice feature MAG decided to add with regards to blocking communication. Unlike other games in which you can only mute foul-mouthed 12-year olds questioning your sexuality, MAG goes one step further by adding that player to your PSN Blocked List; essentially completely removing troublesome players from your online experience.

Unfortunately, success also seems to have a lot to do with the PMC you choose. While I really hope Zipper Interactive is working on some DLC, each game type is played on one of three maps depending on which team is defending. Think of it in terms of Baseball. Each team has a home field they defend while the visitors try to attack it. I guess in order to balance out the fact that S.V.E.R. has crappy equipment, they were given a rather unfair "home field advantage" in both Acquisition and Domination. Attacking teams must be extremely aggressive and disciplined in order to even get past S.V.E.R.'s first line of defense. While I can't say how it is for attacking, Valor seems to have a rather weak map layout for defending their home turf. I'm well acquainted with this fact, as I've marched my way up Valor's ranks while losing an awful lot of battles.

I also have to mention that newer players will probably struggle a bit with the basic equipment. To be honest, weapons aren't very good without any attachments or enhancements.  Newer players will often find it hard to get a lot of kills right away.  To alleviate that a bit, I suggest that beginners try to unlock the Resuscitation skill as soon as they can.  With this skill, a player can revive fallen teammates.  Not only does this help your team out by allowing a player to get right back into battle without waiting to respawn, it also gives a player twice the experience they would get by killing an enemy.

Newer players may also find some of the more advanced game modes a bit confusing.  A slight problem with MAG is that it doesn't explain how to play certain modes very well.  In my experience, most higher level players will offer help when asked (remember, they want to win the game too!).  As a newer player, you should probably listen to them.  While I haven't watched them yet, there are also free How-To videos available for download off of the Playstation Store.

The graphics in this game...well...they're no Uncharted 2. I'm guessing that if you want 256-player combat that's actually lag-free (and it truly is lag-free), then I guess you're gonna have to sacrifice on some of the visuals. I'd say they are somewhere between PS2 and PS3 graphics in terms of quality. Some of the animations are a bit strange to look at. Running looks a bit chunky. Throwing grenades is just weird. Also, there is no animation between going from firing at your hip to looking down your sights. The environments are on par with other games out there, but the characters do leave something to be desired.

While the visuals aren't that great, the audio in the game is top notch. For those of you with good surround-sound setups, you are in for a treat. The plethora of noise around you may seem almost random, until you realize one of the awe-inspiring things about MAG. Every single sound you hear coming from your speakers was generated by another player somewhere on the battlefield. The bursts of gunfire, the exploding grenades, everything created by other players. It's truly amazing to hear this when playing Domination. Soooo many distant firefights coming through your rear channels as your center channel is rocked by your own gunfire.

Final Verdict

I'll be honest with you. The first hour or two of MAG will probably be rather frustrating. Yeah, the training will show you how to move around and shoot stuff, but it won't show you how to really be good at the game. Take my advice: when someone who is 30+ levels higher than you tells you it would be a good idea to do something, you should do it. But despite the flaws, MAG is a FPS experience like no other.

Rating Breakdown

Gameplay: 8 out of 10
+ The fighting is intense and the objective-based missions give you a lot more to do than just kill the other guy
- Your success on the battlefield is often determined by how good or how bad your team works together
Graphics: 6 out of 10
+ The environments are about on par with other shooters of this generation
- The character animations and some of the visual effects were probably sacrificed in the name of less lag
Audio: 10 out of 10
+ Just stop and think about what is generating the audio coming from your speakers and you'll appreciate how awesome it is
- Maybe your gun could be louder? Hard to complain about this aspect
Replay Value: 10 out of 10
+ RPG-style leveling system plus bonuses for starting a new character after you've maxed one out should already be enough, but you'll constantly be thirsty for the gigantic battles
- Bad teammates can kind of bring you down, but I would imagine that with time, your squads will only get better

Overall
8.5 out of 10