MAG (aka Massive Action Game), the latest game from Zipper Interactive, the team responsible for the older SOCOM games.
It’s very much a first-person team-based multiplayer shooter, a phrase that does get thrown around with almost all new FPS games. But with MAG it really is the case.
Fist off though, the player will need to pick an alliance with one of the three factions in MAG, either S.V.E.R / Raven or Valor. This is a major decision in MAG, as you are then expected to fight for that faction pretty much until you are tempted away as such.
Having up to 256 players in the game at the same time is certainly different, no other shooter has done this before. Zipper seem to manage this with ease. I have experienced NO lag at all since I started playing it what so ever, and there was those who said it couldn't be done.
So, having up to 256 players in the game does make MAG different to all the other online shooters out there. Players looking for Call Of Duty style gun-ho run-&-gun gameplay will be way way out of their depth in MAG. It’s best to remove all pre-conceived notions you have with shooter games before playing, as this is a different ball-game all together. Like I said at the start, it's that Teamwork phrase that so freely gets thrown around on every FPS online shooter released, but communication, patience and teamwork are all absolutely essential in MAG. The squads working well as a unit, will find they’re able to easily dominate squads that aren’t. So basically, if you put in the time and patience, you will reap the rewards.
The Teamwork element is all very well, but MAG does have a very steep learning curve. I myself found this stage extremely frustrating indeed. Constantly being killed from somewhere, and no kill-cam, which you do soon get use to tho. It's such hard work to enjoy the game in them first say, 7-8 hours of playing. This of course could have been just me, I'm sure we will find out after you read this review and let us know how the early hours were for you. But them early hours for me as I said, so so frustrating. I'd go as far to say, I almost packed it all in altogether and listed the game up on eBay.
But thanks to those around me who I play the game with night after night, we made it our duty to play as a team, as a unit, and different to the likes of the Call of Duty games. And damn, it worked.
Once you start getting XP for following Squad-leader orders, completing map objectives and such, you will level-up. With each level-up comes a “skill point”, and with these skill points you can unlock various items for your custom load-out kit. Unlike many games that use the XP system, where you kill, you gain XP, you gain an unlocked weapon or item. This gives you options to chose from a number of items depending on how many skill points you have saved up. For example; the first 3 items I purchased were the Reflex Sight, Fore-grip (to reduce recoil) and the Medical Kit upgrade allowing you to heal others. But those first two proved vital for me due to my style of play. Without them I would have probably packed the game in. I'm not the best when I can only use the Iron-Sights and when the recoil is a nightmare. This of course could be just me as my fellow MAG mates did not take this route.
So, you have options to upgrade what you want really, to a degree anyway. You cant for example, save up 3-4 skill points and then go buy the Poison Gas Grenade, no no no. This does indeed cost 3-4 skill points, but you would have had to have bought say 1 or 2 items from the previous tier of items to be aloud to use these. Make sense?, I hope so. You will find, there’s a lot of depth to weapon/kit load-out in this game, more so than most shooters out there.
Right, a little more on the gameplay types. MAG gameplay is divided up into four game types. You have Suppression, Which is like the training exercise in MAG, here you’ll fight against other members of your selected faction in a team death-match type setting.
Then you have Sabotage, the objective based game-mode, where players fight over control points. Then, my personal favourite Acquisition - a 128 player game mode where players must protect or defend a stock of vehicles, whilst also trying to keep the enemy away using Anti-air guns, road-blocks, and turret bunkers, all of which can be destroyed by the enemy with a nicely planted explosive device. And of course all can be repaired by you or your team-mates, if you have the repair kit in your load-out. Last game-mode is Domination, this is MAG’s party piece, a 256 player game mode centred around changing objectives. Think how the Killzone 2 objectives change on the fly, but on a much more grand scale.
Each of MAG’s game modes are thought out very well. The choice of role you chose on your spawn, be it Medic, Technician or Sniper, you genuinely feel like you have a role to play within the on-going struggle against the other factions of the war. But fact is, if you’re more organised than the opposing faction, you will win. When the game feels rather level-pegged, it can be extraordinarily tense as the balance of the match shifts. It's great stuff how it makes you feel that you can make the difference to the whole war, the pressure is on.
Now, another thing that you wont get is the quality and graphical shine of the Call of Duty games for example. It's not too pretty in places, but it's not bad either by any means. You may find that in the first 3-4 hours of play you'll compare the game to MW2. After this, if MAG does suck you in, you really do forget all of this. After all, it's gameplay that does matter. You have to remember, everything you are seeing in-game, be it, troops parachuting in, mortar fire, tracer fire, explosions - all happening in real time, started/generated by another player. This is a huge feat and feels very well implemented.
Having 256 players on one map is a great achievement. I mean, even the 60 and 128 player modes are something only touched upon in a few shooter games. There can be 60+ players moving independently on screen at any one time without the slightest hint of lag whatsoever. The occasional framerate dip is to be expected, but to be honest, you wont notice such minor issues I guarantee. Well done Zipper on making a large scale online game with a solid netcode.
So its seems the MAG beta was correctly timed. Yes, the game does play differently from the beta. As a result it all now feels 'right'. I found the beta had a number of issues. It felt the hit-boxes were off, or the bullet impact detection was somewhat shakey. Something felt strange. This now is not the case, it really does feel solid. Also a number of other improvements have been made since the beta. Player animations are vastly improved, now they actually run as opposed to almost floating in beta. Also the death/wounded animations are some of the best I have seen in any game.
There is also more sound in the final game. The game uses it’s symphonic sound to generate ambient themes to highlight moments of high-octane in a battle. It really adds to tense large war feel.The weapon sound effects are no different to any other shooter really, nothing sticks out there. But all-in-all the sound, be it weapon effects or ambient background music, is all spot on.
One thing that is annoying is the lack of headsets on the Platoon leader. Don't get me wrong, I'd say well over half of the people playing MAG have and use a microphone in-game. But sometimes you will join a squad, and the highest ranked player, with the highest amount of teamleading ribbons/medals be assigned the role of Platoon leader, yet they don't even have a microphone. This is extremely frustrating. That said - you can vote to de-mote the given Platoon leader to one of the squadleaders with a microphone. After you reach level 15 you can apply to be a squadleader. This of course helps in giving out orders etc, but you don't get the same options as the Platoon leader does.Your squad is only a small part of the battle in that given map/round, so as long as the other platoons follow objectives, you could still help win overall.
To sum it all up. I'd say it's one of those 'marmite' games we speak of. It’s not guaranteed that those who take the time to learn MAG will end up loving it. I though, and my fellow teammates I play with, absolutely fell in love with it. Those players who are not suited to the team based demands of MAG and merely want to go on a lonewolf gun-ho rampage wont find much to enjoy. Although you are never far from any action in the game.
Although I never did play any of Zipper's Socom games, I have been told they had a very dedicated online community. This looks like it will also be the case with MAG. It may be hard to convince those Call of Duty players to try it, and like it. But those who do stick with it's very steep learning curve, and get themselves in a team with friends, should no doubt fall in love with it's online gameplay & essential teamwork charms.
It looks like those first 5-8 hours will be hugely important on how this games community grows. You will either be sucked-in, or put-off. I say, stick it out, reap those rewards...........
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