Back at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, SONY and Zipper Interactive announced a huge endeavor in multiplayer gaming. Their plan was to develop a massive action game featuring 256-player battles – this game was to be titled MAG. With the game close to release we jumped into the current open beta test to see if we had the chops to survive on the battlefield. Check out our full preview, after the break!
Not to go too much into the story of the game but, as with all military struggles, you have the choice of several different sides to chose from with different back stories. For this preview I chose the US-based ‘Valor’ group to fight with. The character creation system was pretty easy to use and wasn’t hampered by too many options leaving the player lost in a character creation ‘black hole’. You have several different loadouts to choose from and you can even make your own, custom gear choices. I decided on the always comfortable sniper loadout and shot into the queue, waiting for my match to begin.
In the beta you have the option to do the tutorial but, for the purpose of this preview, we wanted to jump right into the action. As we waited for the round to start, all squads started filling up with a massive amounts of people. I counted at least four or five platoons in one battle, with four squads per platoon and eight players per squad (do the math on that one!). The squad leaders were veterans of the beta and were barking out orders right from the get go. The timer clicked down to zero and we headed into the battlefield.
As the battle began the squad leader was frantic about a control point we needed to capture. It was great to have someone so into squad-based combat and is something I wish we saw more of in other shooters. Unfortunately, just like any other online shooter nobody listened and everyone went their own way. the purpose behind MAG is to have cohesive units dominating parts of the battle zone mirroring the way real life combat works. It is sad to say but I have never seen this become a reality as people just seem to want to go kill things and not be tactical in any way, shape, or form. There are some hardcore players out there who are playing how it was intended but, for the most part, it was just people running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Overall, the gameplay was alright but had many underwhelming moments. Nothing really stood out with how the game plays compared to other online shooters on the market right now. The graphics in the beta were nothing amazing to look at but I expect that not much focus was put on it due to having to work with lag. I did however find some weird clipping issues where I could put my weapon through walls and other objects. the sound in the beta was great, with the sounds of war and other ambient noises driving the battles forward. Sometimes it was a bit hard to hear when you are taking gunfire as your platoon leader is cursing out the whole squad to get to a capture point (Ed. Note: I’m sorry, Jester, I just got carried away! -GS).
Thankfully, even with the tons of people playing, we experienced zero to no lag. Voice chat came through with no glitches and it was a smooth play experience. This was a very pleasant surprise – it was refreshing to play through an entire match without any stuttering. Hopefully, when the full release adds even more players, this stays the way status quo.
MAG is an interesting beast. While the concept is great, it sadly feels a little underwhelming. Hopefully, with the full release coming, people will adapt to the squad-based gameplay. We look forward to the game’s release in a few weeks to see what refinements have been added to the game. MAG will be released for the PlayStation 3 console on January 26th, 2010.
