MAG (PS3)

Pete takes a 10 minute break from MAG to review MAG... then he's going back on MAG.

Take a look at this...


Despite some iffy voice-overs... the trailer does a great job of showing you what to expect in MAG. (Massive Action Game.)

MAG throws you into the deep end of an MMOFPSRPG (for lack of a better acronym).
You launch the game and (like PlanetSide) are given the choice of one of three factions.
The factions are identical in terms of weapons, upgrades and skills... the differences are purely cosmetic. I noticed that the majority of players tend to steer towards the "Valor" faction. Probably because they're described as ex-SAS and ex-Marines. Players from the other two factions (S.V.E.R and Raven) consider Valor to be the "kiddy faction" and with good reason... they're usually last.
If you choose to run the training level you'll be awarded XP and a skill point.
Skills points are very similar to talent points in other RPG's such as World of Warcraft.
You can use these points to buy extra weapons, upgrades for your weapons (Grenade Launchers, Suppressors etc), tactical items (Mines, Health Kits) or passive skills. (Such as faster reloads or higher resistances to explosions etc.)

After the training is complete you're free to choose between a suppression game mode or an objective based game.
Suppression is basically Team Death-Match. Both teams are from the same faction and this mode exists for 3 reasons:
1: For the new players to learn the pacing of the game.
2: For players to grind XP.
3: For the higher-ranked players to come laugh at the newbies at they destroy them with their better gear. (See "Rich Get Richer" below.)

Once you reach higher ranks you'll unlock extra game modes. Each game mode is slightly different but there's not really a lot of variety.

Finding a game is quick and easy, you simply go to the mode you want to play and hit "JOIN QUEUE". You'll be in a queue from anywhere between 10 seconds and 10 minutes. Although the longest I've had to wait is around 4 minutes. Perfectly acceptable in my opinion.

LIKED:
Intense Action
I consider myself to be a mostly defensive player on games like this. I'm scoring well when I'm prevent other players from scoring at all. Weather it's chasing down Bomb Carriers in UT2004, keeping our Flag in the flagroom in Team Fortress 2, or simply sticking my Boomer in your face in Left 4 Dead... I enjoy (and excel at) getting in people's way.
This method of play works well in MAG but you'll need a friend or two nearby to cover you when you reload etc. Defending the computer terminals on your own is borderline impossible and the MAG community knows it. Players are quick to back each other up and everyone hates losing.

Skill Point System
Levelling up and spending skill points is ultimately what everyone is looking to do. There's plenty of variety in where your points can go depending on your playstyle. Be it healer or sniper.

It Really IS Massive
The action comes fast and can often feel like it's never going to stop. Defending a team-mate as they hack an enemy terminal feels like the longest 10 seconds of your life. But when an enemy is hacking YOUR terminal and you're en-route to stop them it feels like the 10 seconds were actually 3. It's one of those "one more round" games as you watch your XP bar edge that little bit closer to the next level and your next piece of shiny new kit. Now imagine that scenario again but with 128 people per team.

Hated
Under-powered weapons
For the first 6 levels of my career I choose Sniper. I enjoyed lying in obscure locations on those huge maps and watching frustrated players take another of my bullets to the side of the head.
But I quickly realized that my rifle was leaving HUGE white streaks of smoke behind after each round fired. Meaning if I missed; the next shot HAD to be a kill because I'd now given my position away. If my target had a friend then they'd quickly spot me and spray the hillside with gunfire. It was rare for me to survive.
Now missing the shot wasn't the main problem... the main problem.... actually now that I think about it there was 2. The 2 main problems were lag and under-powered weapons.
Every so often you'd died as you rounded a corner to escape enemy gunfire or reload. I'd be fully round the corner and shoving the next clip in when I'd suddenly be flagged as DEAD.
Thankfully this doesn't happen too often but when it does it's a cause to raise your voice and shout "WTF!?!".
The next problem I encountered was sniper rifles. The first 2 rifles you can buy take an AVERAGE of 3 shots to kill an enemy. When you take into account the slow rate of fire, slow reload speed and huge white streaks of smoke left behind marking your position... it's not worth bothering. It didn't take me long to respec my character into "Quick Assault". I now sprint up those hills where the snipers hide with their crappy guns and shoot them in the back with my pimped out AK47.
Maybe I'll retry sniping when I'm a higher level and have access to better rifles, scopes and passive skills... but I doubt it. I'm having too much fun watching them suffer whilst they pretend to be Vasily Zaitsev.

The Rich Get Richer
Playing in a group is an absolute requirement. The group can be anyone who joined a queue at the same time as yourself. This means it's common to see the level 5/6's in squads with the 55-60's. It can result in some extremely unbalanced matches.
Imagine this is World of Warcraft.. you've just hit level 20 and now you're REQUIRED to duel with a level 80 player that's spent the last 3 months doing nothing but Arena matches. You might as well go put the kettle on.
Your only option... if you're not level 60... is to start grinding those XP points until you are. Luckily the grinding isn't as tedious as it could be and the game manages to stay interesting.

SUMMARY
I'm enjoying MAG, it's a nice change of pace from my usual Left 4 Dead 2 and other PC based shooters,
Making the transition from mouse and keyboard to a PS3 pad went pretty smoothly. I'm not sure why but the PS3 pad feels better at these types of games than the Xbox 360 pad.
Every kill feels earned and I take comfort in knowing the PlayStation3 is a closed system and the likelihood of someone cheating is extremely slim. (No OpenGL or DirectX injected .dll's here! No siree-bob!)
Getting online and into a game is free (unlike Xbox Live, the PS3's PSN is completely free) and easy. The game auto-patches itself and I'm yet to witness any downtime due to "maintenance" or whatever they want to call it.

Hopefully Sony and Zipper Interactive keep patching this game and adding new maps, weapons, talents etc.
I'm in for the long-haul... and I look forward to every minute of it... PROVIDED we get some new content every now and then.