MAG Review
By Gaetano Prestia
So you’ve been hearing about MAG for a while now: 256-player online matches, three separate factions, RPG upgrading elements. You weren’t alone if you were skeptical about the title. MAG does offer, without a doubt, some of the most intense online battlefields ever in a video game, but does that automatically make it a good title? Well, in this instance, yes, but the game is not without its issues. Still, while it may suffer from some technical issues, its at-times thrilling combat and matches make it a very worthy online experience. Its dedication to team-based objectives and its ability to stamp out individuality helps distance it from the likes of Modern Warfare 2, and while initially it might seem like a clunky version of the aforementioned, MAG has the potential to be great; it’s just a matter of smoothing out the bumps.
There are three separate factions in MAG – S.V.E.R., Raven and Valor – and you’ll have to choose one to side with. Choose wisely, as you won’t be able to switch with your created player. So if you play for a few hours, level up and buy some upgrades, you won’t be able to switch over to whatever faction your mates are on. That might sound crappy in theory, but it actually works well when combined with MAG’s overall focus on teamwork. If we could all switch between factions as we wished, that sense of individuality would be seeping through again, because we’re doing as we wish for our own best interests. What you have to remember when playing MAG is that, while you level up based on your own statistics, your success on the battlefield has a lot to do with how you actually work with your teammates.
However, it would have been good if multiple character files were included. You could just speak with your friends before you choose a faction to ensure you’re all on the same team, but that just makes things more complicated. That simple fact is that gamers should have the ability to change characters. It’s understandable that a character can’t change factions, but at least including the option to have more than one character on hand would have been better.
Once a faction reaches a certain level of success in a particular match type, the faction will earn a contract, which in turn rewards each player on the faction a small XP bonus whenever they play that mode. While the bonus is small, it’s still a sense of belonging to a team that the game really pushes: instead of rewarding a player’s success in a particular mode, it rewards the entire faction. While each of the three factions are essentially the same, with similar weapons, appearances and attitudes, the game does a great job of making you feel part of the team, keeping updated stats on the success of each faction in a particular mode.
The whole idea is that there is a sense of faction loyalty, even if you can start anew once you reach level 60 (much like Prestige mode in MW2). There are ten maps all up (with more surely to come through DLC) and you’ll mostly play on the same maps as each faction has its own designated areas. Some of the maps have four fronts, meaning there are different entry points and different areas to defend. The good thing about this is that it leaves plenty of room for a large number of players, meaning any concerns of clogging on a map should be forgotten. Maps are well designed for the most part, and once you do play in a game with 256 players, you’ll be lucky to come across even a third of the enemy players. The maps typically have so much going on at any one point and area that you’ll barely notice how many players are actually in.
When you first start up, only two of the four game modes will be available: Suppression, which is a team deathmatch within your own faction, and Sabotage, which has you attempting to capture two points and destroying a subsequentially unlocked third location. Both modes offer a great introduction to the gameplay, and because you’re fighting within your own faction, you feel less inclined to succeed because these modes act more like a training ground for the bigger modes against other factions. They can be fun but ultimately lack the challenge and "epicness" of the larger battles.
You’ll eventually reach a point where you can play Acquisition and Domination, which house 128 and 256 players respectively. Once you reach this point, you’ll see the beast that is MAG and its absolute best. The only downside is that both modes are actually broke up into halves or quarters, meaning 64 players are placed in each area of the map. So if you’re playing Domination, you’ll have to hike quite a bit to reach any of the other 192 players on the map. However, these modes still offer plenty of intensity, and you can’t help but feel that there’s really no other way that the experience could have been laid out. The scope is absolutely enormous and you genuinely feel like you’re engaging in battle on a massive scale.
There’s so much happening within each mode that you can really get lost in the action, which is actually pretty awesome considering the experience offered. The matches go seemingly forever, but you’ll be so deep into the experience that you won’t even realize how long you’ve been playing for. MAG might really be the first genuine RPG FPS experience, where you’re playing for hours on end without even realizing…and without having achieved all that much.
In Acquisition, the main goal is to infiltrate enemy territory, steal a vehicle and bring it back to the home insertion point. Domination has factions vying for a series of objectives, which in turn unlock main objectives, which must be held until the game ends in order to win. These two modes - along with the faction-based modes - all dictate a level of teamwork not often seen in other online FPS. Even in objective-based modes in MW2, there is a strong focus on individualism and how high your score is. Yet in MAG, the type of gamers you’re playing with almost always influences your score. So if your team is filled with selfish gamers hoping to rack up their K:D ration, chances are your faction won’t do very well and you won’t score very high.
Matches with 128 or 256 players have battlefield commanders in squads of eight players, who in-turn can designate areas to target. The main aim is to stay close to your commander leader in order to reap all of the benefits of staying in a team, like faster reload speed and more health. It only further proves the point of how focused MAG can be on teamwork, as sticking close to your team and commander actually offers a lot of incentive within the battlefield. While you might come across the occasional commander who runs off to do his own thing, you will have to power to vote out anyone who you deem not fit enough to hold the position. The good thing is that the ranking system works in such a way that players not suited to commander probably won’t end up being one. If you do want to work as an individual you most certainly can, but remember that any benefits associate with team play are all but lost if you stray too far away from your commander.
MAG runs surprisingly well when there are 256 players on one map, and Zipper should definitely be commended for this. There’s little-to-no lag, and as mentioned above, the designs of the maps and the placements of 64 players into different areas allows the combat to flow well. However, this does come at a cost. Environments and character designs are nothing special, and the overall presentation is lacking in detail. It’s not a bad presentation by any means, but it’s bordering barebones. You can upgrade and change your loadout, which is great, but there isn’t that much on offer. There’s a decent amount of arsenal, but when it comes to editing the appearance of your character, it’s extremely limited.
The gunplay itself is very solid, but is not at all suited to the casual gamer. Unless you’ve got experience with games like Killzone 2, Modern Warfare 2 and even the controlling mechanics in a game like Escape from Butcher Bay, it may take you a while to get used to things. MAG is without a doubt a game aimed at a more hardcore gaming audience. That is also obvious through the game’s undeniable high difficulty. Because of the sheer size of the maps, you’re incredibly vulnerable to attack. Even if you’re crouching and taking caution when moving around a corner, you’ve got to take into consideration that an enemy could be coming from any direction. This isn’t like Modern Warfare 2 where every player essentially moves around the map in the same direction, avoiding the main corridor. Instead, MAG’s maps are open and large, meaning attacks can come from absolutely anywhere and at anytime. This takes a while to get used to, and when coupled with the rather inaccessible FPS controls, you have a game with a long learning curve.
While the game modes work well in dictating teamwork and tactics, it would have been good to include an all-out, 256-player team deathmatch with no objectives. The size of the maps and the fact that you’re always working in a team means you might never really experience the intense and all-out shooting combat that can occur in other FPS on smaller maps. MAG is a game that dictates a lot of patience and precision, and if you’re after an all-out, hardcore shooting-fest, you’d best look elsewhere. The focus is teamwork and objectives, and your own individual score means nothing on the battlefield.
Furthermore, the game often doesn’t do a good job of explaining objectives. This can in turn have an influence on how players respond to a specific map. Even though you’re working in teams, the explanations aren’t that in-depth, so sometimes you won’t be aware of the incentives associated with working in a team. While you’ll almost always have to work in a team to succeed, there will always be the players who don’t really know what they’re doing, and you can’t blame them. When you initially start this game up, expect to be thrown into a map without any real explanation as to what you have to be doing. You’ll probably figure it out yourself because objectives are well marked out across the map, but better overall explanations would have been nice, especially considering the actual scope of the maps.
There also seems to be some balancing issues when it comes to the factions. One faction seems to win every single match, with the other two not even coming close to success. You can’t help but wonder if there will be some sort of capping on the factions once they reach a certain number of players, because at time of print, one faction had almost five times as many members as the faction with the lowest count. This leads to more experienced players on the higher faction, leading to more victories, leading to more players, and eventually leading to a game completely dominated by one faction. It has the potential to turn away players completely that have joined one of the two smaller factions.
The Final Verdict
MAG can be a lot of fun if you have the patience and dedication to its main goal. The focus is teamwork and objectives and the game does a great job of distancing itself from individualism. Sticking to one faction is restrictive, but you can upgrade your player and change your loadout, which is good. The three-faction system is slightly flawed and unbalanced, and the actual gun gameplay takes a while to get used to. This is definitely a game aimed at more experienced gamers, but is still worth checking out for its scope and ability to offer an engaging and deep experience.
Gameplay
7.7
The gameplay is solid for the most part, but not overly accessible. Maps are large, which leave you vulnerable. There are only four modes, and while the game doesn’t do a good job of explaining objectives, you’ll eventually figure things out on your own. The overall online experience can be great if you like working in a team and have the patience needed to master the gameplay.
Graphics
7.0
There is occasional pop in, and the environments and characters lack detail. Still, it’s a decent presentation, although the menus can initially be difficult to navigate.
Sound
8.5
Wonderful sound effects with cheesy yet fitting music.
Value
7.5
This depends entirely on your patience. The leveling up system is good but you could probably reach level 60 in a few weeks.
Overall
7.6
A score between 7.3 and 7.9 means the overall experience is good but may suffer from some medium-to-major problems on the gameplay, value and/or graphical front.