With God of War III and Heavy Rain set for release over the coming months, it can be easy to forget that Zipper Interactive has a pretty big game of its own headed to the PlayStation 3. That game is MAG, the highly ambitious 256-player FPS that is hitting shelves at the end of the month. Despite the fact it's been somewhat overshadowed lately, Sony expects it to do very well.
"MAG is a very important IP for us and definitely a key exclusive for PS3," says UK product manager Phil Lynch. "MAG is a real statement of intent for us to engage fans of FPS games. With the successful Resistance along with Killzone 2 and now MAG, we feel we are a viable choice for gamers looking to get that much more from their console. MAG will definitely be one of the many tipping points for those who haven't got a PS3 to get one this January.
"Our sales expectations for MAG are high. Thanks to the massive success of titles like Modern Warfare, Killzone 2 and Resistance, FPS as a genre has become much more accessible to everyone. Allied to this, I think MAG's unique selling points of unparalleled scale and groundbreaking player command structure will really make it stand out against the competition."
Despite the fact that I can't get the beta and its ten-billion-hour downloads working, I am looking forward to tackling Massive Action Game. Ever since Killzone 2 went to the dogs, I've been needing another good PS3 shooter. Here's hoping this is it.
Sony: MAG will make you want to buy a PS3 [CVG]
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Contest:
2:40 PM on 01.13.2010
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Judging only by the CoD franchise, which has at most 18 players online in a match, and which can be quite laggy at times, I can't imagine that a game with 256 player will even be playable.
However, if it IS playable, this could be a really sick game.
Everything about mechanics feel really dated. It suffers from "toy gun" syndrome. The melee attack manages to be a blatant MW2 rip-off AND not work worth a damn.
R3 and KZ3 please.
MAG is a fun FPS, that with the right leadership on your squad can be really super fun!
Not once did I experience any lag during the matches I played during the beta, this includes the 32v32v32 Sabotage matches and the 256 Domination matches. Which amazing in and of itself.
Also everyone needs to remember that the public beta served the sole purpose of server stress test, it was NOT indicative of the final release (more weapons, maps, modes, and enhanced graphics). Also I greatly enjoyed the chaos and constant action when playing in the full games, there were skirmishes everywhere along with a huge firefight at the target. Lastly to the people who will complain about the graphics not looking as good as MW2: what do you expect when there is anywhere from 30-256 people in every match?
I for one fucking adored the beta, in the private beta i put about 40 hours in over about a month.
In the week long public beta i racked up nearly 30 - gotta love paternity leave!
There is nothing like mag on consoles. It's fan fucking tastic. With or without friends, with or without headsets.
It's the game i've always wanted. MW2 doesn't even come close to mag.
I can't bring myself to play mw2 now, after a couple of pointless rounds where it doesn't matter a shit if your team wins or loses i just turn that crap off.
Sure, going from cod to mag and back again is awkward but that is by no mean detramental to mag.
Give it some time, learn to love the more controlled more tactical gameplay and soon you'll realise that round after round after round after round of running around like rambo shooting people in the back is fucking boring.
Games with actual purpous, faction association, massive maps with dynamic varying game types and objectives are so so so so much more satisfying.
Cod is nothing more than a shooting gallery with an addicitve level up sound byte. Mag is so much more.
Counting the days, got my preorder paid off and i'm ready to join the shadow wars proper.
Itching to get back into the action.
In all my mag hours i saw maybe 2 rounds which suffered a little lag, and that's in the beta. There were full 256 player games for those over level 10, and being a platoon leader or officer in command is fucking awesome!!!
Come on 26th. I need mag back in my life. Mw2 just doesn't cut it.
Fun as hell. I will definitely get this at some point.
its on my list for sure whenever i can get the money up for it.
the beta is called a beta for a reason and if its anything like how warhawk first started, i can expect some deep improving updates for it.
The gameplay just isnt as fun and missions are rather pointless now. MW2 is fun and all, but MAG is more funnererer
Warhawk is still going strong. Actually even though it's not an FPS, it's lack of mention disturbs me.
The graphics are fine. Lag wasn't a problem for the most part. It just feels like I'm back playing Battlefield 2. There's no innovation, other than the number of players. As others have said, it's awkward, unpolished, and outdated.
Any changes to the final release are going to be minor. Once you get to beta you're basically saying, "Here's the product, let's see what bugs come up in a real world setting."
128 people playing on each team? (closed beta had few players) then yup, it's gonna be a bit of a wait, try a smaller game. 3000 players on each team? (Open beta) ques nearly non existant, maybe a minute for a big game if your unlucky, virually no ques for the sabotage games.
Also, you know you can check your stats, friends list, upgrades etc while queing? right? You don't just have to sit and wait...
@Dudawg - Snipers overrun your spawn point? Spawn somewhere else, you can choose you know. Also, fight harder! Get this, swapping weapons in real life is not as stupidly quick as CoD, IRL RPG's are usually shape charges (Read: little splash damage), spawn waits make this game so much better than "spawn instantly and throw a grenade (stupidly fast I may add) at where you were shot from" There are 30 second waves, so if your unlucky enough to just miss a wave you may have to wait for a whole fucking 30 seconds! All that time, shit how will one manage a whole 30 second punishment for being killed????
Veterans more deadly than newbs? Bitch please. That's a good thing.
Sniper outside of draw distance, seeing you in.... the draw distance??? Sniping is not the fuck easy job it is in CoD, so yeah, if your being sniped from that far the shooter deserves the kill.
I'm sick of stupid people publicly denouncing MAG because it's not CoD. Stick to your spawning instantly in front of enemies, ruined by the killcam rambo shooting gallery fuckwit.
I love BFBC2 beta too, but it's still a take base, take base take base take base win game.
I love to take out the AA, call in some bombers, take a burnoff tower, re destroy the AA the enemy fixed, take out their artillery, take an APC to the bunkers to cut off their spawning and push the enemy back.
But no nothing innovative here, just your regular running around blasting people over and over and over and over.
Like I say, give it some time, learn how it works and it's fucking brilliant!
I haven't found any way to turn the acceleration feature of. Has anyone else found a solution?
If I compare it to CoD, it cetainly takes away all the nuisances of that series. In MAG, there's no camping or annoying respawns or instant deaths from overpowered guns. There's no overpowered killstreaks or a focus on K/D, and teamwork actually matters here.
Unfortunately, if I compare it to, say, Battlefield: BC2, MAG pales in comparison. In MAG, the controls are stiff, the levels are bland, the graphics are dated, the queue BS is annoying, games are an extremely slow and tedious affair, and it strikes me as the sort of game I'd only play if everyone I know has the game and they all have mike ons. Overall, I have to ask myself the question: "Is there any incentive to play this over, say, Uncharted 2 online, BF:BC2, or even Team Fortress?" For me, the answer is no.
Domination and Sabotage are kind of fun though.
...Unfortunately, it is still played by retards who have no idea what "teams" are unless they are colored red and blue and you are shooting the opposite one.
I played the beta and it just wasn't very special. Sadly.
draw distance aside none of what you said meant the game was bad
you are NOT supposed to have an extracorporeal experience and know where the enemy shoot you from
it takes a lot of time to respawn becuz this is a game where your actually punished for failing also since you spawn in waves its easier to find someone to fight alongside with
rockets arent supposed to be your goddamed handcannon, use it agaisnt turrets and vehicles im sure youll get much better results
also how is a sniper able to shoot you from outside the draw distance? he shouldnt be able to see you
@Crawdads Revenge
and battlefield 2 is bad becuz?...
do you really think MW2 changed that much from the original cod4?
in fact it shouldnt be called "MAG", it should be called "Call of Duty, suck it"
have you guys ever played any game besides COD? maybe battlefield 2?
Modern Warfare is a casual shooter: kill cams, instant respawns, heartbeat sensors, bastard perks and even rewards for death, that's ridiculous. It's the most unballanced and casual multiplayer shooter released to this date. And with new installments they will go even further. Sadly, all this stuff makes it more appealing to the audience, it's because it's simple as shit and rewarding, even if you suck at it.
Modern Warfare became Jesus and Cooking Mama of shooters at the same time. I mean look at it, the only complain people got about MAG is that it's not Modern Warfare 2: the controls feel different, no kill cams, respawning takes time, weapons don't feel like MW2 and that's wrong and awful, stuff like that.
My dear friends, that's because you're idiots. Online shooters will stop evolving and will die eventually because of guys like you.
When I first tried to play MW2 online, I've noticed one big difference between this game and COD4. MW2 is much more fast-paced and random. If that's a good thing for you, than oh shit.
The problem is, it really takes time to get into MAG, because it's quite deep, with all those character classes, skills, experience system, ranks, objectives, equipment and much more. And people are used to MW2, where they can just jump right into it's chaotic mess and have fun.
I really hope this game will find it's audience, because clearly it's not friendly and too complex for modern warwhores. That 'modern warwhores' term makes me look like I'm 14 and completely kills my argument, I'm aware of that.
But in those games - i fired an rpg into a pack of 5 people on a staircase and 1 died.
- i fired an rpg at 1 persons feet, and no effect.
- perhaps this is part of the game, one hit from sniper rifle does not kill?
So i can't tell, was that lag, or are the weapon mechanics just that weak?
The tracer rounds on all the weapons? Including the sniper rifle? What idiocy has a tracer effect on a weapon that shoots one bullet at a time?
Most of the time firing the weapon felt like it would only serve to give away your position, while not doing damage (which did feel like 'toy gun' syndrome as someone has already mentioned).
The only times i was able to get just an equal kill death ratio was using a machine gun lying on ground firing from cover, or just blind siding someone with multiple hits.
Did they make the weapons just that weak to hide the lag? I can't confidently say.
Rather than making a list of things that might sound nit picking, I would just say there was nothing about my experience that I thought was a plus.
Uncharted 2 Multiplayer has been taking up my time. If you have a 1080p monitor I think you will agree it is the most beautiful detailed game ever made. It's not without it's faults when punching someone is deadlier than an AK47, but I couldn't say anyone should play MAG before playing Uncharted 2.
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