The other afternoon I asked myself (via the Internet of all places) why I wasn’t participating in the MAG beta. Like most of my peers with a soft spot for lead and things that fire said lead, I was blown away by the promise of the Zipper Interactive-developed title when revealed at E3 ’08. No way could a console shooter do the things uttered, support that many players, I thought. Just, no way at all.
Then came E3 ’09 and the live demo that I had an opportunity to watch while spending about fifteen minutes of appointment-free time. The piece of the demo I saw was convincing in that there were a ton of dudes playing at once and a massive amount of action was happening on-screen. Also, a good bit of fun was being had by the people participating in the little gated off area. The latter point, most of all, made me excited for the game -- objective-based stuff tends to get a bit boring.
Fast-forward to now: I’m finally participating in the MAG beta in the middle of this landslide of late-year AAA titles. The last new game I’ve sunk a substantial amount of time in has a lot in common with MAG -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. MAG and MW2 are both semi-realistic shooters with beefed up online components that encourage teamwork and strategy and ranking up.
Where they differ is readily evident: MAG is a smooth, but simplistic shooter that supports a ton of people at in a game at once. MW2 is a much lower player-capped game where the real fun, outside of the minor strategy, is in shooting others. MAG is more about the objectives than raw running and gunning. Matches in MAG end quick if people ignore what needs to be defended.
I haven’t progressed much in MAG thus far, nor have I been able to check out any of the elite features available in the beta. If you want substantial information, you’ll have to keep leaning on our preview of the shooter published moons ago as I think it’s a bit unfair to gauge the game -- no less a beta -- with my limited access.
One new thing I can offer you, however, is a look at the game as it exists now. Above in the header is a Ten Minute Test involving a 128-player objective-based match I participated in this afternoon. My squad leader didn’t have a microphone and apparently wasn’t too interested in helping out the other squads, so you won’t see an amazing amount of strategy in this. But you will witness the environment, vehicles, a bit of gunplay, and observe just how hard it is to take a defended bunker.
Keep in mind that this is a beta and this not the final game. All of the features are not unlocked and, obviously, bits and pieces of the game are subject to change.
Looks like another online war-fps with guns and pew pew, and taking cover, and all the same boring things as before. but this time with MOAR PLAYERZ WOO
I can't wait for MAG, I'm a big Socom fan and although I'm enjoying my Prestige race on MW2, run-shoot-die-run-shoot-die-hide-shoot-shoot-die get's old pretty quickly.
If it wasn't for the challenges and the weapon unlocks, and racing my friends to prestige, I would be bored of MW2 already.
However MAG with it's persistent factions and objective based gameplay is right up my alley, it even has MASSIVE games to boot! Win. persistent factions were my favourite thing about Endwar, to put them into an FPS has given me a fucking boner.
I want into the Beta so fucking bad. I'm itching to check it out and can't wait to get home tonight where i can watch this video. Brad, I've been following you (and Jim) on twatter, uh i feel so dirty, any spare beta codes you could sneak to me over there? - If there are any tasks, challenges, or dares you'd like me to complete to aquire one I'd be happy to oblige. I will do anything.
As i said earlier I'm hoping it has is more natural maps, rather than COD's Sniper point A overlooking sniper point B, alleyway 1, overlooked by windows 1 and 2 bullshit.
I want buildings with a good veiw of the battlefield, with all the windows any real building would have, i want to spot fire coming from somewhere, not just run around checking the all usual spots and being faster to the trigger than anyone i come across.
I want MAG in my life so bad.
Also, if someone's got a code, and no longer plays the Beta (what a fucking waste) can it be re-used? i'm assuming it's a DL code and as such no, but i have a buddy in the Beta who is wasting his code by not playing!
8 vs 8 linked matches where all the other 8 vs 8 games are happening on the same map, at the same time and you can if you want go an interfere with the other matches and where other matches progress affects your match.
I fail to see your point? Do you want 256 player free for all or cod style fragfest? That would be horrible!
I think this looks like a good way to get all those players together while avoiding the mental carnage that would be 256 player cod type game.
I dunno. It just looked like bad company to me. And I wasn't really a fan of bad company either. Maybe the squad management stuff makes it cooler, and it probably does. But the video definitely didn't sell me. I kind of expected something a lot more slow and methodical and tactical really.
@Jamnontheone - Uh, I don't know planetside, so your comment is falling on deaf ears in my case i'm afraid...
Anyone care to explain? Planetside?
In regard to voice chat, the game uses an icon and map based command system so there is no "NEED" to use chat, ie, commander sets objective, which pops up on squads HUD / Map. However I'd imagine it would make things easier having chat. i prefer a map icon to listening to someone going "the bunker, you know the one, over by the bridge, behind the sam site, on my left, your right, you know the one?" Or Socom's hardocre players telling you "Tangos coming from the red room" or "enemies in the tower". Uh, where?
Standard voice chat? um, what's standard?
I enjoy a bit of squad based chat + proximity chat, love it when prox chat crosses teams, so you hear your victim shouting "FUCK" and can trash talk them a little after capping them.
It's a shame when my buddies and i are on seperate teams and I can't shout "Chef" when I'm behind chef with a throwing knife aimed at his head.
I know sexual chocolate will disagree. MAG looks to be JUNK! There is no way i'm paying a subscription for this crap. Especially with COD:MW2 & the even better BattleField:Bad Company 2... Coming soon/around the same time as MAG.
I've been in the beta since phase 1... would love to write about it, but I think I'm still under the non-dislosure. That being said, there have been a lot of changes made to the game and they are doing an excellent job of using the beta testers to correct many minor issues (there have been at least 4 beta updates so far).
Personally I'm totally addicted to MAG. You're quite right that the squad function works really well and keeps the game from feeling overwhelming or chaotic (especially in Domination - the 256 player mode). I really like that while killing is important, people can also snipe or play support roles. Medic and repair are essential functions within every squad in acquiring or keeping various objectives. The game seems quite accessible for people newer to the shooting genre as well as avid FPS fans. It seems well suited to people that play a game 24/7, but also the weekend warrior who just wants to play on weekends.
I often play as squad leader.. and yeah, I love being able to set objectives, strategize with my squad and get some really good teamwork going with a bunch of random people. It DOES work, unlike other games (especially when you remind people that they get double points for anything done in the area of the objective). The community seems pretty good.. not too many asshats and I have to say that as a female leading a squad I've only once encountered an issue with idiots who didn't want a "girl" squad leader. Even then, those idiots were only 2 people in the squad.
The various gameplays with the varying numbers of players also work out really well, though Acquisition is my favorite! In short, the game is AWESOME!! The ranking up system is fun as you spend you rank up points on a skill tree. You can only pursue a couple of the trees and can't acquire everything. You are also restricted in your loadouts (you can create up to 5 loadouts and can switch them when you spawn) so those 24/7 players only have a minor advantage over more casual players.
The beta ends on Friday (unless they extend it), but I think this game really has the potential to be what SOCOM used to be... a game that most anyone/everyone can play and really enjoy. A game with longevity.
@Reindall... it's most definitely NOT "linked together 8 vs 8 matches"... 2 squads can spawn at the same location and attack one bunker together... or the Platoon leader can actually direct all 4 squads (32 people) to attack one location. When you are playing a 256 player Domination game, you can SEE all 256 players in the inner core of the map near the end of the game once the outer defences fall... you can change your objectives to help out other squads and can even help out the other platoon. You can move over the entire map area and abandon your squad if you want. The 8 vs 8 is a sort of starting point with each squad attacking another squad - but it rarely plays out that way and strategically that's not the way to do it anyway.
@BS3Owner... the game is not subscription based. You buy the game and play online for free. The early rumours of "pay to play" never panned out... this game is just like any other online game - no fees!
@ BS3 owner, sure BFBC2 looks fucking awesome. MW2 is simply last years game with some tweeks and new stuff. But that doesn't devalue MAG.
I fail to see HOW this game looks weaksauce?
MW2 has left me a little disapoint, but I give REASONS in my comment above. To simply say that this looks weaksauce is just not good enough.
They're trying something new with the whole massive game thing, something that (on consoles at least) hasn't been done before, and from the looks of it they're pulling it off pretty well.
Subscription model or not, I'm well up for some MAG.
Also, brad, sprinting at the objective with a rocket launcher doesn't look like the most efficient way to play this game! ; )
I'm very curious about the prospects of a 256 game, but I would almost think this should require a headset as well as excellent ban controls for those in command positions. Its like it would be easy for one jack ass or one group of jack asses to grief the their whole team by fucking around intentionally. I don't think a company though has the balls to do a life time ban for perpetual asses, but if they do with MAG, I will buy this day 1.
I was really looking forward to this game, but after seeing that video it looks like a pile of crap. They really need to fix the amount of damage a player has to take before dying, at the moment a few stray bullets is enough to kill you resulting in endless random deaths. I can see the medic classes topping the leaderboards. Laggy, bad graphics, static scenery, I put this in the "good idea, poor execution" pile.
PlanetSide was a PC MMOFPS that SOE developed that had up to 133 players vs. 133 players vs. 133 players all in the same zone (not separated) at the same time piloting land vehicles, air vehicles, on foot, and tons of classes.
"World War 2 Online" allowed for massive 10,000 player battles (The PCs of the time would chug if you got up to having a bunch of people on the screen at once however).
I guess what I'm saying is that the scale could be much greater if the graphics were scaled back (unless the dedicated servers of today are worse than those years ago). I'd think by now we'd want games with battles of much larger scope even if it meant a hit in graphical fidelity.
This reminds me of the Zombie game that my friends played in Halo 2. It seems really hard to make any progress at first, but as the game goes on, the opposing team loses too much momentum.
Planetside was the one true MMO FPS. When it says "1000s of players FPS" it was not foffing around it literally meant 1000s as you participated in armored columns, air raids and hot drops. Even the slow "looking for squad" moments felt like they were scenes out of the Rebel Hangar as you saw ships and craft constantly buzzing about and ground crew scambling.
Dying looks easy and it is, but once you know the maps better and know where to go and where not to go, etc - then you die a lot less. People comparing MAG to CoD are gravely mistaken. This game is not about dying and kills. It's about strategy and objectives and teamwork, most of which was not seen much in this video because the Squad Leader sucked. Don't write this off, MAG is excellent and FPS fans will sbsolutely enjoy this. Hell, I haven't played any FPS since countrstrike and I'm getting this after being in the beta.
Yep! Though from what I've seen and the way has been described to me it handles it similar to the way Allegiance handled 200 player games. It's a single map with a series of regions that can't be directly seen all at once but can be traveled to without any loading screens or instances.
That way it takes off a lot of the processing power and allows the game to be played smoothly.
If I'm wrong in any way someone please correct me.
@reindall - Yes there can. The mode is called Domination, where the defenders have a large ring of objectives to defend in a perimeter around their spawn. The point, if you are defending, is to KEEP them from getting in there, so as defenders you ideally don't ever want to see 128 enemies in one area, cuz that means you've let them in. As attackers, it's the opposite. While there will never actually be 128 v 128 at once cuz ppl are dying etc, it's good.
this looks awesome, reminds me of older ps2 socoms. havnt played new socom yet so cant compare to that.
also isnt it not all modes are 128 v 128? isnt it just the one mode?
but the other modes are still 32 or 64 players.
either way it looks like alot of fun. cant wait.
@Fetusmilk... There are various modes (including an apparent training section which we didn't experience).
The smallest mode is 64 player suppression... a game played against your own faction and more of a training area. I believe it's closest to a TDM type game. Sabotage is also a 64 player game... 32 of your faction against 32 of another faction... objective based but still fairly straightforward.
Acquisition is a ton of fun with lots of objectives/strategies. It's a "steal the vehicle" mode with 128 player total, and Domination is the full 256 player game - it's sort of a more of a "capture and hold" the objectives for set periods of time.
As others have said, the game is not about killing or dying. KDR means absolutely nothing. It's all about working as part of a squad to achieve an objective. A medic is just as valuable as someone repairing the vehicle or someone doing the killing. Stealth or run/gun both work in this game and it accommodates a large number of gameplay styles.
This didn't look all that fun. I think FPSes really shouldn't go above 40 players per map. And that's for big maps. Personally, I prefer smaller games. I find 1v1 in Quake to be infinitely more fun than 30v30 in CoD4, and 6v6 in TF2 more fun than the 16v16.
Wow, that reminds me a lot of Battlefield 2 & 2142 in terms of structure. Seems like it could be a spiritual successor(as opposed to how 1943 turned out).
I'm a lot more interested now than I ever was before.
this is rough to say but honestly - as horrible the lag was with KZ2 (and their console gave no ping to server indication) I refuse to believe MAG can work.
There better be a demo, because there is no way I am going to purchase before inspecting the goods.
And - are the graphics last gen?
It looks like a CounterStrike reskin? Even the 720p videos on PSN look grainy?
@ readbigwordsisgood - It can and most likely will work. Lag is not a problem for me with my average comcast connection, and there have been maybe three threads in all of the beta forums that complain of lag. Certainly no lag as bad or widespread as in examples like KZ2.
Graphics are a bit rough but THIS IS A BETA. Graphics are not what they are testing, gameplay is. Graphics will obviously improve, and in fact, they have been improving throughout the beta. If you think it's a counterstrike reskin, then you have a lot more thinking to do...
I beta tested this game with high hopes. I was let down being a big Zipper fan because of Socom games. They simply need to go back to their money maker, Socom because Slant Six sucks nuts!
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
9:00 AM on 11.19.2009
| 
that is all
Also, for some reason your video player stopped working correctly with Firefox. I had to watch it in IE. (ew...)
If it wasn't for the challenges and the weapon unlocks, and racing my friends to prestige, I would be bored of MW2 already.
However MAG with it's persistent factions and objective based gameplay is right up my alley, it even has MASSIVE games to boot! Win. persistent factions were my favourite thing about Endwar, to put them into an FPS has given me a fucking boner.
I want into the Beta so fucking bad. I'm itching to check it out and can't wait to get home tonight where i can watch this video. Brad, I've been following you (and Jim) on twatter, uh i feel so dirty, any spare beta codes you could sneak to me over there? - If there are any tasks, challenges, or dares you'd like me to complete to aquire one I'd be happy to oblige. I will do anything.
As i said earlier I'm hoping it has is more natural maps, rather than COD's Sniper point A overlooking sniper point B, alleyway 1, overlooked by windows 1 and 2 bullshit.
I want buildings with a good veiw of the battlefield, with all the windows any real building would have, i want to spot fire coming from somewhere, not just run around checking the all usual spots and being faster to the trigger than anyone i come across.
I want MAG in my life so bad.
Also, if someone's got a code, and no longer plays the Beta (what a fucking waste) can it be re-used? i'm assuming it's a DL code and as such no, but i have a buddy in the Beta who is wasting his code by not playing!
Meant to say... surprised that NO video game developer...
P.S.: Use your magic and please give me a code, Brad. :)
8 vs 8 linked matches where all the other 8 vs 8 games are happening on the same map, at the same time and you can if you want go an interfere with the other matches and where other matches progress affects your match.
I fail to see your point? Do you want 256 player free for all or cod style fragfest? That would be horrible!
I think this looks like a good way to get all those players together while avoiding the mental carnage that would be 256 player cod type game.
Eh...I still don't see why MAG couldn't end up going the way of Planetside (a 6 year old PC game) that had more consecutive players at once.
The real killer of this game will be a lack of standard voice chat. Otherwise it'll just end up being Quake Wars.
Anyone care to explain? Planetside?
In regard to voice chat, the game uses an icon and map based command system so there is no "NEED" to use chat, ie, commander sets objective, which pops up on squads HUD / Map. However I'd imagine it would make things easier having chat. i prefer a map icon to listening to someone going "the bunker, you know the one, over by the bridge, behind the sam site, on my left, your right, you know the one?" Or Socom's hardocre players telling you "Tangos coming from the red room" or "enemies in the tower". Uh, where?
Standard voice chat? um, what's standard?
I enjoy a bit of squad based chat + proximity chat, love it when prox chat crosses teams, so you hear your victim shouting "FUCK" and can trash talk them a little after capping them.
It's a shame when my buddies and i are on seperate teams and I can't shout "Chef" when I'm behind chef with a throwing knife aimed at his head.
Seriously "MAG" looks weaksauce.
Personally I'm totally addicted to MAG. You're quite right that the squad function works really well and keeps the game from feeling overwhelming or chaotic (especially in Domination - the 256 player mode). I really like that while killing is important, people can also snipe or play support roles. Medic and repair are essential functions within every squad in acquiring or keeping various objectives. The game seems quite accessible for people newer to the shooting genre as well as avid FPS fans. It seems well suited to people that play a game 24/7, but also the weekend warrior who just wants to play on weekends.
I often play as squad leader.. and yeah, I love being able to set objectives, strategize with my squad and get some really good teamwork going with a bunch of random people. It DOES work, unlike other games (especially when you remind people that they get double points for anything done in the area of the objective). The community seems pretty good.. not too many asshats and I have to say that as a female leading a squad I've only once encountered an issue with idiots who didn't want a "girl" squad leader. Even then, those idiots were only 2 people in the squad.
The various gameplays with the varying numbers of players also work out really well, though Acquisition is my favorite! In short, the game is AWESOME!! The ranking up system is fun as you spend you rank up points on a skill tree. You can only pursue a couple of the trees and can't acquire everything. You are also restricted in your loadouts (you can create up to 5 loadouts and can switch them when you spawn) so those 24/7 players only have a minor advantage over more casual players.
The beta ends on Friday (unless they extend it), but I think this game really has the potential to be what SOCOM used to be... a game that most anyone/everyone can play and really enjoy. A game with longevity.
I fail to see HOW this game looks weaksauce?
MW2 has left me a little disapoint, but I give REASONS in my comment above. To simply say that this looks weaksauce is just not good enough.
They're trying something new with the whole massive game thing, something that (on consoles at least) hasn't been done before, and from the looks of it they're pulling it off pretty well.
Subscription model or not, I'm well up for some MAG.
Also, brad, sprinting at the objective with a rocket launcher doesn't look like the most efficient way to play this game! ; )
It does look sweet though.
I wish there was a way to have 18+ rooms to eliminate kids from these matches, that's my biggest beef with MW2.... can't stand little kids.
PlanetSide was a PC MMOFPS that SOE developed that had up to 133 players vs. 133 players vs. 133 players all in the same zone (not separated) at the same time piloting land vehicles, air vehicles, on foot, and tons of classes.
"World War 2 Online" allowed for massive 10,000 player battles (The PCs of the time would chug if you got up to having a bunch of people on the screen at once however).
I guess what I'm saying is that the scale could be much greater if the graphics were scaled back (unless the dedicated servers of today are worse than those years ago). I'd think by now we'd want games with battles of much larger scope even if it meant a hit in graphical fidelity.
Planetside was the one true MMO FPS. When it says "1000s of players FPS" it was not foffing around it literally meant 1000s as you participated in armored columns, air raids and hot drops. Even the slow "looking for squad" moments felt like they were scenes out of the Rebel Hangar as you saw ships and craft constantly buzzing about and ground crew scambling.
Here's a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Twyfcncurg
It's sad that no one has tried to match Planetside in it's scale though it's name gets tossed around a lot.
Since this is the most players consoles have seen yet it looks bloody impressive.
Also, boo Raven
however i think the biggest problems here are:
- brad didnt customize his loadouts before the match
- didnt pay attention to the white indicators on the screen (they tell you the direction of the enemy fire)
then again i guess he hasnt played much of it to know more about it
Yep! Though from what I've seen and the way has been described to me it handles it similar to the way Allegiance handled 200 player games. It's a single map with a series of regions that can't be directly seen all at once but can be traveled to without any loading screens or instances.
That way it takes off a lot of the processing power and allows the game to be played smoothly.
If I'm wrong in any way someone please correct me.
also isnt it not all modes are 128 v 128? isnt it just the one mode?
but the other modes are still 32 or 64 players.
either way it looks like alot of fun. cant wait.
The smallest mode is 64 player suppression... a game played against your own faction and more of a training area. I believe it's closest to a TDM type game. Sabotage is also a 64 player game... 32 of your faction against 32 of another faction... objective based but still fairly straightforward.
Acquisition is a ton of fun with lots of objectives/strategies. It's a "steal the vehicle" mode with 128 player total, and Domination is the full 256 player game - it's sort of a more of a "capture and hold" the objectives for set periods of time.
As others have said, the game is not about killing or dying. KDR means absolutely nothing. It's all about working as part of a squad to achieve an objective. A medic is just as valuable as someone repairing the vehicle or someone doing the killing. Stealth or run/gun both work in this game and it accommodates a large number of gameplay styles.
I'm a lot more interested now than I ever was before.
There better be a demo, because there is no way I am going to purchase before inspecting the goods.
And - are the graphics last gen?
It looks like a CounterStrike reskin? Even the 720p videos on PSN look grainy?
Graphics are a bit rough but THIS IS A BETA. Graphics are not what they are testing, gameplay is. Graphics will obviously improve, and in fact, they have been improving throughout the beta. If you think it's a counterstrike reskin, then you have a lot more thinking to do...