MAG Beta Impressions…. Does it live up to the hype so far?
I recently had the pleasure chance to jump into the M.A.G. Beta on the PS3. For those of you not familiar with the title, it stands for Massive Action Game. (Yes, I agree its the worst title ever for a shooter). While certainly there is time for this game to have changes, I think given its pending 1/26/2010 release date, its safe to assume this is going to be a fair representation of the final product.
M.A.G. does a lot of things right and it has the potential hooks to be a game that you would come back to over and over. First up, I should get into the overall game play. Mag pits upto 128 players on each side (256 total) in a massive military battle. Each side is then broken down into smaller squad units which you are assigned into. You have the ability to create clans and seek out friends off your list to play with. You will start out as a low level soilder and then as you progress you will gain experience which will allow you to become a Squad Leader, Commander and so forth. These higher ranking positions will also allow you to speak to other squads and become more tactical with your attacks and defense.
M.A.G. offers up an experience reward system which is now becoming a standard in Military Shooters it seems. It feels very robust giving the player equipment and perks to buy based off your credits earned. You play and earn experience for doing tasks associated with your Squads assignment and/or for killing the enemy. Guns for example will have options like different scopes or sound suppressors as add ons. You also can get perks like less recoil, faster reload, etc… This probably seems very familiar to fans of the Call of Duty games but is that a bad thing?
Action in M.A.G. is a constant flow. You emerge from your barracks and race to your objective or bunker down to defend an area. Maps are huge and wide open, filled with many area where you can set up a defensive position or manuever around to get in behind the enemy. I was able to get many kills by working the flank of the other team especially when defending an objective. Once you do get killed…and you will. You respawn after 30 seconds and emerge from the barracks again or if attacking we parachuted in. I think the barracks could become a spawn camp haven but that could change. One other point to note, if you decide to change your load out or change spawn locations the clock resets on you to another wait of 30 seconds. I found this very aggrivating and a rather silly penalty to a player deciding to make a tactical change.
So the premise for a great game is here if you ask me. However, there are some big issues this game needs to over come if it wants to dethrone MW2. Graphically this game is not great. It’s pretty average looking when compared to other shooters out. The gun models look painfully dull, and enviornments are lack luster. There is no sense of awe when you look out at the battlefield even with its good draw distance. It just looks like your typical MMO game. Lots of players on at once and graphics that are downgraded in order to support it. Explosions lack the bang you expect, and gun fire just sounds a bit muffled. They also have included an odd musical score that comes and goes as you play that at first I thought qued up as you came into danger but later realized it just comes and goes. Odd indeed. When you compare this to other shooters out, graphically and audio wise, the game just lacks.
Controls all felt fine enough. My main gripe here is the dual shock 3 controller more than anything. It just isn’t a good controller for FPS. They have a few preset options you can switch to in order to remap certain things, but you never have the option to put the shoot and aim on the R2 & L2 buttons. Being used to shooting this way and having the trigger add-ons I was constantly wanting to use those to shoot instead of swap weapons…which they did. Needless to say I died on more than one occassion waiving my repair kit in the face of the enemy.
Lag is always a concern in online games and through this beta I found it to be an annoyance. Often I felt like I was playing a Star Trek game as I warped around the map. Even when I wasn’t warping hit detection seemed problematic from time to time. Numerous rounds appeared to be hitting center mass and yet no hit detection was recognized. Again, this is nothing new to online games, but for this game to be a success this is an area that has to be as clean as possible.
So what was my over all impression? Well it was a resounding “meh” the first day. But my second and third days playing I did get that sense of wanting to get more experience to unlock stuff. Will this replace MW2 as my favorite shooter…most likely not. This game does however look like it just might be able to overcome some of its short comings to become a staple game for many.
Post Article Edit: I wanted to clear up my comments about Lag. The game actually runs very smoothly overall. It just seems that in every match I get one or two hic-ups where I get that warping of lag. I still stand by my comments about the hit detection though. I have on numerous occassions been killed by someone that on my screen should have been dead a while ago. Its not all game breaking stuff as it runs smoothly on a whole, but I think it needs to be cleaned up a bit for launch.
lmao….ok 1st off i didnt suffer any lag at all!!!! maybe sort your connection out??
2nd, the graphics look awsome through my 1080p tv….it sounds like your an xboxer who doesnt like the fact that we ps3 owners now have a game that in all fairness……..”cannot” be matched in any way by the 360.
my overall take on this game is that it leaves call of duty standing in the distance, i mean after playing a game of this magnitude call of duty seems like a really cheap cashcow that millions of really nieve ppl (me included) baught into.
its about time that us gamers are shown a little bit of respect and given access to a game that is without a doubt….fucking awsome!!!!!!!!
Get your weight up. Stop being a fruit-basket long enough and you might figure out how to win a shoot out with more than 16 soldiers on the other side. Until then you’re a fag and not worthy of playing MAG.
The name is MAG. Massive Action Game no longer has anything to do with it. Just MAG!
Okay, first off, evidently you only played like 1 game because more than half of this review of M.A.G. is not true…the spawning starts at 20 seconds…and if you change weapons or spawn points you keep the same amount of time you would have already had, HOWEVER, if you don’t spawn in the time period you we’re originally given you have to wait another 20 seconds, but most of the time you will die when the spawn counter is already down in the countdown (between 1-20)…it is an automated spawning. IT DOES NOT START WHEN YOU DIE!
By the way, the music plays when you get a kill streak…when you die, it ends.
Who’s fault is it you can’t figure out the controls…not Zipper Inc. The controls are just like MW2 with a little variation to the “O” button and triangle. The lag was little to NONE for me…get off the dial-up and you won’t lag near as much buddy.
Last response to your horrible description of M.A.G., how about you and MANY MANY other people give it a CHANCE. You guys download they game thinking, “Why the crap am I downloading this again, when I could play MW2.” MW2 graphically looks JUST LIKE COD4! And the maps are HORRIBLE COMPARED TO COD4. MW2 is NOT NEAR AS GOOD A GAME AS YOU SAY.
its common sense this will eventualy end up a flop!Only those extrem cockroaches fanboys that only own the PS3 dont see that!If Killzone 2 Servers are full of flys insted of players how in the hell will this crap 250players succeed!Primeiro tem de apanhar muito no cú!
ok the r1 button as shoot is the choice by many ps3 players.i for one dont like the r2 as fire button,its ok that you do tho,but its what alot of people complain about ports from xbox to ps3 cause the fire button on ps3 really is r1.r2 for ps3 is like using the first top button on xbox.and also the servers were down for m.a.g. and they promised to fix it and they still state that it will be lag free,thats what it was for the beta before this one,except if you have bad connection…they cant stop that.
also the name is there to draw people into something thats never been done before
My only question would be: Why would you use the R2 as a trigger?
The r1 is much more precise and consistent, leaving your middle finger free to perfome simultaneous tasks (granades, melee whatever you map on the R2)
“My main gripe here is the dual shock 3 controller more than anything. It just isn’t a good controller for FPS.”
I’d certainly like to know what controller you think is good for FPS games. Of course, I’m sure you’d say the Xbox 360 controller, just like any frat noob whose first experience with video games was Gears of War. Never mind the fact that the Xbox 360 controller is essentially based on the Dualshock. You just stick your head in the sand and spout off about how you are used to the R2 and L2 buttons as triggers. Well if you actually played Playstation games occasionally instead of spending your life trying to prestige a thousand times on MW2 on the Xbox, you would know that all good Playstation shooters use R1 and L1 as triggers. If you’d ever played a PS2 shooter, you would know that this is how it has always been. However, as the Xbot you are, you blindly assume that PS3 games should have their buttons mapped exactly like 360 games, where it actually makes sense to have the triggers as the back two shoulder buttons. Can you imagine how angry you would be if a developer mapped the triggers to the right and left bumpers on an Xbox shooter? Well that is very similar to what you are suggesting.
Not to be rude but your VERY wrong on many aspects of the game for 1 the respawn timer is set at 30 second intervals regardless of when you die you can get there when theres 5 seconds left on the clock or 15 or even 30 it all depends on where the clock is when you die. Another thing the clock only resets if your in the menus choosing things and the respawn timer reaches 0 then it goes back to 30. The music turns on and off when your in an intense battle or to let you know youve just leveled up it also turns on as a audio reward for getting killstreaks or certain objectives accomplished. It seems many ppl blow off MAG bc you cant just run and gun like COD alot of other ppl complain about the aiming not realizing that this game has no aim assist like the more casual COD. The object of this game is teamwork and communication if you get in or make a squad who are experienced and strategic players you will love this game.
Let me guess, you’re a 360 fanboy who now owns a PS3 and look you have a website to downplay PS3 games. I’ve played MAG since early Nov, and yes the graphics aren’t great but the gameplay is awesome.
I have played the MAG beta extensively and have found no lag, only connection problems (not in game).
The graphics aren’t ‘great’ but they are competitive with MW2. The combat is amazing.
I started out playing Sabotage, saying this is nothing great a 7.5 type of game. But when you become level 10 and can play Domination, you truly understand what MAG is, and can/will be.
I have played MW2. Not impressed.
I have played BFBC2 beta. Impressed.
I have played MAG beta. Impressed.
Right now it is a toss up between the latter two on which to buy.
Been in the beta ever since the closed beta.
I like this game but it doesnt have what it needs to survive for more then a year.
If they cut the player count down to say 64-128 players and upgraded the graphics added in more upgrades and equipment this game would have such a better chance at survival. not saying MAG is a bad game, For some its what they have been waiting for for a long time. But for me and many others its hard to down grade from a game like killzone 2 or Modern Warfare 2 to this game.
This sounds like a very childish review, especially comparing it to MW2, also, comparing the “perks” to the skill tree in MAG is not accurate, perks are something that are interchangeable, the skill tree works more like an RPG, in which when you choose it, it affects you forever, so you have to choose which areas you want to go into, not just whether or not you want to have extra ammo for a certain match.
Also you said nothing about the three different factions and how they vary. Keep in mind it IS a beta, and not all texture detail is downloaded onto your system, im sure if you chopped down MW2 too less than 1.5 gigs it would look a little different aswell.
It doesn’t stand for Massive Action Game anymore. They dropped it a very long while ago.
you have no idea what your talking about… your fired go home
Sigh. I see one more person doesn’t understand what a beta is. No matter how important you think you opinion is, Zipper isn’t releasing this to open beta for you to demo the game, they are doing it to test their servers and check for other widespread network and gameplay issues. Sure, you’re entitled to your impression, but the more “mini-reviews” I read about this game the more it seems that the only reason people are writing about it is because they expected it to be underwhelming and feel the need to show how “right” they are. Good for your ego. And griping about the PS3 controller? Well I think you showed your true colors right there…FPS games have been on Playstation consoles for a long time and if you aren’t comfortable playing shooters with it, why did you buy a PS3? Go back to your 360 where you belong.
I find your review of this game fairly accurate. I jumped into this game only today 1/7/10 and i was haveing a megar time, but i fully agree that at first it starts out slow, but over time you get into it and want to do more. The only thing(s) i dont agree with is the lag, i played it for over 4 hours straight, and didnt experience one ounce of lag, and you also mentioned bullet hit detection (in other words bullet lag) i also didnt run into any of this. i also dont think that your controller preferance really matters to many, much less anyone, i personally have no problems going from either 360 or PS3. But to each his own i guess. The graphics are only sub par, but look at the amount of people this game supports online. What other game do you know of a console or hell, on pc that supports this many players that isnt an mmo. Anyways decent article, and this will definitly be a game worth purchasing for FPS fans.
the music comes and goes as you get killsprees or headshots and what not and the respawn is every 30 sec from the start of the game when you die so it could be the full 30 or you could get lucky and have it be only 5
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dude the timer doesnt reset if you change your loudout or spawn location it only resets when it reaches 0 when everyone spawns so its not that hard to change what you want in time
No lag for me or any of my friends… might just be your connection or some other issue. I personally do like it – I don’t think the graphics are bad at all. Sure it’s not a strong point, but they’re good enough to have fun with the game. I do agree about the controller though, the dualshock 3 is built for driving games and rpg’s in my opinion. But i’m so used to these controls, it doesn’t bother me anymore.
Garbage article. THe rocks and he hardly mentioned anything positive about it. Yeah it isnt better than mw2 i’ll admit that but It defenitely is the closest thing to it.
If Mw2(biggest failure ever)is your favourite shooter stay away from MAG, and what you written here its all load of bull,30 seconds respawns ?bad graphics? bad music? what the hell are you talking about??????
> You respawn after 30 seconds and emerge from the barracks again or if attacking we parachuted in. …
That’s wrong. Your squad spawns within a time frame of 30 seconds at fixed points in time. If you die 5 seconds before such a moment, you wait only a few seconds to the next spawn. The reason is, that squads are spawning together so they can start the fight together.
> One other point to note, if you decide to change your load out or change spawn locations the clock resets on you to another wait of 30 seconds.
Also wrong. If you miss the moment of spawning because you are inside a sub menu to change you loadout, you will spawn with the next spawn moment (30s later). If you change your loadout during your spawn waiting time and make it back into the main menu in time, there will be no spawn delay at all.
Despite my previous comment I agree with your analysis of the game and had pretty much the same experience with it.
The special thing of this game is the number of players. But honestly: who cares? I mean who cares if 100 other player a fighting in a corner of a huge map I can’t even see? I never saw more enemies on one place than in every COD MW2 game.
On the other hand COD MW2 has a far more better graphic with way better environment that actually reacts on my actions. In MAG I can shoot wherever I want, the environment is not changing. No shattering glas, no cool explosions, just a bit smoke that totally vanishes. In COD MW2 I can shoot cars, hydrants and windows. They explode spectacular, I can kill people with the explosions and the changes of the environment persists for the game and every player can see them.
The sound of MAG is ridiculous. I died several times and heard only something like “pffft”. In MAG this means you got hit by a bazooka, *lol*. Pretty much too quiet the game, not what I would call “war sound”. Just listen to COD MW2 to know what I mean.
Tried it yesterday, and it sucked balls!
Insenely booring game. Not buying this crap.
Looking too play BF Badcompany 2 soon insted!
I laugh at these impressions. Lag? I’ve played this in 5 different locations, from hard wired to routers and the lag in this game compared to MW2 is nothing. Lag was barely noticable. Controller issues are stupid. Just because you thought R2/L2 was shoot, that’s not the game’s issue, it’s yours. Most PS3 games have R1 and L1 to shoot. The score when you’re playing is a heavy metal score. What about is it old? And the stupidest point in your useless wall of text was the re-spawn. It’s never 30 seconds unless you’re first spawning (for sabotage), and for the other modes, you spawn at a certain time with other people so it can be anywhere from 20-1 seconds. I’m certain you have not played the new beta.
Your opinion is a simply LIAR,zero credibility.Yoy writen these scribble just to discourage people from the game.I enjoyed the game and respawn time never was more then 20s! not 30 you little guy.And graphics is not so bad, Modern Warfare also does not look so good.Only from far distance but look at closer view its ugly like your ASS! so you better stop talking a bullshit
Thanks for you impressions on MAG. As for me, I never could get online with the game the 3 days I tried (4th, 5th and 6th). So I deleted the game from my ps3 and decided if MAG had that kind of problems 20 days from release, I could not consider a purchase seriously. That being said, I still wonder how you could manage to play the game 3 days between the 4th and the 7th… are you working for the developer or you just happen to be luckier than me and managed to play the game with the servers down???
I prefer playing Online-Multiplayer on Quantum of Solace on my PS3 rather than MAG, the maps are too unorganised, the colours are too dark on all of the maps I’ve played in both the beta and demos so far, and it needs to be more creative, and no, 256 players doesn’t make it creative, it makes it messy, I hope that KillZone 3 and Resistance 3 come out this year though, they’re AWESOME games! XD
Good read but a couple of points need raising.
Re: waiting 30 seconds to respawn.
I’ve very rarely experienced this, perhaps twice, and I have been in the closed beta as well as the recent open beta. The timer only resets if you are messing about with your weapon loadout or spawn location when the timer hits zero.
Re: L2 and R2 problems
No PS3 FPS that I have ever played has assigned these buttons for aiming and firing. It is always L1 and R1.I understand that the 360 regularly uses the triggers for aiming and firing. L2 and R2 are for moving forwards and backwards when in vehicles.
Re: Lag and hit detection
To be honest I haven’t experienced that much lag on MAG. MW though is an entirely different story. Hit detection is a none issue for me also.
All in all, it’s a good article, with well conveyed and articulated points. But I would stress to all who read it that they try the beta themselves before the servers shut down prior to launch.
Good work there though!
Overall, good read. But the word you are looking for is “dethrone” as in “to remove from the throne” not “un-throw”.
D
It seems to me that alot of ppl who played the Beta are looking for a COD like game and come away dissapointed. Well the problem with this is that it is nothing like COD and it isnt supposed to be MAG is a TACTICAL SHOOTER that REQUIRES teamwork and communication. IMO MAG is the best FPS to come out this gen and I have never played an FPS like it.