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Most of these reviewers, have it wrong. To approach this game as a modern warfare 2, on a larger scale, is completely wrong.
This is a tactical, team based shooter. And the quality and depth of the game is completely based on working together.
Kids who hop into these games, just running towards objectives, getting shot down, and then complaining about respawn times, are the ones that make this game poor and contribute to negative public opinion.
As far as gameplay goes, Zipper Interactive have proven that they are experts, and MAG is a showcase example of this. However, the depth in strategy to this game, may also (in a wierd way) turn out to be MAGs main flaw, as relying on 128 like minded, intelligent players to enter a game, is near impossible. Instead, of slower paced, tactic based games. All I have seen so far, is games that are very much chaotic, and individuals running by themselves towards objectives, with absolutely no communication and teamwork.
Having said that, this is not really Zipper's flaw. Besides, a few graphical hitches, and awkward weapon selection buttons. The game is a technical masterpiece and a very much needed addition to the playstation catalog.
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Lets get one thing straight right off the bat, I am a military first person shooter fan. Call of Duty MW, MW2, WAW, Battlefield MC, Bad Company, Americas Army, the Rainbow Six franchiseyou name it, Ive played it. That being said, MAG IS ECSTASY ON A DISC!
The main game people like to compare this to is MW2 even though they are completely different experiences. As a guy who patiently waited for MW2 on the midnight launch and missed many days of school thereafter, I feel I can give an unbiased opinion on mag while contrasting it to MW2.
MAG clearly loses to MW2 in the sound and graphics departmentit stands to reason that if you are attempting to run 256 people in one game, you are going to have to make a tradeoff. However, during the week I have been playing MAG, I have been dropped from a game only one time and experienced lag only one or twice. When playing MW2I get dropped or lag at least 50% of the time. Its hilarious to me that MAG can run 256 people without issues but COD cant do 16 without having a s*** conniption. Although MAG is not without hiccups, it is far more polished than CODfor example, you wont get shot around corners, like in COD when you are standing in a doorway and see someone pop out to shoot at you and even though you step sideways and get out of the way of the bullets and the wall in front of you fills your screen, you watch the kill cam only to find you where killed by magic invisible rounds that were several feet away from you. This brings me to my next point, MAG is more realistic than MW2. I understand that no game is realistic to a certain degree but MW2 has you calling in nukes, getting sniped by 1887 shotguns, and people running around knifing and unstoppable(yep, thats real modern warfare)not to mention MW2 has glitches galore such as when people were running around with the javelin and it would shoot automatically when they died killing everything in a 100yd radius. In MAG, you are a grunt, just as expendable as the guy next to you. My one complaint is MAG sometimes takes too many bullets to kill(headshots with an assault rifle sometimes take 2-3 shots). THis is more of an effort to balance the game, not a mistakeif everyone died with a realistic amount of bullets, everyone would be dead very quickly into the match and nobody would be defending the objectives making games very short and unsatisfying. Teamwork is also essential to MAG, if you dont communicate or plan with your squad/platoon, you will lose. End of story. This can be good and bad. Bad that internet anonymity often leads people to be d-bags and some people approach MAG with a lone wolf philosophy. Good because when your team works like a well oiled machine, there is no other gaming experience quite as satisfying and those who do have a team mentality often are the victors. Also, choosing your faction, unlocking new equip, and developing your character into a specialty (ie sniping, field support, medic, etc, and reaching) is just as deep and rewarding as MW2.
The bottom line is this, if you are a lone wolf run and gun type of gamer or a call of duty fanboy, you always will bethis game wont change you or your opinion on tactical shooters. If you are willing to get past the subpar graphics and sound, then you will be rewarded with a really fun, challenging, and satisfying gameplay. MAG, to me, is a 5 star game and is essential to any shooter fans collection.
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MAG requires teamwork and communication, and for that, voice chat is a must-have. If you do not have a mic, you will not get nearly as much out of the game.
Graphics, sound, controls are all fine. The game doesn't exactly push boundaries in these areas, but it isn't lacking in them either.
If you put in the time, meet some friends, join a clan, etc., then you'll really won't find anything quite like MAG out there, and it is very satisfying. If, however, you prefer run-and-gun, lone-wolf-type experiences, then MAG probably isn't for you.
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This is one of those games that would be a perfect rental first. People will likely love or hate this game so a quick rent should help choose which side you might be part of. People will love or hate that it is very different from arcade shooters like Call of Duty. In MAG, everyone operates more or less like a smaller cog of a greater machine, whereas in Call of Duty and other shooters, everyone is just running around getting kills and ridiculously powerful killstreak bonus that lead to more kills and etc. MAG requires a large amount of teamwork in order for the battles to function correctly. Unfortunately, there just are not enough players vocalizing anything that is of much value. Sometimes you have a squad leader who calls stuff out, but really, its never something that you will die without. It isnt bad, but the chaotic nature of the large maps and people not knowing whats going on will frustrate a lot of people who cant devote endless hours into studying the layouts of each area.
From the start, I thought that my low level was contributing to how much I sucked at this game. I later found that I was stuck in a rut, because the weapons that you are first given felt like peashooters. However, the game became quite fun for a limited time once I unlocked the ability to heal and revive my teammates. Acting as a medic will not get you the most kills, but will definitely deliver the most experience points.
Later, I unlocked few other weapons and I just never felt like they mattered. I played as Raven and had an opportunity to pick up a Valor assault rifle and it was great. Otherwise, the Raven weapons seemed like junk. Horrible iron sights tha obscure your target. Half the time you will get sprayed by someone shooting from the hip and headshotted because you couldn't get the center of your screen on him while he was running. Playing the medic was the way to go because I was a weak soldier, but reviving people got old too quick.
Large game modes seemed just too chaotic to be fun. In huge maps with several squads of 8 teammates attacking or defending various objectives, I never felt the bigger picture in any of the battles. The map was never helpful enough to tell me the size and scope of everything and by the time you realize you got lost, you died from sniper fire you will never find and wait 20 more seconds to respawn. Squad members are split up andrunning all over the place because of the rotating spawn timer.
The game boils down to needing to work with your squad. When your squad starts getting picked off and some of the team is down and waiting for a medic, some are dead waiting for the spawn timer to count down, and the others are cluelessly still running around outnumbered or outmatched. For Raven, it seems like we were ALWAYS outmatched. The general consensus on the forums is that Raven is the underdog. I can attest to that. At this point I have no time to dump into switching PMC's and leveling up all over again.
This game offers nothing for offline play, nothing for split-screen, and the tutorials to get a newcomer is woefully lacking. There is nothing to help teach an aspiring squad leader or platoon leader what they are supposed to do or what their responsibilities are once they put the leader boots on. All the time, there is someone trying this role out for the first time and not knowing what to do. The rest of the squad gets frustrated and quits or attempts to vote the person off. Regardless, the chaos and distraction usually results in a loss. Other people that would gladly take the role, are intimidated by this and don't bother giving it a shot at all. Its frustrating that the game could not have included some decent tutorial videos to help get people on track with each role. The game would rather you jump in the hot seat and disappoint your team, thus taking a heavy loss and wasting a half hour in the game. The lack of sufficient briefings set many players up for failure. In many ways, the entire game feels this way. Would-be medics run around with their heal-guns out aiming at teammates, but don't understand that they have not unlocked the ability to heal others yet. Huge battles have no war-room strategizing before the game starts. Leaders don't know what is going on and call in air strikes while the enemy still has anti-air defenses up. Players are all over the place. It takes forever to figure out which weapons suck the least. Everyone is thrust into a huge warzone with no regard to what is going on or how to do it before hand and expected to perform.
Again, Im not saying the game is terrible. There is much to appreciate here in terms of the technology and potential. Huge battles can be lots of fun if people know what they are doing. If the coordination, teamwork, AND skill all line up in every match, you have a winner. Unfortunately, asking 256 people to get these three things straight every single time is not going to happen.
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For those who have not had a chance to play the beta and are on the fence about buying this...hopefully this will help. I know lots of people try to compare this to call of duty, throw that out the window. The graphics are not as good and to be honest, the shooting doesn't feel as tight as call of duty. The game can be a little confusing when you first start. But if you give it some time, you will have a firm grasp on what you should be doing. Also, for those you do not have internet access....this is an online only game. There is absolutely no single player content.
I believe a mic is a necessity to truly enjoy this game. I played in several games where no one had a mic but me, and my team got ruined. Then I joined another game when a bunch of people were playing with mics and we dominated. It's all about communication.
You gain experience with pretty much everything you do in the game. From killing the enemy, to rebuilding structures, to healing and reviving teammates, and completing objectives. This all builds into the very deep leveling up system. Each level you move up, you receive a point to use to pick either an attachment for a gun, a "perk" such as quicker reload or better accuracy or more health, or to purchase new guns. And once you reach a high enough level, you can become a squad leader, and eventually a platoon leader. I have not had a chance to experience either of these, so I cannot comment on that. I will come back and write something about it when I get the chance. I'm at a high enough level, but I have yet to be chosen as a squad leader.
Now lets talk about the actual combat part of the game. The controls can be confusing to start. R2 switches guns, L2 switches secondary weapons (grenades, med kits, etc), R1 shoots, and R3 is melee. I got used to it after just a few rounds. There is several different modes to choose from. All modes consist of attacking and defending objectives and points. I believe it chooses which team is attacking and defending at random, but it may play into the whole shadow war thing (someone can correct me if i'm wrong). There are vehicles you can drive, they handle pretty bad from the little time I used them. I have tried each mode, from the 64 person battle, to the 128 battle, to the big 256 battle. I have exprienced ZERO lag so far, which is amazing to me.
I cant fully explain to you how hectic the big battles get. You need to experience it. But Imagine your squad of 8 with another squad of 8, defending the front gate of your base. While the other team is trying to breach the gate with two transport vehicles and 4 squads of 8 people each. Grenades going off everywhere, machine gun fire ripping off around you, and people yelling for medics! It is an amazing experience. And on top of that, wait until you or the other team knocks out the AA guns from the opposing team. And your team leaders start calling in airstrikes while you are running in or parachuting in. There is so much more I could write about this game and the experience I have had. If you have any questions about it, please leave a comment and I will try to respond. Hopefully this helped...enjoy people. Go Raven!!!
