PS3 Review: MAG

Massive or Mediocre?

Welcome to MAG – a world of massive online action on an unprecedented scale, where 256 players take to the battlefield to win glory and the right to command squads, platoons and even an entire private army. MAG is set in a world where governments use Private Military Corporations (PMCs) to do their dirty work. Three have risen to the top – SVER, Raven and Valor. Battling for lucrative government contracts, these three factions have become the new world military standard.

MAG is essentially an MMO FPS which puts Modern Warfare to shame in terms of players, modes and customisable options. Having said that, MW2 still holds the edge thanks to the single player and Spec Ops. MAG sadly offers no single player experience of any kind; instead it’s 100% dedicated to multiplayer. That isn’t a bad thing, but it would have been nice to have some campaign tacked onto the game. It feels like the multiplayer is the dessert but the game is missing the main course.

MAG starts out by placing you against lower numbers of opponents before you get to the epic 256 player games and you have to gain enough experience to tackle them. It seems odd that you can’t just jump into any game mode you wish, but I suppose that way playing against that amount of people wouldn’t be so overwhelming…the game builds you up for it.

There’s a nice variety of modes like simple deathmatches and objective based missions, all of which requires teamwork to succeed. Of course, maintaining that kind of control over 128 players on each team can be chaos at times, but you’ll all need to work together if you want to ensure victory. You can eventually even earn the right to lead a group in your PMC. There’s always something to be aiming for and it works well for the most part.

Choosing which PMC you want to be a part of is the first thing you will decide, I personally chose to be part of the Raven PMC probably thanks to how much I enjoyed MGS 4. Time will tell if most gamers can compete with the hardcore FPS nuts that will no doubt dominate with MAG. I guess the problem is that most will have the biggest fun with Domination mode but it doesn’t unlock till you reach Level 10. Weapons pack a punch and the amount of customisation options is impressive. I wonder if more maps/modes will be added further down the line as DLC? I guess we’ll have to wait on that…

In terms of visuals, MAG looks fairly solid. Sure it’s not groundbreaking, but it runs smoothly and action feels fluid to the senses. Perhaps the explosions could do with a bit of polish, but other than that…it’s hard to fault. Sound effects are impressive, especially with surround sound.

The Verdict

MAG is a groundbreaking game, but it’s perhaps a bit too conventional as a multiplayer-focused game. There’s nothing really new other than the amount of players and the bigger scale of the maps and gun battles, but that aside…this is one great game that every PS3 owner should give a try.

1 Comment

  1. Not at all what I expected . U need to work as a team to get things done other wise u won’t get far. I feel as if the enimies are to hard to kill one shot u die but it takes multipale shots to kill the enemy. Which takes the fun out of it. Scale of one to ten give it a 6 at best

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