Massive And Great?
One of the most eyebrow-raising announcements of Sony's E3 2009 conference, the aplty-titled 256-player First Person Shooter Massive Action Game instantly had PS3 owners split between excited and confused.
On one hand, the Battlefield series' 64-player battles on PC have shown large-scale tactical squad warfare can make for an immensely rewarding game experience – so in theory, MAG should be that, times four.
Raining death?
On the other hand, more cautious gamers were worried that having so many players on one map could take the Call of Duty-esque military multiplayer formula and turn it into a bullet flinging farce; with players run-gunning like headless chickens, hundreds of voices spraying profanities down your headset, and death raining down from all sides.
Get a good feel for how the game flows, and it takes on the shape of an industry-redefining multiplayer shooter.
For your first few minutes with MAG, you'd be forgiven for thinking the latter has come to pass, as two huge teams charge towards each other and gunfire erupts around you. Start to work through the training missions however and you get a good feel for how the game flows, and it suddenly starts to take on the shape of an industry-redefining multiplayer shooter.
The structure is the key element here in keeping some focus. Rather than being simply hurled into the thick of it with 127 itchy trigger-fingered teammates, you're asked to pick from one of three factions (which are all pretty much the same, with superficial differences), and given options to edit your character's appearance and the arsenal he carries. So far so simple.
Starting your first few proper games, you soon learn that the game places you in a smaller eight-man squad. Four of these make up a platoon of 32 players. And four of these together gives you a 128 person army, fighting against a force of equal size. Each player is a real human being, and yet even over a pretty standard-speed broadband connection games run at the speed you'd expect from a 16 player deathmatch on other online shooters. The sheer scale and scope is impressive on paper, then, but playing it is altogether liberating.
Play together, die alone
The compulsive factor here becomes the experience-driven character progression, which unlocks more death-dealing gear, weapon mods, support items and character clothing options the more kills you make, matches you win, and the more of your squadron leader's orders you follow through successfully. Reach a certain level and you can become that squadron leader, exercising your tactical nouse on the battlefield to set objectives and help see your faction through to victory. It's a simple and surprisingly elegant system which encourages cooperative play, and helps streamline the experience even with hundreds of players on a single large battlefield.
A shooter of such huge scope, tactical depth and satisfying progression that you'll unwittingly be staying up well into the night for months.
Despite this winning combination of ambition and well thought-out structure, MAG will still be a divisive game amongst the PlayStation 3 community. The main point of criticism will be that the shooting itself feels a little lite, lacking the satisfying heft or feedback of other high-profile FPS releases like CoD and Killzone 2 – something that's not helped by the lack of fully customisable controls, which really should be a standard in every game these days - especially in the precision twitch-skill environment of competitive online First-Person Shooters.
A game-changer
That aside, MAG's main drawback is that it's sacrificed quality for quantity in some usually pivotal areas. The game's frontend feels a little low-budget, with the low-key intro simply throwing you into a few menu screens and into battle with little fanfare; the environments themselves, while huge, are a little bit drab, lacking in colour and spectacle; and the lack of any singleplayer mode at all will make this one to avoid if you aren't a member of, or aren't interested in joining, Sony's burgeoning PlayStation Network (although you really should - it's free, and it's ace!).
If you are already on the online bandwagon however, or you're sitting on the fence, then MAG is definitely worth a look. Get past the first few plays and there's a shooter experience here of such huge scope, tactical depth and satisfying progression that you'll unwittingly find yourself staying up well into the night for months on end. MAG is yet another first for the PlayStation 3, then, and sits alongside its platform stablemate Heavy Rain as a title which could conceivably change its genre forever.
GAME's Verdict
- Huge-scale warfare you won't find on any other system - and it works really well!
- Levelling up to buy new weapons and mods is very satisfying.
- Commanding a 32-man squadron is deeply tactical and great fun.
- Gunplay feels a little flimsy compared to its shooter competition.
- Low-budget presentation: bland menus, drab in-game graphics.
- No singleplayer mode - avoid if that's what you're after.
Review by: Mark 'Valor Soldier' Scott
Version Tested: PS3
Review Published: 10.02.10