Playstation 3

Release Date: January 26, 2010


“MAG,” a title which stands for “Massive Action Game,” is the upcoming MMO shooter game being developed by Zipper Interactive. While the game isn’t due out until January, I had the opportunity to get involved with the game’s closed beta. Sadly, the time I have spent with “MAG” so far has been under-whelming.


The pull behind “MAG” is its boastful 256-player rounds. These players will be broken up into platoons and led by a higher ranked player. Yes, 128-player teams being run by the players themselves that have proven to be worthy of whatever rank they manage to earn.


Now, this is really a bold and fascinating concept, but in the time I spent with the game, I found myself getting rather bored. My team was never able to complete any of our mission objectives and there was almost no teamwork or communication. I also never received any commands from a superior officer, so I simply kept running around taking out an enemy then getting taken out and respawning. The lack of communication, a key aspect in the game, is most likely Sony’s fault. Not everyone has a Bluetooth headset that they can use, meaning they can’t communicate with the rest of their platoon. Though there are stock voice commands the player can use, they aren’t as in-depth as actual talking. This problem could easily be rectified by following “Warhawk’s” strategy of adding a free headset with the game.


Communication wasn’t the only annoyance, however. I also wasn’t too happy with the controls. They weren’t terrible, but there were a few odd layout choices. For instance, to throw a grenade you have to switch to grenades with one trigger and use the “fire” button to throw it, then press another trigger to switch back over to your gun. I did eventually get the hang of this odd choice, but with most “FPS” games handling controls in an almost universal way, I see no reason for “MAG’s” odd choices.


“MAG” is an interesting concept, but when your platoon is planted in only one part of the map with almost no chance of ever moving beyond that spot, I don’t really see the point of having enormous games with 256 players. It might be better just to stick with the entertaining FPS standards such as “Halo” or “Call of Duty 4” and wait for something better to come along. Though nobody will have to take my word for it much longer: On September 17, an open beta for the game will begin, and people who subscribe to the Playstation Network’s virtual magazine Qore before that date will have a higher chance of getting into the beta.

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