 Commence the Awesomeness |
| Review Date: February 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Nick F, Indiana |
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 franchise- you 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 department- it 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 MW2- I 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 COD- for 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 mistake- if 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 be- this 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.
S.V.E.R FOREVER!!! |
MAG - future of the online shooter
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| Review Date: January 31, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jason Demlein, Auburn, NY USA |
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!!! |
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