MAG: The Alternative to Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer

[VA1N]

I finally did it over the weekend, I found a multiplayer shooter that I love. In the past, I've played my fair share of Modern Warfare 2 like everyone else, but I could never get hooked on it. It kind of bored me because it's a very singular experience. You pick your loadout, spawn, and then kill people. There is little to no teamwork and communication between teams usually involves childish rants to "I just pwned you." I'm generalizing of course, there are good modern warfare 2 players out there, but in the end, Modern Warfare 2 is not a team oriented game. For those of us who like tactical multiplayer games where the only way you can win is by teamwork we are out of luck with Modern Warfare 2. We play it, but we don't love it.

Sony recently put out a game by Zipper Interactive called MAG. The game's number 1 boast is that it supports up to 256 players on one map, lag free. After playing ALL weekend, I can assure it's lag free. The premise of the game is that the year is 2025 and the world's armies have all fallen. In it's place are PMC (Private Military Contractors) have taken control. As soon as you begin your multiplayer career in MAG (the game has no single player at all) you have to pick which one you will join. This is a big decision since you can't change it. This helps promote brand loyalty. People are proud of their PMC. The three choices are:

Valor: Based in the US, they are comprised of US, British, and Mexican forces. Members of the military went to this PMC and it shows since all of their clothing is army fatigues and they use M16's and the like.

S.V.E.R.: The people's army. They recruit in the middle east and wear street clothes and hockey masks and hoodies. They use AK's and other Russian based weapons. Lots of convicts and third world country citizens join to fortune and game.

Raven: This is the one I chose. Based in Europe, this is the technologically advanced unit. Their people aren't veterans, but they have the best equipment money can buy. They wear stuff that looks like SWAT teams and use advance weaponry.


So once you pick a PMC, you're on that team for the life of your character. When you hit level 60, you can go into veteran mode (prestige if you will) and reset back to 1. You can switch PMC's this way and keep your awards and medals. Otherwise, you're with this PMC for life. This is a good thing though since you get a feeling of pride for belonging to it.

You begin at level 1 and gain experience much like MW2. When you gain levels though, you don't unlock equipment. Instead you get skill points that allow you to go to a skill tree and begin unlocking different skills. The skills consists of paths that focus around Assult Rifles, Medical, Electronic, Engineering, Heavy Machine Guns, Sniper Rifles, Explosives, etc. Depending on how you put you skills in, you will be given a title. I'm considered a Dragoon since I have most of my points in Assault Rifles and a minor in medical (so I can heal and revive people).

Ok, so teamwork...it's the one major difference between this game and MW2. If you go into MAG thinking you will just go off by yourself and kill people to get XP, you're mistaken. Everyone travels in groups. You are insignificant in this game, your squad is god. Before any game starts you will be put on a squad. These are your buddies in this match. You also have a squad leader. The squad leader will issue commands via the in game tool and if you do what he says, you will get bonus XP, increased health, faster reloads, slower bleedouts, etc. This is how the game gets people to follow orders. The benefits are very good for playing the game the way it's supposed to be played. Headset chatter is a must to win, although it's not as prominent in the lower levels as it should be. I'm level 18 right now and it's getting better.

There are a couple game modes...

Suppression: Training mode that is a team deathmatch. You fight your own PMC with "non-lethal" rounds. These matches are 32 vs. 32.

Sabotage: 32 vs. 32. One team defends two spots while the attackers try to blow it up. Once both are blown up, a third and final spot opens that everyone goes for.

Acquisition: 64 vs. 64. One team has to defend two transport vehicles while the other team tries to steal them. There are obstacles along the way that the team must take out including anti air, bunkers, etc. Taking them out allow for air strikes, etc.

Domination: 256 players. This is the big boy that everyone loves playing. Games last about 30 minutes and has one team trying to take control of key points throughout the map. Controlling them builds up a counter on screen. Control them all and you "dominate". This mode is crazy because you can walk over a hill and see a squad of enemies moving in formation. You get gunned down only to have a full on firefight ensue with your squad behind you. It's awesome.

The game is pretty similar to an MMO like World of Warcraft. It has RPG undertones with the leveling and stuff and you get to change the gear of your character, change his looks, unlock weapons, etc.



So there you have it. This isn't a review, just me trying to get the word out about MAG. If you own a PS3 and like multiplayer gameplay, go out and get this game. Rent it first if you aren't sure. And when you join, go Raven so we can play together. I finally understand how you guys can be so obsessed with a multiplayer game. I just hadn't found mine yet. Thankfully, I finally did and I'm loving it. Hope some of you guys get to try it out eventually. I'm including some pictures below to give you an idea of what the characters look like.

Raven (my PMC)







S.V.E.R.
This is the PMC most people pick because they "look cool". They are currently overpowered but as time goes on, I bet they get nerfed.








VALOR
(Have about the same amount of people as Raven. Fights between Raven and VALOR are really fun)

[danimoose]

Yeah I think this game looks great and sounds even better. I wish it was with the 360 though. I did hear they thought they may have problems with one team getting bigger than the others.

[VA1N]

Yeah, right now the big teamis S.V.E.R. More often than not, my team loses to them. I know that MAG devs are looking into it, but I'm not sure how they would fix it. It's not a big deal...it really just makes you play harder when you play against them.

One map though is balances in S.V.E.R.'s favor more so than the others. On the 128 player map, you need to flank their base and get in and blow up a computer...only problem is they have turrets behind walls that almost make it impossible to flank...so you have to go in through the front and at times it's almost demoralizing the amount of times you get killed. I can see them fixing something like that, maybe reducing the range of the turrets or something. Plus, the game is only a couple weeks ago.

All in all though, doesn't hurt the overall experience. I'm incredibly impressed with it and shocked I'm so obsessed with a multiplayer game. I'm a single player guy, so this is new territory for me, lol.

[danimoose]

I would love to have a true TEAM exp with MW2. Only problem is to do it I have to convince my friends to be on at the same time and to play the same game. Thats alot easier said than done I hate playing a game of Domination/Sabotage where my team would rather camp and not move to get a great K/D then try to win the game.

[VA1N]

Right, that's my point exactly. MW2 is really made for the single player though. There's no reason to do team stuff if you are heavily awarded for single player objectives. They should put in a mode where you get XP for team oriented objects like healing, or sticking to your squad leader, etc.

[Hammerhead]

So this game sounds pretty much amazing. I love the idea, but I suck at video games, I'll have to practice a lot before I can trust myself enough to be a benefit to the team.

As I was reading I was like "I bet the S.V.E.R. is filled with a bunch of trolls", seeing how they're the most chaotic of the group and all. Kind of odd though, I expected a more mature audience for PS3.

[VA1N]

Since writing this, I actually switched to S.V.E.R. My reasoning was because while I liked the outfits of Raven, they had no teamwork. They would just go into a fight guns blazing with no strategy. A guy on a forum told me he made the switch to S.V.E.R. and never looked back. i did the same and it's been great. People actually work together. I was in a game over the weekend where there were 256 total players on the battlefield. My squad had a captain and then me as the second in command. We successfully worked together and took out our objectives, left half our squad behind to protect and then moved on to help other teams. We won in 15 minutes with the allotted time being 30. I'm having a blast with the game. Plus, with the last patch, S.V.E.R. was nerfed and their maps aren't as unfair as they used to be. The turret positions really did make it unfair for people trying to assault a S.V.E.R. building but Zipper interactive removed some of them due to fan feedback.

Oh, and who cares if you aren't good. I'm not amazing, but you get good in playing the game. Plus, I recently went back to MW2 for one night just to see if the skills I'm learning in MAG carry over and they do. I was a hell of a lot better than I was before in MW2. The controls in MAG are a lot more fluid than MW2. MW2 feels a lot more tighter and slower than MAG. MAG is pretty fast paced but since the battlefields are sooo huge, your life is usually a lot longer than it would be in MW2.