| 10th | PlayStation_3">Top video games published by Sony Computer Entertainment: PlayStation 3 |
| MAG Box Art | |
|---|---|
 The box art for the front cover of MAG. |
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| Developer(s) | Zipper Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | SCEA |
| Version | 1.04a[1] |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3 |
| Release date(s) | NA January 26, 2010[2] EU January 29, 2010[3] |
| Genre(s) | MMOFPS |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T PEGI: 16 |
| Media | Blu-ray Disc |
| Input methods | Gamepad |
MAG, previously titled MAG: Massive Action Game[4], is a multiplayer-only first-person shooter.[5] Exclusively for the PlayStation 3, developed by Zipper Interactive. The game was announced at Sony's E3 2008 press conference. Various subtitles were being considered for the game, including MAG: Shadow War, MAG: Zero, MAG: Global Assault and MAG: Final Hour.[6][7] The game was released in North America on January 26, 2010[2], Europe on January 27 and the United Kingdom on January 29. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on February 11, 2010.[8]
Contents |
The game uses a new server architecture[9] to support online battles with up to 256 players, with users divided into 8-player squads, with 4 squads forming a platoon, and 4 platoons forming a company.[10][11] Each squad is led by a player who has advanced through the game's ranking system.[10] Character statistics and development also increase with frequent gameplay.[12] The players most advanced in rank are able to either direct the battle or participate directly in combat.[6]
Basic battles take place within ongoing, faction-based campaigns to encourage the player to actively play.[10][13] The game's E3 unveiling trailer featured large landscapes, tactics such as air strikes and parachuting, and a variety of vehicles, from tanks and APCs to airplanes.[10][13]
Players are able to customize the face, voice, and armor of their characters, as well as what weapons and kit they carry into battle.[14] [15] In game, the player can level up to 60 on any faction. After unlocking this, they may create a new soldier on another faction.
The game begins in 2025. As time passes, maintaining a full scale military becomes a burden. In a globalized world, the only security threat is from small scale rogue organizations against whom large forces are useless, and the fuel needed to supply increasingly mechanized armies becomes more costly. As a result, most nations' armies decrease to the size necessary to defend against a "national emergency." Furthermore, under the "Millennium Accord", no nation's military is permitted to leave its own borders, officially creating world peace. In their place rise private military companies. They have two advantages: first, they compete, lowering their cost, and second, they are allowed to work for anyone, anywhere. In an unregulated global economy, the companies soon compete by less than honest means. After enough mergers, bargains and buy-outs, however, the remaining PMCs decide to put their weapons to full use. The original attacks follow a simple plan: neutralize a competitor's soldiers, lowering supply to cause them to charge more and, ultimately, go out of business. The Shadow War, as it is called, grows in secret until the conflict moves into full swing, with the PMCs securing their own interests and violently fighting for contracts. It is unclear if the story will continue after release or remain static.
The game contains three different PMC factions:
Private beta invitations were sent to members who applied for the beta in the first half of August.[17] The beta has been limited to run only during designated time slots. Aside from players, this phase of private beta included members from the press as well. Zipper Interactive revealed the official public beta would launch on September 17. Private beta testers were also invited to the Qore beta.[18] Annual subscribers to Qore who subscribe before September 17 had a chance to get into the beta on September 17.[19] The final version of the beta was v1.50.[20] The beta ended on December 5 at approximately 12am PST.[21] An open beta was made available on the PlayStation Store for download on January 4, 2010 and ended on January 10, 2010 at 11:59 pm(PST).[22]
Different distributors had pre-order bonuses for MAG. GameStop was offering an in-game bonus for the 'S.V.E.R.' team. Hollywood Video/GameCrazy was offering an in-game bonus for the 'Raven' team. Bestbuy was offering an in game bonus for the 'Valor' team. 7/11 included a "recruitment kit" that includes background information on the "Shadow War" and PMC skill sets. Amazon has an exclusive S.V.E.R. based Home personal space in the playstation home. [16]
http://www.jointheshadowwar.com is a custom-built site that uses Facebook Connect as a central component to building a community of MAG users on Facebook. This site is presented as an underground recruiting company called P.R.O. (Private Recruiting Operation) that can help "free agents" (military people that were put out of a job as a result of the game's fictional future). This site allows visitors to "Enlist" and log in using their Facebook account to do so. The system loads information from their facebook page and uses it throughout the experience - things like friend's pictures, names, wall posts, etc. It creates a very unique experience for visitors to begin to experience the game's story. Visitors are presented with scenarios (leadership, skill, etc.) in which they have to answer or perform. As a result of their actions, PRO analyzes the results and recommends a PMC for them to join. Once they are enlisted, they are given their first order: to go out and recruit more fighters for their PMC. When they do, they send their friends notes inviting them to join the battle, leveraging the viral potential of Facebook. This is a very unique experience and at the heart of the overall social campaign.
There are three different soundtracks for each PMC featured in the game. The soundtrack for S.V.E.R. was composed by Perttu Kivilaakso and Mikko Sirén from the Finnish symphonic metal band, Apocalyptica.[23] The soundtrack for Valor was composed by Tree Adams. The soundtrack for Raven was composed by Sascha Dikiciyan.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 76/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | A-[24] |
| Edge | 6/10 |
| Eurogamer | 7/10 |
| G4 | 4/5[25] |
| Game Informer | 7/10 |
| GameSpot | 8/10[26] |
| GameTrailers | 8.2/10 [27] |
| IGN | 7/10 |
MAG has received generally positive reviews. According to Metacritic, the game currently stands at a 76. GameTrailers gave the game high marks for its large multi-player as well as its inventive level up system, giving the game an 8.2/10. G4 gave it 4 out of 5 stars saying it is a good addition to the PlayStation 3's library. IGN US gave the game a "decent" rating of 7.0/10, complaining about the game's bugs, stiff animations, unbalanced factions (claiming S.V.E.R is overpowered) and overall a lack of content and polish for the price. IGN UK gave it 7.6/10, but still complained about the same problems. GameSpot gave it a rating of 8/10, praising the well-integrated command structure, but complaining about technical awkwardness [28]. South African Online TV Show, GameState, gave it a 6.5/10, questioning the commercial viability of an online game of this size in third world countries [29]. The Lost Gamer gave it an 8/10 but thinks that the lack of communication between players in squads is one of the downfalls of the game [30].
It should be noted that some of the technical problems within the game at release have been patched (v1.03), with further remediation planned in the future.
| MAG | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Zipper Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | SCEA |
| Version | 2.01[1] |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3 |
| Release date(s) | NA January 26, 2010[2] EU January 29, 2010[3] |
| Genre(s) | MMOFPS |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media | Blu-ray Disc |
MAG, previously titled MAG: Massive Action Game,[4] is a multiplayer-only first-person shooter[5] video game developed by Zipper Interactive for the Sony PlayStation 3. The game was announced at Sony's E3 2008 press conference. Various subtitles were being considered for the game, including MAG: Shadow War, MAG: Zero, MAG: Global Assault and MAG: Final Hour.[6][7] The game was released in North America on January 26, 2010,[2] Europe on January 27 and the United Kingdom on January 29. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on February 11, 2010.[8]
Contents |
The game uses a new server architecture[9] to support online battles with up to 256 players, with users divided into eight-player squads, with four squads forming a platoon, and four platoons forming a company.[10][11] Each squad is led by a player who has advanced through the game's ranking system.[10] Character statistics and development also increase with frequent gameplay.[12] The players most advanced in rank are able to either direct the battle or participate directly in combat.[6]
Patch v2.00 introduces a new skill tree and also a supply depot for purchasing weapons. Now in the skill tree there is individual classes in which you can spend your skill points. Including Assault, Marksman, Close Quarters, Special Ops, Engineering, Athleticism, Vehicles, and Resistances. Which then branches off into its own skill tree. Now in the supply depot you have a balance in which is money that you earn every match. So instead of getting the weapons/attachments in the skill tree you can now purchase them separate. After you buy an item you have the choice of selling that item for half the price you bought it for. Patch v1.05 introduced a modified leadership selection algorithm that relies on using leadership points that are earned by winning battles while being at least a squad leader and whether the player has a bluetooth microphone or not.
Basic battles take place within ongoing, faction-based campaigns to encourage the player to actively play.[10][13] The game's E3 unveiling trailer featured large landscapes, tactics such as air strikes and parachuting, and a variety of vehicles, from tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) to airplanes.[10][13]
Players are able to customize the face, voice, and armor of their characters, as well as what weapons and kit they carry into battle.[5][14] In game, the player can level up to 70 on any faction. After achieving level 70, players may enter the Veteran mode and select a new faction (or, if a player chooses so, Veteran in the same faction as before). Veteran mode wipes out the current progress and makes the player start from scratch, although the medals, ribbons, statistics and the leadership points player has earned in the past remain intact. Player also receives a +10% XP bonus which increases the leveling speed. Veteran bonuses do not stack, which means that the +10% remains no matter how many times player has used this mode. Aside from that, player receives a star insignia under his current rank which is used so the experienced players are not confused with newcomers. The number of the stars indicate how many times has player reached level 70.
Gameplay consists of four separate modes and an additional training mode. The smallest gameplay mode in terms of scale, is Suppression, which is the only mode that does not influence the Shadow War. Suppression is a team deathmatch mode played between a maximum of 32 members of an individual faction. Suppression makes use of modified maps from the Sabotage game mode.
Sabotage is the smallest mode of those with Shadow War influence. It is played by 64 players divided between two of the game's three factions, 32 players to a side. In Sabotage, the attacking team must work to secure two enemy satellite uplink centers. After the centers have been secured, the attacking team works to infiltrate the defending team's base, where they attempt to destroy the base's database servers.
Acquisition supports 128 players per game divided into two 64-player factions, and is the first mode that the player encounters in which active powers are present. In Acquisition, the attacking team attempts to destroy a preliminary row of bunkers. If successful, they move forward and try to sabotage the defending team's anti-aircraft battery. After this, the attacking team attempts to demolish road obstacles and capture an advanced APC. If the team is able to return the APC to their own home base, they win a point. To win a match, a team must capture and bring home the APC twice.
The Interdiction is available via downloadable content. In this mode 128 players 64 vs. 64 must capture and hold three neutral bases. In addition each 8-man squad has an APC. The maps for the Interdiction mode are themed after the 3 PMCs but are neutral, meaning Valor could face Raven on the SVER themed map and any other combination.
The largest game mode is Domination. Domination supports 256 players, 128 to a side in a single game. At the start of the game, the attacking faction attempts to penetrate the defending faction's front line whilst working to disable the enemy's anti-aircraft battery by planting C-4 on it, which if not defused by the defending team in time will destroy it. As with Mortar Batteries and other defense assets, they can be repaired/destroyed by anyone on the defending/attacking team with a repair kit. With the defending faction's AA battery out of commission, the attacking faction is able to initiate parachute drops and active bombardment of targeted areas. After these targeted areas have been secured, the attacking team works to capture a line of burnoff/cooling towers. Capturing these towers unlocks the final goal of the match: to capture and protect a series of fuel pumps on the map, marked by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. The attacking team must invade and secure these targets. If the targets are secured for a sufficient period of time, a meter will slowly begin to fill up, the more control points captured the faster the meter fills. If the meter is filled all the way before the time limit expires the attackers win, if not then the defenders win.
In addition there is an option entitled "Directives" in which the player will be assigned to a game mode in which more players are needed, this mode can only be accessed once the player reaches level 8. At the moment double experience points (50% bonus) is awarded when a player joins a game through directives.
Escalation is the first mode to feature all three PMCs fighting on the same map. Up to 96 players, 32 per PMC can play. The idea of Escalation is for one team to capture two of three letters on the map A, B, or C. When two of the letters are successfully obtained and defended, the letter "D" will be unlocked. At this point the team who captured the two points will have to make their way to D and defend it. The other letters will become locked during this time. The other two PMCs will attempt to secure D. If one of the attackers obtains D the other letters will be opened again and all three PMCs will have to do the same thing again in order to unlock D. Every time D is unlocked by a certain team the bar will increase for that PMC. The team who fills the bar the most wins the game. No strikes can be called in by the platoon and squad leaders.
The game begins in 2025. As time passes, maintaining a full scale military becomes a burden. In a globalized world, the only security threat is from small scale rogue organizations against whom large forces are useless, and the fuel needed to supply increasingly mechanized armies becomes more costly. As a result, most nations' armies decrease to the size necessary to defend against a "national emergency." Furthermore, under the "Millennium Accord", no nation's military is permitted to leave its own borders, officially creating world peace. In their place rise private military companies. They have two advantages: first, they compete, lowering their cost, and second, they are allowed to work for anyone, anywhere. In an unregulated global economy, the companies soon compete by less than honest means. After enough mergers, bargains and buy-outs, however, the remaining PMCs decide to put their weapons to full use. The original attacks follow a simple plan: neutralize a competitor's soldiers, lowering supply to cause them to charge more and, ultimately, go out of business. The Shadow War, as it is called, grows in secret until the conflict moves into full swing, with the PMCs securing their own interests and violently fighting for contracts. It is unclear if the story will continue after release or remain static.
The game contains three different PMCs:
Private beta invitations were sent to members who applied for the beta in the first half of August.[15] The beta was limited to run only during designated time slots. Aside from players, this phase of private beta included members from the press as well. Zipper Interactive revealed the official public beta would launch on September 17. Private beta testers were also invited to the Qore beta.[16] Annual subscribers to Qore who subscribe before September 17 had a chance to get into the beta on September 17.[17] The final version of the beta was v1.50.[18] The beta ended on December 5.[19] An open beta was made available on the PlayStation Store for download on January 4, 2010 and ended on January 10, 2010.[20] A new open beta was downloadable from the PlayStation Store starting August 24, 2010.[21]
Zipper's recently released patch 2.0 included a new addition to MAG. It included Clan Deploy. Clan Deploy allows a clan to enter a queue as one giant group and the squads will be randomly assigned into the match. During a clan deploy the players can select squads (labeled 1 through 4) and each squad does not correspond to the Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, or Delta. Zipper decided to incorporate these squads randomly to stop clans from permanently taking control of APCs in the domination game mode. The clan deploy feature attempts to keep squads and groups together as much as possible but sometimes will break up squads to fill the match. When entering a queue the clan is put at the end of the list. It will let the single person groups enter the match first to keep them from waiting too long. The clan deploy has one bug that is currently being worked on, in which the players in the deploy cannot hear or communicate to the clan using headsets while waiting for the match to start. Clan deploy also has another possible bug that occurred during the beta testing phase. If the clan is the first person(s) in the queue it will start the next match without the clan but will not fill the queue. This was neither confirmed or denied as fixed after the MAG 2.0 update. http://blog.mag.com/blog/2010/09/patch-alert-mag-2-0/ As of October 7, 2010 the problem with not being able to speak in the clan deploy has been fixed.
Different distributors had pre-order bonuses for MAG. GameStop was offering an in-game bonus for the SVER team. Hollywood Video/GameCrazy was offering an in-game bonus for the Raven team. Bestbuy was offering an in game bonus for the Valor team. 7/11 included a "recruitment kit" that includes background information on the "Shadow War" and PMC skill sets. Amazon has an exclusive SVER-based personal space in PlayStation Home.[22] All of the pre-order characters are now available for free on PlayStation network in America
http://www.jointheshadowwar.com is a custom-built site that uses Facebook Connect as a central component to building a community of MAG users on Facebook. This site is presented as an underground recruiting company called Private Recruiting Operation (PRO) that can help "free agents" (military people that were put out of a job as a result of the game's fictional future). This site allows visitors to "Enlist" and log in using their Facebook account to do so.
Zipper Interactive released their first DLC pack for free on the PlayStation Network on March 25. The DLC features a new kind of grenade, skins, and special editions of the light machine guns. Zipper released the second DLC pack on April 19 with new sniper rifles and a new armor type.
Zipper Interactive released a new DLC pack called MAG Interdiction Mission Pack, which is the first DLC pack that costs money. The pack features a new 128-player game type called Interdiction. The DLC includes three maps and also features improved heavy armor and enhanced vehicle combat, new unlockable trophies, and new ribbons.[23] The fourth DLC entitled Escalation was released to try with the beta version of MAG. "Escalation" will be the second add-on that cost money. It will be released shortly with the new game mode Escalation that comes with three faction themed neutral maps to play on. Isla De Magma (Raven), Radiant Barrens (SVER), and Silverback Ridge (Valor). New trophies, ribbons, and guns will be included in the pack. Three guns per PMC - one Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle, and Machine Gun.
There are three different soundtracks, one for each faction. The soundtrack for SVER was composed by Perttu Kivilaakso and Mikko Sirén from the Finnish symphonic metal band, Apocalyptica.[24] The soundtrack for Valor was composed by Tree Adams. The soundtrack for Raven was composed by Sascha Dikiciyan aka Sonic Mayhem.
| MAG: Raven (Original Soundtrack) by Sascha Dikiciyan | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "The Battlefield of Tmorrow" | 5:01 | |||||||
| 2. | "Laser Precision" | 6:38 | |||||||
| 3. | "A Chaotic World" | 5:48 | |||||||
| 4. | "Raven Shadow War" | 4:48 | |||||||
| 5. | "A Force for Order" | 2:29 | |||||||
| MAG: S.V.E.R. (Original Soundtrack) by Apocalyptica | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "The Crushing Hell of Tyranny" | 2:32 | |||||||
| 2. | "Two Hundred Fifty Six" | 2:13 | |||||||
| 3. | "S.V.E.R Shadow War" | 1:56 | |||||||
| 4. | "The Fire Within" | 2:02 | |||||||
| 5. | "S.V.E.R Global Conflict" | 4:07 | |||||||
| 6. | "Incision" | 2:13 | |||||||
| 7. | "Survival and Rebellion" | 2:14 | |||||||
| 8. | "Overkill" | 2:07 | |||||||
| 9. | "All That Remains" | 2:23 | |||||||
| 10. | "A New Dawn" | 5:13 | |||||||
| MAG: Valor (Original Soundtrack) by Tree Adams | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "A Soldier's Pride" | 2:49 | |||||||
| 2. | "The Long Haul" | 2:39 | |||||||
| 3. | "Smoke 'Em Out" | 2:02 | |||||||
| 4. | "The Upper Hand" | 2:32 | |||||||
| 5. | "War Story" | 2:35 | |||||||
| 6. | "Pushing the Line" | 2:34 | |||||||
| 7. | "Skin of Your Teeth" | 2:48 | |||||||
| 8. | "Another Day" | 2:15 | |||||||
| 9. | "Return to Glory" | 2:54 | |||||||
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 76/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | A-[25] |
| Edge | 6/10 |
| Eurogamer | 7/10 |
| G4 | 4/5[26] |
| Game Informer | 7/10 |
| GameSpot | 8/10[27] |
| GameTrailers | 8.2/10[28] |
| IGN | 7/10 |
MAG has received generally positive reviews. According to Metacritic, the game currently stands at a 76. Game Trailers gave the game high marks for its large multiplayer and inventive level up system, giving the game an 8.2/10. G4 gave it 4 out of 5 stars saying it is a good addition to the PlayStation 3's library. IGN US gave the game a rating of 7.0/10, complaining about bugs, stiff animations, unbalanced factions and overall lack of content and polish for the price. IGN UK gave it 7.6/10, but still complained about the same problems. GameSpot gave it a rating of 8/10, praising the well-integrated command structure, but complaining about technical awkwardness.[29]
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