Ah this is more like it, a bit of a split. Not actually what I was going for with MAG, I picked it because someone suggested it on Twitter, but I’ll take it nonetheless. Of course, it’s not a huge split in opinion but I’m getting a little ahead of myself here.  First up we need to head over to the forums and see what you had to say about Sony’s massive shooter.
First lets turn to Mundham, who pointed out the same need for time with the game that I mentioned last week. However he looks at it from another angle, considering something I don’t think about at the time.
The depth and complexity, combined with the initial overwhelming sense of “what’s going on?!?!?”, certainly create one heck of a Marmite experience. Virtually impossible to get to grips with as a short-term Rental, MAG conveys it’s charm and sense of epic scope over a length of weeks and months.
I really hadn’t looked at it from that perspective, not just that it’s hard to judge the game from a limited exposure but that you might end up lost or confused with a game of this scope. It’s a great point and one that all MMO titles have to address in order to stop the player becoming overwhelmed.
It’s not just the massive aspect of MAG that sets it apart from other FPS titles, Zipper have done a good job of weaving team work into the basic structure of the game. hol commented on this, and made me smile when I imagined a 256 strong clan taking over an entire side.
…with upwards of 200 hours on the game since release & a 3 time vet, plus at least the same on the beta versions, if you like to play fps shooters & play as a squad, nothing I’ve found on ANY platform comes close. If you play with mates, this gets even better, at one time, the clan I was in had the entire valor filled, no-one else, just us & we slaughtered the opposition.
Sadly it doesn’t always go quite as smoothly as hol’s experience, and although Zipper have done their best to build rewards for teamwork into the game, there are always going to be those who just don’t want to play the game how it’s intended to be played. Teflon found this to be one of the problems with the game, even if it doesn’t fall on the head of the developers.
Where it falls apart is when you’re butting your head against the same outpost for 30 minutes, or are vastly mismatched in a group of randoms. It’s a difficult balance, but if you’re part of a team, you have a lot more fun. Just accept that sometimes you’ll lose hopelessly.
Finally lets turn to Starman (who I like for having the same name as a superhero). He comments on the games persistence, something that pops up almost universally in MMO games, but less frequently in the shooter genre.
What kept me coming back was the genuine feeling that your own actions could sway the result. Whether storming a bunker with your squad or going lone wolf and finding the lesser guarded targets like mortars and anti-air defences, you could see in real-time the difference you were making.
So with all of that said lets look at the game’s verdict. I said there was a split this week and it turns out to be a complete split. With ten people taking part this week five voted for Buy It and five voted for Bargain Bin It, so sadly I’ll have to leave you with no clear decision this week.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a new game for you to put in your verdicts in on, and maybe get angry about.
gideon1451
Would bargain binning it [so to speak] be the best way of getting it though, because by that stage it’s not likely to have that many online players & therefore be nowhere near as playable as it once was?
MuggleMind
Grab it on bargain bin. You would be surprised how many people still play this. Just try to make sure you are in the same faction as any friends that play it.
MuggleMind
Considering you can usually find it for sale for under £10 on the shelves of shops, I think both answers are correct. The game is great fun. I have only one question… for those that have got the platinum, how did you ever find 50 commando to kill?
sizzlephizzle
Hey Muggle – signed up just to answer this for you :)
When in DOM Defending : Get a sniper and spawn at your back spawn point. Find a position overlooking the AAA or Sensor+Mortar. Commando’s ALWAYS sneek past and take them out – get your sniper ready and POP. Potentially 15-20 in one DOM.
Know thy enemy and you will know thy weakness! They love backdoor action ;-)
MAG RIP? Roxor In-a Playstation :-D
hol
A marmite game? Yup, totally agree on that. I stil enjoy it though ;)
Bilbo_bobbins
I agree too, I absolutely hated it in the beta, didn’t bother with the full game, put me off too much.
ScottW-1976
Hated the beta, tried the full game as a rental for a week and didn’t enjoy that either. Not as slick or enjoyable to play as MW2 or BFBC2. The only thing going for it was the number of players, but I found that became a problem rather than a feature. (Maps became massive clusterf**ks)
One thing I did like was the proximity voice chat, why dont they implement that in more online FPS’s?
project84music
Seems like a fair assessment to me. I did pick it up from a bargain bin a while back, and whilst I have had some fun with it, but as with any online experience I find that you can easily get into matches that are either incredibly frustrating or incredibly tedious, based on the skills of the other players (largely in MAG, the ability of your team mates). That being said, it’s probably one of the more balanced online experiences I’ve had, but still glad I didn’t buy it at launch.
Kennykazey
Angry Birds up next?
Starman
Pleased to see part of my review was used! Thanks!
SavageOranges
You should do Dead Island tomorrow ;) that could be a split aswell, considering the bugs…
aerobes
Interesting result in so much that, everyone should play this game just not necessarily at retail price, hence, no verdicts saying “Avoid it”.
Not a clear decision on how much to pay for it but clear that it should be tried.
sizzlephizzle
Whatever price you see it for, buy it…unless you have no idea about listening to instructions, doing your job, being part of something amazing.
It’s more about team accomplishment (We disabled two four bunkers, two sensor arrays, an AAA, Mortar, four gates, a cooling pump, took the objective AND held it safe) than “I scored 92 kill and 40 headshots…lets do it again”
bacon_nuts
Its not unanimous, but nobody said avoid it, so it cant be bad.. Personally I didn’t like the demo, but I can see how it would be great with friends. (I don’t have gaming friends)
sizzlephizzle
Bacon, since playing MAG, my PSN Friends list has started to fill up rapidly. If you have a headset and do as you are told (Even if you obediantly die repeatedly), you will get clan invites for friends and clans like no ones business.
MAG is so worthy of a legacy, it’s a shame zipper can’t see how good they made it!