Lets imagine this:

 

You enter a room to see a gamer playing his PS3. His eyes are bulging and bloodshot, his hands are excitedly shaking and he is sweating profusely. No sound but the noise of dramatic bombs and fast paced gunshots - maybe the odd noise of a tank. This is the typical description of someone playing Massive Action Game.

 

MAG is one of the most anticipated video games, and for one reason: Online Multiplayer. This game is taking console multiplayer to a new level. Huge wars of 256 players, with 128 gamers on each team means this will be the most intense and faces paced games in the history of video games.

 

Set about 20 years in the future, this game is all about war - you need to choose a faction. There are three factions to choose from and on first load of the game you will be prompted to choose a faction. This is the faction you will develop with, but you won’t be stuck with it forever - you can change whenever you want. Each faction has its pros and cons, and there is a faction for everyone.

 

The factions are Raven, Valor and S.V.E.R. Raven are from Europe and have the high profile weapons. If you’re after top quality merchandise, this is the faction for you. Not just weapons, the armor is top quality and is protective from head to foot.

 

Valor is the tough looking faction. Ex-soldiers who are war hardened means these are not to be messed with. They don’t have good weapons and rely on skill and brawn to destroy there opponents. They’re used to being outperformed by their opponents, so they know what to expect.

 

S.V.E.R. are probably the scariest on sight. Brought up on cold and though streets, these guys hardly wear uniforms and have one of those “Don’t give me a bad look” feel. They make their armor from hunks of old metal and have mediocre guns which make this the group to be in if you have and like raw skill.

 

 

One thing I notices off the bat was that there was no AI. Every parachute entrance, explosion and soldier are real players, which means this is intense. It is a perfect example why this game is setting standards very high.

 

One thing that was worrying me was what would keep gamers coming back. When you have a campaign based game with a good story and the multiplayer is a bonus, a developer can afford for the multiplayer to evaporate - but with a game with absolutely no single player and huge matches, something needed to be done to keep people coming back. This was answered with the faction system talked about above.

 

Once you join your faction, it is almost like a project. Your faction will always be fighting even if your not, and every time you win a game, it adds to the factions score. If your faction loses then it loses score. So lets say you check your PS3 before you head off to work, and see your faction is on top. You check at lunch and the faction is starting to fall. Finally, right before you leave you notice the faction has fallen so you rush home to fight and try to win - gamers will try to keep their clan on top.

 

Another thing to keep you coming back is bonuses. Things such as better weapons and longer life will be awarded to players who get enough XP and if you change clans, everything will be transferred over also. So lets say you have a top class weapon and you want to change clans - it’ll be moved over with you because since the weapon is a bonus, it is available to all clans.

 

The controls are typical for an FPS. All the usual stuff such as run, aim shoot ect. are included and are easily accessible. If your machine gun runs out of ammo and you’re being riddled with bullets, you can flip to your handgun and take down the soldier who “isn’t being very nice” to you.

 

 

The graphics are shockingly satisfying. Everything seems so realistic. The texture of the environment really reflects the “war” feel with gunshot holes and war-thorn buildings. The lighting is stunning, and adds tons to the visuals. Everything from the smoke effects to the textural ground makes this game the most impressive shooter yet.

 

Melee is one thing that seems to be missing. Not just “seems to be” but more of a “really badly needs one” - I was right in front of an enemy and my gun needed reloading. If I could have hit him in the face with the back of the gun to stumble him whilst I reloaded I wouldn’t have had to bleed out. What’s bleed out you ask? Basically once you get killed, you have a few seconds to hope a team mate with medic capabilities will save you, but if not you’ll respawn.

 

It is extremely strategic, and you may face different challenges. There may be a number of small dispersed battles, or one big closed in battle - it’ll all depend on how strategic you are. All of the maps have great environments for all types of FPS gamers. Maybe your a machine gun wielding gamer who goes in head on, or a sly sniper who likes to hide in the bushes and focus on your prey - you’ll be satisfied with all maps. In most gams I play online, most of the maps have problems for me, but with this game, there is no maps I find problems with.

 

   

 

It ships with 12 maps, and we could possibly see some DLC after a release but nothing has been confirmed. As I said, the maps are all luscious to look at and all have great views and vantage points to keep you entertained.

 

Also, the game will be really balanced when it comes to gamer experience. You’ll never see a bunch of veterans “pwning” a bunch of “noobs”. There will be leveled and balanced matches to keep the games enjoyable.

 

Something that may irritate some gamers is the length of the online games. If you only like to have short gaming sessions you’re out of luck. The good side of this is if you win the game, there is a big sense of achievement - but if you only have a few minutes at lunch to have a quick game, you’ll only be getting used to the battle and you’ll have to leave.

 

Another thing that will affect the enjoyment is gamers connection speeds. If too many gamers disconnect, the game will unfortunately end. If a gamer leaves the game on his own, another gamer will be waiting at the wings to take over. This will annoy some gamers though, and we might even see a fix to this in the future.

 

 

 

Of course, let’s say a casual gamer goes out, sees this game and thinks “Hm, this looks good!”, and buys the game without realizing an internet connection is required. He will take it home, put it in and be dramatically let down. The gamer features NO single player games or modes, and everything is online match based. If you don’t like playing online, don’t have a connection or don’t have a PSN account (and don’t want one), this game is not for you.

 

Massive Action Game is one of those groundbreaking games that come along every few years, and will join the ranks of games such as GTA 3, LittleBigPlanet and Halo who have all made gaming history. You may have been sent a Beta code, and know what to expect with the game but if not, you should get excited - REALLY excited.