What was the the biggest joke in Sony's E3 press conference last year? MAG. An FPS with 256 players and a terrible name. Game journalists scoffed at it as "another Sony fail." I'll admit that I thought that Zipper would have changed the name by now to SOCOM something. But at this point, if the game turns out the be a success, they can rub it in everyone's face. But I'm getting off track......
Jump ahead to this year's Sony press con and MAG isn't looking like a joke. It's looking and sounding really cool. It's like some of the best parts of COD4 and (of all games) Warhawk, competitive/Co-Op gameplay with a huge amount of players. Now, I'll admit that the player count does worry me. While in some cases, (like the smaller Headquarters maps on COD4) chaos can be really fun. But a whole game based around possibly hundreds of people shooting at each other could run very thin quickly. But, in an interview with IGN via Podcast Beyond, (interview starts at 28:00) lead designer Andy Bodwin talked about how the action would ramp up. Starting you out in a smaller group of 4 to 8 to let you get the feel of the tactical side of the game and working as a team, battles and objectives soon escalate to larger and larger scale until you end up in a 128 vs. 128, 300-style showdown. If pulled off correctly, the tension and feel of being in a full scale war should be as real as you could get on a console.
The real test is going to be that feeling that at anytime, a group from the other team could show up and the fight would be on. Maybe your support will be able to help you and maybe you'll have to go it alone and hope for the best. It's a difficult feeling to convey in a game. The most resent attempt would be the final battle in Killzone 2. (link contains spollers)
In an interview with Gamespot @ E3, Andy and CJ from Zipper talk about the "Dangling the Carrot" gameplay that is going to play into your progression in the game and how the world will continue whether or not you are playing. Sounds like the near perfect COD4 Perk system will be used here as well. Also sounds very MMO inspired. DLC and expanded locations and scenarios are very interesting if done correctly.
After watching the latest MAG Monday video via Gametrailers.com, I'm thinking that this is game is going to be a bigger deal than people might be giving it credit for. Granted that it's still early, but I trying to keep an open mind about things. It's a flaw. Check the all the MAG Monday vids below.
J.
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