At the time of our review and like so many others at the time, we said that because of the nature of MAG that it would need to be revisited in a number of weeks to see how it is fairing. So here we are 2 months later and we are going back to have that second look to see if the criticism’s levelled at it at the time still hold up to be true or have the detractors been proven wrong.  

First off we must look back at the reviews at that time and pick out the issues raised that they thought would influence the games success or failure and revisit them. Some of these issues included that MAG would struggle to find enough players, that it offered nothing new to the table, that the magic number 256 was just a marketing tool, that after a while all that would be left would be “clans or idiots”, that it would suffer from the lack of mic’s on PSN. Or that as soon as Battlefield came along it would kill it off.  

Now while at the start it did suffer from an initial wave of MW2 players picking it up resulting in the games being quite messy as players didn’t realise that in normal war situations running at top speed down the middle of the road with your finger on the trigger is the quickest way to get shot. People moaned about it being too hard, that there was too much running that you would run for ages only to get hit by a sniper and have to start again not realising that it was there fault and not the games.

After the initial madness of release week MAG started to find its feet as it started to lock in its target audience. Once players started to get to grips with doing objectives and not watching as half your squad just ran off on there own Rambo style the game really started to take shape. Once the squad leaders started to get to grips with leading, reports started flooding in of heroic assaults on bunkers previously unattainable. Of last gasped defences of the battle line against almost impossible odds. Of people genuinely enjoying what MAG had to offer almost falling in love with online shooters all over again. There was nothing on the market that even came close to offering this type of experience online.    

Many wondered what the support from Zipper for the game would be like would they now move onto SOCOM and forget about the MAG audience. Well I’m happy to report that the support has been top notch while a little late with some balancing patches it is better to have these things released right rather than quickly. Zipper has shown that they are listening to its players and taking what they say on board. A number of patches to readdress the problems with the guns and armour came out and the impending DLC has us buzzing with excitement.

So to the issues raised lets address them.

1. MAG will struggle to find an audience : While its true a number of players have dropped off  this has actually worked in the games favour. As the headless chickens drift back to MW2, MAG was left to the serious gamers. Now 2 months later it is very rare to find 1 idiot on your team that runs off on his own never mind 3 or 4. The numbers of moaners that don’t know what they are doing or that keep getting shot and bleeding out gggrrrr are at an all time low. MAG is flourishing into what it promised. A top notch online squad based shooter. Claims that it would struggle to find 256 player to fill one game have been rubbished. A quick count I did yesterday of players online showed numbers still in the tens of thousands and that was  at an off peak time when most people are at work!.

 2. 256 players is only a marketing tool : Oh how wrong they were ! What a joy it is not to run around small maps shooting the same 6 people that respawn 20 feet away to be shot at again. What 265 players give you is a moving battle line across massive maps. The game starts out on the outskirts of the maps with small groups tasked with keeping the enemy at bay. This part is nicely spread out with players only coming in contact with the team’s right beside them if at all. But as the enemy pushes you back into the middle of the map the battles go up a notch. While just as hectic as you would want and expect 256 players in the middle of one map is. It is never over whelming to the point of it ruining the game. Sure if you are swamped by a particularly well ran attack it can seem impossible to break out but that’s where the beauty in MAG lies. If one break away team can get behind enemy lines and establish a spawn point it can change the whole outcome of the game. Getting one bunker back up repairing your AAA guns or mortar batteries can prove the turning point.

3. MAG offers nothing new : Again this has been shown up to be one of the silliest claims about MAG. It’s that very fact that it is so completely new and different from anything else out there is why it has proven so popular with users. Gone are your dull capture the flags or team death matches. Now each game offers many different tasks not only is there the usual capturing/protecting of points but also the destruction/repair of bunkers. The fans favourite acquisition involves you robbing vehicles but it’s not as simple as just sneaking in grabbing it and high tailing it out. You need to have planned and cleared you route out by blowing up gates and road blocks. The massive maps offer different attack methods. Using your brain is the key here just pushing on in wont work. Attacking strategic points around the map is the key. Taking out the AAA guns allows your bombers and troop drops to get into enemy air space safely.

4. Clans and idiots and lack of mic’s : Guess what they where wrong again while it is certainly clan friendly it isn’t swamped by them nor by idiots thank fully they went back to MW2 and the ones that where remaining where picked off by Battlefield. It is rare for me to find myself in a squad with more than 3 or 4 clan members the norm is for you to be teamed up with perfect strangers who all work together. Many a new friend has been added by finding someone who compliments your game play. And the easy match making features means you can just jump right into your friend’s games no waiting for invites or getting server full messages. The lack of mic’s is divisive I never really bemoaned the lack of mic's on PSN after playing on LIVE where every idiot 12 year old has a voice sometimes its better that some people are kept quite! What most are agreed on when it comes to MAG is that Squad leaders really do need to have them. They don’t need to be bellowing out orders all the time because they can just do that from the command screen and the grunts will follow. The normal grunt on the ground doesn’t really need a mice as all he needs to do is follow orders. If every one does have a mic it does lead to more co-operation and it’s just a lot of fun too.  

To summarise the last 2 months have seen MAG flourish into the game it promised. You will still find people that hate it and won’t play it. I will waste no time in trying to change their minds because quite simply I don’t want them playing it. MAG has an audience a particularly nice, well balance audience. It has seen many games come and go and yet its hold over me has never diminished. Even while playing Battlefield which I did enjoy I just kept looking over at MAG thinking why am I wasting my time on BF when I could be playing MAG. I have been playing MAG in the Beta since about September and never has a game held my attention and kept my desire to play it for so long. Fully justifying our score we gave it back in January. Roll on the DLC….