TITLE : M.A.G PLATFORM : PS3 EXCLUSIVE DEVELOPER : ZIPPER PUBLISHER : SONY RELEASE DATE JAN. 09
M.A.G. Massive action game is an upcoming exclusive for PS3 it is an online multiplayer FPS  but this time its HUGE ! The days of small tight maps with teams of 8v8 are behind us. MAG offers a massive 256 player battles. To get this many players into one battle could have ended up being a huge mess but the battle field is nicely balanced teams are split into two 128 player teams each team is further split into 32 man platoons and further broken down into 8 man squads. Each squad under the guidance of a squad leader have specific objectives within the battle.    Although the maps are huge you can still run into the other squads. Running off on your own may gain you some cheap kills but to truly get anywhere with this game you need to work as a squad. If you are tasked with blowing up a bunker or anti aircraft guns then you should work towards that. Each objective furthers your sides advance in the war. Even though it appears that your squad may be on its own every objective completed by your whole platoon advances the front line. As the front line advances the battles field shifts, this is a major improvement to multiplayer games rather than continually fighting over the same little section of a map running in circles respawning for 20 mins in MAG you get a sense of being on a real battlefield and your fighting having a real effect on things. A large well executed assault can drive the enemy back along the map and could give your whole platoon the edge it needs. Completing each objective bringing you closer to your mission objective.     For the most part the game is a assault/defend style one side must attack and complete certain objectives while the other team must fight off their advances. Attacking teams respawn at an APC (until its destroyed) the defending teams at bunkers. As the game opens up other spawn points appear and you can even set a parachute spawn point where reinforcements are air dropped in. This cuts out a lot of the endless running that plagues the large maps of games like battlefield allowing you to drop right into the thick of the action. Once into the battles it gets fairly intense fairly quickly with bullets flying everywhere, vehicles speeding by, shells falling from the sky and soldiers parachuting in. The ever changing battle lines means no too games are ever the same.   In other games when they go for large scale maps the graphics suffer (far cry 2 or GTA)  but not in MAG the game is a realistic gritty war zone similar to COD4. Structures are impressive grass, trees & weapons are very realistic. Character animation is brilliant. Gun representation is also very impressive. As you play you gain skill points these are used to unlock weapons and add ons. You can select your load out choose your guns, sights, grenades, medi kits, repair kits and different body armor gun sights etc etc.       Mag set for a Jan 2010 release and it is going to change online gaming on consoles for ever. No one has ever tried this on console. Other games have attempted larger numbers but got it very wrong (resistance 2). MAG seems to have cracked it. The 256 player matches work. Without compromising on the graphics the maps are large enough to spread it out but small enough to be able to fight your way across them. I can’t recommend this enough if you get the chance to take part in the beta test running at the moment you will be impressed. Still time for this to improve and I can’t wait to get my hands on the full version.   WWW.BONE-IDLE.IE