Like all things in life, the first impression can be the make or break of any relationship.

Being involved in a Beta has given me a look and has left me an impression on Sony’s Massive Action Game by Zipper Interactive.

Please note, the time I spent on MAG was limited to two weeks, Monday to Friday from 6pm to 9pm (GMT). This is not a preview nor would my experience be universal to other beta players.

I also did not take any footage or photos.  At the time of the beta I was not sure if I was allowed to discuss the experience. If I am still involved in future betas, I will take photos and add to this piece and future pieces.

This is the second piece of three parts: Game play experience.

For those who might be interested in what I think click below

The experience of playing MAG over two weeks allowed me to reflect over how MAG has taken ideas from other FPS games and applied them into their Game Design.

Firstly, the pace of the game is faster than Killzone 2 and the Battlefield franchises but lacks the heart pumping, finger twitching experience of Modern Warfare.

The graphics (for a beta) are clean it’s not difficult to spot players lying in the shadows.

Lying prone can be used to gain a slight advantage with the environment however, you cannot “blend” into the high grass or bushes and like many FPS, the environment is not destructible.

Shooting from the hips is possible but a well placed shot to the head always downs a player quickly. Looking through your iron sights slows your turn speed but with a scope attached, the enemy is magnified thus making the target easier to hit.

The grenade (throwing) distance is lacking and I do have issues with the damage dealt by the grenade attachment that you unlock as the final tier on your rifle (Valor faction).

I was able to knock-out four players with a tossed grenade but when I used my grenade launcher, it hardly had any area of effect. I don’t know if this was intentional with balancing weapons but I did find it silly that a hand grenade would do more damage than a grenade launched form a rifle. In the end, I felt using my skill points to unlock the grenade launcher was a waste of time as the standard grenade seem to deal more damage.

The revive element was pretty much like Killzone 2; point the upgraded medic gun from a certain range and you partner would pop up. The time it took for another shot of revival was short and in a game where you could possible have 128 players shooting wildly, I think that’s a good thing.

I liked seeing players slide into a prone position under a truck or behind a boulder after running from one point to another. With all the bullet lines spraying across the screen, it created a real sense of dynamic in the game.

The controls were pretty standard; L1 for iron sights, R1 to fire (though I disliked how they hot keyed the prone/crouch button to triangle). I also disliked having to cycle through the weapon list using R2 or gadgets using L2 buttons.

Nothing was more frustrating than cycling through medic gun, to get to grenade, to get to anti-tank mines. I think the gadgets and secondary weapons should be accessed to the D-pad (which is used for communication) for instant access. When you are rushing to plant anti-tank mines, you don’t want to waste the precious few seconds to equip the item by scrolling.

The communication element is a big part of MAG. Often I would hear “medic - I need a medic” and someone would reply “where are you?” and the ‘downed’ player would state “near a boulder” or “behind a shed” or “near the river”.

The map is littered with boulders, rivers and sheds. Which one precisely are you at? They may benefit from adding a grid scale to the radar? And that is where the next problem lies.

The radar can turn into an entity of its own. Your radar starts with red markers to designate objectives to destroy (blue if you’re defending) and about a dozen blue dots (friendly). Once the action starts all these markers become mixed with red dots popping up everywhere as the action gets hot rendering the radar pretty useless as the detail is overloaded.

Emotions run high:

The thing about co-operative play is that when a side is losing, people start attacking each other. I’ve come to realise that forming a team isn’t about giving a group of people a common goal, nor is it about establishing advantages with certain key players in the squad (squad leaders and platoon leaders are given special abilities that can help the entire group).

An effective team is understanding how your role fits in and compliments the others. Every team sport has a position to be filled by a certain individual who can play that role effectively. The problem is nobody in MAG has an assigned role other than attack or defend which basically reduces itself to kill as many of the opposition as possible.

Planting charges or stealing the item becomes opportunistic rather than co-ordinated. When you do achieve your object, it is often done on your own. That is why the attacking team in the game modes Sabotage and Domination often lost because it requires you to co-ordinate and have the support of each squad to fulfil their objective (especially sabotage where both point A and B must be conquered at the same time).

Sometimes it was like watching an under-6 soccer team; everyone chased the ball – even the keeper.

Up against the odds:

MAG was a fun game to play, but it didn’t really set itself apart from the pack. In light of other franchises coming out, I find it hard to see how MAG could have the special X-factor to wow the audience.

In comparison to Borderlands where the co-op sounds better integrated into the story line and even in Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising where playing co-op with your mates is infinitely better than playing with an AI squad, I wonder if MAG can recreate that “band of brothers” experience that it is trying so hard to promote.

In the end, MAG was more like a Jack of all trades, master of none.

Next: Game Design