Eurogamer: MAG review

Its downfall is perhaps in failing to clothe its ingenuity in ways that will secure it the size of community it deserves, and in failing to match up to the heavyweights of the genre in terms of its basic gunplay. These drawbacks seem likely to reduce the game's population to a core of devotees, a future at odds with its everyman name.

The irony then, is that the game which can accommodate the greatest numbers of players in the history of the medium will be best enjoyed by a dedicated few. For those players, at least, numbers really aren't everything.

[Greywulf]

not shocked.

[Bungie]

imo MAG = 9.4/10

[Zedux]

eurogamer failed to review this properly. I see a totally biased scorer who didn't even try to play the game, eurogamer hated the game before playing it. sad!

[Rampant]

MAG stands for Massive Action Game. Going back to Mass Effect 2 now.

[Michael-Jackson]

Bungie = Wii360BeatsPS3 = Stealth trolling..Your giving me a headache reading your crap.

Mag is a 8 at best.

[Jamegohanssj5]

I'm surprised that Eurogamer didn't give it a 4.0 seeing how they review stuff. It's still well deserving of an 8.0 though.

TGSI

[Guido]

You have inadvertently and basically described nearly every review of a PS3 game from Eurogamer. They are some of the industries worst reviews and they are truly PS3 haters. The numbers speak for themselves. Only a select few games get good scores and that is simply due to them knowing if they handed out a bad score they would look completely out of the loop so they sneak in a few good ones to lighten the heat. Even in the good reviews though you can read their disdain for the PS3 and it reeks of fanboy.

[Venatus-Deus]

For the love of God – their last two GOTY’s have been PS3 exclusives!

So they don’t like some of the other games. It’s easy to focus on them, however if they really hated the PS3 they wouldn’t have given the award which creates the most focus and attention to these games. Single reviews are forgotten quickly (except by you), however the GOTY’s which be remembered for years and throughout this generation. They could have just given it to Fallout3 and nobody would have complained.

[Morbid Bulldozer]

It's a conspiracy!

[sikbeta]

OK, the game is awesome no matter what....

@pimpmaster

Think first before you talk cr@p, nobody is retarded for buying a game, after all is Personal Choice, MAG don't have a SP Campaign and is not a Graphical Beast, but is Damn Awesome and it really worth

[callahan09]

Let me start over and analyze this review step by step. First of all, he spends 5 paragraphs before he even starts to talk about the gameplay. Then, he complains that when you play the game, you'll want to run around like a Call of Duty lone wolf. So now it's a criticism that one FPS doesn't play like or require the same tactics and maneuvers to succeed in as another? This game is not Call of Duty! I'm not sure why all of these critics feel the need to make that out as though it's a bad thing.

Then he says:

"Your soldier's health doesn't auto-replenish, a perfectly valid design choice, but a nod to realism that feels at odds with the game's otherwise breezy style.

Friendly fire in a game of such dense population is initially a frustration, particularly as it can be difficult to separate friend from foe in the throng of battle. And without a kill cam, the irritation of being sniped from an unknown source will antagonise those who have been used to facing their killers in Modern Warfare 2 these past few months."

OK, so he says that non-regenerating health is at odds with the game's breezy style, but never explains what he means by "breezy" or how this game is otherwise breezy. Furthermore he then goes on to complain about all of the other features in the game that aren't breezy! Look, Simon Parker, the game's no breezy! Don't know why you tried to claim that it was!

This is a war game. In war, you don't get to see a camera shot of the man who killed you after you've died. You don't get to shoot your teammates without hurting them. You don't get to magically recover your health after being shot. If you get sniped, it's your responsibility to find him, or try to stay out of his line of sight the next time around. Use cover. Be aware of your surroundings. Don't shoot your teammates! It's not that hard! Bring a healing kit with you.

He complained about the 20-second intervals for squad respawning? I think it's a brilliant feature. In war, they send out their troops in waves, not one by one. So every 20-seconds a new wave gets sent into the battle, which is a good thing, because you're always spawning with some mates and can advance together instead of having to go it alone.

Then he really gets into the meat of the matter:

"The character progression is well pitched and, once you're roped in, it's almost impossible to break loose. Unlike in Infinity Ward's games, graft in MAG offers more discernible rewards than merely bigger guns. Rather it is what's used to break the game community into a hierarchy, with those who have reached a high enough level able to assume leadership roles within a simple yet effective command structure.

It's here that MAG's brilliance is revealed."

And this is why MAG absolutely IS a brilliant game. It's ridiculously addictive. But of course after he touches on what makes this game fun, brilliant, unique, and addictive for a couple of brief paragraphs, he goes back to complaining about non-issues:

"Outside of combat, the game enjoys functional presentation that does little to celebrate or promote its underlying inventiveness. The interface for unlocking new skills is clunky and awkward to navigate, while menus are ugly and derivative."

What? The menus are functional, easy to navigate, and clear. Not sure what he's talking about.

"in general, MAG breaks impressive new ground and Zipper's ambitions have been met."

And the fact that it creates a persistent universe with MMO and RPG mechanics, with such huge scale battles between so many connected players at one time, and that it WORKS, lag-free, delay-free, and with no connection issues whatsoever right out of the box (unprecedented these days, even for much smaller-scale online games), is reason enough to acknowledge that this product is worth your time and money and deserves to lavished with the praises that it's so disappointingly being denied by reviews like this one.

"failing to match up to the heavyweights of the genre in terms of its basic gunplay."

I don't even know what this means. Its gunplay is as good as any other game I've seen, this criticism is purely superficial and has no basis in reality. It's like they just DECIDE that the gunplay isn't up to standard, but there's no real REASON. You point, you shoot, you kill... You can even increase your skills with experience points, to have new skill with different guns which enable you to reload faster, steady your sights, reduce the effects of recoil, etc. It's a great system for the gunplay.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

Of course it got a 7. Why bother actually being innovative when you can just rehash Halo or CoD for the billionth time? That's obviously what everybody wants since whenever that happens it gets 90+ review scores and sells 2 million on the first day, but when a game comes along that's somehow unique, this happens.

The exact same thing will happen with Heavy Rain. :/

[Venatus-Deus]

Thats a really nice wall of text. I'll give it a read at lunchtime but have a bubble in the meantime for the effort.

[Cold 2000]

Lol.

MAG gets bad score = it's the Illuminatiiiiii !!!

I think next gen when we're going to look back at this gen, the Sony Fanboy's conspiracy theory is going to stand out as the pinnacle of ridicule. At least it will give us a chuckle.

Doesnt cross their mind that MAG simply isnt all that good lol.

Back to ME2 I go! :D

[MiloGarret]

I just wanted you to know that I didn't read your wall of text.

[creatchee]

I don't understand why so many people are saying: "oh, you have to play the game 10+ hours to fully appreciate it." Honestly, if I don't like a game after 2 hours, I'm not going to keep playing it in the hope that it gets better.

By that logic, then we should judge single player games solely on how the ending and final boss battle is, or multiplayer games only when you have all weapons and items are unlocked.

It's broken logic.

[IrishAssa]

Im not surprized, if anyone wants a game like this that is alot better get battlefield 2 off steam, it will run on old enough systems like 6-7 year old ones, and it's better than MAG and most games that are out these days, it was better than Bad company 1 too

[raztad]

Not shocked as well. Typical Eurogamer score for almost every PS3 exclusive. It cant be helped if they enjoy tactical glitches, err, nukes the more.

Eurogamer's 7 == 9 for me. My copy of MAG arrived yesterday. Tonight mayhem is gonna happen on my TV. I made my choice: Go RAVEN!!! See you in the battlefield m*f*ers!

@cratchee

Your logic is the one flawed. I guess you are not that much into RPG and a lot more into FPS.

[Chubear]

Wow, Eurogamer gave this a 7 so in real world terms it's a 9. lol

Any PS3 exclusive Eurogamer rates just add 2 more points on top and that's the real rating XD ... are gamers all of a sudden forgetting how Eurogamers is when it comes to PS3 exclusives already lol, that's the gamign community for ya; the memory of plantar.

[blind-reaper]

Actually I think 7 from eurogamer its a pretty decent score since they gave MGS4 an 8.

[tatotiburon]

but wondwarwall, gameingliberty and pushsquare said this game is a AAA...so??

[creatchee]

How is my logic flawed? I said that I won't continue playing something that I do not fun in the hopes that it will get better. Doing the opposite could be considered some form of insanity.

Regardless, GOOD RPGs are fun from the get-go, even when you have crappy weapons and spells and such. GOOD FPSs are fun from the get-go when you still have a fighting chance even without the higher attachments, armors, perks, or whatever game-specific trait you might consider.

My problem with MAG is that the core experience of the game is not fun to me. Sure, I've only played the beta, but I couldn't imagine the game getting more fun with a larger amount of players, more options, or better weapons. It just doesn't do it for me.

And on a sidenote (and in response to your "accusation" of me being more into FPS than RPG), I've probably played more RPGs than you've played *games* over my 25 years of gaming, from text-based ones on my old computers to the shiny CGI-intesive ones of today. But, I guess that you were just being "logical" :)

[del_the_funky]

Didnt really like the game at first, but it kind of grows on you. And now i am addicted.

[raztad]

@cratchee

"A good RPG is good from the get go" <-- This is where you logic fails.

RPGs are known to get better as you level up. They start slow, very slow and usually is the story that push you to keep going forward. MAG is very fun for me even from the get go BUT it gets better and better downstream.

@everyone

Some of you guys are not even real gamers but a bunch of haters. An incredible achievement like MAG doesnt happen everyday but you are desperate to see it to fail, just because many of you dont own a PS3. Get back to your tactical glitches, rinse and repeat Rambo style, the people that got MAG know we are playing the absolute BEST multiplayer FPS out there.

[RememberThe357]

We all have bais and maybe the editor(s) of Eurogamer don't have a sweet stop for the PS3. So what? There are plenty of other sources you can draw from. I draw mainly form Game Informer and Giant Bomb because I seem to always understand their reviews/scores after I play the game.

BTW 7 must be Eurogamers favorite number.

[kunit22c]

Am I the only one that truly likes the game on this site? I think it should be rate probably 8.8, I think its really fun and is a nice breath of fresh air from the call of duty series. And I really like the way the game plays, idk theres something about it that feels like a mix of Killzone 2 and Call of duty, just with 256 players! and I don't know about everyone else but I haven't experienced any lag yet!

[JokesOnYou]

A PS3 exclusive gets an decent, average, below average score and the sdf instantly reacts with the same old lame conspiracy theories.

Nope, its impossible that MAG just isn't a AAA title, I mean if all the ps3 extremists love it, what right do reviewers have NOT to love it too. Wait.
Hold on what was that noise?

[[Looks out the window, see's a suspicious man in black handing what looks like a Eurogamer employee a briefcase]]

OK, guys I'm back, it was just a cat in the garbage can.

[[Slips cash in pocket]]

lmfao, the irony is they are the ones who amplify the low scores and give them more creditability by attacking their legitamacy. Its pure comedy watching 'em go spinning in circles.

JOY

[Hoggy1983]

First off Raztad, its complete nonsense to say an RPG can't be good from the very beginning. Yes you have a levelling up process and yes the game may become better as you progress but that doesnt stop you from getting involved in a new story, being introduced to new landscapes, meeting new characters and fighting your first enenmies. If anything that can sometimes be the best part.

Anyway, back on topic;

I think MAG probably isn't a great game but, in saying that, I really think its good to see a game trying to push the envelope. Crysis and Killzone 2 were entities which challenge graphical limits whereas MAG looks at pushing online play. Whilst this may not be a great experience as yet, MAG 2+ or another now conceptually interested developer will take the 256+ players idea forward. The foundations have been laid.

[solidworm]

9

[Venatus-Deus]

I’m a SOCOM player with hundreds of hours of playtime and this is a 7/10 (IMO).

The problem with this game is in the conception and not in the execution. 256 players need to communicate to make it work. Most players don’t. It didn’t to be bungled with a Mic. It wasn’t.

In 6 months this game will be fantastic, when you get a hardcore crowd, who know the maps, game types, have many hours of practice and want to play the game the way it was intended.

[table]

They definately should have bundled a mic with this game and still had it retail at $60. That would be fairer since it's a mulitiplayer only game and it would benefit the user base since it relies a lot on communication. As for the people saying eurogamer are biased, they just pick and choose which games to ignore when they get top reviews i.e. Uncharted 2 & LBP.

[Venatus-Deus]

Nice steath edit!

[IrishAssa]

they should have made a socom with 256 players. I used to love those games

[SmokeyMcBear]

uhhhh wut?? 256 players need to communicate.. why?.. you wanna communicate with your enemey?... you want to communicate with the squad that is taking A when you are supposed to take D... why? The leaders are able to communicate... those are the only 8 people people that need to communicate.. the squad leaders... you need to communicate with your other 7 squad members.. that is it.

[talltony]

You dont understand how good MAG is. I have been playing it with friends since day 1 and it is a blast to play, Its a shame that some of you will never get to try it because you base everything a few stupid reviews. The game is like so much better than the beta, I didnt even like the beta.
P.S didnt eurogamer give dead space a 6?

[IrishAssa]

Wouldn't of gotten it anyway, it's not a great shooter at that, it's been done many times before with less players, that's it, However, Heavy rain Mass effect 2, and AvP are out soon, im sure there is another one, this should have been kept from release till a time when less excellant games are coming out,
Your fan protection from the Ps3 is just making you not accept this is an average game, relax it happens when big name games failing,like gears 2, just wait for Heavy rain and AvP, if ya have a 360 too get ME2 aswell

[talltony]

"Your fan protection from the Ps3 is just making you not accept this is an average game",
Well I know your not talking to me but dude, do you know how unbiased I went into mag? I swear you guys dont know what your saying, Its just that mag is not for everyone and you need to play in a group of friends to have the best possible time. MAG is a BLAST to play

[only on playstaychun]

MAG may seen a 7/10 for now but as time goes by I can only see this game getting better and better. I enjoyed the beta and I am currently enjoying dominating with SVER =P

[OrganicMachine]

S.V.E.R. ftw..

[sikbeta]

You're totally Right, is too soon to try to Review the Game, when players get used to it, is going to be a Damn Crazy Game

[Tesselation 360]

Another 7 for the PS3 AAA Exclusive. Buy Mass Effect 2 insted.

[Michael-Jackson]

But 360 has oN more games, no thanks.

[butterfinger]

It's so cute when you 360 kids finally get a good game. Here we (PS3 owners) have been enjoying all the good games over the past year, and getting half of your exclusives (probably ME eventually). It was beginning to seem sort of unfair really. Oh well, I guess it'll be the last AAA exclusive you all get until... IDK... Halo Reach? I guess we will be hearing about ME2 until September. lmao.

[Sir_Ken_Kutaragi_]

In 2009 you only had '2' xBox 360 Exclusive games now -
i.e Halo 3:RRoDLCST(that was DLC anyway!!!) + Forza 3!!! ;-D

i.e you LOST the GTA4:DLC today!!! ;-D ;-D ;-D

MAG is FUN anyway;) Who cares what EuroBot.com and the other (M$ Loving)sites say anyway.

[playstation123]

Hey bot thanks for GTA DLC and thank you M$ for funding 50 million for a ps3 exclusive Agent ;D. Next up is Mass effect 2. 360 has no games LOLZ

[OrganicMachine]

and already This guy sounds like he's disapointed that the game is not call of duty with 256 players..

sigh... call of duty, I loved you since 1, 2, and 4.. MW2 i hate you..

[Wii360BeatsPS3]

They gave two of the best games this gen bad scores. Dead Space 7/10, Dragon age origins 6/10. Then they turn around and give Halo 3 and Fable 2 10/10.

WTF do they know about reviewing games. NOTHING. Please God let Eurogamer die a slow horrible death, I can't stand the people who post there or the reviewers.

[dtrain21]

Watching the gameplay makes me SLEEP....ZZZzzzzzzz

[mesh1]

FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOP FLOPPY DRIVE

[Akagi]

Respectable since it is not a AAA game.

[thief]

itts 10 for tactical gamers, the SOCOM crowd, those who like to see a game deliver more than just run and gun with glitches and cheaters
Its a 6 for the CoD crowd who just wont appreciate it

[peeps]

see where ur coming from. i'd personally say between a 7.5-8 altho it is only a score, it's the content of the review that really matters.

tbh i'm really enjoying the game so far but i kinda ruined my experience by playing the beta. if u've played the beta u've basically played the full game.

i mean obv theres been all the tweaks and bug fixes made to the full game but other than that it's just the same maps and modes except now theres no level cap and u get trophies.

just hope they bring out some new maps/modes soon to keep things fresh. what would have been a really cool idea is that if a certain map is won by faction x, the following week faction x defends that map and so on.

just seems silly that if a pmc is on defence and they keep losing that they shud always defend it. shud swap over to add variety. would actually feel more like u were fighting for something then

[travelguy2k]

the scale should realy be out of 8, because we know reviewers are subtracting points for no SP campaign.

Yes i realize i am just trying to delude myself that 8 is a great score.

But it really is for an online only game.

[Nicaragua]

Ive been playing it all night and i would give it an 8.5.

I wish people would stop comparing it to COD or KZ, its in no way the same type of gameplay. You may as well compare Wipeout to Gran Turismo since they are both fundamentally racing games.

MAG is a team game, its one for the clans, granted that makes it a bit of a niche but that dosnt mean it should be marked down for not appealing to the mass market of COD fans.

MAG is now my favourtite team game, KZ2 is still my favourite FPS but for a night of tactical action then MAG takes the crown.

[Silly gameAr]

Man, It took the reviewer a long time to get to the point. I was wondering when he was actually going to start talking about MAG instead of things that have nothing to do with the game at all. 7/10 is not bad at all,though.

But, oh well. On to bigger and better games. Only gets better from here I suppose.

[ButterToast]

I honestly don't know many games that get better than a 7/10 from eurogamer. a 7 from eurogamer is equivilant to most other sites 8-8.5 or ign's 9.5. they just rate games a lot harder than anywhere else, I'm surprised people forget this. really it's more like they ignore it so they can bash the game, since they can't do it with the 8+ it's getting from all the other sites.

[Wii360BeatsPS3]

Just to make that clear. It's not fair to Bungie. I own a PS3 as well as a Wii/360. So to Michael Jackson , the classy gamer here who thinks I'm stealth trolling, stfu please. I own 8 PS3 games and even imported Demons souls to the UK so i could play it. I created this account because you PS3 fans on M4G are PATHETIC FANBOYS who cry at the drop of a hat about anything to do with your precious PS3. Here's a tip, buy a 360 to go with your PS3 and save us your endless ramblings and system wars nonsense. I come here for the news, sadly I have to put up with you hardcore loser fanboys to get it.

[awesomeperson]

Are you an idiot? Or mentally disabled.

With a name like Wii360beatsPS3! you complain about "hardcore loser fanboys"

You say you can't read the news. well you can. Click the link that says "Read..." and don't click on the comments.

Even better, don't look at the open zone if you don't want to see fanboys. THE POINT of the open zone is for fanboys.

By the way you spent N4g wrong.

[Michael-Jackson]

@Above, I think it's deliberate to look like MAG=M4G OR he's a idiot???
----------------------------- ---------------
Your Pathetic too, so nothing is NEW ;-D
Openzone is for fanboys, why did you post in here???

[PimpHandHappy]

whats your screen name? i love when kids call out other ppl for being fanboys when in fact the comment they leave along with the screen name they made is nothing but fanboyish

I come here for the news, sadly I have to put up with you hardcore loser fanboys to get it. YOU DONT NEED TO LEAVE A COMMENT or EVEN LOOK AT THE FORUMS if all you want is news!

get a life

[pixelsword]

Next stop, Gametrailers with a 6.5.

The predictable sites are predictable. ;)

Funny though, A game like MAG which requires some time in to make a proper assessment gets reviewed in a few days,

and Uncharted 2 took them weeks and it seemed they scored it just to knock it off a percentage point or two.

[DelbertGrady]

Your comment is pretty predictable as well.

I thought the review was fairly long and well-written, and he described his pros and cons in great detail. 7/10 is a good score and anyone who's a fan of this type of FPS game should pick it up.

[pixelsword]

I was in the Beta for four months, much more than this "journalist" probably played the game. I know for a fact that you're not going to get a proper perspective for this game with less than two weeks of gaming where you can at least unlock the 256 mode and hold a leadership position. Getting some of the higher-up weapons will pull you at least a level 26 and above, which will take more than a to accomplish.

So no Soda, I don't accept his "good explanation" because I have experience: and my experience tells me that his review is akin to going through the first two chapters of a game and making an assessment on the whole game. Which is really what people did by thinking they can judge the whole game by the beta in the first place.

Some other website gave MAG a 9, and I still said that their review was too soon.

So kindly save it for someone who hasn't played (at least the Beta) as extensively as I have.

[Nykamari]

Just like they did to warhawk and socom conf., those two games were online only with weak communities in the beginning so they are judging the game with maybe 5% of contents unlocked. This generation of gamers and reviewers are too simple-minded and they want easy arcade games, seems like they are scared to learn how to play games. MW2 you could jump in and play too easy so it's perfect. Warhawk learning curve too hard it needs a story mode to get use to the controls ---- FAIL. Killzone 2 feels too clunky it needs MW controls---- FAIL. This what happened this gen. Too many simple-minded people calling themselves gamers are ruining our world!

[pixelsword]

MW2 got all of these unnecessary accolades and now weeks later all the articles related to it is how they found something else broken about the multiplayer.

But that's gaming journalism nowadays: quick posts for high hits, and screw journalistic integrity.

[table]

"Gamers, perhaps more than anyone, know that size matters only superficially. It's what you do with it that counts."

Deliberate sexual innuendo from eurogamer there...

[gears22]

Zipper should have stayed with SOCOM,or third person shooters atleast.

I'm not saying that MAG isn't fun,it actually is,but the gunplay is 'cheap'- not as good as Killzone 2 or MW2.

[kornbeaner]

I so want to buy this to support this type of development but $60 for an MP only game seems pretty steep. If I was promised a dlc pack or 2 for my investment then I would be all over it. Don't get me wrong I love to support great devs but at the same I also like to feel appreciated for my support and the way I feel that is by getting a great value for my investment. The only game value I can compare this to is Warhawk. In Warhawk I got 32 player dedicated server game with a free headset but the dlc was cheap. If you bought Warhawk and all the dlc before the dlc bundle you would spend roughly 64 dollars on the whole game that to me is great bang for my buck I wish sony would've done the same or something similar with MAG.

[pixelsword]

that was suggested by many people in the forums, but Best Buy has a deal that gives ten dollars off of a mic, so depending how much they cost, it could be a good deal to get it at Best Buy... nor not, I really don't know.

[Antan]

In basic terms, play how you should and you will be rewarded, short AND long term. Expect Zipper to improve things as time goes on, new modes of play, new maps, weapons, vehicles, bug/server/balancing improvements. I`m pretty sure this will remain a very strong game for quite a few years. Kind of like the Counter Strike for PS3.

[MiloGarret]

Will they redo the entire game and deliver a quality experience? Nope.
This game is mediocrity in its purest form.

Two months from now this game will be but a memory as we'll all be playing a real multiplayer fps called Battlefield Bad Company 2. Except for those still interested in MW2, so a couple of people then.

The only people left on MAG servers will be those that are afraid to leave it in fear that they'll have to re-learn a proper shooter.

I hate this game, I want it to flop completely so that the devs at Zipper have to sit down and take a long, HARD look at themselves. Don't support the downfall of a great dev. Hopefully their next game will share the quality of some of their best, previous games.

[kornbeaner]

You must be rich as you can see the future. You must know what lotto numbers to play and all. MAG hasn't even gotten a chance to stretch its legs yet. But its already dead? That's what people said about the new Socom yet that has been able to find a nice little following why couldn't that happen with MAG? A game doesn't need a million people playing it everyday to be successful it just needs a good following of about 100,000 good players in order to be a success. That was one of the problems with modern warfare 1 on console there were so many players that being in a good game was rare because most of the players were garbage. MW 1 on PC was a whole different story it sold the least but the concentration of good players on some servers was so good that it was rare when I didn't have a good time playing it. The same thing can happen with MAG as long Zipper doesn't fall off with the support this game can have a loyal fanbase without all the garbage a$$ players and that equals great gaming for that fanbase.

[I_vAmpiRe_I]

"real multiplayer fps called Battlefield Bad Company 2" ???
Well, just because MAG's style doesn't suite you, theres no reason to ruin others enjoyment over this game... I've been playing 3 great FPS games lately (ok, 2 and one beta): Killzone 2, MAG, and the BC2 beta... They are all great games in their own ways.. I didn't buy MW2 because getting WaW's platinum trophy ruined the name Call Of Duty for me.
I really enjoyed playing Killzone 2 online because of the really intense close quarter battles, a really run&gun game. Don't think, just get those kills coming:-)
BC2 Beta was a totally different experience. It was running at a much slower pace than Killzone 2.. It didn't have the "intense action"-feel to it, but it still had the "we don't need tactics, just shoot to kill"-thing going on like KZ2..
MAG on the otherhand felt more "real" to me. You are not fighting for yourself, but for you squad and your faction (I'm Raven btw:-). Your actions can actually have a large effect on the outcome of the match. Strategic thinking, skill, and following/giving tactically orders are the clues to victory.
You have the intense action if you want, ranking up kills in the frontline where all the action is, or the more carefully strategly placed one, which pops out from nowhere and helps out his squad in intense battles. Or go commando and create some hell behind enemy lines:-)
Even though IMO MAG is the best FPS I've played in years, I still think that both KZ2 and BC2 are really great games, but in their different ways. It's like comparing apples, oranges and pears. ;-)

[kewlkat007]

and it would fared better. How can a developer have faith in "256 people online" as the big breakthrough in video gaming and why everyone must buy. Even hardcore SOCOM guys have negative feelings about it.

[DJ]

When the campaign is already online and with countless individuals fighting over territories. Try out MAG, and you'll understand why it revolutionizes the FPS genre.

Lone wolf tactics will get you murdered in this game. It's all about communicating with your team, and not always shooting the first enemy you see.

[kewlkat007]

selling game just based off the numbers of battle.

We all know what elements makes this a squad-based tactical shooter.

The SOCOM template is nothing new to us and other strategy shooters without keyword "256 people online" at once.

[king123]

I rented it and I think this score is too much for it
it just suffers from lag , bad graphics , lazy gameplay, dying makes you wait alot, you need lots of time to enter a map , uoy will feel like nobody in the game

[GiantEnemyCrab]

They didn't fix the respawn time in the retail version?

Ugh... I saw that in the beta and was like WTF am I still playing.. I thought for sure that would be fixed..

[divideby0]

I didnt pick up my MAG pre-order and I was in 3 of the MAG betas, game is fun when played properly. I just want to see how it shakes out in a few weeks.

[tudors]

games with such a online presence can often be patched and improved over time, call of duty 2 was unplayable online at launch.

[xg-ei8ht]

callahan09

Just wanted you to know, i couldn't read your massive amount of text, but i read the bible instead.

IF a game gets great reviews does it sell 5-10million. NOPE.
IF a game gets massive advertising does it sell 5-10million POSSIBLY.

If a game just hits the right spot with alot of people, will it sell sell sell. Most likely.

And that's the reason why COD, Amongst others sell.

But i'm off to play bfbc2.

byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeee

[jonnyvivid]

Eurogamer is a Uk website which is Dominated by owners of Pc gaming Rigs and Xbox owners.Its a pretty good site,full of humour and highly educated members(about 80%) whom are all more or less hardcore gamers.The fact is that Eurogamer(UK) stopped pissing on the ps3 when Wipeout Hd arrived,why... because it was made in the Uk.Another favourable review of a ps3 exclusive was little Big Planet,another game made in the Uk.You can dismiss peoples comments as fanboy nonsense,but Eurogamer did give uncharted 2 a high score,they did because it completely deserved it.M.A.G. will take more time to be reviewed properly,so i wont take any review seriously,but on the arguement of bias,Eurogamer are self proclaming xbots.

[Raoh]

oh eurogamer, you never fail to disappoint

LMFAO

they can hate all they want, i'll be playing MAG trying to level all my factions to 60..

all socom and warhawk fans need to get MAG, only its a first person view but with the large maps you find in third person shooter..

[Gimped Hardware]

an average score for an average game on an average console

well apart from its graphics chip which is gimped :D

[jonnyvivid]

Trolling is now officially a profession.

[chidori666]

"EURO LAMER"

[dkgshiz]

Oh well, Eurogamer is trash so who cares?

[Gun_Senshi]

Kindly try reading the review. Its not a conspiracy, if you actually try to read the review you will get brain damage.

You cannot review MAG yet, its the same as reviewing an MMO 3 days after released.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Oh, okay.. I was convinced by PSLS's 10/10 review but they must be lying as well with the rest of these people who haven't spent enough time with the game..

Thanks.. just saved me $60

Seriously though.. Why is this only brought up when the score isn't 9/10 or 10/10??

[snubben96]

you can't review an online only game like 1 day before it's released

[maniacf40]

they always rate PS3 games low. the only time they shocked me was with uncharted 2. but then again when everyone else was giving ten's and stuff you wont get away with giving a low score. all in all, its obvious there's a bunch of xbot fanboys at eurogamer when they give crap like ODLC a 10/10.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

"Im not defending MAG"

/reads comment

Yes you are.

You are attacking the source in an attempt to devalue their score.

Is there anything that's not the fault of Xbox when something doesn't go right on the PS3? You would think MS could do no wrong and every game would be 10/10 if all these "xbots" and "360 fanboys" run the game industry..

[CARRIERHASARRIVED]

It's kind of odd, how Sony does great in Europe, but the "Eurogamer" site is actually quite biased.

[Raoh]

probably because its the only well known European game site we know..

look at it this way we only count on famitsu for japanese reviews.. is it fair to assume that famitsu speaks for all japanese gamers?

its like saying gamespot.com is the one true american game review site and the world judges our gaming likes/dislikes based on gamespot (or any site but its only one site no other sites to compare)

eurogamer is like that.. i'm sure there are more reputable and maybe just better all around sites in europe, but we dont really notice them, hell we look to eurogamer before we look at ign.uk, or psms.uk etc etc..

[_Q_]

MAG isn't the greatest game I've owned but its fun and I'm looking forward to getting into it more. If anyone is up for some Valor matches my PSN is the same as my screename. =) Valor baby!

[BoneIdle]

Why critisie a game for not being like COD if i wanted to play a game just like COD i'd play .....COD !

[Socomer 1979]

7 means it is geared for a specific audience.
It means mag is a hardcore game that casuals will have no clue how to play unless they been shooting for at least 5 years.

I'm happy with eurogamers score. They reviewed it from a casuals perspective.
At least they could not deny the addiction, the skill, the gameplay & the technical genius of zipper.
With is why for a hardcore gamer that 7 translates to a 9 with potential of 10 with the hopes of dlc.

MAG is a success. I expect gametrailers & others to award the game with a 8.5.
It's crazy fun.

[khellendros1]

This generation has become more about debating games than playing them. Its a generation of snobs. It used to be that if you love a genre of games then you played every game you could; not sit and debate what deserved to be played. If your a FPS fan that loves multiplayer I don't see why you wouldn't to play this game. Everyone complains about the how broken MW2 is yet there are millions still plying. This game comes out with apparently none of those problems and people won't even give it a try.

[kewlkat007]

thanks to Sony Loyalty and every Sony exclusive in a certain GENRE is king amongst all others. Including multiplatform games.

[DJ]

And the game definitely deserves an 9. I've actually adjusted my loadouts from run-and-gunning to healing vehicles, turrets, and friends. There's just a lot more XP earned when I take care of my team. And yes, I still have a BIG machine gun as my main weapon.

This game rocks, and the amount of strategy required to win a match is truly refreshing. I can't wait to upgrade from the 128-player Acquisition matches to the 256-player Domination matches. Now THAT will be crazy.

[I_vAmpiRe_I]

This feeling of doing something for the greater good is really strong in this game.

[blahblah123]

Well the article gets it right in the end. MAG is good because it promotes team-based play. That's why I like it and the same reason Battlefield 1943 is fun with only a few maps.

If a game is exactly like Modern Warfare 2, then it gets knocked for being exactly like Modern Warfare 2. If it isn't Modern Warfare 2, then it gets knocked for not being Modern Warfare 2.

CoD is an arcade game full of buzzs, bells and bonus points that really add up to nothing. CoD is designed around camping, killstreaks and spawn killing. Nothing more. It's great if that is what you are looking for. Its fun, but not satisfying.

I would give MAG a 7/10 for pretty much the same reasons in the review. But until BBC2, I still think MAG is the better online shooter.

[MyWordIsGospel]

Well I put my Mag (special edition) disc fresh out the box into my ps3 today, and at 12noon the war began, im so impressed with MAG even on first day there was no LAG and the battles are immense. Minimum battles lasting 30 minutes, of strategic playing you simply cant run and gun or you will get owned. One thing I love is when I was defending I gained some cover for shelter as I reloaded and healed myself with a shower of bullets zipping past my head, I looked to my right in the sky and 15 enemy paratroopers were closing in on my position. By now I'm surrounded and could only pick off two stray wanderers before the enmy pack swooned in, I pulled my knife in vain and was taken out.
Great FPS which seems to have a deep underbelly of tactics once every knows what they're doing, if you own a PS3 and appreciate the art of FPS combat then MAG is an essential purchase.

[OMEGAXS1]

Socom & COD had a baby and named it, MAG. This games is real nice. All haters, go buy a WII & stfu.

[BLADE_X8]

Some people hated Socom, and I liked it....other love Halo and Modern Warfare 2, I didn't. In most cases, it depends on who's reviewing the games.

If a guy at IGN prefers RPG's, then of course, Final Fantasy is getting a 9.5-10.0 score. Same thing for FPS as well...because any real FPS fan know's that Killzone 2 is at least one of the top 5 FPS ever released on a console. If a guy/girl hates Xbox 360 (Or PS3, Wii, PC), then you will have biased scoring. If MAG was the exact same game, BUT the theme was Halo...THAT GAME WOULD BE GOD! Sony's PS3 is doing what I knew it would...deliver ultimate gaming and multi media functions. (Some people, media, magazines, and websites, simple don't like that.) I don't take it personal, I just enjoy my games...because I'm no sheep. Meaning, that I won't play the same game and buy tons of failure rate infested systems, just because everyone says it's the greatest. for a long time, I sucked at Socom, but I like the challange of getting better....with no added perk stuff. MAG requires some skill and communication, sort of like a FPS, MMO, RPG thing. (A new way of playing FPS games, in my opinion.) Just like Killzone 2, MAG offers a new way to play FPS...some people will like, and others wont. I don't care what score it gets...I am buying it this Sat.

[N4BmpS]

I'm not surprised at the score or any score this title receives that is an average 7 or above average 8; I don't expect this game to get a perfect score or a near perfect. The reason being, MAG had a lot of great ideas that I think needed a little more time to fine tune. Zipper Interactive were attempting to go above and beyond a normal FPS, they were trying to give you the satisfaction of playing a great MMO(ie WoW, the Old Republic) only it's a FPS. In my opinion this game should have been pushed back to further expand and broaden ideas. Zipper didn't fall on their face, they were thinking so far ahead but it's hard to execute an ambitious title like this and make it a success. I'm it will be better a second go around.

[DJ]

MAG actually reminds me of what happened with Killzone 1 on the PS2. It's a very ambitious FPS title that stretches the limits of the hardware, though moreso the network coding. Zipper has an advantage over other FPS developers in that no one else can offer what MAG does.

I'm hopeful that they'll continue to improve the graphics and animations over time as they refine the game engine with updates (the day 1 update did just this). What will really shock people though is most likely what a MAG sequel would look like on PS4 hardware...

Either way, MAG on PS3 is a great success, and I'm absolutely hooked.

[pokeystaples]

Since when is a 7 a bad review?

[horndog]

old rejected xbox DLC and a Floppy MAG that not even they want to play. lol No wonder they are butthurt. The best part of it is that they are bragging about the old rejected DLC. How does that saying go again??

One man's garbage is another man's gold. Ya, perfect example here.

[pixel_dude]

Have any of you read the review? You must all have some extremely powerful cognitive bias combined with extreme paranoid delusions and schizophrenia if you are attacking this review for being negative. The is an EXTREMELY GLOWING review!! What is with you guys? This is a POSITIVE review. The guy LIKED the game, said it was innovative, ingenious, clever, rewarding, etc. He said the way you got responsibility over other players as you ranked up was really good and encouraged people to follow orders, he said the structure was clever and the game delivered on Zipper's ambition. Please stop slating this review people, it was fair and rational, and I would call it a glowing review for all the praise it heaped on the game. Stop being distorted-vision world-is-out-to-get-me paranoiacs, stop viewing the word through rage-tinted glasses, learn to see reality for what it is, a lot of you seem to have these profound cognitive biases where you misread misunderstand and misperceive everything, thinking someone is being negative when they are in fact being positive. I could point out the one guy who is reading this review all wrong but I can't be bothered finding the quote, but anyway, all you fools who keep attacking review for not being positive enough, get rid of you prejudices and biases and read with an open mind. Learn to see the world for real, stop being paranoid, seriously, I think you have actual genuine psychiatric disorders, which would be classified as such by anyone studying your reactions.