MAG vs Battlefield: Bad Company 2; a Tale of Two Betas

For those in the know, being in betas are an honor when you pour your passion into the beta's feedback and get a response. Your posting expertise and opinion actually matters in the "log run" even if you don't get a chance to brag about the details while you're in them. Keeping quiet about the details about a game in the information age is key; so when I talk about the games, I'll do so in broad strokes as to respect both developers.

Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't your grandpappy's versus story: I'm not here to deride either game, but to give praise to both games for the strengths they both have. It's fun versus fun as both of these games will likely dominate your 2010 schedule. If you had plans to get other military shooters next year, forget about it: these two are the ones to beat.


Battlefield: Bad Company 2

For only being out for a few days, I can tell you that B:BC is just as fun as the first one. If you've played the first one before (and before they update the beta), you're familiar with the controls and pacing for this one, with the added bonus of souped-up graphics and potentially super-souped-up© graphics down the line.  You have your classes and expansions and although your upgrades don't include physical abilities, and you can't go prone (so far), B:BC2 has stunning variants within the classes to cater to your playing style. With vehicles B:BC2 is suited to be a "scatter" gunner game with little time for placement strategies; seeing that the wall you cover behind can be blasted away. There's kind of an almost cute innocence when you see someone hide behind a wall from a tank... just before you scatter his guts across the dirt. Although, if you can take away the vehicles I think you will get closer to the playing style of SOCOM for the PS3 (plus being able to re-spawn and heal, of course).  The boards seem to be about as big as the boards in the demo for the first game which means it's expansive, yet cozy; giving you distance but keeping the action intense. It's hard to pin people down over distances because it's hard to see people at all (in the demo, at least) but now having been presumably being picked-off by a tank or rpg from several football fields distance before, I see the logic in blending in to your surroundings with that type of firepower in play. The Piece de resistance is the destructibility of the surroundings. The feeling you get while watching someone running when you're blasting down the walls after him is what a Bear with a chainsaw must feel like. B:BC2 is just as fun and intense as the first one with great things to come down the line.

Watching this game improve during it's beta will be one of the biggest highlights in beta history.


MAG

In MAG, there's no such thing as "camping" or being berated for camping as you can be taken out by literally 100 different ways. If you can find a spot where you can defend your territory, enjoy it while you can. Since the first kill you made in your "comfy" spot, three people probably already chattered on how to get at you and are on their way; along with a sniper to cover them. So expect some gas up your... behind, while they flush you out for your regularly scheduled execution. Mics are mandatory and are frequently used; if you don't have one, get one now. I'm not kidding; go now. Communication is key and words like "thinking" and "strategy" and "oh, $#!+" pop-up frequently and bad squad leaders will either step-up or step-down, as people will not hesitate to tell you that you aren't up to snuff as a vote to kick you suddenly pops-up; and speaking of kick, team-Killers are kicked within moments of identification. When things go right, it's like the first scene from Predator when Dutch and his crew invaded that South American village; when things go wrong, it's like that first encounter scene from Aliens where Gormon sent Apone and his squad to look for the colonists and got chewed-up like sapient bubblegum... and then the Predator comes in and kicks you in the nads. The ability to call in things like air strikes gives you a power trip that being Darth Vader could only match. Your load-out can be flexible if you have the XP to get items, and you'll probably change configurations depending on what type of board you play on. The graphics have gone through several improvements and are definitely getting snazzier every upgrade. Boards vary in size from large to GTA-like. If you can get away with it, and if you're in the beta, try to drive end to end; if you don't get blown-up first you'll appreciate the sheer size of the largest boards. The best thing about this game is the amount of people on at a time. The amount of people you get to shoot in this game is almost criminal if you got the chops to take down a group. My personal streak was nine when after I took down an objective, a whole squad came up the stairs and I ripped into them (and one revive) with my machine gun. That scene where Scarface (The Al Pacino one) blew away all of those people towards the end doesn't touch the one of a dozen intense moments you get in playing a single game in MAG.

MAG is beyond addictive; MAG is what crack smokes to get through the day.

[Digitaldude]

I'm glad MAG seems solid.
Didnt get a chance to play it.

[TheBand1t]

I'm probably gonna get both, as I enjoyed both of their betas.

[lh_swe]

But then again money is still an issue so I'll reserve my opinion of both until they are out, happy to hear they are both good tho.

[pixelsword]

I didn't want to make a versus article a "negative" article, as there are too many of those around; both betas are awesome so I wanted to start writing again on a subject I loved to write about.