MAG: My first impressions review

So, its the year 2025 and The Shadow War is in full swing...and man is it ever! I've been listening to alot of talk on the PSN about this game. People seem to insist on comparing MAG with all of todays popular first person shooters. Does MAG have alot in common with other shooters of this console generation? Sure it does. People will find everything from MAG's ranking system to the games first person perspective to be very familiar. Does that mean that MAG qualifies as just another run of the mill first person shooter? Absolutely not. You see...these fanboy comparisons always seem to leave out one minor/major detail that sets MAG apart from the rest of the FPS genre. I'm talking about gameplay!

Gameplay! Yup...who would have thought that after all of these years that someone would come along with a massive, dynamic, and adaptive alternative to todays run of the mill first person shooters? Leave it up to Zipper Interactive to pull it off! And, I would say that Zipper has done more than just pull it off with MAG. MAG is well executed on so many levels. I would describe the gameplay in MAG as very COMBAT oriented. Respawning in oncoming waves of re-enforcements makes the combat more exciting and it just feels more plausible. The spawn system in MAG is far superior to the completely random teleportation spawns that plague the majority of todays first person shooters.

MAG easily has the best in game voIP that I have heard on a PSN exclusive to date. The proxy chat works very well. You can easily summon a medic who is not in your squad with the games proxy chat. Keep in mind, that unlike most of todays first person shooters...MAG is a very TEAM(Together Everyone Acheives More) oriented game. Getting a good crew together can be very beneficial in this game. It just seems to me that most of todays first person shooters don't emphasize teamwork. I wont even name names when it comes to the other game development firms that seem to go out of their way to make teamwork optional in their games...But, I can assure you that Zipper does not cater to the "ONE MAN ARMY". So...SQUAD UP and make sure that you have all of the equipment, classes, and load outs that your squad will need for sucess on the field of battle. Dont complain that other players arent being team players if the only thing you ever use your mic for is COMPLAINING!*Had to throw that in.

Lets talk about the graphics in MAG. Have we seen better? Yes. Have we seen worse graphics? HELL YES! After four hours with MAG even the most die hard graphics whore will find themselves completely submerged in MAG's addictive gameplay. The sound in MAG is excellent as well. Bullets whiz by your head and make very distinct sounds when hitting things like wood, metal, barbed wire, earth, water and flesh.

To summarize and wrap up...If you are the type of player that loves playing with yourself (pun intended) while running around small maps, acting like Rambo on meth, and your only real purpose for doing so is just to ruin someone elses gaming experience...Then MAG is not the game for you. This type of "gamer" would not be happy with MAG because MAG is a very balanaced and team oriented game. But, if you like playing with your crew and LOVE a well balanced, team oriented, feature rich COMBAT game...Then MAG might be just what the doctor ordered. MAG is so much more than your run of the mill first person shooter. I highly recommend this game.