By Linford Butler / Friday, October 16, 2009
When Massive Action Game was first announced to games journalists and an audience of hundreds and thousands (via high-speed internet streams), people were impressed. Whether it was the idea of a semi-realistic military shooter, or the idea of a full chain of command system, or the promise of 256 online players per match, I don't know, but it's safe to say that Zipper Interactive's promise - to bring a true MMO shooter to a console - shook the gaming world a little, like the aftershock of a mild earthquake. Or something like that.
However, over time, everyone has grown up slightly, has slightly less hair, is a little tubbier than before - and many have forgotten about MAG in the light of other triple-A releases and the wonderful news that Gamer's Guide to Life will be live at the Eurogamer Expo this year. Which is sad, as MAG made such an impression at E3 '08. There are some who haven't quite forgotten about MAG, though - and they're already playing a pre-release beta version of it.
The beta test is by no means as large as the full game will be - each match only features 64 players - and yet it still impresses. The games are frantic, fun and - surprisingly and impressively for a FPS - teamwork is pretty much essential to deciding whether you win or lose. It does nothing much new at all for the genre, bar the command view and faction concept, but what it does do is decent enough.
Graphically, the beta doesn't deliver quite as much as you'd think it might. Menu screens are very nice and look sleek and high-tech, but in-game screen resolution isn't fantastic, despite being in high-definition. However, various sources claim that the beta version of the game only features a fraction of the graphical intensity which the full retail version will have to offer. Weapon and character models are good though, and textures are pretty much standard quality FPS textures. In fact, there isn't much wrong at all with the beta's visuals, apart from the low screen-res. I'm sure this'll be upscaled in the final release, though.
In all, the Massive Action Game beta certainly does what Zipper promised it would do when they were stood on stage at E3 '08. The battles are frantic, and teamwork is almost essential to avoiding defeat. The maps are huge and the game handles a large number of players well (although there are only 64 per game during the beta - the game will feel even more frantic once the retail version is released and 256-player battles are waged). However, so far, I've not seen much which does anything new for the first person shooter genre, so those of you expecting something revolutionary - gauging this from what I've experienced of the beta - think again.
Linford
Labels: Beta, Beta Impressions, Linford, MAG, Massive Action Game, Zipper Interactive
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