MAG : Public Beta

[teddymeow]

Picked this up yesterday and played for a good couple of hours but I'm still not sure what to think.

That Penny Arcade strip from a couple of pages back pretty much sums up my experience (but with less swearing) and most of the games I ended up in had already devolved into random individuals running around with no tactical or team awareness. Very few wearing headsets either, I mean, what's the point!

Going to try again tonight if you guys are on. I'm off work tomorrow too so hopefully I'll get better / people will play it properly.

[MisterBubbles]

Well me and Mike both have mics, and hopefully everybody that joins the clan will have 1 too. You really need to work as a team on this with everybody doing jobs roles ie some taking out bunkers while others repair or blow up AA and mortar batteries etc. Maybe a good idea if we had peoples roles ie healing or assualt or sniper etc , i know mike likes sniper and done some healing which he ended up as MVP of the game, this game needs good comms and everybody sticking together. Add me and i'll see you on the battlefield.

[J0e Musashi]

I'm waiting for my disc to land in the UK. I'm was in the clan from the Beta, so it's pretty much just a case of waiting for me to be able to play again unless everything was reset? I've got a mic too now.

[MikeF]

I love this game so far, played solidly with MisterBubbles last night from 8.30ish till around 1.30

I play as a medic primarily as I like the support role and like to use either a sniper rifle or the second assault rifle. Managed to get from level 1 to 15 last night.

Loved getting MVP too especially as I only got about 3 kills in the 20 minute match

Communication is definately needed and you can tell the squads that are communicating due to the way they work together.

I shall be on again tonght after football so hopefully see you later. Going to try to get command of a squad too to see what that is like

[MikeF]

Surely there has to bemore than 3 people from here with this.

It's superb,really enjoying it and even better when you play with people from here as a team

[mugetsu]

i bought this last friday but have yet to play.

[hush]

I am thinking of getting this but i'm not sure

[teddymeow]

I am getting seriously frustrated with this game - to the point where I think "what's the point as I don't stay alive long enough to accomplish anything".

Rarely have I been in a game where the squad leader has made any real impact in what the team does and, for the most part, people just run off and do their own thing.

My main annoyance is with people who could be classed as Medics. I have this skill, I will go out of my way to find downed team mates and return them from the brink of death, it gets me XP and makes me out to be a team player. There are, however, morons who have this skill and don't use it. Last night I was downed and their were 4...FOUR medics stood near me and despite my cries of "MEDIC" not one did anything!

Not cool.

This will be traded for AvP.

[Neon Ignition]

I've been playing this since last Friday and I'm gonna give it another couple of nights but might just trade it in for Dante's. Personally, it's basic problem is there's just no game to it.

Let's say for example your team is attacking Target A and repeatedly you're getting spammed to death so you think strategically and decide to flank their position. You can't, there are too few routes around the maps and too many players so you still get spammed to death.

Another example, Let's say that you are incredibly lucky and you happen to be placed in a squad that has a strong leader, rather than a gobby teenager, and team mates who are of high skill level and work as a unified force... doesn't matter because the missions success is dependant on another 3 squads happening to have the same set up is never going to happen. Couple that into having an enjoyable opposition and the game is nearly entirely hinged on 256 players being in perfect, rule obeying harmony... you're lucky of there's 6 let alone that many.

Essentially, you're left with a Team Deathmatch FPS. The maps (of which there are different layouts but effectively only around 6-7 in 3 visual styles) are all very basic and grow old fast. The game tends to hover around 25-30fps and often one hit can kill.

Despite how that all sounds it's not a bad game but it's not a good game either, it's so vanilla and soulless that its the perfect example of a 5/10 game. It's only unique selling point is the amount of players it can hold, which is also it's biggest weakness as there's no game design to support it. 256 players is far too many with the game playing out as a tech demo more than a new AAA series. COD, Halo etc aren't really a spot on comparison but as the genre's front runners there's no comparison as to what is more fun to play. Plus, with the possibility of Alien vs Predator and Bioshock 2 just weeks off with online modes, even the less major online FPS choices might be more fun.

I think I just talked myself into getting Dante's

[MisterBubbles]

teddy they may not have been medics, but just had a healing kit, which you know only heals yourself, you need the rez kit to go with it, i dont understand why you aint playing with me and Mike in the clan?, as i always invite you, but you rarely come join us, crazy come play with us and you'll see a whole different game.

[teddymeow]

teddy they may not have been medics, but just had a healing kit, which you know only heals yourself, you need the rez kit to go with it, i dont understand why you aint playing with me and Mike in the clan?, as i always invite you, but you rarely come join us, crazy come play with us and you'll see a whole different game.

Righto, I'll be on tonight for a bit. Let's see if you can convince me of this games true awesomeness!!

[Orgun]

128 Player charge!

Heh, not a particularly good video

[MisterBubbles]

Course if we get 8 of us together, and theres 5 already in the clan, we have a full squad and 1 of us will be squad leader, and if you want to play as squad leader all you got to do i ask then everybody gets a chance to see if they like being SL, this is a very team game, and you have to follow the chain of command to win, ie that means SL ask you to repair a bunker, you do it, they FRAGO it and you get double XP for doing it, but some can stay just defenders protecting the repair guys. I can't convince people to like it, some people have made up their minds already, but if you enjoy team games with a good bunch of people come join us.

[Number45]

Want me to change the name of this thread to something more fitting?

[MikeF]

I shall be on again tonight so hopefully catch some of you around

Don't worry teddy if you are in my squad I go out of my way to try to heal people, afterall thats what a medic is supposed to do