A Massive Place In My Heart (M.A.G. Review)

Let me take you back to the year 2008 where Sony Interactive was taking the stage at E3 (Rest in Peace). Towards the end of the press conference, host Jack Tretton gives us the “one final thing” moment. Big claims of a massive multiplayer game that was unlike anything else and in many respects, he was not underselling it. An action game that would push the envelope of what was possible in the current play space. He then welcomes Andy Beaudoin of Zipper Interactive (also rest in peace… to Zipper, I’m sure Andy is alive and well) to talk about MAG: Massive Action Game. 

Big claims were made of 256 live players in a squad based first person shooter. It wouldn’t be until the following year at E3 2009 that we would see this game in action. Andy would once again take the stage and show us a “live” match with a team of devs and testers. And it was incredible. Early the following year the game was released and I was stoked to get my hands on it. I can’t recall if I got my Playstation 3 for Christmas in 2009 or 2010, originally purchased because I was dying to play Heavy Rain, but it wasn’t long before MAG was added to my library and kicked off my love and admiration for competitive first person shooters. 

Unfortunately, the hands of time are merciless and like with all online only games, MAG was officially shut down in January of 2014, only 4 years after its initial launch. It outlived its developer by 2 years, with Zipper closing in 2012. However, it was a glorious 4 years that, in part, helped start my content creation career. Whilst this review won’t persuade anyone to buy a dead game, it can serve as a joyous memoriam. 

The Story

Being a game focused on online matches, there isn’t a campaign or story mode to speak of. However, there is a fair amount of back story that sets up why you are part of one of three private military companies and why you are fighting. 

The year is 2025. Maintaining a large-scale military has become increasingly more difficult as worldly resources become scarcer and more expensive to acquire. With a global decrease of state sanctioned armies and the signing of the Millennium Accord, which prevents a nation’s military from leaving its own borders, private military companies (PMCs) became increasingly more prevalent. These PMCs become the main fighting forces of the world, able to legally travel across borders and take the resources that countries used to wage wars over. 

This war of PMCs became known as the Shadow War, fought between three separate companies. 

Valor Company Inc. is the stereotypical American GI stand in. Consisting of special forces from the North American, Latin American and British countries, they are based in Northern Canada and part of Alaska. They represent the so-called “action heroes” that one typically finds in American media, using both similar tech and ideology of bravery and honor. They also happen to be the first faction I’ve ever played as. 

The Seryi Volk Executive Response, or S.V.E.R. (pronounced sever) is the Russian / Slavic stand in for this game. They are composed of soldiers from China, India, Russia and a few parts of Africa and the Middle East. Based in Grozny, Chechen Republic, they utilize guerilla tactics and boast claims of being freedom fighters and home of the beaten and downtrodden. 

And finally, Raven Industries GmbH. They are the European stand in, consisting of fighters from Italy, France, and Germany. Based in Vienna, Austria, they are a technological and near sci-fi company. They believe virtual simulation training and advanced weaponry are the key to battlefield success. 

So the story is… bare bones, as is to be expected for this sort of game. That being said, it certainly served its purpose. All MAG needed to do was provide context for why you should pick one PMC over the other and I feel that it accomplishes that. Perhaps it's just the team mentality, but I recall being fairly loyal to Valor when I first started playing.

Now, obviously, there really isn't an ending to MAG's story. There were no storylines that would develop as you play and there was never any official conclusion. It is worth mentioning that the only time the Shadow War was relevant to the game was a meter that, I believe, would reset weekly (or some other kind of schedule). This meter would show you how well each PMC was doing globally, based entirely on if they won or lost matches. If I recall correctly, Valor and SVER were often the two vying for the top spot (sorry Raven), with SVER more often than not being the best company. If an official winner of the Shadow War was ever declared, I'm sure it would have been SVER. 

All in all, I feel the story should receive positive marks. While not really narratively pleasing, I was invested in the leaderboard and cared about how well my team was performing.

5/10

The Gameplay

The section that is going to really determine the quality of this game. MAG played most similarly to the Battlefield series. Similar squad based combat where strategic objectives are the main focus. There were seven modes (counting the short training mode), with two of these modes being added as DLC. 

Suppression is the most straightforward of the six game types. It's team deathmatch, through and through. Each team has a set number of lives everyone pulls from and when one side runs out, that's the game. MAG doesn't do anything terribly exciting or new here - not that it needs to. 

Sabotage is the bread and butter of the many game types. Not dissimilar to Battlefield's “Rush” mode, I can't tell you how many games of Sabotage I've played. I still have a few of the map layouts in my head all these years later. 64 players (32v32) would square off with one team being defenders while the other attacks (and holds) two objectives. If the attackers can successfully hold the objectives for ten seconds (which created some very clutch hero moments) a final objective is unlocked and the attackers gain the ability to air drop in, as opposed to spawning in the base. If the attackers are able to set a charge and destroy the final objective, they win. If the defenders can hold off the attackers for the 20 minute time limit, they'll win.  

Acquisition was a game type that… really didn’t do it for me. As a concept, I think it is really neat. The rival PMC has a prototype armored personnel carrier, or APC for short, that that attackers are attempting to steal and secure. If the attackers can nab two APCs within the 20 minute timer, they win the match. Obviously, if the defenders prevent their vehicles from being stolen, they secure the win. Should the attackers obtain one of the APCs, the defenders are tasked to immediately destroy it before it gets brought to an impenetrable structure. This game type introduces several more levels of gameplay; such as tactical commands (more on that later), bunkers that allow the defenders to spawn on the front lines and utilize a powerful turret, platoon (64v64 battle) based combat, vehicle based combat, and tactical structures (more on this later, as well). The reason I tend to dislike Acquisition, from what I can remember, is that I wasn’t the best at operating the vehicles. Whether this is because the controls were shoddy or because I was terrified of stepping up and getting yelled at by the team, I can’t really say. I just remember not playing terribly too much of this game type. 

Interdiction is one of two DLC game modes and one I don’t have many memories of. It is similar to Battlefield’s Conquest or Call of Duty’s Domination, where there are three objectives on the map that two teams of 64 are fighting over. Securing and defending an objective gains your team points and the goal is to have the most points (or a fully filled bar) by time the 20 minute timer is up. The tactical commands are the same as Acquisition, allowing for some dynamic gameplay. This game mode, just like Suppression, doesn’t add terribly much to the genre. The commands does give MAG a unique feel but it’s wholly not much different from the other games mentioned. 

Domination is the big daddy of the game types and likely the major selling point of MAG. 256 total players (128v128) face off at a massive oil refinery. A company of 128 players is split into 4 platoons, each attacking from one of the cardinal directions. First, attackers are tasked with capturing and securing two burnoff towers. Once both are simultaneously held, they unlock the next objective of capturing and securing two cooling towers. They are then given their final directive of overloading the pump stations, ultimately damaging and destroying the oil refinery. Defenders must prevent the oil refinery from sustaining too much damage in a 30 minute time limit in order to win the day. I absolutely loved this game type. The scale was certainly felt and everything you did seemed like a significant component to a larger battle. It really had the best MAG was able to offer with advance tactical commands, clear battle lines that changed as the conflict progressed, vehicles and so on. As far as epic large scale battles go, I’ve not experienced something quite like MAG’s Domination. The closest I’ve seen come is perhaps Battlefield’s Conquest, but battle lines and tactical progression are usually not as prevalent in Battlefield as it was here. There’s a reason Domination was the major selling point of MAG. 

And finally is Escalation, the other DLC game type that I don’t think I ever owned or played. This was back in the day where I didn’t have my own money to throw at this expensive hobby of mine, so I usually didn’t buy any DLC. Looking over a few YouTube videos (including the announcement trailer from *deep sigh* 15 years ago), I have no recollection of any of these maps. Which is unfortunate because it sounds amazing. The only game type that had all three PMCs squaring off (32v32v32), players were tasked with capturing at least 2 of the 3 objectives. Once this is accomplished, a fourth objective would become available, with one PMC (that held the previous 2 objectives) defending to earn points. Once the final objective is captured by one of the other two PMCs, the game resets and everyone goes back to holding 2 of the 3 points. It’s a classic king of the hill style game and it is a shame I never got to experience it. 

The way players did experience these game modes is one of the cooler aspects of MAG. The player had so much at their disposal, from your loadouts to the secondary objectives and abilities placed on certain maps. 

A basic loadout consisted of a primary weapon, a secondary weapon (both of these being mandatory parts of the loadout), 3 optional “gear” slots, body armor and weapon attachments. Players were given quite a bit of freedom with what they chose to bring into battle. The only real limit was how much your equipment weighed. Each player had a maximum of 3400cc (I… I got no clue what cc could have possibly stood for. Cubic Centimeters? A quick Google search says that is likely the unit of measure but that’s for a smarter brain than mine) to work with. 

Primary weapons consisted of either an assault rifle (with three varying tiers), a sub machine gun, a shotgun, a sniper rifle (with 3 tiers), or a light machine gun (two varying tiers).  Other than the obvious differences between the weapons (snipers are long range, machine guns have high damage and ammo but low accuracy, etc.) I don’t recall much difference between the weapons. From my short read on the fandom wiki, I’m seeing there were differences in stopping power and accuracy between the varying tiers, but I was likely not good enough at MAG to really notice the differences between them. It was still really cool that you could mix and match these primary weapons with any secondary and gear - something you don’t see often in other FPS. If you wanted to carry both a sniper rifle and an RPG, you were more than welcome to. 

Your secondary weapon had considerably less options. You either can carry a single fire pistol or unlock a tactical machine pistol. And that’s kind of it. You can add a suppressor to either weapon but that’s the extent of customization for ya.

Like any FPS, you also have access to a one hit kill knife and a slew of different grenades. The typical trio of fragmentation, flashbang and smoke grenades are here but you also have the option of a poisonous gas grenade. Working just like the smoke grenade, the noxious gas slowly poisons and disorients the player, eventually killing them if they happen to stay in the haze for too long. Your player will also make a drunk, hiccup like noise that I very much enjoy mocking while he dies. Additionally, you also have the options of anti-personal mines (claymores) and anti-tank mines, as is pretty standard FPS flair. 

Players also have a heavy gear slot, which can be used for light gear, that allows them to equip an RPG. Obviously, necessary and super effective against vehicles and bunker turrets, the RPG is the boom stick that is effectively the same across all factions, excluding their unique visual differences. Separate from other FPS games, the RPGs in MAG can not be used a noob tubes (doth the children still remember the phrases of old?) since they can’t lock on to infantry and they don’t do much in terms of splash damage. I can’t recall ever using the RPGs terribly often, since I never liked how slow they made you and vehicles were never really a major factor in MAG. 

In addition to the offensive gear types, there were also several defensive gear options. Every player had the ability to pick a first aid kit (personal healing), med kit (others as well as self), and repair kit (vehicle and mechanical healing). This was my bread and butter, to an extent. I was never terribly accurate or good with the killing aspect of MAG (I did okay for myself, just don’t look at my KDR) and loved how easy and effective it was to play as a support character. Healing and repairing yielding some good points, exp., and tactical advantages. 

Passive gear I almost never used are the acoustic locator (apparently it would ping enemies on the mini-map for you and allow you to hear gunfire from a farther distance), an explosive detector (self explanatory), a sensor jammer (shrouds you and allies from enemy mini-maps), and motion detectors (again, self explanatory). As I said, I never really used these and would typically opt for additional grenades or attachments for my weapons. During this research, the acoustic locator and sensor jammer sound incredibly useful and if kid me wasn’t a big dummy, he probably would’ve had an easier time with this game. 

The final component of one’s loadout (excluding attachments for your primary weapon, but come now.) is your armor. Players had options of light, medium and heavy armor that affect both movement and damage reduction. I almost always used medium armor, feeling that it was the best of both worlds and I typically didn’t like the heavy armors. Your armor did eat up your allotted equipment currency, and I typically preferred having the extra grenades and faster movement as opposed to better protection. 

Outside of the equipment you would personally carry, there were some additional weapons of war at your disposal. If you were by chance given the leadership role (which was randomly decided based on level and could be voted to change if the party felt strongly about it) you had access to what were called tactical commands. The strength of these commands varied depending on if you were a Squad Leader, Platoon Leader, or Officer in Charge and mainly consisted of air strikes, strafing runs, UAVs, mortar barrages and the like. The effectiveness of these commands depended on the cunning of the leader and, more importantly, if the enemy team had an anti-air battery and/or your team having a mortar battery or motorcade. On the bigger maps, there were tactical installations that your team could either destroy or repair to give your side an edge in battle. I had such a blast focusing on these secondary objectives and it always felt like a valuable contribution to the war effort. Having just that bit more tactical firepower really did determine some of the closer battles. It cannot be understated how the tactical commands and the installations related to them are what really gave MAG its unique feel, as opposed to the other big names in the FPS scene. 

Some of the other notable mechanics were things like the APC vehicles (which were the only real vehicles to speak off, if memory serves) and the turrets that could be found on the bunkers and helicopters. As stated, APCs were really the only vehicles that game allowed you control. You were able to drive into enemy locations as well as spawn directly into the APC, which was really its main perk. More often than not, during those long games of Domination towards the end someone would bring an APC right on top of the objective so that the attackers could spawn directly within enemy lines. The bunker and helicopters also served as spawn points, however they were always stationary and sometimes temporary. 

The bunkers would serve as the first line of defense in certain game modes and as such were typically the first tactical objective by the attacking team. The bunkers were equipped with a turret that could rain machine gun fire and short range missiles that were very effective against personnel and vehicles. The helicopters served a similar purpose for the attacking team, allowing them to have a closer spawn to the objectives and two machine gun turrets on either side. The helicopters could be disabled if the defending team has a functioning anti-air battery, once again showing the importance of these installations. 

All in all, MAG’s gameplay had so much unique flavor to its FPS style that it can’t be understated how well I enjoyed playing it. Its core was standard for a game in its genre, but the additional objectives and tactical commands are things I’ve yet to see implemented in any other game. Battlefield is arguably the closest thing I’ve played that matches the scale and feel of MAG but even they haven’t implemented optional objectives that can turn the tide of battle. 

That being said, MAG’s gameplay was certainly not perfect. As I said earlier, I never really noticed much difference in the weapons and firing them felt… different to most other FPS. I don’t want to say it felt wrong, but something in the feedback was certainly lacking. From what gameplay footage I recorded, it seems like there was little to no kickback on the guns? I’m sure that’s probably not the case but the animation on the weapons seemed stiff. More importantly, I remember spawn camping being a huge problem in MAG. If one side was dominating strongly enough, the could easily camp outside the spawn area and kill enemies as soon as they left their base. There was a death zone directly outside spawn areas, but it was not a big enough zone by any means. It should also be mentioned that team killing was not only possible but also happened pretty frequently, whether by accident or intention. The remedy for this was the ability to kick teammates via a vote and players would lose exp for killing one of their own, but it still happened every single match. 

Not perfect in the gameplay department but still one of the best FPS games I’ve ever played. I feel that MAG earned a well deserved 

9/10

I did like it that much. 

The Visuals

So…  MAG is a PS3 game from 15 years ago and it looks like a PS3 game from 15 years ago.  As tends to be the case for graphics that attempt to capture realism, it aged. That's certainly not to say the game looks bad. Even looking over footage and screenshots (not my own cause I couldn't capture pretty footage to save my life back then) it holds up fairly well. It fits right in with other games of its time (Uncharted, Fallout ect.). 

I'd be lying to you if I tried to say I have any of the maps memorized, other than like two sabotage maps, which does show it's a bit forgettable. To be fair… it's been a decade and a half since I last fought at these locales and my memory declines on the daily. 

The maps generally follow the themes of the PMCs they're attributed to.  You'll often see lush forests contrasted with grey concrete and brown sand bags when playing on a Valor map. Run down and rusted shanty towns surrounded with brown, muddy water and dehydrated vegetation permeates on the SVEr owned maps. High tech industrial urban areas filled with sleek blacks, silvers and concrete surrounded by thick brush tend to be the vibe of Raven maps. No matter where the war took you, you could tell almost instantly whose territory you were in. It gave a sense of determined battle lines that made the Shadow War feel more and more relevant. Which is why I was somewhat disappointed when later in MAG's life they started to put players on maps regardless of affiliation. 

Typically, if Valor was playing against SVER, you were going to play on one of their maps with the defender getting the home field advantage, so to speak. But in its sunset, Valor could play SVER on a Raven map with the defender and attacker randomized. Now, it's easy to rationalize that these are important strategic points that everyone is vying for, so it makes sense the teams would be jumbled. But to reiterate my point, you had a sense of belonging and home team pride when you could successfully defend your territory from an attacker. This could absolutely just be a me thing and I don't think the change hurts the game by any means. 

Certain aspects of the visuals did tend to blend together. This was around the time in media where grey and dark, muted colors were the popular thing. None of the visuals we see are breathtaking, however there is a certain charm to MAG's visuals that I do kinda like a fair amount. I'm confident to say the visuals get a 

6/10

The visuals weren't bad for it's time and I dare say even looked pretty good. That, coupled with some of the more unique aspects, puts it slightly above average. 

The Audio

The music and sounds in this game is a bigger talking point than you might initially think.

Starting with the voice acting, you'll find it to be… fine. To level with you,  you're not going to be hearing too much voice acting. The notable instances are the opening cinematic, the individual PMC cinematics and your commanding officer during the training missions. Each PMC, because of their regional differences, have different accents. SVER is nondescript Slavic, Raven is nondescript European and Valor is offensively American. 

The majority of the time you'll be hearing these voices is during key battle moments. You pick your own voice from a selection of about 10, which you'll mostly hear whenever you get incapacitated and call out for a medic. The other time you speak is if you happen to be a leader and you're ordering strikes or commanding your team to attack a specific objective. And these voices, of course, surround you on the field of battle. You'll hear your teammates, team leaders and so forth calling out for support or relaying information. It honestly does get lost in the heat of battle and partially becomes background noise. I do think the sound design would be lacking if you didn't hear your fellow soldiers, but none of it particularly stands out.  

And I feel the same way about the sounds of war. The guns sound like bang bangs. The explosives sound like boom booms. I may have just been trash at the game (be nice to my teenage version… he needs it) but I didn't ever find the sounds beneficial or detrimental. I know those that play at a high skill level rely on sound to locate threats before they become a problem. I never got that good and I can't really comment on whether or not that's MAG's fault. As I said several times, I've played a lot of Battlefield 3 and it never became a factor there for me either. One sound I do want to point out is the drunk hiccuping that your guy will do around poison armaments. It's a funny vocal stim that I like very much. 

The big talking point is the music. Each PMC, of course, has their own style of music. Valor's soundtrack, composed by Tree Adams, is traditional rock and roll with twang and guitars and all. 

Raven's soundtrack is composed by Sascha Dikiciyan, also known as Sonic Mayhem. And with Raven being the tech bros of this game, their music is all electronic and trance music. 

And the big one. SVER's soundtrack is produced by metal band Apocolyptica. It's exactly how you think it would sound. Angry, loud and rebellious and phenomenal. 

Before writing this segment, my internal monologue was trying to remember the music - which I knew the general vibe each OST had but didn't have any particular tunes stuck in my head. Initially, I was going to praise the music with the caveat that I don't think I would listen to any of it regularly. I'm a fool. This soundtrack, every single song from every single PMC, is an absolute banger and I'm a fool for forgetting how incredible it is. Honestly, I can't recommend the music in this game highly enough and I certainly plan to listen and, assuming copyright doesn't kick my jaw off, use it in my own video production. 

Looking at just the voice acting and sound design MAG is fairly average. Not bad and certainly gets the job done. The soundtrack, which will kick in to thematically match the action on screen, raises it up much beyond that. There is nothing more amazing than to hear your team's music kick in when you're on a kill streak or successfully destroy an objective. I seriously need to add the soundtrack to my everyday playlist, it's that good and earns 

10/10

The Final Tally

As I've been saying throughout, MAG will always be one of my favorite games for how it introduced me to competitive FPS games. Going through this review and researching all that I have reminds me exactly why I love this game in and out.  There's quality in every aspect and you can feel how much love and care went into everything. MAG had a few big and revolutionary ideas that I feel it managed to execute very well. Obviously, it's not perfect and some things are just average but for the life of me I can't understand why developers haven't borrowed ideas from MAG or even a proper sequel. A wonderful game that I wish we could all jump back into.  MAG earns a final score of

8/10

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