Battlefront3.net

[Scott]

Well it's been a long 15 hours but I think I have sufficient data to back up my thesis on MAG. Now this is my first review so it might be rough. I'll break it down to story, graphics, sound, and gameplay. So....onto the REVIEW

STORY

Well what is there to say. Some guys with lots of money, some guys with a decent amount of money, and some guys with almost no money are fighting. The story and faction choices are purely aesthetic for the most part. Not really a story based game.

3/10

GRAPHICS

Now this is cooler. The graphics is MAG are actually pretty solid. It's not Uncharted 2 but it's on par with Call of Duty MW 2. The maps are dreary and war torn but never depress you. The HUD is expansive but not intrusive. The map is a great view of all of your surroundings. There were no graphical glitches as far as I saw. I do have one gripe. The refinery's that the factions are fighting over seem too similar on each map. There not ugly or annoying, it just makes it hard to figure out which map your on until you really get out there. Not bad.

7.5/10

SOUND

The sound is again nothing amazing but nothing terrible. Guns make noises, grenades make noises, etc etc. One thing that is cool is that there is many sirens and noises to warn or simply remind you of some important event that is happening. For instance if you hear a bomb siren it means that someone in your area has captured a bunker which will be explained in gameplay. The gun and grenade sounds aren't ultra realistic but the siren really had a visceral feel to the game and make you feel like your part of a war.

8.5/10

GAMEPLAY

Here's where MAG really shines. Okay so you popped in MAG, now what? Well you choose your faction and go through a minor customization period for your character and then your off.

GAME MODES
So you wanna play with 256 players do ya? Well to bad! You need to go through training first. In fact you have to go through games of deathmatch. These games are team based and consist of 32 vs 32. There are no objectives, no air strikes, no para trooping, just TDM. Once you get to level 4 you can play Sabotage. These games introduce you to attacking and defending objectives. One team attacks and another defends two key points. These games are also 32 vs 32. Once you level a little bit more you get to play acquisition. This is my least favourite game mode but it's still a nice addition. One team defends two vehicles and another tries to take them. In order to take them you must destroy their AA guns (and keep them destroyed) and take the vehicles to the evac zone. These games have 64 vs 64. Finally you reach level 8 and unlock Domination and Directives. The big one. Domination is 128 vs 128 players fighting over 8 objectives. The way it works is each platoon (32 players) has to hold two cooling towers. If they get taken that platoon is pushed back to hold to objectives. The way the attackers win is if they have damaged enough of the objectives (taken them over long enough) to have the damage bar fill up. The defenders simply have to make sure this doesn't happen. Directives just puts you in the game mode your team needs the most help on.

RANKS

The ranks in the game are very useless. Although once you get to level 15 you can put your self up for squad leader (8 men). This means you can call in a UAV or Cluster Bomb and order your troops around. People have always speculated if players would listen to the squad leaders and from my experience yes they do. This isn't because they are disciplined fighters but because they earn frago bonus. Frago bonus is the green lettering you will see below the normal xp. It is always the same amount as the normal xp. So it basically 2*xp. You get frago bonus if you do what your squad leader commanded or if your doing your objective. Such as defending a place. If I destroyed a tank my SL told me too, I'd get frago. If I killed a guy while near a cooling tower, I'd get frago. There are other bonuses as well such as anyone in your squad that it around you will have faster reload times and such. After reaching level 15 you then will see 0 of 300 points below the leadership tap in your armory (don't worry about this for now). It means you must gain 300 point before you can become a Platoon Leader (32 men). You also have other abilities to call in and troops around you in your platoon get other bonuses. Then there's Officer in Command (128 men). Who is the leader of your entire army. He can call in anything and people around him get greater bonuses. I didn't play 300 games to become a platoon leader but did get to play as a squad leader a few times. The funniest moment was when I told my squad to destroy an AA gun killing our bombers. Only one man went but killed 3 guys and destroyed the gun. Because of frago that is about 60xp and without is 30xp.

FINAL GAMEPLAY THOUGHTS

Now I could go into further detail but that would leave nothing for you the player to explore and discover if you do play it. One thing I have to mention is that besides the first 256 game I played. There was absolutely NO LAG. This astonished me as I thought that was I hopeless idea. I was using a 60mb/s high speed wireless connection. It ran beautifully and entertained me the whole weekend.

9/10

CLOSING

If you have more questions please post as I will answer them to the best of my abilities.

Also I should mention you can customize guns. Last minute thought, I couldn't fit anywhere else.

STORY 3/10
GRAPHICS 7.5/10
SOUND 8.5/10
GAMEPLAY 9/10
OVERALL AVERAGE 7/10

[Ironman21]

Not bad. Sounds cool. The game people never claimed that it had a great story. They were pushing 265 multiplayer matches

[Scott]

I know, but I figured some people with no idea what MAG is would want to know about the story.

[Ironman21]

very true

[Scott]

One thing I noticed and forgot to mention was the strange fractured English the characters would speak. Maybe it's because the characters themselves are from non-English countries. An example is, "Changing Ammo". WTF is that? Well it obviously reloading but why changing? Anyway if anyone has more in site on why they speak like this I'd be glad to know.

[Ironman21]

Well, thats the first time I've heard of that. That is really strange. But if that is the only "real" downside to it, than I'm game

[Scott]

If you do play it beware the billowing green gas.

[Sam]

great review there!

[Scott]

Thanks

I'm thinking about doing one for GOW3 but I feel like I would be rubbing it in to Ironman cause he can't play it.

[Ironman21]

Oh well Scott. Its not like I won't play it one day. Just not in the soon future.

[Scott]

So does that make I have a go ahead to write it?

[Sam]

Thanks

I'm thinking about doing one for GOW3 but I feel like I would be rubbing it in to Ironman cause he can't play it.

speaking of which, whens the proposed release date for that?

[Ironman21]

Yeah, go ahead and write a review, i really don't care

[Scott]

Thanks

I'm thinking about doing one for GOW3 but I feel like I would be rubbing it in to Ironman cause he can't play it.

speaking of which, whens the proposed release date for that?

Tuesday 16 March 2010

[Ironman21]

Maybe one day I'll play it