MAG Collectors Edition

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MAG Collectors Edition:
The Collectors Edition of MAG comes housed in a special SteelBook and includes exclusive extra features that are redeemable via a redeem code and Playstation Store.
Brand new combat armour for S.V.E.R., Raven and Valor. Choose from three distinctive uniform designs: Bulldog, Spyder or Hazard.
Three new dynamic themes for the PS3 system.

The redeem code supplied in our copy only unlocked the 3 themes, we did not get the exclusive armor, whether this is a known issue or not is unclear at this point..

Traditionaly online console shooters have been limited to less than 20 or 30 players, MAG set out to change this with a new 256 (128 per side) player game, size and scale comes with some expected drawbacks, The first being the graphics, these have taken a big hit and the game does seem dated and flat looking when compared to other modern FPS, Although it was expected that the graphics would be toned down in order to allow the 256 players on some maps.

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In MAG you are transported to the Year 2025, and you have to make a choice between which of the Three PMCs you will join, each of these have thier own good points and bad points in strengths and weaknesses in choice of vehicles and choice of weapons in your armory.

2025, A global crisis loomed. Food shortages sparked riots, currencies plummeted, fuel reserves dwindled, and oil-producing nations began to ration what remained. It is a dark future. Governments earmarked money for humanitarian efforts, overseas security, and intelligence services which, over time, found its way the coffers of a small group of Private Military Companies. These three private armies (Valor, Raven, and S.V.E.R.) then began to recruit aggressively. Soldiers without a country, the contractors fight wars that never happened. This is the nature of the Shadow War.

MAG lets you experience battles with up to 256 real people across a global battlefield. fighting in the shadow war, you have a another choice to make, you can either become skilled operative or rank up to eventually command a private army to victory with the power to call in air strikes, mortar barrages and parachute insertions



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Controls: The controls on MAG can be awkward to use and for the first few games you may find yourself throwing grenades instead of crouching and crouching instead of throwing grenades, likewise with the weapons and equipment, when I've played the game i found myself on several occasions having to scroll through weapons trying to find a particular weapon, grenade or med gun etc, which I'm sure if you play the game enough you will get to grips with weapon locations, Here is where a Single player element would have worked well, instead of having to go straight into online combat to try and level up it may have been a better option to include a few training missions where you fight AI, at least then you would have a chance to become familiar with the game and its controls before going online, There is a training mission but it only seems to cover basic movement and deployment of a c4 charge on a gate.
As expected in any good shooter there is the option to crouch or go prone, (unlike Battlefield Bad Company 2's multiplayer that only allows you to crouch) This allows those who want to snipe to do so, and due to the size of some of the maps it's pretty safe to say that you will at some point become a victim of an enemy sniper.

Weapons: The weapons in MAG (Assault rifles, smg's, lmg's and sniper rifles) seem pretty well balanced with enough accuracy and power to take out the opposition with one shot to the head, or maybe a couple of shots to the body, the same cannot be said of the grenades as they seem to be lacking in damage, several times whilst playing the full game (Not a beta) i threw a grenade at an enemy position (small enclosed room) and all the enemy players in that position survived, the same applies to the grenade launchers, when firing this weapon close behind (approx <10ft) an enemy player they carried on running as if it had been a fire cracker..

All in all if you can live with the dated looking and flat graphics then MAG is not a bad game, its hard to summarise due to the game playing so differently, It plays extremely well if you have other like minded players on your team, but if you have players that play as if they are playing MW2 and they are limited by skill so tend to use grenade launchers then it can be hard work, The sniper friendly maps are a welcome treat, and the weapons are powerful enough to get you a one shot kill..