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Game Info

Developer: 

Zipper Interactive

Release Date: 

January 26th, 2010

Monthly Fee: 

F2P

Official Forums

MAG, an acronym for Massive Action Game, is a large scale online multi-player first person shooter war-game that can support up to 256 players at once. Several squads made up of 8 players will engage in war across the map at any given time, allowing for massive battles to be waged on a large scale. 4 squads form a platoon and 4 platoons form a company. Players can customize their characters look and specialize their combat skills.

Gameplay information includes:

• First Person Shooter (FPS)

• Aiming for "T" Rating

• Wave Respawn
- You spawn in "timed waves" and you spawn in with your squad.
- Some lucky squads get to paradrop into the combat zone or ride in on APCs

• 256 players online
- Can be on screen at the same time, so it is not broken down into split areas of the map

• Strictly multiplayer - Online only
- Possibly only retail release (Ed Byrne stated, "MAG is too massive to be a mere downloadable title)
- No splitscreen (Mike Gutmann stated, "We've got huge environments and lots of streaming going on to achieve fidelity - split screen would cause some real limitations)
- There will be an offline training course to let you get up to speed with controls, weapons, and all the equipment

• Action Shooter at its core

• Long Term Goals

• Vehicles including ground and air combat (unmanned)

• Destructability only with objects that can be destroyed or repaired, not full destruction.

• Set in the near future, 20 years from now
- Many weapons in the game are weapons currently in experimental/testing phases

• Audio cues (like air raid sirens after anti-aircraft positions are destroyed) inform teams if the attacking team is making ground

• Game modes ranging from 64 to 256 players

• Biggest maps are appx. 1 square kilometre
- Maps are based on three global regions - Alaska, Central Asia, and Central America

• Matchmaking fast and streamlined

• Push to talk (PTT) mics
- Squad channel
- Command channel (allows squad leaders to talk amongst themselves, as well as platoon leaders)
- Company channel (allows platoon leaders to talk together with the OIC)

• FREE online play

Player Roles:

• 8 player squads
- Inspiration from real life military operations
- 4 squads form a platoon, 4 platoons form the company
- Each squad, platoon, and company have specific objectives to complete along with secondary objectives assigned by OIC
- Allows for a team dynamic even when not in a clan, so the game is more approachable by casual players as well as hardcore players

• Lead by people who are "proven" to be good leaders
- Squad Leaders vs Even higher Chains of Command
- After reaching a veteran level, players can enlist in the leadership tree
- Squad leaders can plot waypoints and call in UAVs
- Proven squad leaders can be promoted to platoon leaders
- Leaders can issue FRAGO commands (Fragmentary Orders), in which they assign an objective by clicking a button that tells the squad to complete something like destroying a bridge

• Officer in Charge (1 per team, highest level of command)
- Has the ability to call on Strategic Maneuvers, which affect all players on one side or the other
- Tactical Asset Recharge is an example manuever that recharges the squads leaders abilities to call in air strikes, special abilities, etc.
- Abilities include satellite recon sweeps, enemy blockades, signals jamming, air bombardments, precision strikes, etc.
- Still a player on the ground like everyone else
- Players around him gain better abilities, like running faster, planting a bomb faster, etc.

• Leaders have access to the Command Network Interface (CNI), which is a tactical map overview that allows them to zoom and scan the map and show objective locations, etc.

Sony Computer Entertainment purchesed MAG developer Zipper Interactive in 2006 and announced the studio's closure in May 2012. MAG is still supported on PlayStation 3.