MAG Public Beta

MAG is an upcoming first person shooter for the PS3 with the unique hook of being able to support 256 people online in the same game. Players can be a foot soldier or (I guess) squad commander or sit at the top of the pile as a commander with a birds eye view of the action and the ability to issue orders based on what needs to get done.

Sounds ace, huh? The game has had a private Beta that started in September 2008 and finished recently. Now there's talk of a public Beta opening on 4th January at 5am Pacific time (I'm writing this at 21.15 GMT and it's 13.15 in LA so that makes 5am Pacific time equivalent to 1pm here in good ol' Blighty). I've been reading some forums and apparently you can download the MAG client from the PSN shop but I can't find it at all - tried searching under M and everything. Wonder if it's a North America - only Beta because I haven't seen any release publicity here at all. My local Blockbuster has the releases for AVP and Bioshock 2 by the counter already and they're scheduled for February 2010 - and MAG is such a big release I would expect it here soon too. Unless the public Beta has no bearing whatsoever on the release of the first version of the game? I'm pretty sure that MW2 was released in tandem in the UK / US and I'm surprised that MAG isn't following suit.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

I am ashamed to say that I hated this when I first started playing it. I had read a review in Edge that had basically called it game of the year for 2009; then I saw a bulletin on the news informing everyone that it had won that same title at the video games version of the Oscars. So I deliberately bought a PS3 that came bundled with Uncharted 2 and was ready to be blown away.

I'm not sure what caused my initial disappointment. I didn't find it all that slick to play, certainly not as slick as the original Assassins Creed which is kind of what I was expecting. You have to find a set route through the room or environment that you're in because Drake (the hero of the story and your character for the duration) can't just climb anywhere, he can only climb were Naughty Dog has decided he should climb. The fight sequences also seemed laboured, gun fights were inaccurate and frustrating and the cover system where you can hide behind boxes or pillars was hit and miss. I played for about an hour and then gave up in favour of Assassins Creed 2 instead.

What a mistake. Fortunately I decided to give it another go instead of trading it and boy am I glad that I did. It's an absolutely amazing piece of production. You literally feel like you're part of an Indiana Jones movie. The story line is brilliantly written and features Marco Polo, a sapphire with mythical powers and an evil Eastern European terrorist / warlord hell bent on claiming it for himself (he also happens to have a seemingly unlimited amount of men and military equipment at his disposal). The plot twists and turns as Drake's colleagues betray him and then help him out and then betray him again and you have to keep playing just to find out what happens next.

It all looks superb; rich colours and a physics engine that is able to manipulate the entire environment and make it fall apart, blow up or collapse in the most fantastic way ever seen in a game. Sound is great too - atmospheric background music that captures the different personalities of the countries you visit as you move from Turkey to Bolivia to Tibet. Voice acting is spot on and the characters crack wise as you're working your way through.

The control system takes a bit of getting used to. The game is split into two parts - you're either performing some death - defying feat of climbing or you're involved in a gun battle with multiple goons and / or Hind gunships and / or T72 tanks. The climbing stuff is jaw dropping at times as you scale the wall of some long - forgotten temple and it's pretty easy to get through. There is a little irritation at times because sometimes Drake isn't 100% accurate and it's easy to aim for a ledge and miss it completely but this is helped by really forgiving checkpoints that put you back where you were 99% of the time. Once you figure out how to get Drake to hide behind objects the gun fights become really enjoyable because you can move around at will, sprinting from cover to cover and trying to outflank the enemy. Your ammunition is limited so you have to keep resupplied from the weapons that your opponents drop as you deal with them and there's a great range too. Pistols, Uzis, shotguns, rifles (the M4, AK47 and FAL familiar to MW2 players across the world all feature) and heavier weapons like grenade launchers and RPG's.

It's not too difficult to reach the end (the final battle might take a few goes to get right) and there's some replay value offered by a bank of unlockable extras such as infinite ammo, one shot kills and the ability to play as Sir Francis Drake (any relation, I wonder). But the point is that it's an absolute blast all the way through and infinitely more fun than the majority of terrible Hollywood blockbusters. Oh, and one of the voiceovers is done by Rene Auberjonois who played the Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Top stuff.