Video Game Trailers – MAG

I really enjoyed MAG. It was one of my favourite games on the PlayStation 3! I looked forward to playing it more than any other game on the system, and when I got it, I didn’t want to play anything else!

MAG, short for Massive Action Game was a first person shooter game developed by Zipper Interactive. The game’s main selling point was that it was a massive online shooter multiplayer  game where up to 256 players could engage with each other. Players would join one of three fictional PMC organizations within the game, who would engage in large scale battles with each other. The two opposing armies in each match would have one attacker and one defender, and the players would be split into platoons of four eight man squads, and would try to capture or defend objectives. At the end of the game, there would be a winner and a loser, with players being rewarded as such. As the game progressed, players could earn ranks to improve their characters, with some even going on to become team, or platoon leaders in matches.

One of the game’s earliest selling points was its rather exciting trailer, which debuted at E3 in 2008. The game’s trailer from the get-go highlights it’s 256 player capacity, whilst also providing the viewer with a basic idea of the three playable armies. Whilst the game loads, we get a cool piece of music in the background that really drives the trailer along.

We get a few close shots of squads moving around, all leading up to an attack on enemy base. These early shots highlight some real subtleties towards future gameplay options, as we see vehicles moving around, the use of explosives, and rocket launchers, as well as the possibility of controlling turrets too. All the while we continue to get this action packed trailer, which shows one side winning and the other side losing. But then, we see even more in game possibilities, as an air strike is called in, followed by the arrival of some paratrooper reinforcements.

MAG was a pretty unique game, and one which sadly may have been ahead of it’s time. But it did deliver a unique experience for the time; and to help us see the game’s ideal vision, we were also treated to a really cool trailer, which sold the game to gamers like me, within the first viewing!