Presentation

The game’s interface is not slick or polished and features one of my biggest pet peeves. So my question… why do all games that show some type of computer display on-screen, and as part or the GUI or in-game experience, show a flickering screen with scan lines? Hello? CRTs have been dead for years. There are no scan lines in LCD screens, which obviously is the equipment depicted in the game. Seems this game is trying to capture the realism of displays 15 years in the past. Enough already. You can also see scan lines when you are connecting to server, deploying to your missions, and a few other places within the interface.

The interface looks dated– badly.

Gameplay

Of all the areas of the game I’ve commented on, this one I’ve had the least amount of time to consider, as I’ve been unable to get in many games due to technical issues on “their” side. What I have noticed is that movement feels clunky. Also, when using the sights on my rifle, the screen doesn’t zoom gracefully, it sort of “pops” into zoom. Very jerky. It would also be nice if the world map was in the lower left portion of the screen instead of the upper right.

The weapons seem very weak. It appears to take a lot (of time/bullets) to kill people. At least every other close-quarters battle I’ve had involves me and the other guy doing a “noob dance,” just moving around in a circle trying to shoot one another. The firefights don’t seem to be too much fun. Also, every bullet seems to have a tracer, not good if you have a silencer… sort of defeats the whole purpose of not wanting to be noticed.

Environment

The maps in this game are big just for the sake of being big. However, the area you are dealing with feels small and crowded, despite the overall large footprint. In all the maps I’ve played, you can’t really walk 20 or so feet without bumping into something, whether it be a tree, fence, rock, or other obstacle. Things seem to be randomly cluttered around the map, if only to provide cover to some camper waiting for you to walk by. There are no wide open spaces with nothing in-world to give you the sense of scale. The world doesn’t look like it could actually be a locale in the real world, and that takes away from the user experience. Trains look like toys and bridges look like walkways.

Because of these flaws, the environment feels to take place on a 2-D plane. Almost the entirety of the game takes place on flat ground, offering no high vantage points for snipers. You can barely get into the 3rd dimension, often not being able to jump or walk over very small obstacles, but rather have to go around them. Objects you would think you have access to you don’t.

The colors and lighting are not very realistic. Colors are cartoony and shadows are jaggy, darker shades of the regular color. Actually, the graphics are quite bad. The game feels like a FPS lost the World of Warcraft environment with less creative content. There are no physics to speak of and everything seems rigid and not fluid. Poor explosions, no destruction, and the lack of being able to shoot enemies through thin in-world materials makes gameplay really suffer.

MAG lacks the freedom of other games, even though it’s supposed to be grand in scale. With no open spaces, the world is just too cluttered with polygons. In one map there is a train yard. This should be a nice vast expanse of land, however the area seems to be only about 50 feet across, cluttered with objects strewn every 20 feet. It’s as if you are playing a game with Battlefield sized maps, and with COD gameplay… but without the fun of either game.

Audio/Sound Effects

The game really suffers in this area. The music is cheesy and the in-game effects don’t feel realistic in the slightest. For instance, BFBC2 beta had unbelievable sound, and that was just the beta. At least it would have been nice if the audio took away from the poor graphics but this game suffers badly in both departments. I guess it can’t help much that I’m getting static sounds from the music during the beta.

The music sounds like it’s straight out of some redneck bar down south. My apologies to rednecks.

Gimmicks

This is a gimmick game– the gimmick being that 256 people will be in the same “world.” Having said that, if this were the same game that supported say 24 or 32 players max, nobody would be talking about this game. The amount of players is the hype. That’s what gets people talking. It’s certainly not the graphics, gameplay or overall user experience. Other than the perception “this game rocks with 256 players,” there is nothing else redeeming that would make this game be a winner. It’s really average and mediocre in most areas.

Verdict

Too much ambition and not enough product. If the tone of this sounds too harsh, there are a couple reasons. First, I’ve been trying about 20 minutes to get into a game and I wrote the draft of this review on a crappy Windows PC. I was too lazy to go into the other room and get my MacBook Pro. God, PCs suck and Windows is a nightmare.

The game gets 2 out of 5 stars.

Test 1, Test 2, Test 3

The bottom line is that the vast majority of PS3 players DO NOT have headsets. The ones that do end up sounding like transistor radio broadcasts, and it’s usually the noobs who are talking anyway. It’s as if voice communication was an afterthought. I blame Sony for this as they don’t pack a headset with their system. Microsoft included headsets with their Xbox Live subscription kits. Sony, unlike Microsoft who has a pay online service, offers theirs for free– and it shows. My advice to Sony: charge a fee to use the online service, and take some of the profit and include headsets with your system.

Do You Hear What I Here?

Communication is key in online games, especially if you’re playing with people you don’t know. You must be able to communicate to play effectively as a team. After all, that is what online multiplayer is– teamwork. If nobody is talking, how does anyone else know that one class is over-weighted, and that people need to switch to another class? You don’t. This means that for games that require good teamwork, it often comes down to the team with the most “friends” wins. And, they probably have more players with headsets too!

What Did I Do To Deserve This?

It’s too bad, as I was just getting used to the PS3 controller and I purchased a couple downloadable titles– Battlefield: 1943 and Fat Princess. Fat Princess is an unbelievably fun game… if you actually could communicate with your team! You can have up to 16 players on your team (90% of whom have no headsets) and in this game teamwork is the only way to win. You can’t go at it alone. But you have to.

I’ve seen posts in the PS3 forums where people are putting together lists of people who actually have headsets in hopes they can play an effective game, not just running around solo. Although the game is fun, creative, and a breath of fresh air, it’s just unplayable without communication. You’re better off sticking to the single player mode. At least there your computer buddies will actually follow your commands.

A Sucker For Punishment

I’m sure I’ll try to play a bit more and see if my experience changes for the better, but I’m not holding out any hope. Battlefield is playable and enjoyable even without communication for me, as I’m pretty handy with a rifle. But the experience would be so much better if I could storm a base with my team, everyone on the same page as to what’s happening next. As for Fat Princess, the bugs and glitches aside, I just can’t have fun playing this game for long. Considering, with communication this could be arguably the most fun I’ve ever had in an online multiplayer. Sadly, this is a PS3-only title, so I won’t be able to play this properly on the Xbox 360.

Guess I’m going back to Microsoft, hands out, begging to be forgiven.

Sony’s next-generation PlayStation 3 video game console might not appear in key markets this year and could cost the company $900 per unit to produce initially, according to Merrill Lynch analysts quoted in the Financial Times on Sunday.

Sony has indicated a spring launch for its console in Japan and the industry is not expecting a North American launch until November, the FT said. But Hitoshi Kuriyama of Merrill Lynch in Japan said there are reports that the PS3 could be delayed by between six and 12 months.

Merrill Lynch analysts estimated that the initial bill of materials for the PS3 could approach $900, dropping down to $320 by three years after launch.

The Price Of Leadership

If it costs Sony $900 to make the PS3, how much of a loss do you think they are willing to take selling it to us? Even if the PS3 retails for $699.99, that’s still too much for a console here, and it’s too much of a bust for Sony, in terms of cost to manufacture each unit.

It seems Sony is between a rock and a hard place. If the PS3 is delayed, in hopes of dropping prices for components, Sony risks falling too far behind Microsoft and the Xbox 360. If they rush too early, they run the risk of losing a truck-load of cash on every system sold.

The Kitchen Sink, And Then Some

Part of the problem with the PS3 is the lofty goals Sony set for itself, most notably 1080p support and Blu-ray discs. They are trying to make this the “end all, be all” of consoles. The problem is that people aren’t going to be able to take advantage, for the most part, of all the bells and whistles Sony is adding. What’s more, game developers probably won’t be taking advantage of all the PS3 can potentially offer.

Do we really need 1080p support, when you can barely buy a TV that supports that resolution? Do we really need Blu-ray discs for games that work perfectly well on standard DVD discs? Are developers going to take advantage of the full power? Hardly. It seems Sony is pricing themselves out of the console market with the PS3.

The Dumbing Down Effect

Compare Sony with Nintendo, who announced that their upcoming next-gen system, the Revolution, won’t even support HDTV! I guess they feel their customer base is happy with S-Video and composite video. Hell, Nintendo should just add the RF-Adapter for us old school gamers and make everyone happy. Nintendo has it’s own problems, which will be fully addressed in the future.

Sony is in a position to deeply hurt the PS3′s chances of competing with the Xbox 360. It seems Microsoft found the perfect mix of technology, price, and gaming fun. Sony is determined to push the envelope of the technological side of the PS3, which may in turn hurt the fun side, and in doing so, hurt the overall sales and impact the PS3 has in the United States.

Stay tuned, this saga is surely not over. (…and don’t call me Shirley)