8 Things MAG Needs To Succeed

1. Weapons - This is obviously one of the most important things for
any FPS title. Zipper needs to bring the pain with this category and
provide players with hundreds of types of guns. The more guns the
better, as it will help people stay interested in the game and allow
people to form their own identity. Shotguns, SMG’s, MG’s, sniper
rifles, grenades, and handguns, everything needs to be in abundance.
Allow for each gun to have its own identity as much as possible, don’t
make all the guns look different but shoot and sound the same. Also
make sure that weapons customization is just as deep with different
scopes, silencers, bullets, extended clips, laser sights, etc.
2. Characters - This will allow each gamer to make their own unique
character which is a big plus since there should be many, many people
playing this game together at once. Gamers should be allowed to choose
their height, sex (male or female), weight, skin color, facial and
physical attributes, and attire. There should be many different types
of gear such as camouflage and clothing, boots and footwear, head gear,
eye wear, and accessories. If some of this stuff is unlockable based on
the rank you achieve, great, but make sure you allow for a wide variety
of customization from the very first time the game is booted up. This
will allow the gamer’s avatar or character to have an identity that
they can call their own.
3. Support - If the same can eventually be said for MAG as was and
is said about Warhawk, then MAG can potentially go a long, long way.
Warhawk had great developer support and had quite a few booster packs
and add-ons. MAG should follow suit and give gamers as much
downloadable content as possible. Weapon DLC, character DLC, level or
map pack DLC, plus anything else they would like to add through
downloadable content and software updates. Free or paid doesn’t matter,
just make it good.
4. Stable Online and Gameplay - This obviously would kill the game
if the online and the servers could not handle the game the way it was
intended. This is mainly what ruined Socom: Confrontation and it showed
in the sales numbers for the title. I do believe they have their work
cut out for them, but I don’t believe they would even be attempting to
make this game if the PSN could not handle it. My fingers are crossed
on this one.
5. Rank/Class System - Killzone 2 suffered from complaints about how
easy it was to attain the top rank of General. Games like Call of Duty
and Rainbow Six took quite awhile to achieve the top rank and unlock
all the unlockable items you receive through this process. MAG needs to
make sure the class system is very, very deep and offers people as much
incentive as possible for leveling up. The game is online only, so this
is probably one of the top 3 most important things the game needs.
6. Game Modes - Zipper already announced 4 game modes with different
amounts of players and different objectives for each game mode. There
will be 3 different factions fighting against each other, so hopefully
more game modes will be added for free through an update or a map pack
later on.
7. Graphics and Frame Rate - Zipper has already stated they intend
to have the game running at 30 frames per second while all the action
is happening, but this is important. The graphical quality of the game
should be up to par with at least Socom, which looks decent. No matter
what resolution they choose to allow players to play the game in, the
graphical quality needs to be as polished as possible.
8. Communication - This is not so much about the gameplay, but they
need to bundle MAG with a headset. This will give people without one,
the ability to obtain one. They should bundle it with the Sony headset
just like they did with Socom: Confrontation.




I do realize that a few of these things have been announced, but
they really need to give us as many options as possible by giving us
complete control over our soldier as far as customization and weapons
are concerned. Make this game as deep as possible with as many features
as possible and it will be more likely to succeed. I am definitely
looking forward to this game and I hope it lives up to the expectations
that myself and others have for it, including Sony and Zipper
Interactive. MAG is slated for a December 2009 release date.