I gave the MAG open beta a good 2.5 hours last night, leveled up to 5 and unlocked a few perks, which was satisfying.  My first reaction is that it feels very "gamey".  No disrespect, but if feels like a toy shooter, like an FPS for kids.  It feels like Frontlines:FoW but with more people.

I do really feel that some FPSs are considered a sport, whereas some are simply games.  Despite the fact that this will draw out a more "hardcore" PS3 crowd, MAG is most definitely a game.  CoD:MW2, Halo, Gears, they are so competitive and so intense that they are more like sports. And if I'm going to play a shooter night after night, I'm looking for a sport-type shooter.

Gameplay-wise, there's really nothing wrong with it. It plays a lot like Battlefield I think, maybe not quite as smooth.  Though some of that may have to do with perks and control settings.  I only had one dropped connection last night and just a smidge of lag.  Not bad for a couple hours of playtime; hell that's better than CoD.  The respawns are probably my only pet peeve with the game...20 seconds to bleed out, 20 second respawn queue, 20 seconds to run-walk back to the action, rinse & repeat.  It definitely makes you think twice about sprinting into the fray.  But I do understand why it is the way that it is.  I get it.  I do.  But it doesn't suit the style of game I like to play.

I heard one funny comment:  "People will take this game way more seriously than they would if it was on Xbox LIVE."  Which I took to imply that there is the impression that the PS3 is for "serious gamers".

The very next game I got knifed in the back right at the first respawn.  Stay classy, "serious gamers".

I do like the game enough though that if it were cheap enough I probably would pick it up (I'd pay $30 at launch, $20 after a month or two...no more than that).  But man, the early game is brutal, at least in the beta.  It is not like CoD:MW2 where you get great weapons right at the start.  I don't know enough to say if Zipper does or doesn't, but if they don't somehow handicap that, things can get way out of balance.  Who knows, maybe that's what they want, to weed out the chaff.

I gave the MAG open beta a good 2.5 hours last night, leveled up to 5 and unlocked a few perks, which was satisfying.  My first reaction is that it feels very "gamey".  No disrespect, but if feels like a toy shooter, like an FPS for kids.  It feels like Frontlines:FoW but with more people.

I do really feel that some FPSs are considered a sport, whereas some are simply games.  Despite the fact that this will draw out a more "hardcore" PS3 crowd, MAG is most definitely a game.  CoD:MW2, Halo, Gears, they are so competitive and so intense that they are more like sports. And if I'm going to play a shooter night after night, I'm looking for a sport-type shooter.

Gameplay-wise, there's really nothing wrong with it. It plays a lot like Battlefield I think, maybe not quite as smooth.  Though some of that may have to do with perks and control settings.  I only had one dropped connection last night and just a smidge of lag.  Not bad for a couple hours of playtime; hell that's better than CoD.  The respawns are probably my only pet peeve with the game...20 seconds to bleed out, 20 second respawn queue, 20 seconds to run-walk back to the action, rinse & repeat.  It definitely makes you think twice about sprinting into the fray.  But I do understand why it is the way that it is.  I get it.  I do.  But it doesn't suit the style of game I like to play.

I heard one funny comment:  "People will take this game way more seriously than they would if it was on Xbox LIVE."  Which I took to imply that there is the impression that the PS3 is for "serious gamers".

The very next game I got knifed in the back right at the first respawn.  Stay classy, "serious gamers".

I do like the game enough though that if it were cheap enough I probably would pick it up (I'd pay $30 at launch, $20 after a month or two...no more than that).  But man, the early game is brutal, at least in the beta.  It is not like CoD:MW2 where you get great weapons right at the start.  I don't know enough to say if Zipper does or doesn't, but if they don't somehow handicap that, things can get way out of balance.  Who knows, maybe that's what they want, to weed out the chaff.

Comparing them to sports is spot on.  And to me, whilst sports shooters are awesome at first, the people who invest way more time into them than I ever can eventually make me super fed up with them.  All goes down to what you like.

Its a good beta so far, especially on domination with 128 vs 128 players.  
The maps are pretty big and there are lots of objectives spread out across them, it can get a little bit too much sometimes with the limited spawns. but other than that,it looks like a must buy for me.

" Its a good beta so far, especially on domination with 128 vs 128 players.  The maps are pretty big and there are lots of objectives spread out across them, it can get a little bit too much sometimes with the limited spawns. but other than that,it looks like a must buy for me. "

i playd mag for a day at the most and i thot it was an ok game but if would be better i think if it had a story mode

meh, guess it's just not for me... playing on a 42" 1080p and everything was a bit muddy, hard to spot enemies, difficult to aim and hit someone. just didn't feel dialed in enough. Probably just going to keep playing MW2 for the moment.
 
I do thing the huge battle idea is amazing and I definitely hope they can pull it off as I loved the Socom games that Zipper created.