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 just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Jeff for his comment regarding the combat in Batman: Arkham Asylum during the GOTY Bombcast.  He had mentioned that the gameplay and the combat mechanics were so satisfying, but there just wasn't enough of it actually put in the game, outside of the challenge rooms.  I had the same impression playing Batman.  I only played for a few hours, and I enjoyed the gameplay, but ultimately I just got bored.  I felt like it would have been a great brawler.  There just weren't any brawls. 
 
Wait.  
 
Is this a bromance?
 
Screw it.  Nevermind.