MAG - PS3

As M.A.G. designer Ben Jones gave me a tour of the ongoing public beta, I couldn't help but to feel a sense of loss. Loss for the traditions of SOCOM, which, once M.A.G. drops early next year, is pretty much dead and buried. Instead, Zipper has thrown itself into an experience that's a little bit SOCOM, a little Modern Warfare, and undeniably influenced by MMO culture. It's an ambitious experiment, and I'm curious to see how Zipper pulls it off, even if SOCOM never fully resonated with me.

It's probably no accident that the beta just launched. After all, Sony can't exactly truck in 256 consoles and matching plasma screens to PAX. But it's a happy coincidence, since it allowed me to see M.A.G. at a high point of its potential; there's a difference between hundreds of internal beta testers and some dude with "xx" bookending his PSN ID. The gamer is going to approach it differently, and he'll likely show little mercy.

The action is divided into several groups. Eight-person squads capture smaller objectives. They grow into bigger platoons. Ultimately, there are leaders for each squad, each platoon, and ultimately, an operator-in-command, who oversees everyone.

Although the setup feels SOCOM-esque (deploy your soldier with customizable gear), the shooting elements have streaks of COD4 to them, which borrows from RPG elements. What's that amount to? It's a shooter with all of the XP elements you've come to love, and the undeniable thumbprint of World of Warcraft and other MMOs. There are three factions: S.V.E.R. (guerilla tactics), Valor (for the SOCOM fan who can't let go), and Raven (high-tech weapons and glitz). As you level up and gain XP, you can customize your character with branching skill trees. Basically, Zipper is letting you design your class around how you want to play. Plus, XP comes in different flavors. You get normal experience for kills, but you get leadership points for kills that revolve around an objective, like bombing a capture point. As you gain leadership points, you get perks, like calling air raids or jamming opposition radio communication (and yes, in the literal sense; you can cause static breakups on your opponents' headsets). Ultimately, as you gain leadership XP, you can take on the role of squad leader, or platoon leader, and eventually, OIC, based on your performance.

And in true MMO fashion, you've got to keep playing to keep your rank. Although your normal XP will stay with you as you upgrade your character, leadership points degrade and diminish when you stop playing M.A.G. There's a strong incentive to stick with it and keep on gaining power withing your faction's ranks. But, there's a catch. Sure, you can stick with your faction and rank high on the game's leaderboards, which is good if you prefer a very specific playstyle that your faction complements. Alternately, as you gain experience and power, other factions will try to recruit you with offers of higher XP for switching teams. And you can bring that over to another faction.

M.A.G. is an interesting creature. Although SOCOM Confrontation tried to continue the name of the franchise, it's been so riddled with issues that many frustrated fans have put up a white flag. M.A.G., on the other hand, seems to retain some of Zipper's trademark elements, but feels updated for an era of gaming that emphasizes massive-multiplayer games and a stronger sense of community. SOCOM was instrumental in ushering in a sense of community during the PS2 era, and after playing some of the M.A.G. beta up here at PAX, I think Zipper's got a good chance at creating the same sort of magic on the PS3. This is definitely a game to watch.