MAG is an FPS with Three Factions, Shadow Wars

The latest issue of Game Informer sheds some light on Sony’s upcoming online-shooter, MAG, for the PlayStation 3. The game will range from 2-256 players with ‘hopes’ for the game to run at 30 frames per second at all times.

With such a great amount of players on each server, Sony will be using dedicated servers with new network architectures to aid in lag reduction so you won’t have to deal with those glitchy moments. Matches will be streamlined as well to reduce the need to wait.

The game’s a first-person shooter, not a third-person as some may have thought. MAG is set twenty years into the future, with three major PMCs bidding for war. The war is dubbed as the ‘Shadow War’. Of the three factions, only two names were given. ‘Raven’ is a group of highly-trained soldiers armed with high-tech weapons. ‘Sver’ is a group of fierce middle-eastern and central-Asian fighters described as battle harden warriors.

MAG flaunts several game modes. ‘256 Domination’ places attackers and defenders as players, and “hell breaks loose” as the battle goes out. ‘Aquisition’ is a 128-player escort-style mode, where players must steal two prototype armored transports and bring them to the extraction zone. ‘Sabotage’ is a 64-player match, where players control two points for a certain amount of time then a demolition objective is revealed and must be destroyed. ‘Suppression’ is a 64-player team deathmatch.

There’s no class system in the game, but there’s free-form kit creation. Players can customize the face, voice and armor of their solider as well as save three different load-outs. You’ll rank up as you progress through online matches and get access to new weapons, peks, and leadership positions.

Zipper Interactive, the developers, are aiming to appeal the game to a casual audience yet include all the features needed for the hardcore. They’ve been running the 256-player tests since November 2008 and are planning open and closed betas for the game.