As a straight-up shooter, MAG is well designed but doesn't bring anything that new to the table outside of the size of the game and the sheer chaos of combat. You load up your character with whatever weapons or accessories you need for battle, spawn, kill some guys, get killed and start over. A large portion of the weaponry feels underpowered, requiring several shots to the head area to bring certain armor types down, and lag makes understanding how you died a bit confusing. There's nothing better than being behind cover for a few seconds and then suddenly dying.

Oddly, lag wasn't as big of a factor as I expected. There have been a few games that chugged, but for the most part the game runs smooth. However, there's a certain amount of lag that seems to be always present. It's not enough to make a huge difference in your play, but there's always a bit of time when you're charging for cover that you assume you'll still be hit even though you're inside.

Outside of a few gripes, Massive Action Game is a fantastic experience that gets the blood pumping. The challenge of commanding troops really pays off when you see your objectives fall and your side roll to victory. When you find a squad that will work together and everything clicks, it's an experience like no other. Sadly, finding that squad can be quite difficult so your mileage may vary.