Joystiq impressions:
When you first jump into the game, you are auto-matched into squads of eight with a dedicated squad leader. Each squad is a member of a platoon with three other squads, which also has a dedicated commander. Finally, each platoon is a member of the army with a top level commander overseeing everything. So, ultimately the goal is to have two 128-member armies battling it out with commanders issuing orders, while smaller squads and platoons engage in skirmishes while working towards the final goal of the map.
While each map will have its own dedicated main objectives (see: "steal these top secret vehicles"), what really makes the commanders and squad leaders critical is the concept of FRAGOs. "FRAGO" is a real military term that stands for "Fragmentary Orders" -- these are on-the-fly orders that are issued as the battlescape dynamically changes during a fight. Sure, you need to steal those vehicles to win the round, but on your way there, you might run into a mortar that is destroying your front line -- the squad leaders can place a FRAGO on the mortar, indicating that your team should focus on blowing the mortar up before continuing onto the tanks. Besides simply making you an efficient army, MAG also rewards players who follow FRAGOs with additional experience points for fulfilling the order. You can always ignore the FRAGO, but getting twice the experience for fulfilling it makes it awfully enticing -- even if you're a lone wolf player.
Speaking of lone wolf players, the game will allow you to run off and do whatever you want and won't punish you for it. But players who stick close with their squads and platoons will find they get a bevy of bonuses, including things like faster reload times, the ability to run faster, or maybe increased accuracy. In-game, this was a fantastic way to make you want to stay with your squad, since the benefits are quite tangible (though not powerful enough to threaten the balance).
It should come as no surprise to fans of Zipper's SOCOM series to learn that the company is serious about its military games -- in fact, many of the developers at the studio came from the military, where they'd work on sims used to train soldiers. That sort of experience permeates all aspects of the game. Though set twenty years in the future, the game is still grounded in realism (if a slightly exaggerated realism -- still gotta have fun!). The guns look and feel fantastic, packing the right amount of punch and the battlefield itself feels chaotic and dangerous. Forget SOCOM: Confrontation -- this is the next-gen SOCOM, only taken to a whole new level.
Visually the game is quite striking. Perhaps not as sharp as Modern Warfare, but a gorgeous-looking game considering the scale. In particular, the lighting is fantastic, with light-scattering fog creating an absorbing ambiance that at times is similar to S.T.A.L.K.E.R (specifically while you're playing on a SVER map, with their scavenged technology and pieced together buildings). Speaking of which, depending on which faction you decide to join when you first create your account, your whole UI will change as well to match your faction's style. Resolution wise, the game will run at a native 720p and will upscale to 1080i for owners of older HD sets.
