Everyone and your mother can play this game at the same time.

Here we go, we have another FPS to review. But this time there’s a catch. This time, we’ve also got an MMORPG, of sorts. Yup, talking about MAG this time, a First Person Shooter that’s big hook is the ability to play with 256 players at the same time. In fact, there isn’t even a single-player aspect to the game. Does this make it a deal breaker? Let’s find out.

Hope you Like Online Play

MAG starts you off with a choice between making a character in one of three factions. You need to choose well because you can’t change your faction and you can only have one character per PSN account at the same time. Personally, that sounds about as stupid as I’ve ever heard. You can finally change factions when your character reaches level 60, but that’s a big devotion there. If you’ve picked the wrong faction right off the bat without meaning to, you could find yourself really hating MAG.

Obviously, since online is the only way to play MAG, you better be ready to deal with everything that entails the online experience. If there is lag, the game is terrible. If there is downtime on the servers, you can’t play the game, period. Luckily there haven’t been any major instances of either of those quite yet. The controls work well, so you’ll never feel that they’re the cause of any of your failures.

If you suck, you'll have no friends. Just like the real world.

The actual cause of all your failures comes from the inability of your squad to work together as a team. You can’t be a one-man army here, no matter how much you’d like to be or how good you think you are. There are just that many players on the map at any time ready to pick you off. However, when your team’s working well together, there’s an amazing feeling of synergy that puts the game to the top of its potential.

Not Without Some Reservations

Still, the game isn’t perfectly balanced. There is one team (SVER) that will win far more times than they’ll lose. People will argue this back and forth, but the maps built for their defense are nearly impossible to attack unless the SVER team playing is beyond idiotic. What I’m trying to say is, you should choose SVER as your first faction.

I’m hesitant to get into MAG due to the limited time the game will exist. It’s an online only game, so when people stop playing the game, how will there be 256-player matches? If you want to play MAG at its high point, better play it now. The longer you wait, the higher the chance you won’t really be playing MAG as it was supposed to be played.

Just think how dull this would be without the max number of players.

It all comes down to how much you enjoy FPS’s and how happy you can be playing only with and against real players online. If so far everything sounds awesome you, then you’ll probably love MAG. If you hate either shooters or online games, pass. Just don’t rent it. If you want it, better buy it and be prepared to play it for a while.

You'll be seeing a lot of her for a while.

You know that Final Fantasy XIII is on its way, right? It’s been quite a few years in the works, but we’re finally getting rough release dates for the game of games. Currently, Final Fantasy XIII is scheduled for a December release in Japan, which means an early-mid 2010 release for the US (expect those dates to change like crazy). But what’s all the hype about?

We’ve Only Been Waiting for 3 Years

For starters, any new final Fantasy title is a big deal. Wait, let me rephrase that; any new NUMBERED Final Fantasy title is a big deal. That’s because we don’t get them very often, and when we do the games are polished down to such perfection that we can’t but either nominate them for every award possible or desperately search for the problems so that we may properly scorn them (not possible).

Final Fantasy XII met with a lot of praise and a lot of indifference (I have a copy but I never bothered to open it, for example), so the next installment has some high hopes.

From what everyone has seen and played of the game one thing has become clear: This game is going to win every award it can for the year after it’s released. There’s no arguing that. The only chance any other game has is if it’s a sleeper success, but that’s not likely against this one. Just go to any major gaming website and find some trailers for the game. The game looks huge, interesting, and super confusing… but in a good way.

This will be one of the best looking games up till this point in gaming, whether you like it or not.

I’ve been going out of my way not to find out what the plot of the game is. Most of my reasoning comes from my desire to just play the game fresh and without any expectations in terms of what the plot has to offer. I can assume from the things I’ve seen that there is a future with a governmental system that needs to be overthrown by a rag-tag group of rebels lead by a snappy leader and a new character that magically has abilities no one has never seen before, but that’s just me assuming things again.

A PS3 Exclusive Leaves Wii out to Dry

If you can figure out what's happening here, you know more than I do.

The biggest news for us in the US concerns which system gets this beast. Originally it was going to be a PS3 exclusive. Now it’s coming out in the 360 as well. That’s a major hit to Sony, but a major boon for all 360 fans. Doesn’t matter which system you have or support; the important thing is that EVERYONE (except Wii owners), now get a chance to experience THE game. Yes, this will be the biggest game to (maybe) hit stores next year even if you don’t like RPGs or Final Fantasy or Square-Enix.

As I said, expect the game sometime next year, though probably by late this year we’ll be able to hear from Japan exactly what we can expect from the title. Plop down a preorder and keep some vacation days open for this one.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is the third game of the series and it’ll be on the DS this September.  Surprisingly, the Mario & Luigi role playing games don’t get nearly as much credit as they deserve.

Look, I’m a Mario addict, especially anything that plays like Super Mario RPG.  The Paper Mario series is also great, but people forget about the Mario & Luigi games on the Game Boy Advance and DS.

So why should you be buying it?

The Mario & Luigi games are turn-based role-playing games that put you in control of Mario and Luigi.  Different from most RPG’s is the ability to increase the damage you can inflict on an enemy by timing a button press correctly, so when Mario is about to stomp on a Goomba for instance, a quick press of the A button before he lands will do increased damage.

Likewise during defense, pressing the A button will save Mario from damage if timed correctly.  For Luigi, just insert the letter B instead of A.

That’s where the fun comes in as you have to keep track of Mario and Luigi individually and time things right, so if an enemy swings a bat or something, you have to evade as Mario and then Luigi.

It’s tricky to figure out, but once you get going, everything just feels awesome.

The biggest draw of these games is the humor.  Few games are written with as much obvious humor as the Mario & Luigi games.  When people say, “Oh, this game is funny,” it’s hard to believe them.  But I promise, with these games, I’ve found myself guffawing multiple times, running to find someone to show off the funny thing that just happened.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is one of the few games I actually plan on getting the day it comes out.  It’s both lighthearted enough for kids to play, but offers a great deal of challenge for the older gamers.  Thus far the game has been fairly popular in Japan, but why gamers in the US haven’t gotten excited is completely beyond me.

Metroid Fusion: Metroid became my bread and butter after I first got a chance to play Metroid Fusion, (I’m still terrible at them, but I readily consume them if possible).  The game is tough, especially if you want to get the best ending, (beat the game with 100% items in under 2 hours), but it is so worth it.  I still pop this one in and play it every now and then. Amazon can hook you up with a copy for under $15.

Golden Sun: RPG’s are everywhere on the Advance, but this was one of the first and still one of the best.  The graphics were amazing for a handheld, (still amazing actually), and everything about Golden Sun kept me playing for hours.  Overlooked, but simple to find and cheap to play.  Go get it.

Advance Wars: I am bad with tactical games, but not Advance Wars.  I picked this one up on a whim and it was one of the best whims I’ve ever picked a game up on.  There are a handful of sequels including a DS version, but if you’re strapped for cash, you can’t go wrong with this original.  It’ll keep you busy for quite a while.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: If you’re still waiting for Super Mario RPG 2, then this may tide you over for a while.  The Mario & Luigi series doesn’t get nearly as much love as it should, but the games speak for themselves. Get yourself started/hooked on this series as soon as possible.

Wario Land 4: Surprisingly, there were no new Mario games made specifically for the Advance.  However, Wario saw the fourth game in his series come to the Advance, and it was pretty darn good.  Truly a worthy platformer for a worthy system.

Be sure to check out more of my video game reviews here.