The Guns, Skills and Buffs of MAG [PS3]

[indiegames]

Massively-first-person shooter MAG is a complex Playstation 3 game. (http://kotaku.com/5458225/mag-first+day-impressions-of-a-burgeoning-war?skyline=true&s=i)
Not complex in its basic mechanics. You move as groups, aim and shoot. Pretty straight forward. But all of that is built around a lot of different variables.
The instruction manual is, as all are these days, lacking in any real explanation and the players are often unforgiving to those who ask questions.
Fortunately, I just received this handy-dandy guide.
Written by the CEO of private military corporation Raven, the guide spells out the history of MAG's world and its shadow war. It also walks you through the different skill tracks that can be upgraded with points as you go up in level playing the game.
That's pretty straight forward stuff. The tracks include Athleticism, Assault, Personal Defense, Electronics, Support, Close Quarters, Marksman, Heavy and Explosives. The skills found within each make you a better shot, give you better weapons, let you heal, run faster and even hold your breath longer when enveloped in clouds of poisonous gas.
But the real MAG porn found in this mag is are the in-depth armory shots. Photos of weapons and their stats. You could find them all digging through the game, but this is so much easier.
There's also a great walk through of the command system. Once you gain a high enough level you can become a squad leader, and then a platoon leader and finally an officer in command.
Each of these grant the gamer area buffs that will impact all of the soldiers under them who follow orders and stay with their team. Those buffs include slowing bleed outs, granting the ability to call in strafing runs, and even allowing nearby soldiers to slowly heal.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/500x_custom_1264698008603_magss.jpg
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/500x_mag1-1000.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/mag1-1000.jpg)
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/500x_mag2-1000.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/mag2-1000.jpg)
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/500x_mag3-1000.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/mag3-1000.jpg)
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/500x_mag4-1000.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/mag4-1000.jpg)
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/500x_mag5-1000.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/mag5-1000.jpg)
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/500x_mag6-1000.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2010/01/mag6-1000.jpg)


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