Shadow War
This game takes place in the year 2025 and you have been thrust upon a war for ummm ermmm cheetos. Just kidding of course the war is about oil and he who has the oil owns the world. So this game starts by asking you to choose a side, this is where you decide which army you would like to be a part of. There are three factions; SVER, Raven and VALOR. Each faction has different weapons, maps, advantages and disadvantages. The Shadow War is played on 3 main fronts, Communications (Sabotage), Oil (Domination) and Vehicles (Acquisition). Each game you are either attacking or defending and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Attacking you get more points and it is always fun to run around and blow stuff up. Defending, well who doesn't love sitting in a remote corner and killing the 4 people who walk past them?

Gameplay and Graphics
So the game play is what you would expect from a game that is called Massive Action Game. Any game can have up to 128 players on each team all going after specific objectives. This makes for some rather large maps in order for everyone to feel like they aren't sitting on top of someone else. There is not a second that goes by where there isn't something going on, unless you like to snipe at the back of the map and never help your team capture an objective. You chose how you would like to play this game, the game does not reward you as much for kills as it does for helping your team win. This is where FRAGO points play a big part. The squad leader can choose a point on the map that he would like you to take action on. When you are around this point you will receive FRAGO (Bonus) points for any action that is taken ie killing, arming and disarming of bombs etc. This game is very leader dependent and team based. If you want to win you have to play for the team and being a lone wolf is not the best course of action. With this many people all on one map the game gets very fast paced and extremely frantic. If you are looking for fast paced game with lots of explosions and gunfire look no further.

The graphics of this game keep impressing me. With the large scale of the maps you would think that the minor details could be overlooked, well not in MAG. This game offers a visually beautiful game that runs smooth with minimal problems. The graphics aren't perfect but they are as good as you can get while trying to maintain 256 players on a server without it slowing down the gameplay. Each faction has its own set of maps and each offers something different visually. The weapons look clean and sharp although the flames and smoke can get a bit pixelated. With all the action going on it is hard to sit and stare at anything to truly grasp how much detail was put into everything. The animations of of the players is still a bit off but with so many people on one server they have to cut down on some of the animations. When you throw a grenade it no longer looks like something has been rocketed from your shoulder it actually looks like someone threw it.

Leadership and Team Play
This game greatly rewards you for being a team player. You get double XP for everything you do that helps the team capture the objective. If you want to play on your own I suggest you sit in a room of your house and use your building blocks because this isn't that type of game. Kills alone will not win this game, you need teamwork and good leaders. A good leader isn't absolutely necessary to win but with a good leader your scores will increase and you have a much better chance of winning. There are times when running by yourself can be very useful to the team. Often times they won't notice one person running through their outer defenses and destroying everything on the inside. Whether attacking or defending you need to work together in order to win. The best team will win this game not the best weapons or the best individual player, unlike other games where one person can decisively change the game by themselves this game requires everyone to pitch in.

The more you rank up the more leadership opportunities open up to you. First, is the squad leader, you get minimal responsibility and minimal additional bonuses. The squad leader can only do so much then it is up to the platoon leader. The PL can do more than the squad leader but still is limited in the bonuses and special attacks he can call in. When attacking or defending you receive different strikes you can use, these strikes have a cool down time so they cannot be called in back to back. The top leadership position is the OIC or Officer in Charge. This position allows you to manage everyone on the battlefield and can sway the battle in your teams direction. You can slow down enemy respawn times and speed yours up. You can reset all the special strikes so that you can call in as many back to back as possible allowing your team to gain the upper hand. Having an OIC on your side will greatly increase your chances of being victorious.

Kit Loadouts
Nothing has changed from the Beta so if you have played the Beta you will recognize everything here. If you have not seen the beta this is what to expect.
You can choose what weapon, secondary weapon, equipment and armor your person will carry. Everything has a point value and you cannot exceed the point value given to your person. Things such as medical kit and repair kit hold a higher point value than a grenade or smoke grenade. You will need to have a team with balanced equipment. If no one in your squad is a medic then you can safely say you are not going to do well. If you are defending and no one in your squad has a repair kit, you can safely say you are not going to do well. I have 2 loadouts for attacking and 2 for defending, I also have 1 for sniping. When attacking you might only need 1 person with a repair kit, this person can repair ATC's there is no point to having everyone with a repair kit as there isn't enough objects to repair. I suggest everyone use a medic kit so that at least you can revive a downed soldier. Reviving downed soldiers is an extremely helpful tool, rather than wait the 18 seconds to respond you are right back in the action with little or no time lost. Plus you gain massive XP for reviving downed soldiers, 10 XP every time you revive someone and 20 XP if you get the FRAGO bonus! There is nothing more frustrating than to work your way and risk your life trying to save someone only to have them bleed out on purpose.

In your loadouts you have several options as described above, you must decide what type of player you want to create. My attacking players are fast and carry lots of explosives, my defensive players are slow and carry extra armor so I can defend a point longer. This is where you choose what type of player you want to be.

Online Community
The online community seems to be that of a more mature group of people. This game is not made for people who do not understand a team concept. The best part about the community set up is that you never hear the opposition before or after the game, this eliminates all the trash talking and childishness of other games. You will never hear "I pwned you I'm so leetzor and i r b bestest player everest! You suck!" This is one of the best parts of this game, I was so sick of hearing all the trash talk in other games and it is very nice having a quiet lobby or a lobby that is actually talking about the game. The invite system has been fixed from the beta and it is pretty much flawless, it is very easy to invite someone to your group or join someone in game. You can talk to one another in the group lobbies which was not available in the final beta. The clan system is also working well, you have a leader, officers and regular members of the clan. These classifications mean nothing in the game only in the clan.

The community seems to be a great community and the people playing the game seem to be a more mature audience, this is a big plus for me and I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy the silence or game talk in a lobby rather than a mouthy child or someone listening to loud rap music.

Pros
No Lag
Dedicated Servers
Mature people playing the game. At least the ones I've played with.
Team based game, requires more than one player to win the game.
No glitching or cheating is allowed. The servers monitor the games and if they notice an irregularity it will investigate and ban people for cheating or glitching.
Weapons are balanced
Your character can be customized to suit your playstyle
A true soldier goes where he is needed, you need to play all the game types if you want your faction to win the war.

Cons
Leader dependent gaming can be a drawback if you have a poor leader.
Menus still seem a bit clunky and awkward to navigate.
Hit markers and bullet damage vary. Meaning sometimes 3 hit markers will cause someone to die while other times 10 hit markers will not drop someone.
Snipers seem to be a bit underpowered at the beginning but when upgraded are much better.
Spawning times are very long.
Spawn killing can occur which is annoying if you have to wait a long time to respawn.

Final Words
The extensive beta was very helpful for this game. If you played from the private betas through to the final game you will see a vastly different game. The game has been improved in leaps and bounds and has become a revolutionary game. No other game offers 256 players in one game on one map. Almost all of the hiccups in the beta have been addressed and fixed. There are a few minor problems with the game but overall I think this game has hit the nail on the head and will draw in a group of people who enjoy shooters and team work.

Final Score
8.5
This game has improved a full point from the beta, something other games should take note of. The broken portions of the game have been fixed and there is nothing gamebreaking in the game. Overall this is a very addictive game and fun to play.