Tournament players give verdict on MAG

A quick survey of attendees at last night's MAG tournament revealed 9 out of 10 Eurogamer readers prefer the game to - gasp - Modern Warfare 2. And would in fact give it 9 out of 10.

"I got to play the MAG open beta and that was fascinating, it was completely different," said Sasha, a 37-year-old Londoner. "I was playing Modern Warfare 2 before that and this is just a cut above. I'm more of a person that's into chaos, bigger squads, bigger maps. I'm not a small map person."

So what scores would you give each game, Sasha? "Modern Warfare, for the twitch gaming, it's a 7/10. MAG, for the amount of strategy you can incorporate into the game - I'd give it 9/10."

Several readers suggested the quality of your MAG experience will depend on how good you are at teamwork. "This is the first time I've played it. It's a little bit confusing but I'm sure once I've got the whole communication thing and I learn to follow orders, it will be even better," said Alastair, 27, from Winchester.

Better than Modern Warfare 2, though? "Ooh, controversial... I think it could, possibly, given the size of the teams, the scale of the battles and the size of the environments. Yes, it has the potential to be better than Modern Warfare 2. It's a more drawn-out game, there are much more tactics involved... Hell, why not? Yes, it's better than Modern Warfare 2."

Scores? "Can't I give half-marks? Better round it up for MAG - 9 - and I'll go with an 8 for Modern Warfare."

"It was good fun and it's a a great team game," said 28-year-old Themis. "Everyone should play and stop playing Modern Warfare because that sucks."

But not everyone was so keen. "If you had a plan and a nice squad it could be better, but with strangers, I'm not sure how it stacks up against Modern Warfare 2," said 18 year-old Londoner Adi.

There's also a question mark over whether MAG will be able to win over a wider audience. Self-professed non-gamer Ciaran, 19, also from London, said he didn't know whether the game was good enough to make him buy a PS3. "It feels more like an Xboxy sort of game. But the fact you can play online with so many different people is cool, I like that."

MAG did manage to win over a few skeptics last night. "When they announced how many people would be able to play it, there were guffaws. Universally it was just laughed at, the idea you could get that many people playing a game and it would be enjoyable," said Colin, 37, another Londoner. "I think tonight's shown that it is, and it works, and it's good fun."

So would Colin be buying a copy himself? "No, because I'm getting it for free," he pointed out, to universal guffaws. "But yes, I'd tell my friends to buy it, definitely."

Look out for our official opinion in the Eurogamer review of MAG, coming soon.