Watching Credits

For some reason I always watch the credit-crawl after finishing a game or movie. I read every name (if possible). You learn a lot about who’s-who and the development process. When I finished Splinter Cell: Conviction, it lists all the names of the actors of all the different languages. Since I have been lax in my reporting, here are the games I finished the first 6 months this year.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Great game! A beautiful action game with an engaging story. I've not played much of the on-line component.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox360) Finished the confusing campaign quickly. I've done most of the Special Ops boards. The real joy is in the on-line multiplayer. On the PS3, I've only played the muliplayer. I also bought the DLC for both systems at $15 a pop. Not worth it.

Dead Space (Xbox360) What a fun game! Slightly scary; the best part is the sound.

Borderlands (Xbox360) FPS RPG I thougt it got boring after a while. I played as the Siren Lilith. Just recently we started play this with online multiplayer. The color/art style was unique.

BioShock 2 (Xbox360) Another winner from 2K. I enjoyed this one almost as much as Bioshock. The controls are better, the exciting world is unchanged, and the story is good. I just does not have that sense of wonder when I first entered Rapture. I'm waiting on friends to play the muliplayer portion.

God Of War (PS3 - redone in HD) What an amazing game! Great story and puzzles. Gameplay kept evolving. I was completely entertained. I'm going to start GoW2 before I get GoW3.

Splinter Cell Conviction This game had the longest credits I have ever seen - movies included. Half way through the sound stopped. Oh, the game. It was OK. Good stealth play. I liked the addition of the assignation function. I've started the Special Ops boards, but I would like to play with someone.

Still working on:

Perfect Dark (Xbox360) An HD upgrade to the N64 classic. Red Alert: Command and Conquer 3 (PS3) This is hard. Halo ODST meh Ghostbusters (Xbox360) meh Brutal Legend (Xbox360) The originality wore off about half way through.

An army of one

I played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last night. You might reply, “Wow Anguissette, how is that different from 90% of the nights since COD4 came out in November 2007?”

Yes, it’s true, I pay first-person war games a lot, but last night I found a new kind of fun. Normally I play Hard Core Team Deathmatch: no radar; no kill camera; higher damage; and a much higher quality of people. A person who plays the run-and-gun style usually ends with K/D ratio near 1 at best; the better players are often accused of “camping.” It is a patient game where a methodic strategy usually dominates. Last night I played Free-for-All. But I used the Hard Core strategy. My best load-out had stealth in mind – especially a gun with a silencer. (In the standard core games, the radar is always ON. If you fire an unsuppressed weapon, you show up on everyone’s map.) I used claymores and patiently waited for the runners to come. They came; they died; they watched on the kill cam. Pride is a dangerous thing. When you are outsmarted by an adversary, many times, your desire for revenge takes over and you seek revenge. In Free-for-All, all mics are open: you hear the guy you just popped shout in anger; followed by his threat to return the favor. I remained silent for the most part, adjusting my position for his likely return. I stayed in the same area, but never in the same spot. How did I do? In 3+ hours of work, I ALWAYS won the best Kill-to-Death ratio accolade. I didn’t always place in the top 3 (which counts as a win), but when you end with a 10-2, who cares? My best was 30-2: MVP player (game is over when a player hits 30 kills) and master of the combatants. I got the AC130 kill-streak reward (11 kills) in three games in a row. Usually I quit when my play deteriorates, last night I stopped out of responsibility to my employer. Next time Anguissette is on-line and solo, you will find him in the Free-for-All matches. (Until I get board and move on to Search and Destroy.)