Leveling Down

Who would you rather play as in a video game?

The fall TV season is upon us, which leads to this equation: New TV Shows + Old TV Shows + Starcraft II + Halo: Reach + Fallout: New Vegas in 3 weeks = Mrs. cmfl3x is not a happy camper. One day, when I figure out how to maintain a better balance, I will write an article about that. Today is not that day.

Instead, what with all the rectangular screens I’m staring at these days, I started wondering what TV shows would work well as a video game. Really, there is only ONE game that I’d really want to see, but I added a few more for good measure. Check it out!

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The Terran wall-in allows Terran players to rush Reapers with little repercussion.

Up next in my series of Starcraft 2 strategy articles is how to attack and defend against Terran Reapers in the early game. Even with the recent patch that increased the amount of time to produce Reapers from a Barracks, they are still quite effective in the early game when used the right way. Hit the jump if you want to learn how to use the Terran Reaper unit effectively or to better defend against them in the early game for multiplayer matches.

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Proxy Gateways allow your Zealots to potentially overwhelm an opponent’s base early.

With Starcraft 2 still continuing to take up my limited gaming time these days, I decided that I would write up a few more strategy articles for the early game that can help some of you out. The first such article I’m going to kick off with today is how to perform and defend against a Protoss Proxy rush – be it Photon Cannons or Gateways. This article will apply to both 1v1 and team games. Hit the jump if you’re interested in learning more about this early game strategy for Protoss.

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You can customize the look of your Spartan for both single and multiplayer

Remember Reach. Although Halo has always been a multiplayer focused game, the series has also created a plethora of lore and fiction over the past decade. Since Master Chief’s “trilogy” ended, Bungie has extended the Halo lore with Halo Wars, Halo ODST, and now Halo: Reach. The question has always been, will people care about a Halo story without Master Chief? Will Bungie be able to tell any stories worth remembering? Or will Reach go out with a whimper, not a bang. Hit the jump for my Halo Reach campaign impressions (ONLY campaign, no multiplayer to be found in this article), and see whether Reach is a story worth remembering. Slight spoilers ahead, but only if you don’t have any common sense or have absolutely no idea what The Fall of Reach or 300 are.

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Starcraft 2 has several multiplayer modes. What should you play first when you start?

As someone with over 300 games in Starcraft 2 retail under my belt (and even more if you count the beta), I am still running into some friends and readers that are just starting out with Starcraft 2′s multiplayer and may wonder what’s the best way to start (and get better) at multiplayer: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4? In all honestly, all of these matchup types are  different, and can each be a great learning experience depending on the type of player you are. I have a general recommended order though, and I will discuss the positives and negatives of each mode if you want to start Starcraft II multiplayer.

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The Blizzard Authenticator can provide an extra layer of security to your Starcraft 2 login.

For long time readers of Leveling Down, you probably remember months ago when my battle.net account got hacked and some Chinese gold farmer got access to my battle.net account, changed the password, activated my Wrath of the Lich King expansion trial, logged in with my character, and sold all of my items. I was able to work with Blizzard to get all of digital loot back, and changed my battle.net email account and password to be safe. A commenter on this site mentioned that his account got hacked because he fell for a fake Blizzard email as well. After receiving a genuine looking Cataclysm email from Blizzard, I was still concerned whether it was a fake one in some form or another, so I decided to follow Blizzard’s recommended approach for safeguarding my account – I bought the Blizzard Authenticator.

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Limbo is a very dark game – in more ways than one

A young boy wakes up in a dark, desolate forest. He blinks twice, then stands up. The eerie sounds of the forest surround him, only to be broken up by the sound of his footsteps as he embarks on a long, dangerous journey. This is the world of Limbo.

If I had my druthers, I would still be playing Starcraft. But for you – the readers – I made a small $15 dollar investment in the indie title Limbo on XBLA, a game by Playdead that burst onto the scene after making big waves amongst indie developers. Was it worth the money and the time away from Starcraft? You’ll have to hit the jump to find out!

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I didn’t think that my recent performance was good enough to move to 4v4 Diamond, but ok!

The Fall season of gaming kicks off this week for those of us here at Leveling Down with the release of Halo: Reach tomorrow so hopefully cmfl3x and I will have more non-Starcraft 2 related articles to write about. Of course, with me still spending most of my time playing Starcraft 2 these days, I have another update to share. This update marks a definitely turning point in my Starcraft 2 time, as I’ve basically accomplished everything I cared to do playing the game on my own time. Read on for what I’ve completed as of this past weekend and my future with Starcraft 2.

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Starcraft II introduces several new units such as the Protoss Colossus and the Terran Marauder.

It seems kind of silly to write a review on the behemoth known as Starcraft 2 now that cmfl3x and I have posted several articles since the beta on Starcraft 2 strategies, impressions, and general thoughts. But having finally completed the game and played over 250 games of the retail multiplayer, I felt that maybe I should write up something for those that are on the fence or those that don’t even play games on the PC (or RTS games in general). This review is for you guys. Anyone else that already is a fan – you should already have the game by now!

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If you’re ever in Seattle, there are some cool museums by the Space Needle

I took a trip to Seattle and Portland for a wedding this past Labor Day weekend fully intending to write impressions of Dragon Quest IX when I got back. Days later, Dragon Quest IX is in shrink wrap primarily for two reasons: Starcraft and reading. On the way out my seat had a power outlet (sweet!) so I spent my time watching SC2 replays and then rewatching all the cutscenes from the game. On the way back, dare I say, I read a book. With words. On PAPER. It blew my mind. Regardless, I had gaming on the mind all weekend, so commence rambling!

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