Leveling Down

Since its inception, Leveling Down has been about the thoughts of two hardcore gamers as we scale back in our gaming lifestyles. During this time, we have reduced the number of games we purchased and played, the amount of time we played, the number of achievements pursued, the number of blog entries each week, and many other aspects of our gaming lives as we grow older. Where has all the time gone? We now have more responsibilities in our lives, and struggle with just trying to find time each day to get some good quality gaming in.

The end of this year marks the next phase of our Leveling Down journey: the end the blog. With such limited time to play now (let alone write about gaming), and perhaps even the real world affecting the way we review our games, we believe it’s the logical next step for us. We’ll still try to keep on gaming for the foreseeable future, so find us on Xbox Live, PSN, Steam, Battle.net, etc. Thanks for all of your support and see you online!

- espion4ge

I’d also like to thank our fans who have supported and read the blog over the years. As we’ve been leveling down, it’s been a privilege to share in that experience with you all, even online. I also would like to extend my personal gratitude to espion4ge for giving me the chance to write and play with him here. It has been a lot of fun and I’m glad for the opportunity.

Like espion4ge said, it’s a good time for both of us to end the blog – especially considering I’ll be playing Skyrim for the next three months! Peace out everyone, it’s been a blast.

- cmfl3x

I think I’m getting old, because it took me awhile to figure out what even came out this year. Still, I’ve managed to put together a list of my favorite games of the year. 2011 was a bit weird, I didn’t really feel like there were any new IPs that got me excited – instead it was a year filled with sequels. Well done sequels, but sequels nonetheless. Nevertheless, there were a lot of games worth playing, even if I didn’t get around to them all.

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Another year is almost over. Time sure flies these days! Over the course of this past year, I feel like I’ve leveled down the most since the blog started in 2008. By the end of 2011, my gaming library has dwindled down to only a fraction of the games I owned at the beginning of the year (I only own 2 PS3 games now!), I’ve actually skipped the purchase of several notable titles I would have usually bought (Dead Island, Catherine, Dark Souls, etc.), and generally feel like I may not even be buying more than a handful of games going forward (perhaps only Diablo III and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm next year).

For our last entries of 2011, cmfl3x and I decided on providing our thoughts on our game of the year for 2011 as well as any other reflections on the year. As you can see from above, my thinking is that I’ve leveled down a lot over this past year. But, I did enjoy some games this past year as well! Hit the jump for my favorite games of 2011.

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It may look like it belongs on the SNES, but To the Moon is much more than an old looking game

Regular readers of this site know I’m a sucker for strong narrative in my games. When I think about narrative driven games, Uncharted, Bioshock, and a select few others come to mind. Now, I can add To the Moon to that list, albeit in a totally different kind of way. To the Moon is a small indie game released on PC, and is an excellent piece of storytelling in digital form. I played through the entire game in four hours last night – and enjoyed almost every minute of it.

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Good old Remington…is the ACR MW3′s most popular assault rifle?

I haven’t been going as strong with Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer since I’ve been spending most of my time these last several days trying to accomplish two things: 3-star all Modern Warfare 3′s Special Ops missions and beat Gears of War 3 on Insane difficulty. I succeeded in the Special Ops missions (the last few were pretty rough), and am now trying to beat Gears of War 3 on Insane before 12/25 as per Tom Cruise. I’m trying to fulfill his Impossible Mission! But, other than that, I have been spending time with Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer, and am going to spend this week’s entry discussing my thoughts on my favorite (and sometimes least favorite) weapons, equipment, and attachments for Team Deathmatch play.

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This will be me in a few weeks. Until then: UAV online!

Unfortunately, I haven’t played enough new content for a new post, but I’ve been playing enough games to do a thoughts post. The simple fact of the matter is, I’m addicted to Modern Warfare 3 (50 hours and counting). The real question is, can anything change that?

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Recon is one of the strongest new Perks in Modern Warfare 3

Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sit on my game shelf sealed. Uncharted 3 sits in my Playstation 3 and I’ve literally forced myself to play the game but always quit after completing one chapter. I’ve made it about halfway through that game. All four of these titles are big games that I would be totally stoked to play, if I wasn’t so into Modern Warfare 3.

It’s crazy – I cannot tear myself away from Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer – even knowing that I should be playing through and beating those other single player games quickly so I can sell them, but I cannot resist the allure of turning on Modern Warfare 3 any moment I have time to game. cmfl3x is probably the same way, since it seems like he’s playing it nearly as much as I am! (We’re each probably closing in on 40 hours logged in the multiplayer) In any case, since all I’m playing is Modern Warfare 3 these days, I’ll probably be posting Modern Warfare 3 themed entries through the rest of this month. For this week, I’ll share my thoughts on the Perks specifically from a Team Deathmatch point of view.

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Unfortunately, Raiden is still in this game

Metal Gear Solid has long been one of my favorite series (although only espion4ge has the right to say it gave him a gamertag!). I still remember watching my friend play through the entire Tanker chapter of MGS2 without even having a memory card to save on. When the new Metal Gear Solid HD Collection was released, I saw and seized the opportunity to own two of my favorite games of all time and a third game (Peace Walker) that I had never played.

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Modern Warfare 3 brings the craziness of the Modern Warfare franchise to new heights

Almost a month later, I’ve managed to make my way through Modern Warfare 3′s campaign, hit the first Prestige in Multiplayer, and spent some limited time with the Special Ops. I can finally write up a review for the biggest game of the year. Considering how much time cmfl3x and I have been spending with Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer, it’s a wonder if we ever get a chance to play anything else. Hit the jump for my thoughts on all three sections of the game.

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Installation 04 looks better than ever

Let’s start by calling Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary what it is: a cheap money grab playing off the tenth anniversary of the Halo franchise. With that business out of the way, let me point out what else the Anniversary edition is: a beautiful looking re-enactment of the classic that kept the Xbox alive. Surprisingly, the game still feels relatively fresh all things considered, although things that were annoying ten years ago still are annoying now. Is it worth checking out, or for die hards only?

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