Leveling Down

What is Leveling Down all about?

Leveling Down originally started as a blog created by me to detail my gaming thoughts as a hardcore oldschool gamer who is now settling down into family life. Along the way, cmfl3x volunteered to contribute to the blog, and since then the two of us have been posting new entries every weekday ranging from impressions to thoughts and strategies on anything game related. After all, we live heavy gaming lives, but with both of us having gotten married, we realize that there are certain things that have to be cut back on.

Our hardcore gaming passions still burn strong and we continue to get super excited about new games which is why we continue to write profusely about gaming. With Leveling Down we hope to find new friends that not only enjoy our writing, but also want to play games with us.

If you feel that you’re in a similar situation as us - a hardcore gamer that is now starting to have less time but still enjoying playing to win, please introduce yourself by commenting on our entries, participating in our forums, or even befriending us on Live or Steam. We’d love to be able to count on those of you when it comes time to playing anything online and have our own little community here.

Often times, I’ll just get friends requests on Live and eventually I’ll get an invite to some game from the “friend” but not know anything about the person. “Is this guy really my friend? Am I going to really enjoy playing something online with him?” Hopefully in the Leveling Down community we’ll all know each other and have fun together.

Just be aware of the motto of Leveling Down: “Play to win – unless the wife says no.”

- espion4ge

espion4ge’s Bio

I’ve been playing video games since the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES, when I got it as a kid with Duck Hunt. I fondly remember various games on the NES like Crystalis, StarTropics, Bionic Commando, River City Ransom, etc. Through the years I’ve played through and beaten hundreds of various games, and owned practically every console, and gone pretty hardcore. I’ve led various clans/guilds for PC games such as Quake, Quake II, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft. I’ve even sat atop the Warcraft III East ladder with my brother for a short period of time back in the day. I used to love fighting games, RPGs, and RTS games growing up, but these days I tend to end up focusing on action/adventure games most. Not a huge fan of sport games at all, but I do enjoy the Burnout racing games – that’s probably the closest I’ll get to playing and enjoying a sports game.

Being a recently married person with a day job, I only have perhaps a couple hours each night to play video games, but I never fail to turn on that 360 each night after dinner. I decided to start reviewing the games I went through on a blog because my wife believed that other gamers may be able to benefit from the wealth of information and gaming experiences I’ve had and continue to digest. After all, many people see my Gamerscore and are shocked. Might as well give those that are more curious a place to see my thoughts.

My “handle”, espion4ge, comes from Metal Gear Solid. I enjoyed the series a lot, but I’m not a fanatic. It just so happened one day about 10 years ago I was trying to think of a new account name to use for Starcraft, and my Metal Gear Solid PS1 game was sitting there on my desk. I took a look at its cover and picked out the the name espionage from “Tactical Espionage Action”, and ever since then it’s stuck. Of course, with “espionage” already taken in various online outlets like XBox Live, I had to resort to a slight variation of the name.

espion4ge’s Current Gaming Collection

Xbox 360 Backlog:
(my current proposed order from top to bottom)
Dante’s Inferno
Mass Effect 2
Darksiders
Army of Two: The 40th Day
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Ghostbusters
Prototype
Way of the Samurai 3
Castle Crashers
Call of Duty: World at War: Nazi Zombies DLC
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.
Magna Carta 2
Fallout 3 GotY
Raiden IV
Lego Rock Band
Civilization Revolution
Guitar Hero 5
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Tales of Vesperia
Saints Row 2
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Dead or Alive 4
Marvel vs Capcom 2

Xbox 360 Permanent Collection:
A Kingdom for Keflings
Army of Two
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed II
Band Hero
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Battlefield 1943
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
Battlefield: Bad Company
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Bayonetta
Bionic Commando ReArmed
BioShock
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Limited Edition
Borderlands
Brutal Legend
Burnout Paradise
Burnout Revenge
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: World at War
Crackdown
Dead Rising
Dead Space
Devil May Cry 4
Dragon Age:  Origins
Fable 2
Final Fantasy XIII
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Guitar Hero 2
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Halo 3
Halo 3: ODST
Halo Wars
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
Mass Effect
Mirror’s Edge
Ninja Gaiden II
Pure
Resident Evil 5
Rock Band
Rock Band 2
Shadow Complex
Shadowrun
Soul Calibur IV
Street Fighter IV
Tekken 6
The Club
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GotY
The Orange Box
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Virtua Fighter 5: Online

Released 360 titles to potentially pick up/rebuy (at the right price)
Bladestorm
DJ Hero
BioShock 2
Metro 2033
Deadly Premonition
Resonance of Fate
Splinter Cell: Conviction

PC Games Backlog:
(my current proposed order from top to bottom)
Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
Tropico 3
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI
Torchlight
Team Fortress 2
World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Crysis
Crysis: Warhead
Battlefield 2 Collection

cmfl3x’s Bio