Leveling Down

Ever sit down and think what your ideal engagement range for first person/third person shooter games is? I was musing over this thought myself recently after playing several of these games with some friends and thinking about why I’m excited for Modern Warfare 2 tomorrow. I noticed that most of my friends play differently, and for a shooter, there seems to be an ideal range that people prefer to engage enemies at. This “epiphany” may actually lead me to understand the primary reason why I am not a huge fan of hugely popular online shooters like Halo and Gears of War – my ideal range doesn’t seem to be handled the way I like.

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I just reacquired Call of Duty: World at War. Yeah, it seems silly with Modern Warfare 2 right around the corner, along with the fact that I did not enjoy the multiplayer for Call of Duty: World at War much at all, but the zombie mode had me wanting the game again.

This past weekend is the first time I’ve ever actually paid money for map packs to a game on the 360.  With all the map packs on sale for $5 each, I sprang for all three. Ironically, I wasn’t even buying the map packs for the 9 multiplayer maps that all three map packs gave me access to. I was buying the three map packs because each of them had a new zombie map with new features and gameplay. The zombie mode in Call of Duty: World at War is serious business!

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Playing as a Siren is a lot of fun since her phasewalk ability is a great super!

I’ve never played an MMO. I don’t know what it means to “Ding!” a level. I’ve never been too into getting “loot”. So when espion4ge starting peer pressuring me to get Borderlands, I wasn’t really buying. But with all the positive press out there, and my friends all going nuts about the game, I decided to give it a shot, and figured I’d might as well write about it. So – was it worth it?

Well, to keep this short: the jury’s out. Borderlands is a great game, but it definitely hasn’t gripped me like it has the rest of my friends list. I keep thinking about Modern Warfare 2, and even played a game of Halo Wars the other day. I definitely see how the game is addicting: it’s fun to turn in quests, to level up and to trick out my character (I’m playing as a Siren) in a way that suits my playstyle. It is very satisfying to phasewalk and burn a bunch of bandits up in the process.

At the same time, I find Borderlands a lot less fun to play by myself. I spend most of my solo time just getting to a point where I can play with others. The game isn’t really fun to me unless everyone is at around the same level, so I’ve spent time on my own to level up to a point where I can play with my friends. That being said, going on missions with friends is a lot of fun, and the enemies definitely drop more interesting loot. I really dig playing this game with friends, and if some of your friends are playing it you should definitely consider picking it up. I’m just not sure I’ll still be playing it when (Ding!) Modern Warfare 2 comes out, but I guess I’ll find out next week!

If you have been a reader of Leveling Down since back to the early part of this year, you’ll probably remember when cmfl3x and I listed the five titles we were each anticipating most for this year. Sadly, Dragon Age: Origins remains one of the only two from my original list of five that are actually going to make it out this year.

Before I was an Xbox gamer, I was a PC gamer. That meant Doom, Quake, Tribes, Unreal, Command & Conquer, Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft, etc. I was also a huge fan of PC RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, etc. To this day, Baldur’s Gate 2 may be my favorite PC RPG ever. Then Bioware moved on to Neverwinter Nights, which I tried but disliked due to the fact that it was heavily online-based and there wasn’t a strong single-player game. Bioware further moved down on my list when they decided to start making console RPG games like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire on the Xbox. I tried out Star Wars KotOR and was shocked at how simplified it was compared to Baldur’s Gate, and just couldn’t get into it. Bioware was practically dead to me in the early to mid 2000’s.

A couple years ago, Bioware released Mass Effect on the Xbox 360, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. Granted, it nicely appealed to my shooter and RPG loves, so I was able to set aside its simplistic RPG gameplay design (such as the equipment system). Once Bioware announced Dragon Age: Origins as a “spiritual successor” to Baldur’s Gate, I couldn’t help but weep with glee. I’m sure there are many of us out there that are applauding this return to form for Bioware as well.

The problem is, now that Bioware is firmly entrenched in developing for both the PC and Xbox 360, they’ve decided to release Dragon Age: Origins for both systems (as well as the PS3). That puts me into somewhat of a conundrum over which system to buy it over: buy it on the PC to respect my love for playing Baldur’s Gate on the PC, or buy it on the 360 where I enjoy most of my gaming today. Sadly, it’s not so simple – there are specific features inherent to both versions of the game that make it difficult to judge.

First off, Dragon Age: Origins is not like Mass Effect where you’re controlling just the protagonist – you’re controlling a party and need to strategize over what each member is doing. How can you do that on the 360? This especially makes me wonder because the PC allows you to zoom out so you get the classic Baldur’s Gate view on all your characters, instead of the over-the-shoulder style view that console gamers are forced to play. And of course, the use of a keyboard and mouse may make the PC version more enjoyable to play as it’s kind of a hardcore party-based RPG. Some may argue about all the fan-made downloadable content on the PC, but I never cared for that stuff (also why I never got into the Neverwinter Nights franchise).

The 360 version has one of the “strongest” reasons to buy a 360 version of any multiplatform game’s release today: Live. This means not only Achievements, but the fact that your friends can see you playing the game (so I can advertise that I am playing a game I love) or communicate with you as you’re playing. And of course, you can play the game from the comfort of your couch. It’s a tough decision, but the Live support has me leaning slightly more towards the 360 side – even if the controls and the graphics won’t be as good. If only Dragon Age: Origins was released on the PC with Live support – then I would have easily picked up the PC version. Ah well…it looks like I may wait for some initial reviews first to see how the 360 version of the game controls just to be safe. Expect me to write up on one (or even both!) versions at some point in the future…

I will defeat you this time…maybe.

At various times, espion4ge has chronicled various stages of his “leveling down.” Last night I made a leveling down type decision, as I decided not to go for the full 1000 points in Batman: Arkham Asylum. In addition, I decided not to pull the trigger on Borderlands, although I would have loved to play co-op with espion4ge. But I’ve decided that I’m going to devote my current playing time to trying out a new experience instead of the 15+ hours it would take me to get the last 230 GP in Arkham. Ah well…maybe in next year’s doldrums I’ll work on it. But anyway, as an attempt to be more “mature” and not waste any money on new games, I decided to revisit old titles that I never completed. Although I was tempted to try my $5 copy of Ninja Gaiden 2 and even removed it from the shrinkwrap, I ultimately settled on trying to finally finish a “classic”: Half Life 2 (on the Orange Box).

I’ve tried to play through Half Life 2 three times and never completed it. I’ve managed to get 2/3 of the way through, but I decided to start again from the beginning to get the full experience. After the first three chapters, I’m pretty impressed, especially considering the game is 5 years old. The great part about this game is it’s incredibly immersive. I never played Half Life and only know the story via Wikipedia, but even having not played the game, the opening sequence of Half Life 2 makes me feel I am thrust into a world full of oppression and pain. The voice acting is great, and even though Gordon Freeman never talks, everyone around him reacts to him which really makes me feel like I AM Gordon Freeman. Anyway, it’s all pretty neat, especially since the first two chapters start out kind of slowly and then ramp up into all sorts of craziness. Also, even though it’s a bit dated now, the physics and the use of gravity are really impressive.

As soon as I started this game (again) I can see why it’s considered a classic. Hopefully this time I can finally finish Half Life 2 (and Episodes 1 and 2). As of this writing that is my plan, but espion4ge just alerted me to a new deal at Amazon (buy over $80 worth of eligible games and get $40 credit). Curses…

One of my friends asked me last night if I was going to trade in Halo 3: ODST now that I had the 1000 in it. He was saying it gets something like $35, which is pretty good considering we ended up getting it for around that (or even less) when it first came out. In the past, I used to trade in practically any game I got all the Achievements I wanted in and moved onto the next game in my queue.

Over just this past year alone, I’ve started winding down on my gaming tendencies (yes, it’s hard to believe but I’m less hardcore today than I was years ago), and actually started missing games I had gotten rid of. So I started rebuying games that I knew I would want to replay again at some point, just for fun. Looking at my 360 collection today, I’ve realized that more than half of the games I currently own I’ve sold and reacquired.

Nowadays, I’ve decided that no matter how good of a deal it is to trade in/sell a game that I enjoyed, I won’t get rid of it since the amount of work it takes to reaquire the game just doesn’t make up for the nice little “deal” I got when I sold it. What majorly sucks is that several of the games I end up wanting to reacquire turn into Platinum Hits titles, and I hate that design. Therefore, I’m forced to scour used game bins or find people online to buy from that can get me non-platinum hits versions that are not all scratched like crazy. I feel like I’m in some sort of game rebuying netherworld where I’m paying for my mistakes. I owned these games in mint condition and now I’m spending time trying to track these same games down that will no way be in as good condition as when I owned them. Why couldn’t I just have been happy with my original copies and not sell them in the first place?

Currently, I’ve been spending the last few weeks trying to rebuy the following games:

Mass Effect – I actually want to replay through this before playing the sequel coming out early next year, but the tough part is of course finding a non-platinum hits version in great condition.

Assassin’s Creed – Like Mass Effect, I do want to play this game again before the sequel releases next month but have to find a non-platinum hits version in great condition.

Fable 2 – Platinum hits was announced to be released in January, so I still have time to reacquire this game and I know I will want to play through it again before Fable 3 releases.

The Orange Box – I actually have cravings from time to time to play Team Fortress 2, and while I own it on the PC, people on the PC are too hardcore (clans and whatnot) so I just want to play it casually with my 360 controller. Plus, I figure I will want to play Portal again from time to time.

Once I successfully repick up these titles, I’ll only have a few left to go. Good thing I didn’t sell Halo Wars since I do have cravings to play that game too. In any case, that’s my simple warning to you – if you feel like at some point you may want to replay a game (just because it was amazing, you’ll miss it, or a future sequel gets you to want to replay its predecessor, etc.), consider holding onto it. I want to spare you this ordeal that I’m going through today…

Now that the PS3 Slim is retailing for $300, more and more promotions and deals seem to bring the PS3 closer and closer to $200. So while I passed at $300, now that it may be possible to get it in the near future for $200, would I jump in then?

Here I have friends that wouldn’t be surprised at all if I got a PS3, as many of them know how much of a gamer I am. But then there’s my wife who would probably kill me if I got a PS3 since she’s expecting me to wind down on my gaming in general as I get older. At this age in life, money isn’t the problem – it’s time. I simply don’t have time to play all the games on both the 360 and PS3 and that was the conclusion I reached when the PS3 slim debuted.

But with it dropping closer to $200,  now I’m looking at it from a different angle: no longer a gaming system, but simply a media player. With practically all my media digital these days, the most attractive thing about the PS3 for me right now is that it’s a media streamer and it has wi-fi. Granted, I am using my current 360s for media streaming, but I feel that buying a 3rd 360 is a little too much (even if it could be the Modern Warfare 2 model!). Perhaps a PS3 fits the bill to give me a little more variety – especially if the cost is comparabile to a 360 Arcade. Ideally, I’d want a 360 or PS3 hooked up to every TV in the house, just for media streaming purposes off my server (yes, I’m a geek). In fact, I may not even buy a PS3 game at all once I own a PS3 and simply use it for media streaming and the occasional Blu-ray.

Considering a DVD player with Divx and USB 2.0 support already runs close to $100, for a little more than double that I can get network media streaming, wi-fi, Blu-ray, and the option to play PS3 games. At $200 it seems like it’s a no-brainer. So yes, as hardcore a 360 gamer I am, for $200, I may just buy the PS3 – but interestingly enough, not to play games. Anyone else thinking about jumping in if you can pick one up for $200?

I love achievements. Even though my wife says the greatest achievement I have ever unlocked is “most hours spent in front of glowing screens” (that was for Vidmaster: Endure in Halo 3: ODST), I still really enjoy trying to “achieve” these meaningless rewards. It makes me wonder though, have achievements changed how I play games, or was it me who changed?

An example: in Left 4 Dead, once I finished the Expert campaigns, the game began to be less fun. It was okay to run through a campaign, but with no sound effect at the end of the tunnel, I found it less exciting. Same with ODST and the Firefight maps: will I ever go back and play them after I’ve unlocked the achievements? Firefight is a mode I could potentially have seen myself playing endlessly, but I know that thanks to the achievements, I’m not really gonna want to go back after I finish the 200Ks. If those achievements didn’t exist though, I might just keep playing to keep trying to beat my top score. But since achievements arbitrarily define these “top scores” in a lot of games, it takes away my inner desire to beat myself because I know what mark I have to get to to prove to the world my skill.

When I was a younger gamer, I just use to play games over and over because I loved them. I must have beaten Super Mario Bros. 3 like 6 or 7 times, and gotten to the last stage a bunch of other times as well. I used to race against the computer in Mario Kart 64 just for fun (though some of the shenaningans the computer pulled in 150cc drove me nuts), and I even played through the original Halo multiple times just for fun. Nowadays I can’t see myself doing that anymore. It’s partly because I don’t have the time, but it’s also because once I get all the achievements I want, I don’t have the motivation to play anymore. The only exception is multiplayer games I love: Halo 3 and Modern Warfare took up hours and hours of my life and I never really wanted to stop.

I guess in a way achievements made it easier to fit my gaming habits into my changing life habits. Now that I have goals in games to strive for, I can budget out the amount of time I’ll need to play, and that way I can balance my time better. It’s not as “pure” as when I was a kid, but let’s face it: I’m not a kid anymore, and I have responsibilities that are much more important than beating games 50 times. Instead, I can just focus on the achievement for beating a game twice and then go to bed!

Recently, some kid sent me a voice message on Xbox Live. I had never heard of the person before, and because it was a voice message instead of a typed message, I suspected it would be a heckler. And sure enough, when I listened to the message, it was!

I couldn’t quite make it out, but the message went something like:

“You have no life. You have like 46 games with like a thousand freaking gamerscore. Get a life man! I don’t even have that much and people are telling me to get a life. This is sad!”

What compels someone to do that? You see someone with a gamerscore you consider “too high”, and instead of going about your merry way, you get consumed with enough rage that you have to let the person know you don’t approve of what he’s doing? It’s not like an anonymous message either – I checked the profile of the person that sent me the message and he’s some kid that pretty much primarily plays Halo 3.

Is it insecurity? Maybe since other people have already told him to “get a life” he needs to pass it on to someone he thinks he can step on to feel better about himself. From looking at his gamertag, he puts his location as “Where i destroyed u”. So he must be competitive or something if he’s “talking trash” in his profile. But since I enjoy completing my games and he either doesn’t or can’t, he needs to actually reach out and express to me that he’s not a fan of me playing games.

Does he feel that much better after sending a message to a stranger and then going back to play Halo 3, forgetting all about that incident? Maybe he found my gamertag from checking a recently played with list for one of his friends, in the single online Halo 3 multiplayer match I played recently. This really isn’t helping the stereotype of the typical Halo 3 player: obnoxiously ignorant (yet sometimes ridiculously skilled) adolescents. If I continued to stick around and play Halo 3 multiplayer, I’d probably be getting more of these types of messages.

Thankfully, these type of kids aren’t as prevalent in Call of Duty 4. If I do see him in Modern Warfare 2 though, let’s just say I will have to teach him some manners.

Will this three pieced singer be gracing my TV screen next month?

Every bone in my alternative, grunge-loving, rock and roll body (aka my childhood) finds the upcoming casual-friendly Lego Rock Band and Band Hero games kind of gross. Taylor Swift? Janet Jackson? BRYAN ADAMS? These are the artists being rolled out for Lego Rock Band (Harmonix) and Band Hero (Activision) in the two companies’ latest attempt to cash in on the music game craze. Yet, the older, more mature, and lamer side of me is intrigued by both these games.

Harmonix’s game I’m sure will be made with the high standards all the Rock Band games have had (although I’m not sure how Lego David Bowie and Lego Iggy Pop are going to look different), and there are a lot of catchy tunes on there, including the aforementioned Bryan Adams “Summer of 69′”, Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin”, and the one song I would like to play: Europe’s “The Final Countdown”. Band Hero counters with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression that I Get”, Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting”, and the CTY classic “American Pie”, by Don McLean.

These games and their tracklists present me with two dilemmas:

1) I would feel like a corporate sellout playing these songs. At the same time, pop songs are so catchy and they seem like they would be genuinely fun to play, especially with friends or my wife.

2) I really shouldn’t be spending any more money on music games. There are tracks on both discs that I would love to try out, but I can’t shell out $120 on more music games, especially when I’m still planning on picking up Guitar Hero 5 eventually! This is getting out of hand.

In the end, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I don’t even need reviews, I’m pretty sure both games will be much of the same. If I had tweenage kids it probably would be a no-brainer, and I think a lot of families will have fun with these games, but as a solo act…I might have to pass………or not. Bah!