With Modern Warfare 2 being the biggest title of this holiday season (and probably the year), many gamers may pick this up and are interested in getting into the multiplayer, but are overwhelmed by all of the things that Modern Warfare 2 expects the player to understand. That’s where this article comes in. I’m writing this article from a viewpoint of you as a reader having never played any of the recent Call of Duty games online (but of course, I’m hoping you’ll have understood general first person shooter mechanics). In this article, I’ll explain what perks are, kill-streak rewards, leveling up, general strategies and tips for improving your game, etc. I will focus the article towards Team Deathmatch, since it is the most popular mode for Call of Duty multiplayer games and the easiest one to learn. Once you digest this information, the skills you learn for Team Deathmatch will be more than enough if you decide to move towards more the objective-based multiplayer modes in the future.

Table of Contents
I. Why Call of Duty Multiplayer is Popular
II: The Basics
III. Customization
III. a. Profile Specific Customizations
III. b. Class Specific Customizations
III. c. Weapon Specific Customizations
IV. My Specific Tips for New Players

I. Why Call of Duty Multiplayer is Popular

Call of Duty 4 was a revolutionary change in multiplayer FPS games because it allowed for an unprecedented ability to customize the way you wanted to play online. In the past, FPS online games were about everyone starting the same, and for Team Deathmatch, it was about making your way to the weapon spawns and getting the powerful weapons before anyone else (as in the case for Halo 3). The Team Fortress mod in Quake changed that, letting players choose a particular class they wanted to play, and the class was outfitted with particular weapons and gear specific to its class. Team Fortress 2 is still quite popular today for that reason.

Call of Duty 4 (and consequently, World at War, and Modern Warfare 2) goes one step beyond Team Fortress’s allowing you to pick a class: in Call of Duty multiplayer, you can create your own classes. In fact, you can create several different classes, and change between them any time you die in multiplayer. In the class, you are not only able to customize what you want to use as your weapons and grenades, but Call of Duty 4 introduced something called Perks that you could customize. Perks are actual abilities that affect your class in a game. For example, one Perk may allow you to do more damage with your bullets, while another perk may allow you to penetrate walls when you shoot. Some allow you to even drop a grenade when you die or allow you to reload faster. There are dozens of Perks in the game, but the thing is, you are only allowed to utilize three Perks at a time. With players playing very differently, and their particular classes being different, the Perks revolutionized how the game was played. One Perk may be good for one class you’ve created – such as a faster reload perk for an SMG that runs out of ammo quickly, but not so good for a class you’ve created where you’re using a machine gun with over 100 rounds. It’s all about figuring out what perks work best for your play style.

With dozens of weapons and perks in the game, Call of Duty 4 implemented an RPG-like leveling system. You would gain experience points for your profile (which was the umbrella that all of your customized classes sat under) when you won matches, performed certain challenges, etc. As you leveled up, new weapons and Perks would get unlocked, allowing you more options to customize your classes. At the same time, these new unlocks were not necessarily better than what players started with, so the balance was still present because a level 1 player had weapons and Perks that were just fine in engaging a level 60 player with his unlocked weapons and Perks.

What also made Call of Duty 4 multiplayer unique was something called killstreak rewards. In Call of Duty 4, if you killed 3 players without dying, you were able to call in a UAV, alerting you to where all the opposing players were. Netting 5 kills in a row without dying allowed you to designate an airstrike on a particular area, and 7 kills gave you the opportunity to call down a chopper that would mow down any opponents out in the open. World at War and Modern Warfare 2 continue the killstreak rewards, with World at War allowing you to call in dogs at 7 kills and Modern Warfare 2 going even a step further to let you actually pick what you want to use when you get a high enough killstreak (that I will get to below).

So there you go – Call of Duty multiplayer is popular due to the sheer amount of customization you can have for your character, the leveling up aspect that drives you to keep playing to unlock new customization options, and killstreak rewards. Of course, support for team-based matchmaking also helped, and auto team-balancing between rounds went a long way as well.

Now, let’s get to some basics to understand before you dive into Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer:

II. The Basics

1. Determine Your Preferred Engagement Range
As mentioned in a previous article I wrote, it’s good to determine what your preferred engagement range with the enemy is. Do you like being as far away as possible? Do you like to be right up in their face? Figuring this engagement range out is important in a game like Modern Warfare 2 because you will want to create a class that best supports this range. The four engagement range archetypes that I see most are:

1. Point blank shotgun/melee
2. Close range SMG
3. Medium range assault rifle
4. Long range sniper rifle

Some have the patience to camp and wait as a sniper player, while others like to be up close and constantly on the move with an SMG. Forcing yourself to encounter enemies in a range different than the one you’re most effective with will cause your kill to death ratio to suffer, which could end up losing your team the match. Once your engagement range is set, it’s time to learn the maps and determine specific areas that provide your range an advantage. If you’re a medium range assault rifle player, you don’t want to be caught in high traffic apartments – you will get trounced by the closer ranged players. And if you prefer the SMG, don’t hang out in areas that players with a scoped rifle can pick you off before you close the gap.

2. Modern Warfare 2’s Damage System
Modern Warfare 2’s damage system is not much different from Call of Duty 4 or World at War – shots are very lethal. In Halo 3, you could be engaging another opponent and you end up both chucking grenades at each other, emptying your assault rifles, and finally, trying to close in and get the melee kill because the grenade and the full assault rifle cartridge were not enough to kill your opponent. What happens in Halo 3 is if you fired upon someone, they could actually fire back and potentially kill you if they were skillful enough. Modern Warfare 2 does not really allow this “dance” to happen once one player fires upon another. A headshot is a kill, regardless of the weapon. A melee swing (knife) is a kill, regardless of the direction your opponent is facing. A three round burst from the assault rifle can kill an opponent. One sniper rifle shot can kill an opponent. Bullets in Modern Warfare 2 do a lot of damage, and are relatively realistic (would you be able to get up in real life if you got shot with a sniper rifle?). What’s not realistic though, is the auto regeneration of health. If you are getting shot at, there is a possibility of taking cover and if you didn’t take enough damage to die, your health will fully regenerate.

3. Offense and Defense
Now that I’ve explained the damage system of Modern Warfare 2, you’ll probably realize that there is not much room for error in the game. If you shoot someone first, you should kill him. If you didn’t kill him, it was your own mistake because in Modern Warfare 2, the damage is set up in such a way that if you shoot first, the opponent should not be able to retaliate adequately before dying. This makes the game more defensive based – especially on urban maps. Players will desire to take defensive positions and look for advantages where they can get the first shot off because if they can do that, they can most likely get the kill. What mixes things up are indicators in the game that alert players to those that are camping and playing defensively. If you fire a shot from your gun without a suppressor, you will show up on the map so opponents will know where you are. If you kill someone, they can see from their Kill-cam exactly how you killed them and where you were. If the opponents kill you enough times, they can call in a UAV and learn where you are hiding. So while you can sit and camp all day, once a smart opponent knows where you are, they will come for you. This keeps players in the game constantly on the move. If you stay anywhere too long, you will be found.

Remember that you’re either going to be offensive or defensive in Modern Warfare 2. Defense means you’ve found a good area to sit down and control. This often means it’s an advantageous position such as a tall building or overlook with high enemy traffic that allows you to get kills easily. Being offensive will mean hunting you’re on the move. Being on the move is risky, especially if you don’t know a map since it gives the defensive players an opportunity to pick you off. But at the same time, defensive players will generally favor longer range weapons so if you can get in close enough, you can get the kill. Through the course of a game, players will constantly shift between offense and defense, and it is imperative to know when to hold something and when to go hunting.

4. Key Areas of Maps
Many of Modern Warfare 2’s maps have buildings with elevated positions that players can use. With bullets so effective in the game, Modern Warfare 2 has a greater reliance on using advantageous positions. Whatever it takes for you to get your shot off first gets you the gold. As players learn maps, there will be a general trend as both teams begin fighting to hold particular positions of advantage, which is usually an elevated position with a lot of cover and the ability to see most of the map. Once one team holds it, the other team often tries to break into it, so there is sort of a see-sawing back and forth as both teams try to secure and hold the location that will give their team the opportunity to get more kills. Learn these key points on every map, as they are equally important if you decide to hunt or to hunker down somewhere. If you want to play defensively, you can go set up in these spots, and if you are looking for enemies to kill, you should patrol near those spots.

5. The UAV
The UAV, or the Unmanned aerial vehicle, is a gameplay feature that was introduced in Call of Duty 4 and has since continued into World at War and now Modern Warfare 2. The UAV is a special reward that allows an aerial vehicle to scan the entire map and indicate basically all enemy team members to you. Remember that if an enemy fires a shot without a silencer, he will show up as a red dot on your map, but then gradually disappear. The UAV functions in a similar way, but constantly sweeps the map for about 45 seconds so you know where the enemies are. This is often times a perfect opportunity to go on the offensive, since you know where they are and they don’t know where you are. Pay attention to the audio queues in the game – of course you’ll notice when your team has a UAV, but you’ll also be told when the enemy has a UAV up as well. If the enemy knows where you are, that’s the time to consider sticking with your team so you don’t get easily picked off by yourself since they will be hunting you down. A good simple rule of thumb is if an enemy UAV is up, you try to play more defensively, but if your UAV is up, you should go more offensive and try to hunt them down.

6. Leveling Up & Prestige Mode
As you play Modern Warfare 2 online in any Xbox live game (not private matches), you will gain experience on your profile and level up accordingly. Killing other players, winning (or even losing) matches, and accomplishing specific in-game challenges nets you experience, which lets you rank up and every time you rank up, something new gets unlocked for you to customize for your character. Unlocks can range from new weapons, to new perks, to new killstreak rewards, etc. The max level cap in Modern Warfare 2 is level 70, so when you hit that, basically everything should be unlocked for you in the online game. The only things that will not be unlocked are weapon specific attachments, which generally revolve around getting enough kills with a particular weapon so if you’re not using those weapons, you won’t unlock their attachments.

When you hit Level 70, you have the option to enter Prestige Mode, which sends you back to Level 1, making you lose basically all of your unlocks that you earned on your way to Level 70. You’re basically starting over, but now the emblem next to your name will indicate that you are not just an ordinary level 1 player, but a Prestige level 1 player. There are 10 levels of Prestige, and in the past games, people have leveled all the way up to level 10 Prestige, maxing out and spending hundreds of hours in the process. So in the future, if you see some low level player but an icon you don’t recognize, it’s most likely a Prestige mode indicator.

III. Customization

Customization in Modern Warfare 2 can be ridiculously overwhelming, so hopefully I break this section down into pieces that are easier to digest. Just keep in mind that there are two customization pieces: ones done at the profile level and ones done at a class level.

III. a. Profile Specific Customizations

First off, let’s start with customizations that can be done for your overall profile. Your profile (i.e. your Gamertag), allows you to create several classes (once you hit level 5), and whatever customizations you create for your profile will carry through to any class you are playing.

1. Profile Specific Customization: Clan Tag
This is simply a four character text field that you can enter and it will appear in brackets before your name in any game you play. Often times this is used when players are a part of a clan, they all use the same clan tag to indicate that they’re together/know each other.

2. Profile Specific Customization: Titles & Emblems
As you play more and more online, you’ll notice an interesting bit of customization apparent with every player you see: a title and an emblem. Both of these are earned as you play online and are unlocked when you accomplish specific feats in the game. They do not provide any sort of tangible benefit but are more like vanity plates. If you unlocked a really difficult title and you choose to use it, others may quickly understand that you accomplished something difficult in order to get it. Or, you can use silly and playful ones that unlock as well. It’s up to you how you want your online persona to be presented.

3. Profile Specific Customization: Killstreaks
Killstreaks are “rewards” that are granted to you when you kill enough players in a row without dying. By default, you start with UAV as your 3-kill killstreak, a care package as your 4-kill killstreak, and a Predator Missle as your 5-kill killstreak. New to Modern Warfare 2 is the ability for your killstreaks rewards to stack, so if you were able to get a 5-kill killstreak with the default killstreak rewards, you would still be able to use the UAV, the care package, and the Predator Missle. In Call of Duty 4, if you got more kills and unlocked the next killstreak reward, you would lose your lower level killstreak reward.

Killstreaks are displayed on the bottom right hand side of the screen, indicated to the right of the d-pad. This means, for every killstreak, you want to hit right on your d-pad to bring it up and then hitting the right trigger to activate the killstreak reward. While your lower killstreak rewards are still preserved, you cannot cycle among them all – you still have to use your highest level killstreak reward first before it clears out of that right d-pad spot so you can use your other ones. I was actually able to get two turrets once as kill-streak rewards, and was able to put one down right after the other, so even the same killstreak reward will stack if you unlock it (most likely from a care package).

The way killstreak reward customization is handled is that there’s a list of various killstreaks from 3 kills to 25 kills, and outside of the default ones, the rest are all locked. As you level up (I think it may be every six levels or so), you gain the ability to unlock a killstreak reward. You can unlock any of them that you wish, because the higher killstreak ones are balanced by the fact that you actually have to get that many kills before you can use them. You can only hold 3 killstreak rewards at a time, and only one of any particular killstreak number. For example, you cannot have two killstreak rewards that both require 4 kills. But you can set your 3 killstreak rewards as an 8 kills one, a 9 kills one, and a 10 kills one. Of course, that is generally not advised because if you pick a 3 kills one you will get it more often, helping you get to the higher kills ones.

Also note that kills from a killstreak reward that you find dropped in a care package do not count towards your killstreak.

Here’s the list:

3 kills
UAV – Shows enemies on the minimap

4 kills
Care Package – Airdrop a random killstreak reward or ammo
Counter-UAV – Temporarily disables enemy radar

5 kills
Sentry Gun – Airdrop a placeable sentry gun
Predator Missile – Remote control missile

6 kills
Precision Air Strike – Call in a directional airstrike

7 kills
Harrier Strike – Call in a Harrier Strike
Attack Helicopter – Calls in a support helicopter

8 kills
Emergency Airdrop – Call in an emergency airdrop

9 kills
Pave Low – Heavy armored assault helicopter
Stealth Bomber – Call in a stealth bomber

11 kills
Chopper Gunner – Be the gunner of a chopper
AC-130 – Be the gunner of an AC-130

15 kills
EMP – Call in an Electromagnetic pulse bomb

25 kills
Tactical Nuke – Deploy a tactical nuke

III. b. Class Specific Customizations

When you level up to 5, you will finally unlock the ability to create five different classes. Within each class, you can choose weapons, accessories, and perks. You will be allowed to switch among the classes between lives whenever you play online by hitting the Start button and selecting the “Choose Class” option.

For your class loadout, you are able to equip one primary weapon, one secondary weapon, one equipment item, a special grenade type, and a deathstreak reward. Basically all weapons, accessories, grenades, etc. are all viable and up to how the player wants to play the game. Keep in mind though that if you want to use a Riot Shield, it will take the slot of your primary weapon and you will be a lot slower. And it is possible to dual wield some secondary weapons, but I don’t have enough info on determining what the limitations are on using them besides not being able to aim down the sights with dual-wielded weapons.

1. Class Specific Customization: Primary Weapons
Assault Rifles
M4A1 (unlocked at start)
FAMAS (unlocked at level 4)
SCAR-H (unlocked at level 8 )
TAR-21 (unlocked at level 20)
FAL (unlocked at level 28)
M16A4 (unlocked at level 40)
ACR (unlocked at level 48)
F2000 (unlocked at level 60)
AK-47 (unlocked at level 70)

Sub-Machine Guns
MP5K (unlocked at start)
UMP45 (unlocked at start)
Vector (unlocked at level 12)
P90 (unlocked at level 24)
Mini-Uzi (unlocked at level 44)

Light Machine Guns
L86 LSW (unlocked at start)
RPD (unlocked at start)
MG4 (unlocked at level 16)
AUG HBAR (unlocked at level 32)
M240 (unlocked at level 52)

Sniper Rifles
Intervention (unlocked at start)
Barret .50cal (unlocked at start)
WA2000 (unlocked at level 36)
M21EBR (unlocked at level 56)

Riot Shield (unlocked at start)

2. Class Specific Customization: Secondary Weapon
Machine Pistols
PP2000 (unlocked at start)
G18 (unlocked at level 22)
M93 Raffica (unlocked at level 38)
TMP (unlocked at level 58)

Shotguns
SPAS-12 (unlocked at start)
AA-12 (unlocked at level 18)
Striker (unlocked at level 34)
Ranger (unlocked at level 42)
M1014 (unlocked at level 54)
Model 1887 (unlocked at level 67)

Handguns
USP .45 (unlocked at start)
.44 Magnum (unlocked at level 26)
M9 (unlocked at level 46)
Desert Eagle (unlocked at level 62)

Launchers
AT4-HS (unlocked at start)
Thumper x 2 (unlocked at level 14)
Stinger (unlocked at level 30)
Javelin (unlocked at level 50)
RPG-7 x 2 (unlocked at level 65)

3. Class Specific Customization: Equipment
Frag (unlocked at start)
Semtex (unlocked at start)
Throwing Knife (unlocked at level 7)
Tactical Insertion (unlocked at level 11)
Blast Shield (unlocked at level 19)
Claymore (unlocked at level 31)
C4 (unlocked at level 43)

4. Class Specific Customization: Special Grenade
Flash Grenade x 2 (unlocked at start)
Stun Grenade x 2 (unlocked at start)
Smoke Grenade x 1 (unlocked at start)

5. Class Specific Customization: Perks
In Modern Warfare 2, Perks are handled a little bit differently than in the first game since there are now PRO versions of basically every Perk. You can unlock these PRO versions once you rack up enough kills while using the perk. It replaces the regular version of the Perk and still gives you the regular version’s benefit but also gives you the additional PRO benefit as well. There are three Perk slots, and you can only choose one from each grouping for that particular Perk slot. For example, you can’t choose a Perk Slot 1 perk to occupy your Slot 2 or 3 – it has to stay in 1 so you can only have 1 Perk 1 Slot active at a time.

When you customize your class, you will have the following options for each of the three perk slots (with some only unlocking once you reach a higher level):

Perk Slot 1
Marathon – Unlimited Sprint (unlocked at start)
PRO Marathon – Mantle faster (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Sleight of Hand – Faster Reloading (unlocked at start)
PRO Sleight of Hand – Faster Aim-Down-Sight (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Scavenger – Full resupply from dead bodies (unlocked at Level 13)
PRO Scavenger – Extra Mags (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Bling – 2 primary weapon attachments (unlocked at Level 21)
PRO Bling – 2 secondary weapon attachments (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

One Man Army – Swap classes while alive (unlocked at Level 45)
PRO One Man Army – Swap classes faster (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Perk Slot 2
Stopping Power – Increased Bullet Damage (unlocked at start)
PRO Stopping Power – Increased Bullet Damage to Vehicles (Killstreaks) (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Lightweight – Move Faster (unlocked at start)
PRO Lightweight – Faster knife speed (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Hardline – Killstreaks require 1 less kill (unlocked at Level 9)
PRO Hardline – Deathstreaks require 1 less death (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Cold-Blooded – Undetectable by UAV, air support, sentries, and thermal (unlocked at Level 25)
PRO Cold-Blooded – No red name or crosshair when targeted (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Danger Close – Increases explosive weapons damage (unlocked at Level 33)
PRO Danger Close – Extra air support damage (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Perk Slot 3
Commando – Increased Melee Distance (unlocked at start)
PRO Commando – No falling damage (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Steady Aim – Increased hip-fire accuracy (unlocked at start)
PRO Stead Aim – Hold your breath longer (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Scrambler – Scrambles (Jams) the enemy radar in a small radius (unlocked at Level 17)
PRO Scrambler – Delays the explosion of enemy claymores (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Ninja – Invisible to heartbeat sensors (unlocked at Level 29)
PRO Ninja – Move silently (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

SitRep – Detect enemy explosives and tactical insertions (unlocked at Level 37)
PRO SitRep – Make enemy footsteps louder (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

Last Stand – Go Down and use a pistol before dying (unlocked at Level 41)
PRO Last Stand – Use your equipment in last stand (unlocked by completing perk specific challenge)

6. Class Specific Customization: Deathstreaks
Deathstreaks are new to Modern Warfare 2, and are the opposite of killstreaks. If you die several times in a row without killing anyone, you are now awarded with a deathstreak reward to help you back on your feet. The deathstreak reward is a slot you can customize in your class, picking from one of the four below:

Copycat – copy the loadout of the enemy that killed you on your fourth death. (unlocked at start)

Painkiller – Triple health for ten seconds after respawn (unlocked at Level 6)

Martyrdom – Drop a live grenade (unlocked at Level 27)

Final Stand – Last Stand, but you will be able to use your primary weapon and fully recover after a set amount of time without being shot again. (unlocked at Level 39)

III. c. Weapon Specific Customizations

Finally, there are weapon specific customizations like accessories and camo color that you can set up a specific weapon for any class type, but don’t necessarily carry over to another class. These specific customizations are still more attributes of a particular class you’ve created, but I’ve broken them out into their own section to keep the class specific customizations a little bit less overwhelming. An example of what I basically meant is: you can use one weapon in a certain class you’ve created and give it a red dot sight and arctic camo, but in a different class you’ve created you can use the same weapon but this time outfit it with a silencer and woodland camo.

These weapon specific customizations are all unlocked based on how effective you are in killing enemies with the particular weapon. Some accessory unlocks require you to kill enough enemies with a different accessory first, so make sure when you go to the weapon accessory customizations, if you’re interested in any you look to see what its pre-requisite accessory is.

Also, the Bling Perk allows you to attach two unlocked attachment to your primary weapon, and Bling PRO allows you to attach two unlocked attachments to your secondary weapon.

1. Weapon Specific Customization: Attachment
Red Dot Sight
Holographic Weapon Sight
ACOG Sight
Thermal Scope
Suppressor
Grenade Launcher
Heartbeat Sensor
Shotgun
Extended Magazine
Full Metal Jacket
Sniper Scope
Akimbo
Rapid Fire
Foregrip
Tactical Knife

2. Weapon Specific Customization: Camo Color
Desert
Arctic
Woodland
Digital
Urban
Blue Tiger
Red Tiger
Fall

IV. My Specific Tips for New Players

So now that you have the basics and understand how to play Modern Warfare 2, here are some game specific tips I can think of off the top of my head:

1. Learn from Mercenary Team Deathmatch
Mercenary Team Deathmatch is like Team Deathmatch, but it does not allow for parties. This means no one in the game knows each other, and therefore you will not be at a major tactical disadvantage. Call of Duty matchmaking tries to autobalance teams based on skill between each round, so the best players do not end up on the same team together. This means, if you were still the worst person in the game, you the second worst person would be put on the other team, and it would basically alternate with every single player. If you play just regular Team Deathmatch, which allows for parties, the auto-balancing algorithm will not break up parties. Thus, if you end up going against a team of six clan members that are ridiculously good, you will still face them the next round as well because they will not be broken up. Mercenary Team Deathmatch always has teams fully rebalanced between rounds, always providing you with at least a couple good players on your team so you can see how they play.

2. Improving Your Kill to Death Ratio
In Team Deathmatch, it’s not about any sort of objectives. Whichever team reaches the score of 7500 first wins the game. Each kill is 100 points, and serve as the primary way to increase your team’s score. A kill to death ratio is the number of kills you made in the game versus the number of times you died. You ideally want a ratio of 1 or more, which means you will have killed more times than died in the match. If your deathcount is higher, than it means the other team got more points off your deaths than you were able to get points for your team – making you more of a liability than an asset. There’s also no respawn timer as well, so you can quickly jump back into battle if you want. Fight the urge to do so and calm down if you keep dying. It’s easy to get killed over and over if you just respawn and want to jump back into the fray. Reorganize your thoughts and try to decide on a new, more effective strategy.

In order to raise your kill to death ratio, you have to kill more and die less. The most obvious way to do so is to just become a better FPS player. That means increasing your reflexes, accuracy, reaction time, etc. so that when you encounter an opponent, you kill him first. It’s not really any different than those “cowboy” shootouts that relied on their speed of the draw. You want to be the one left standing whenever you encounter an opponent.

Fortunately, if you don’t have what it takes to have the skills and reactions of a pro-gamer, a more realistic solution to simply being able to play better is to play smarter. This means, you don’t want to engage other players in a straight up “duel” where you’re both attacking each other. There are no rules that prevent you from using your environment to gain an advantage and score the kill quickly. There are also no rules for shooting an enemy in the back. Nor are rules for you to score kills through stealthy means. Think about opportunistic ways to get kills, rather than a straight up 1 on1 dance to the death. And remember, crouching and laying prone also make you a more difficult target to hit.

3. A High Kill to Death Ratio is Often a Result of Killstreak Rewards
If you’re marveling at how people are going 20-2 or something while you’re barely making it even, it can often be due to killstreak rewards. The player can get a couple of kills, call down a UAV, learn where the enemies are, and hunt a few more down to unlock more killstreak rewards. Suddenly he’s calling in a chopper or a harrier or throwing down turrets and wiping out the entire team. On average, calling in a chopper or a harrier will net you five free kills or so where you don’t have to do anything at all. Thus, it is imperative to maintain your killstreaks and get a lucky package or to simply get momentum and get yourself the higher end killstreak rewards. Don’t be discouraged thinking you have to go kill 20 players yourself. Play smarter not harder!

4. The Key to Leveling Quickly is Completing the Challenges
There’s practically a challenge for everything in the game, each netting experience points rewards for completing them. Killing 10 enemies with a particular weapon. Killing 25 enemies while crouched. Blowing up a car. Killing 10 enemies with grenades. And so on. There are challenges specific to basically every weapon in the game, so ideally, a good way to level up is to complete all challenges for a particular weapon, and then move on to another weapon to primarily use. Once you’ve completed all of the challenges for that weapon, you move on to the next. This should maximize the amount of bonus experience you are earning, but keep in mind that if you are struggling with a particular weapon, it may not be worth it to stick with it complete the challenges. Because if you’re not able to kill very effectively with the weapon, you’ll not only hurt your team but it may be faster to simply net kills with your best weapon fully accessorized and no challenges left to unlock than a new weapon that is completely bare.

5. If You Are New to a Map, Stick With a Group
Modern Warfare 2 online isn’t an open world for you to explore – there are several other players out there trying to kill you. If you wander by yourself and don’t know a map at all, be prepared to be shot down in cold blood from an enemy in an advantageous position. Stick with the pack, so if you come upon the enemy, you have backup and while you may get as many kills, odds are you will survive much longer. Once you are confident in how the map works, then take the initiative to play your own way.

6. If the Enemy Launches a UAV, Stick With a Group
Similar to the previous tip, if the enemy launches a UAV and you don’t have a perk that blocks it, that means the enemy will know exactly where you are. If you are alone, chances are you will get killed. Sticking with a group increases your survival because with several teammates around you, even if the enemy knows where you are, they will most likely not be able to kill all of you. When the enemy launches a UAV, you want to consider moving into defensive mode because they will be hunting you – a whole team in a fortified position against enemies that know where they are helps even the odds.

7. Use the Kill Cam to See How You Got Killed
When you die, it’s easy to quickly hit the respawn button and get right back into the action. But sometimes it’s worth seeing how you were killed to learn more about the surroundings you were in. For example, if you’re sniped as you crouch and walk across a building window, now you know that even if you’re ducking and trying to cross, you can get sniped there. Useful in the future to not do it again, but also useful if you want to snipe newbies at that location as well.

8. Stealth vs Non-stealth
It’s possible to equip perks and accessories in such a way that you never show up on the enemy radar. Equipping a Suppressor on your weapon means whenever you shoot, you won’t show up on the radar. Equipping the Cold Blooded Perk in Perk Slot 2 means enemy UAVs and Thermal will not be able to detect you. Equipping the Ninja Perk in Perk Slot 3 means enemy heartbeat sensors will not be able to detect you either. All of these are balanced by reducing your engagement range, damage, accuracy, etc. but it is still a viable strategy. I recommend keeping a stealth build if you go up against a dominating team that constantly has a UAV up.

9. Chainguns and Sentry Guns
New to this game are manned chainguns and deployable sentry guns. Both are very deadly and have some ridiculously accurate range. Try to avoid engaging them from the front as much as possible. If you find a chaingun you can use, consider it because the moment you shoot in the direction of any opponent, he’ll most likely be dead. When manning a chaingun, remember that it needs to be spun up first before you can fire, so make sure you’ve got it ready to shoot for when the time comes.

Deployable sentry guns are also new to Modern Warfare 2, and are quite deadly. When placing them, try to place them so their back is against a wall because they can easily be disabled with one knife from the back. Engaging from the front should only be done with a riot shield or the Cold Blooded Perk (the turret will not detect you if you have the Cold Blooded Perk active).

10. How to Deal with Riot Shields
If you come across an opponent with a riot shield, you will have a very difficult time killing him by firing at him. While it is possible to shoot his feet, the better tactic would be to either use explosives (grenades, etc.) from the front or to take advantage of the shield holder’s reduced vision. Strafing around him to shoot at his side works, or even running up to him to get the melee knife kill on the side works as well.

11. Use the Melee Knife Whenever You Can
If you melee anyone from any direction, you will automatically get the kill. The melee is even further enhanced with the Commando Perk, which increases your melee range. Melee kills do not give away your position on the radar, and are far more accurate than trying to shoot an opponent that is circling around you.

12. What is the Care Package Killstreak Reward?
This is automatically assigned to you as a 4-kill Killstreak Reward, and I highly suggest you keep it. When you use it, you throw a grenade with red smoke down to indicate a location for a friendly helicopter to drop a package. In this package contains a random killstreak reward or ammo. Once in a while you’ll be unlucky and get just ammo or a UAV, but more often than not you will get one of the better killstreak rewards. There’s only two or three bad ones, but about ten good ones so the odds are definitely in your favor that you’ll get something good.

Be mindful though that the enemy can see where the package has been dropped on the map, and come get it themselves so you want to go to an outdoor corner or isolated area to signal for the drop. Also, your team members can “steal” the item as well for themselves, so when it drops you want to secure it for yourself as soon as possible. Most of the time, allies will not “steal” it from you since they know they didn’t rightfully call it down, but just be careful.

Try to drop the flare in an open area, and not close to the edge of a map or near an area where there’s an overhang or an unreachable area. That’s because these boxes are being dropped above, but there isn’t pinpoint accuracy so it is very possible that they can get stuck and you’ll lose the package completely. Always look up first before you throw down the package signal to ensure that it will not get caught on anything. You can be killed by your own package as well if you are in the way when it drops. Stay nearby, and use caution. If you have the package dropping at the edge of the map, the package can do some crazy things where it will force itself back into the map, but it can kill you while doing so as the physics behind the package change completely when it falls and is outside the map (I got killed by my own package when it suddenly launched itself at me because it had not landed inside the map).

You can also steal enemy packages as well once they have landed, but stealing an enemy package takes significantly longer than opening your own. Therefore, some players will actually set up traps where they call down a package and wait a bit far away so enemy players come try to take the package, giving the trap setter easy targets. When you see an enemy package sitting there by itself, think twice before trying to open it!

13. The Hardline Perk Allows For More Killstreak Rewards
Hardline allows all killstreak rewards to be earned at one less kill. While it doesn’t affect the higher end killstreak rewards (that take 7+ kills) as much since you still need a lot of kills anyway, it significantly affects the lower end killstreak rewards. Instead of getting a UAV at 3 kills and a package at 4 kills, you’re now getting a UAV at 2 kills and a package at 3 kills. Not only will you have the UAV going a lot more often, but you’ll have access to potentially much deadlier killstreak rewards sooner. When you hit level 9, go for it!

14. The Red Dot Sight Attachment is Unlocked at 25 kills
If you are a mid-range player, a red dot sight is vital for your assault rifle. Pick an assault rifle and stick with it until you can get 25 kills and get the sight, making your mid-range game more effective. Remember to equip it though once you’ve unlocked it!

15. The Suppressor Attachment is Unlocked at 75 kills
If you stick with a weapon long enough and get 75 kills, you’ll unlock a silencer for it. The silencer allows you to fire shots without showing up on the radar, but at the same time, reduces your accuracy. It is useful for a more stealth-oriented build.

16. SMG + the Steady Aim Perk
The Steady Aim Perk allows for “increased hip-fire accuracy”. What this means is, you can actually run and gun with SMGs more accurately now because your target area is smaller when you just shoot with the right trigger. With assault rifles, you should be hitting L first to aim down the sight because if you’re “hip-firing” without using the sight, your attack area will be huge and you will most likely not get the kill. But for an SMG, you’ll be closer to an opponent and you want to quickly shoot them without relying on aiming down the sight. Steady Aim helps you out in this aspect, and I highly recommend it for run and gun players.

17. The Enemy UAV Can Be Shot Down
If anyone on your team or any of your class builds has the AT4 launcher equipped as a secondary weapon, it’s actually heat seeking and will destroy the enemy UAV if you can get a lock on it. The UAV is a plane but it’s flying really high up so you won’t see it unless you really look for it in the open sky. Next time you hear that the enemy UAV is up, lock onto it and shoot it down!

Whew, that’s all I got for now but I will hopefully be able to update this entry as I come up with more as time goes on. Good luck, and please don’t hesitate to share any tips of your own!

I ended Half-Life 2 on such a high note that I decided to jump straight into Episode One (though Episode Two will have to sit on the sidelines for a while since Modern Warfare 2 is out!). Half-Life 2 ended on an incredible cliffhanger, so I can’t imagine having to wait to see what happens next. Luckily, these games came out years ago so I could just move my cursor over one game to the right on the Orange Box and see what Episode One had to offer. Was this groundbreaker in “episodic gaming” (/sarcasm) as good as its predecessor?

The first thing that stood out to me while playing through Episode One was how tight the experience is. The game picks up right where Half-Life 2 left off, and changes the stakes within the first minute. The story concerns the continuing human rebellion, and a mass exodus of humans from City 17 which is in danger of being destroyed by an unstable Citadel reactor. Like Resident Evil 5, you go through the game with a female partner (Alyx), and the game just follows you as the two of you make your escape from City 17.

The game is pretty much Half-Life 2 without the long boring sections. There’s very little fluff here - you go from scene to scene without too much repetition (unlike the original). Puzzles aren’t as annoying and momentum-breaking as Half-Life 2 either. There is a cool achievement which involves beating the game firing only one bullet (which you use to break a lock), and I had a lot of fun figuring out how to fight off hordes of enemies using only grenades and my gravity gun. Also, fighting with Alyx is pretty fun - it’s kind of weird since Gordon Freeman never talks, but you really feel like he and Alyx are forming a strong relationship. Plus, she knows kung fu.

What I loved about Half-Life 2 is the same thing I love about Episode One: Valve has done an amazing job of crafting a world and helping me understand that world without any cutscenes taking me away from the action. It’s marvelous. You are never taken out of Gordon Freeman’s HEV suit - for all intents and purposes you ARE Gordon Freeman. It’s something that very few first person shooters do.

There’s not much more to say here, it’s just more Half-Life 2. There are complaints that the game is too short, which I could understand back then, but now that you can get The Orange Box for $20, it’s a non-issue. So I will reiterate what I’ve said a thousand times before on this site: BUY THE ORANGE BOX.

Yesterday was the official release date of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and like Halo 3: ODST’s release, I took a screenshot of my friends online during prime time last night to see how much of a hold Modern Warfare 2 has taken on them. While not 100% like Halo 3: ODST’s release, 10/13 isn’t too shabby. We’ll see what happens next week with the release of Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2. But in any case, today I will share my impressions of Modern Warfare 2, after playing about four hours of it last night. Ugh, and I have a headache for staying up too late. Haven’t done that with a game in a while, but it was worth it…

I’ve been playing Call of Duty since the second one, and prior to popping in Modern Warfare 2 last night, I was just like, “Yeah, I know it will be good” but wasn’t super enthusiastic about it. Then I put the game in and my 360 blew up. Well no, not that crazy, but more like my mind was completely blown. This is game of the year material right here folks, and barring some ridiculous reason for Left 4 Dead 2 or Assassin’s Creed 2 being better than Modern Warfare 2 when they release next week, I’m pretty certain I have my game of the year for 2009. Don’t even wonder if you should buy it. If you have a system that can play it, buy it. It’s ridiculously good. There’s a reason why it’s going to be the biggest selling game of the year – it’s managed to not only be as good as Call of Duty 4, but even better. How can you improve on such a stellar title already?

The game is broken up into three modes: Campaign, Spec-Ops, and Multiplayer. Campaign picks up on the story five years later from Call of Duty 4, but in all honestly, it’s not really a big deal if you haven’t played the first. I haven’t played far enough into the campaign yet, but from what I understand, the campaign is going to be quite the thrillride on its own. And on top of that, enemies no longer infinitely respawn – a complaint many had about previous Call of Duty campaigns.

Spec-Ops is a totally new mode to Call of Duty, and in a sense, it’s Modern Warfare 2’s co-op mode. In this mode, you can choose from over 20 missions that you can take on yourself or with a partner online or splitscreen. The missions are all varied, and have various objectives ranging from defending a bridge for 4 minutes, to assaulting a town and taking down all the terrorists in a certain amount of time. One of the missions I tried felt like the Terrorist Hunt mode from the Rainbow Six: Vegas games, although I was disappointed that only up to two players could partake in it. Players can earn up to 3 stars in each Spec Ops mission, and the star number often indicates the difficulty. For example, the training mission at the beginning of the game is a Spec Ops mission – completing the course gets you 1 star, but completing it under 35 seconds gets you 3 stars. Similarly, the “Terrorist Hunt” mission I tried had a 1 star setting of 30 terrorists to kill, 2 stars for 40 terrorists, and 3 stars would spawn 50 terrorists. The Spec Ops missions are an excellent addition to the game and are very replayable. I wasn’t able to find any sort of Leaderboards for them though, but maybe I didn’t look hard enough. My only complaint about them would be the lack of four player support.

I spent most of my time last night in the multiplayer. I played a couple of the campaign missions and once I switched to multiplayer, I had a really tough time playing anything else. The game still featured the mechanics that fans loved in Call of Duty 4, but things are even more improved. Modern Warfare 2 incorporates Street Fighter IV’s banner and logo system, so you unlock emblems and titles for your player that you can display in-game based on performing certain feats. Modern Warfare 2 also now has customizable kill-streak rewards, death-streak rewards, and all sorts of new gear and abilities that make this the most enjoyable multiplayer game I’ve played since perhaps Call of Duty 4. The scoring system has changed, awarding points for doing various things outside of merely killing opponents, such as revenge (killing an opponent that killed you first gives your team score a boost), killing an opponent who is about to get a kill streak, etc. The numbers just fly up on the screen and it feels just like an arcade game. There’s so much more I want to talk about for the multiplayer, but I’m going to hold off here and put them into a guide that I’m writing up now. Stay tuned!

That was the question I found myself asking for the past few months ever since I started seeing news about it. Is it a game? Is it a stat tracker? Is it just an easy way for Microsoft to try to sell me crap? And, most importantly, does it deserve to be on my “Nav”? Well, since it was a free download, I put it in my queue and gave it a whirl last week, and this is what I found.

I think first and foremost, this is a ploy by Microsoft and Bungie to try to make some money, both directly and indirectly. That being said, there are definitely some positives that come out of this free download. I’ll just focus on those.

There is a section dedicated to tracking your Halo career, which spans three games: Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Wars. It adds up your gamerscore for the three games and unlocks various goodies depending on how many achievements you have. There are medals for various achievements, although for the most part they don’t interest me too much, especially because I couldn’t figure out how to compare medals with friends.

The real winner here, however, is Avatar awards. I think EVERY game should do this, unlock cool stuff for your Avatar depending on the achievements you have. I managed to deck my character out in an entire ODST suit, but I later opted to just wear a recon helmet instead. Even if you haven’t played any of the games, you unlock the “monitor” for your Avatar just by booting Waypoint up.

The other section is called “Intel”, and it basically consists of strategy videos and developer interviews. It’s okay, but something I wasn’t too into. Supposedly they will use that to further the lore of Halo in the future, which could interest me. The cash grab in this section is Halo: Legends, an upcoming anime compilation that is due next year (on DVD). They previewed the first episode, “The Babysitter”, on Waypoint for free this past Saturday, and I checked it out. It definitely had some cool moments, but I was watching at 2 AM so I was falling asleep for part of it. I guess that’s how anime always makes me feel though.

Overall, Waypoint does give you something for nothing (the Avatar awards), and it’s nice to compare scores with your friends across all three games. There definitely is potential for something greater here, but whether that happens or not is in Bungie’s court. I’m waiting for the Halo: Reach trailer…

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.

There seem to be four ranges in FPS games:
1. up close (usually shotgun or melee)
2. short-range (low accuracy/high output weapon like SMG)
3. middle-range (sight weapon such as an assault rifle)
4. long-range (scoped sniper rifle)

I tend to fall into the “middle-range” category. I don’t like being close to my enemies, so I prefer maps in Call of Duty 4 like Overgrown where I can actually use the red-dot sight on my assault rifle. I’m ok with the long-range sniper rifle also, but I’m not a huge fan since you need a lot of patience for that (and often times, many maps aren’t suited for it since camping and sniping is generally frowned upon). Then there’s the up-close and short range, which I basically lump together since it’s all about running and gunning with melee, a shotgun, or an SMG.

The short range game tends to depend more on your own movements to engage an enemy, while the further back you go relies more on your position for an advantage. Sniping requires you to find an ideal position where you wouldn’t have to move at all, while the medium range allows for a little flexibility. I guess that’s why I like the middle range, and why Call of Duty 4 works so well for me – it handles the medium range game just as effectively as the other ranges. The medium range weapons are just as powerful as the other weapons, and combined with a tactical advantage, I’m able to play in my element in Call of Duty 4.

In contrast to that, the middle range game in Gears of War and Halo don’t seem to be fairly balanced; they require many shots from the middle range game to do damage, while if you were up close or sniping, they’d basically be instant kills. Halo 3 is not as bad as Gears of War, where most of the time online is basically a shotgun/chainsaw fest (ever try killing someone with a Lancer from midrange?). Halo 3’s Battle Rifle does make the midrange game viable for people that are really good at it. I read strategies about it and pros are talking about mastery of the Battle Rifle – if you can score 3 headshots with it, then the opponent is dead. 3? To the head? Am I sniping or what? If I were to use the sniper rifle, just 1 headshot would be a kill. Who is going to let me get off with 3 head shots? I’m most likely never going to get that good so I’d probably resort to my only tactic in Halo 3 online that produced results: running at the opponent while emptying the assault rifle until I could get close enough melee kill. While it works, it’s just not a FPS gameplay style that I enjoy.

I had to suffer through Call of Duty: World at War as well. While Call of Duty: World at War maintained the same combat system that worked effectively in Call of Duty 4 (only a few shots to kill an opponent), its biggest drawback (besides the stupid vehicles), was that the technology for good medium range weapons in WW2 were just not invented in that time period. It would take me until Level 45 or so to unlock the Germans’ StG-44, the only automatic rifle in the game. Prior to that, I had to suffer online at a severe disadvantage through all sorts of silly semi-automatic rifles that had like 6 rounds. I ended up spending more time reloading than firing the rifles, compared with opponents packing SMGs and machine guns with triple or quadruple the clip sizes. I got demolished as a medium-range player in that game. It wasn’t until I was able to unlock the StG-44 that I finally got the ability to fight back.

I’m just thankful that Modern Warfare 2 releases tomorrow, and I’ll have a new game to play where I can enjoy my medium range preference to its fullest potential again. M16? Ak47? Carbine? G3? G36c? My gosh it feels good to be coming home. Am I overreacting? Or are there any other medium range shooter fans out there that also feel my annoyances?

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!

A recent article mentions that Call of Duty: World at War sold tons of DLC. According to the NPD, the average Call of Duty: World at War fan has spent $9 on DLC – which basically means practically every 360 player has bought at least one map pack for World at War. “People actually buy new maps for the broken multiplayer?” I originally thought to myself. But maybe they’re actually buying them primarily for the zombie maps like me.

I don’t know whether it’s sad or neat that the most memorable feature of Call of Duty: World at War is being able to fight zombies. It’s not the single player or multiplayer WWII-based gameplay – it’s the fact that you and up to three other friends get locked in an area and try to survive. Fighting zombies in Call of Duty: World at War is different than Left 4 Dead. It actually feels more canonical from a zombie game standpoint. The zombies feel more Resident Evil-like: slow and shuffling (but of course they get faster and stronger in later waves). I can’t help but simply say that the zombie mode is just done right. There are not many co-op style games like this where I’ll play it, and then after the team loses I want to play again right after thinking I can do better next time. In contrast, Left 4 Dead’s Survival mode did not have me wanting to play more after each attempt. You just get overwhelmed early and the pressure rarely lets up in Left 4 Dead, but at least in Nazi Zombies, everything ramps up at a gradual pace, allowing you to really enjoy the experience.

My brother and I got a lot out of playing just the zombie mode offline split-screen together last holiday season, and surprisingly, we will most likely be doing the same with these new (at least, to us) zombie maps as well. Even without my brother around, I can always hop into matchmaking for the different zombie maps, something that Halo 3: ODST doesn’t even have. I’ll know I’ll be playing Modern Warfare 2 in only a few days, but World at War will still find its way into my 360 because of its charming zombie mode. If any of you are still up for playing it, let me know!

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!

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo hit the marketplace yesterday for Live Gold members, and I was able to give it a spin. As someone that really enjoyed the first Left 4 Dead, I felt it would be good for me to share my mixed thoughts on the demo. But first, what is the demo all about? The Left 4 Dead 2 Demo features the first 2 (of presumably 4) parts of The Parish campaign, one of the five new campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2. You are able to only play those two levels – either offline with AI (as well as split screen with a buddy) or online with others. The demo menu also shows various other modes that are not available in the demo: Versus, Survival, Scavenge, and Realism. Scavenge and Realism are new to Left 4 Dead 2.

As mentioned above, I had mixed reactions to the demo. After getting through it, I wasn’t floored nor super pumped to play the full game, but at the same time, I didn’t cancel my pre-order either. Here’s a list of things I liked and disliked in the demo:

Liked
1. The addition of new weapons and melee weapons
There are new guns available in the game, and while they still are classified under the primary weapon types like SMGs and assault rifles, their overall feel is different. While I loved the feel of the assault rifle in the first game, it’s neat to be able to use a similar weapon with a different feel.

Melee weapons are the new most notable aspect of the game that I enjoyed most. Now, there are various melee weapons in the game you can find, such as frying pans, guitars, police batons, katanas, etc. Picking up a melee weapon replaces your handgun, so you have to make a decision between the two. Frankly, I love it. As a person that enjoys leading the group, I prefer having a melee weapon instead of a handgun because it’s quite effective in making your way through a crowd. In Left for Dead 1, you’d have to just keep meleeing with your gun to push the zombies away. But now, when you’re holding a katana or police baton, one swing generally takes the zombies down for good.

2. New special & common infected types
There are three new special infected added to the game, and I got a chance to engage each of them. The most prevalent one I came across in the demo was the Spitter, who is a female zombie that spits huge balls of acid. Once these balls of acid hit the ground, they turn a large radius into an acidic area, dealing damage to players standing in it. The Jockey looked pretty silly and would jump onto the players’ backs to steer them around. I found him to be somewhat silly and inconsequential – but perhaps in the retail game he will prove more of a threat. Finally, the last new special type is the Charger, a zombie with a huge arm that can charge into players and knock them over. He was most likely introduced due to the turtle and melee tactics of players in the first game. All three special infected die pretty quickly – even the Charger.

I believe there are new common infected types in each campaign, and the demo’s Parish campaign introduced infected in riot gear. These infected would not take damage from the front, so they required teamwork to take them down.

Disliked
1. Graphics
Graphics are generally not a super big deal to me since gameplay is what matters most, but I was surprised with how dated the game looked since the demo took place in bright outdoor areas. In the first game, everything was pretty dark, so the lack of detail could be hidden but such is not the case in Left 4 Dead 2. For some reason, the graphics made me think of the de_dust level in Counter-Strike, a game over a decade old.

2. Less interesting characters
I never realized how much I loved the first game’s characters until I played the second game. Bill, Louis, Zoe, and Francis were so lovable in their own way (even Bill – “PILLS HERE!”) that Left 4 Dead 2’s characters completely pale in comparison. Maybe I need more time with them to hear more of their lines, but it seems almost like the Left 4 Dead 2 characters are less defined – or perhaps they’re just character archetypes that I have a hard time loving.

3. Lack of innovation
When I first played Left 4 Dead, I saw the potential in it and convinced several friends to get it. It was among the best co-op games I’ve ever played. When I played the Left 4 Dead 2 demo, even with the new weapons and infected types, it didn’t grip me like the first game did. Sure I’ll play it with friends and probably have a great time, but when I compare the difference in Left 4 Dead 1 with 2 versus Modern Warfare 1 with 2, I can’t help but feel like Left 4 Dead 2 falls a bit short in that aspect. The mark of a good sequel is that once you play it, you find practically no reason to go back to playing the original. I don’t think Left 4 Dead 2 will completely replace Left 4 Dead 1.

The month of November, 2004 was quite a month if you were a fan of first person shooters. Two highly anticipated sequels, Halo 2 and Half-Life 2, released within a week of one another and gamers rejoiced. Since I wasn’t into PC gaming anymore (I haven’t really played a FPS on PC since Doom II if you can believe it), Halo 2 owned my time back then, and actually warranted me getting my first Xbox. Five years later, I have finally gotten around to playing Half-Life 2. It was highly praised 5 years ago, but does it still hold up now?

I can answer that question with an emphatic YES. Playing through the game, not even having played the original, I was incredibly impressed by a lot of things in this game. The game does an excellent job of setting things up: at the beginning you are entering a city where there is clearly something amiss - it seems that Earth has been taken over by an alien force known as the Combine and are controlling humans by putting something in the water and through general brutality. Enter Gordan Freeman, the silent physicist protagonist of the Half-Life series, sent on an unknown “mission” by the G-man, someone you know painfully little about. From there, the story takes you on a journey that familiarizes you with the human resistance movement and leads to you attempting to take out the Combine stronghold.

The story may seem a little generic, but what Half-Life 2 does an excellent job of is creating the setting. The voice acting is great, and the lines NPCs say serve to really set the mood and tone of the game. This came out in 2004, but all of that still holds up. Generally I don’t write about the sound work, but Half Life 2 does an amazing job with it: the guns have the right pop, the enemies scream at the right times to make you jump, and the effect of “going deaf” when a loud explosion goes off is used to great effect. All contribute to a story you want to follow to the end, and it’s a story that will clock in at 10 hours or more, so it’s a pretty good chunk of gaming for your investment.

Even though it’s showing a little signs of age, the Half Life 2 physics engine is amazing as well. The gravity gun is still to this day one of the coolest weapons out there - you can use it to grab anything that is light enough and launch it at your enemies. This is used to great effect in Ravenholm, an area overtaken by zombies, where you get an achievement for only using the gravity gun. My only problem with that particular achievement was the fact that cans full of paint do no damage to the zombies, and instead just make them silly looking with white paint. It’s funny, but come on, if I threw a can of paint in your head I would MESS YOU UP.

Gravity gun aside, the combat in general doesn’t stand as tall to the test of time. The aiming is pretty tight, although it’s not as accurate on a console as something like Call of Duty. The AI is a real problem though: the Combine soldiers are kind of stupid and don’t do a very good job of taking cover. Another problem is the lack of a dedicated melee button - something that has become standard these days. If you want to conserve ammo you have to switch over to your crowbar. Choosing guns, which are mapped to your d-pad, can be cumbersome. You’d think these problems would make the game annoying to play, but they really don’t.  It’s just you can see that the FPS genre has made some great strides to streamline controls on consoles in the past 5 years (I’m sure on PCs the gun selection works great).

5 years later, I can’t believe it took me so long to “discover” this game. It’s old school at the core (sometimes you have no idea where you are supposed to go and it takes hours to figure out), and there are some puzzling elements that are hit or miss (the ones that hit are awesome, the ones that miss are annoying). FPS games have definitely gone more of the Halo 2 route, but I’m not sure why. Even in 2009, Half-Life 2 is one of the best shooters I’ve ever played. I keep wanting to go back for more (even forsaking Borderlands for hours at a time). Maybe it’s best not to call Half-Life 2 a shooter: it’s more of an experience. If you missed it the first time like I did, do yourself a favor – grab the Orange Box and play this game (and when you’re done, play Portal too!).

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…