Leveling Down

Does the Call of Duty Elite membership make the Hardened Edition of MW3 worth it?

Speaking of us getting old and not having time to play games anymore, I’m sitting here typing up this blog entry in the only spare time I have when I could be playing something! But, let’s change the subject and take a break from discussing how much less time cmfl3x and I have to play games nowadays. I’m going to talk about one of the only two games I plan to buy on launch day for the rest of this year: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. I know I’m getting it, but the questions is which version: the regular edition, or the Hardened edition that is $40 more, but comes with a year of “Call of Duty Elite” included in the package (which retails for $49.99 so it would be a $10 savings). Let’s see what the heck Call of Duty Elite even is and whether its selling points make it worth the purchase for someone like me – a major Modern Warfare fan, but also a very leveled down gamer…

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Modern Warfare felt like you were playing through a movie – in an awesome way

It’s been almost four years since the original Modern Warfare came out. For some reason, this past week I’ve been feeling nostalgic, so instead of opening up Deus Ex, I decided to play through the Modern Warfare campaign for the seventh or eighth time. I aim to play through both Modern Warfare titles before the release of the third and final installment, just to get some sort of grasp on the crazy storyline that is taking place. Playing through the game, I’m incredibly impressed about what a tight campaign Modern Warfare presents. Spoiler warnings by the way, but of course if you haven’t played this game yet……

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In Call of Duty: Black Ops, you take on missions during the Cold War in a variety of locales.

As a huge fan of the Call of Duty series, I’ve played through each and every one since Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360. I actually played through Call of Duty 2 on the PC before I even bought an Xbox 360, and then eventually bought Call of Duty 2 alongside my first Xbox 360 a few years ago. Since then, I’ve seen the differences between how the two Call of Duty development studios, Infinity Ward and Treyarch, have evolved the series as they took turns from Call of Duty 2 to Call of Duty 7 today. Treyarch’s Call of Duty 3 was definitely lacking, but World at War was a step in the right direction. Does Black Ops bring Treyarch to Infinity Ward’s level of greatness? Hit the jump to find out.
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Does Call of Duty: Black Ops have what it takes to dethrone Modern Warfare 2?

Like most gamers, I picked up Call of Duty: Black Ops on Tuesday. Since then, I’ve been able to spend several hours on just the multiplayer and am ready to share my impressions. Before we jump into them, let me preface all of this by saying that I felt that Modern Warfare 2′s multiplayer had the best multiplayer of all the Call of Duty games I’ve ever played. Therefore, a lot of my impressions are going to compare the previous last year’s Call of Duty multiplayer outing with this year’s. So is Black Ops looking like it’s better than Modern Warfare 2? Hit the jump to see what my initial impressions are.

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Are these four games enough to hold against this holiday season’s sequels?

Going into this year’s holiday gaming season, I am lacking enthusiasm. I don’t know if it’s because I’m busier now or if the current games this holiday season are just not as exciting as in the last couple of years. To be honest, most of the games I am about to call out I haven’t played yet, but based on buzz I am reading and demos I’ve played today’s entry will sort of be my knee-jerk reaction as to why I am not excited about what’s in store for the 2010 holiday season.

The problem is, we have so many sequels that are worse than their predecessors or sequels that don’t exactly blow their predecessors out of the water. This leads me to find practically all of them lacking in the excitement category that I have had in past holiday seasons. How many sequels are being released this holiday season? Let’s see!

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Hi – my name is cmfl3x. And I’m an achievaholic.

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Starcraft 2 manages to keep players of all types hooked with leagues for their skill level.

Alas, the Starcraft 2 beta has ended. Unlike the Reach beta, SC2 sunk its hooks into me and refused to let go. It got me thinking about what types of multiplayer experiences appeal to me in my current “leveled down” state. Why was I done with Reach in 3 or 4 sessions while I played 5 times as much SC in the same amount of time? Hit the jump for my thoughts on the matter…

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Is everyone on your friends list really a friend?

A little while back, some kid added me as a friend on Live. Being a friendly guy (and also nowhere near the 100 person friend limit), I went ahead and accepted his friend request even though he didn’t really introduce himself. Shortly after that, he asked me if I would help him beat all the Spec Ops missions in Modern Warfare 2. I replied and said, “Not right now – maybe later.” In my head I told myself that if the kid asked me for help again, I would take him off my friends list. And what happens? Maybe 15 minutes later, he messages me again and asked if I could help him then. I removed him from my friends list and hoped to never hear from him again. Of course, he did try to add me as a friend again the following day, but I didn’t accept, and ever since then he’s been forgotten. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, but it has gotten me thinking lately about what it even means to be an online friend.

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Is it even possible to play all of these significant games/betas this month?

Last month I posted a gaming schedule for April, and I think it worked out pretty well. I was able to make my way through Final Fantasy XIII, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dante’s Inferno, and surprisingly, Army of Two: The 40th Day. A couple weeks ago, I posted a different entry discussing games that I wouldn’t mind paying a monthly fee for. But now that May is underway, I’ve realized that maybe being able to play all four games I was willing to pay monthly fees for at the same time is perhaps a bit too much – on top of Mass Effect 2, which carried over from last month. So, what the heck do I do in May?! Read on as I postulate my gaming schedule for the rest of the month.

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Army of Two: The 40th Day improves upon its successor, but by how much?

Outside of Final Fantasy XIII, t’s been an EA month of gaming for me these past several weeks. I’ve played through Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dante’s Inferno, Army of Two: The 40th Day, and now I’m getting into Mass Effect 2. Fresh off my mediocre time with Dante’s Inferno, I decided to plow through Army of Two: The 40th Day since I had a feeling I wouldn’t be holding onto either game much longer. If you remember my review of the first, I thought it was a relatively decent title, as it presented an interesting aggro mechanic but it was far too short. The second one continues the primary mechanics of the first, but also includes some improvements. Are they enough to make the sequel enjoyable and necessary?
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