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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Thinking About: Modern Warfare 2

This is something I’m doing a lot at the moment. In all honestly I think that I’m, at least temporarily, addicted to this game. Oddly though, First Person Shooters (FPS) aren’t really my thing. I much prefer Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. However, since playing Modern Warfare 2 everything else seems kind of…. bland. Of course the game is designed to be addictive – giving out rewards on a regular basis along with sounds and visual images to reinforce the buzz of doing well. It’s all very Pavlovian – as the game designers are more than aware.

Starting out on the game is tough, especially as I used to die with monotonous regularity. But gradually I got better and my kill-death ratio (KDR) is creeping up to 1 which is fairly impressive from where I’m sitting considering most of the people I’m fighting against are less than half my age with reaction speeds like lightening and years more experience with this kind of game than me. Where I think I do OK is tactics. Some of the people I play against – and kill – are just not very bright and even I find them very easy to kill. Yup, they’re that stupid. Of course in real life (IRL) I wouldn’t last more than a few minutes in a combat situation so the on-line version is pretty accurate in that sense!

Modern Warfare 2 is unusual (from my perspective) in the sense that I’m more than happy going on-line on my own against real opponents. This is something I hardly ever did with other FPS games. I just didn’t enjoy it. With MW2 I feel different. Although part of a Clan/group I don’t feel the need of that particular security blanket in order to don my virtual body armour, lock and load my M-16 and spawn in harms way. I’m usually confident enough – even when I get a run of bad matches (like most of this weekend just gone) – to go into combat and, hopefully, kick some ass. Of course some of the guys laugh at me for several reasons. One of which is that I’m actually not that good even when I’m doing well. Several of the Clan are 5-10 times better than I am. Another reason they laugh is because of my combat ‘style’ (for want of a better word). I’m not one who runs around either stabbing or shooting people. I’m not up to that sort of thing. I tend to run from cover to cover, pause, and move on (hopefully) killing anyone I come across or who comes across me. Inevitably I’ve been called a ‘camper’ on more than one occasion – though I prefer the term ‘ambusher’ myself. I don’t always use that tactic though it does have a place in my repertoire. One thing that several of us are good at – and have recently been complemented on – is our teams intolerance of enemy call-ins. These are basically kill-streak rewards which often include attack helicopters and Harriers. Often three of the Clan carry stinger missiles which are specially designed to deal with this sort of thing. If all of us are in-game, if it flies – it dies.

Of course with any game there are problems and frustrations. The call-ins mentioned above are excessive and can easily ruin a match. The method of finding and joining a game is flaky at best. Because there are no dedicated servers (on the PC version at least) there is no way to detect and prevent cheats from prospering and the game seems sometimes oblivious to game destroying lag. But, when it does work as advertised, it’s very, very good. The graphics are superb, the game play heart-racing and the buzz from a good game is intoxicating. So far I’ve invested about 60 hours game time and have just reached level 54. I’m going for level 70 (the last level) by Easter which will be quite a challenge as the gaps between levels keeps increasing. After I get there I’m hoping that my addiction will start to fade and I can move onto other things. I certainly hope so. Anyway, I have some more XP to get so I need to get on-line and start killing people. Oh, and if anyone is wondering about the picture – it’s from my game profile. Scary aren’t I?

8 comments:

VV said...

I think this is one of the games my son plays on-line with his friends. I don't understand exactly how they find each other on-line. Can you play with anybody in the world, or just your general area? How does that work?

VV said...

Oh, I also LOVE the picture of the cat!

Sleepypete said...

They keep raising the bar with games ... I thought Mass Effect was pretty good but they've raised the bar so much higher with Mass Effect 2.

Not tried MW2, it's still a bit too pricey for me. I've been learning the camper style some more though with ME2, the recharging shields mechanic it's built around forces you to take advantage of cover.

I used to be addicted to the UFO games and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. They seem a bit mundane though compared to the newer games. However, I'll still go back to the 16 year old classic which is Moo2 :-) Nothing more recent has the same gameplay.

Stephen said...

@Vancouver: I don't know how it works with MF2 specifically, but other games I played featured an ingame "browser" that looked for servers. These could be all over the world. Some are always up. There are also programs you can use to look for servers.

@cyberkitten:Does MW2 include a CTF mode? The only FPS I ever played -- and was addicted to -- was Star Trek Voyager Elite Force 2. I even joined a clan because I enjoyed CTF so.

I don't know that I'll ever play a modern "war" game...although I've gotta say, when I played Medal of Honor I developed a love affair with the MP-40. I never felt safe in a mission until I'd taken one from my first downed Nazi!

Stephen said...

(Correction: I never played Elite Force 2. I meant the original game.)

Ali P said...

I don't think the picture is very realistic.... you haven't even got a AK47 yet!

CyberKitten said...

v v said: I don't understand exactly how they find each other on-line. Can you play with anybody in the world, or just your general area? How does that work?

Basically the 'system' finds 12-18 people and puts them together. Who you play is probably decided by what time you play more than anything else - we end up playing against other Europeans... mostly by the looks of it.

The cat rocks doesn't it!

sc said: Does MW2 include a CTF mode?

Capture the flag? Yes, it does. There's about 15-20 different variations you can choose. I/we normally play Team Death match or Domination mode.

sc said: I developed a love affair with the MP-40. I never felt safe in a mission until I'd taken one from my first downed Nazi!

Yes, the MP-40 is sweet. I liked the BAR in COD4 myself. In MW2 my fave is probably the M-16 or maybe the M-4.

Ali-P said: I don't think the picture is very realistic.... you haven't even got a AK47 yet!

I may not *have* the AK yet - but I have picked it up off dead enemies before now.... [laughs]

BionicDwarf said...

Well can so agree on the addictiveness although am playing it on the Xbox so have a much better ability to find a game.

Doesn't make it any easier though as just as full of people at least half our age who have a semingly expert knack of shooting you before you even have chance to aim at them. lol

Have to say am actually enjoying the P90 at the moment although have only just got to a level to get the stinger so have yet to enjoy shooting down any flying machines.