Some of you may have realized by now that I'm a big gamer. I'm a gamer in the sense that I love playing video games, not in the sense that I do it all the time. I rarely (if ever) buy myself video games anymore since I mostly don't have time to play them. One game can usually last me a while, especially since I've grown a greater appreciation for RPG's over the last few years.
Lately I've had more time to play and this means I've been going through games quite a bit faster. I got inFamous 2 for my birthday and played through it twice (once good and once evil), I borrowed Dragon Age II from a friend and played through it twice (once as a rouge, once as a warrior), I even went back through God of War and God of War 2 for like the 5th time each to finish getting all the Playstation trophies.
The latest game I played was Modern Warfare 2. I know a new one just came out, but I am perpetually behind the curve on games despite my love of them. Anyway, Modern Warfare 3 came out and my friend Shaun said, "Hey, you can borrow number 2 and get your skills up for when you get number 3." I'm doubtful if I'll ever actually own Modern Warfare 3 and let me explain why.
I play First Person Shooters entirely wrong.
I don't mean to suggest that I'm especially bad at them. Actually, to be honest I can be pretty decent most of the time when I'm playing the game the way it was designed to be played. The "the way it was designed to be played" part is what always gets me.
I am a sucker for a great story-line in a game. I love cinematics and well written dialogue and I love characters you can relate to or at least empathize with, so my first order of business is always to play through the campaign mode before ever setting foot online. Unfortunately FPS games (at least the Call of Duty/Battlefield variety) are not designed for gamers like me. The current generation of FPS games focuses extremely heavily on the online multiplayer aspect and usually only include a story-mode for something to do if the server goes down. I know plenty of people who play nothing but Modern Warfare and have never touched the single-player campaign. I guess that's cool, but that's not what I enjoy in gaming. To me the multi-player is a fun distraction occasionally, but I get bored of it very quickly.
It's because I get bored that I tend to play these games in an unorthodox style. I find it difficult to care too much about my Kill/Death ratio or how many head shots I've gotten with a particular weapon. Most of the time I just try to stab everyone because it seems much more satisfying. Anyone can shoot someone from half-way across the map with a super-powered scope, but it takes some real skill (or just a blatant disregard for your own safety) to run around a level dispatching enemies with only a combat knife. Often this leaves me at the bottom of the leader board, but it's way more entertaining for me (and Shaun).
On top of that I need something to do besides just killing other players for the sake of increasing my rank. I need a goal to achieve and getting a red dot sight or an increase in bullet damage isn't exactly what I'm looking for. I probably spent more time playing Call of Duty: Black Ops online than any other shooter in recent memory. You wanna know why? The gamer cards.
The gamer cards are stupid; another throw-away feature added for some slight variety in a game about shooting people in the face, but it was literally the only thing that kept me playing. In order to add another layer you have to reach a certain level. In order to buy a new design to use you have to have enough cash to purchase it. I spent hours upon hours online working toward a single goal and once my gamer card was completed to my satisfaction I stopped playing entirely. I hadn't touched almost any of the gun or game achievements, but that didn't matter to me. All that mattered was my gamer card, because FPS games are not designed for me.
Here's a picture of my pride and joy.
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