I've noticed over the past four to five months that a dreadful thing has happened to me, I've literally (and I mean that in every sense of the word) grown an addiction to Modern Warfare 2's online multiplayer. Not specifically because MW2 is an addictive game but because I generally have an addicted personality, I'm a chain-smoker, I drink almost ten mugs of coffee per day and I order the exact same food from my local Chinese Take-away every time I have a bit of spare cash to indulge in take out food. I can't help it, it's part of my nature.
I've always been a grand lover of the FPS genre, shooting things and running around with the idea in my head that I truly am on the front lines has been a fond past-time since childhood. I lap them up, no matter how shit their reviews are or how predictable I know the game is going to be. I particularly love online FPS gaming, shooting at other players, out-flanking the bulk of the enemy, hoping that my first two or three rounds are more accurate than his. I get a real buzz out of it, because I'm a simple minded cretin and I don't need very much else to keep me going.
Recently, however, I found myself banned from Xbox Live for 24 hours. This is a first for me, I generally don't speak to other players online and tend to keep my profile clean and simple. I knew the cause, I had recently had an unplanned outburst of sending messages to other players in the hopes that they would realise their cheating, dickheadish ways, their unfairness and inability to play the game straight. It was a frustration long piling up inside of me and it grew to the point where I had to let it out. Anyways, I happened to insult a young man's mother via the Xbox live message system the other day, he told me that his mother was dead and that he was promptly complaining to Xbox Live about me. "NONSENSE!" I roared aloud in my living room before shutting off the xbox and stumbling to bed, bleary-eyed and filled with the satisfaction that I had hurt some foreign, anonymous twat's feelings.
This has become a story, it wasn't meant to become a story but it's my birthday today and I'm drunk so I apologise.
I just don't understand the blatant imbalance in Modern Warfare 2, I don't get it whatsoever. It can be a cracking game to play online if you get a collection of reasonable players but I guarantee (for those of you who play it as regularly as I do, you should be able to agree), yes I guarantee that in your game lobby there will be at least one player who uses the tactical knife/commando/marathon/lightweight combination and manages to pull 25-30 kills out of his arse under the pretense that he's actually good. I also guarantee that there will be at least two players in this lobby (prestige players) who rely on their under-slung grenade launchers (essentially two instant kills in a barrel) and RPG's to boost their score. And claymores? Urgh...don't get me started. The difference is that the majority of us can outsmart a mine planted in the ground.
It's utterly imbalanced. So the average prick can simply waltz onto MW2, choose the simplest weapon outload and go nuts. Let's not forget the dreaded UMP45! A weapon now relied upon by those cranking from the middle to top range of the prestige list. How the fuck does a limited sub machine gun match up to a ranged assault rifle in battle? Why is it more powerful than my rifle? Why is it's range further. Look up MW2 forums and you'll spot people hailing the SMG's power and grace. It's not because they're skilled players and know how to wield it properly, it's just because the weapon out-smarts the other weapons in the game and therefore boosts their kills. And the rank system, jeez. No matter how bad a player you are, how new to the maps and the gameplay, you are guaranteed to continue ranking up in MW2 because you are awarded even for playing a shite game and having little in the way of kills.
Enough of this! I sound like a hormonal 14 year old with severe aspergers syndrome.
I read a lot of Halo-slagging these days, something that has fundamentally appeared out of nowhere, particularly since Yahtzee managed to reveal it's general shite-ness in a cracking Zero Punctuation episode. Now say what you want for the campaign and the story and how the game looks, that's fine. But what of the multiplayer?
There is no denying that the Halo series offered BALANCED mutiplayer gameplay. Your team started at this end of the map, the other team started at that end and you all had the same weapons, the same capabilities and the same basic controls. If you wanted a sniper rifle or extra shielding you had to go pick the bloody thing up and that usually involved fighting with somebody along the way. Face it - if you were getting your bum fashionably riddled in Halo it was because the other player was better than you. Not because he took advantage of game flaws or knew how to manipulate the system.
I don't know what the point in this post is. Perhaps I'm just looking for some other fellow semi-intelligent FPS fans who "Hate to Love" MW2 to come out of the closet and agree with me. I'm just tired of losing out to somebody who plays the game for their rank, for their kill status. Not because they want to PLAY the bloody game.
I've always been a grand lover of the FPS genre, shooting things and running around with the idea in my head that I truly am on the front lines has been a fond past-time since childhood. I lap them up, no matter how shit their reviews are or how predictable I know the game is going to be. I particularly love online FPS gaming, shooting at other players, out-flanking the bulk of the enemy, hoping that my first two or three rounds are more accurate than his. I get a real buzz out of it, because I'm a simple minded cretin and I don't need very much else to keep me going.
Recently, however, I found myself banned from Xbox Live for 24 hours. This is a first for me, I generally don't speak to other players online and tend to keep my profile clean and simple. I knew the cause, I had recently had an unplanned outburst of sending messages to other players in the hopes that they would realise their cheating, dickheadish ways, their unfairness and inability to play the game straight. It was a frustration long piling up inside of me and it grew to the point where I had to let it out. Anyways, I happened to insult a young man's mother via the Xbox live message system the other day, he told me that his mother was dead and that he was promptly complaining to Xbox Live about me. "NONSENSE!" I roared aloud in my living room before shutting off the xbox and stumbling to bed, bleary-eyed and filled with the satisfaction that I had hurt some foreign, anonymous twat's feelings.
This has become a story, it wasn't meant to become a story but it's my birthday today and I'm drunk so I apologise.
I just don't understand the blatant imbalance in Modern Warfare 2, I don't get it whatsoever. It can be a cracking game to play online if you get a collection of reasonable players but I guarantee (for those of you who play it as regularly as I do, you should be able to agree), yes I guarantee that in your game lobby there will be at least one player who uses the tactical knife/commando/marathon/lightweight combination and manages to pull 25-30 kills out of his arse under the pretense that he's actually good. I also guarantee that there will be at least two players in this lobby (prestige players) who rely on their under-slung grenade launchers (essentially two instant kills in a barrel) and RPG's to boost their score. And claymores? Urgh...don't get me started. The difference is that the majority of us can outsmart a mine planted in the ground.
It's utterly imbalanced. So the average prick can simply waltz onto MW2, choose the simplest weapon outload and go nuts. Let's not forget the dreaded UMP45! A weapon now relied upon by those cranking from the middle to top range of the prestige list. How the fuck does a limited sub machine gun match up to a ranged assault rifle in battle? Why is it more powerful than my rifle? Why is it's range further. Look up MW2 forums and you'll spot people hailing the SMG's power and grace. It's not because they're skilled players and know how to wield it properly, it's just because the weapon out-smarts the other weapons in the game and therefore boosts their kills. And the rank system, jeez. No matter how bad a player you are, how new to the maps and the gameplay, you are guaranteed to continue ranking up in MW2 because you are awarded even for playing a shite game and having little in the way of kills.
Enough of this! I sound like a hormonal 14 year old with severe aspergers syndrome.
I read a lot of Halo-slagging these days, something that has fundamentally appeared out of nowhere, particularly since Yahtzee managed to reveal it's general shite-ness in a cracking Zero Punctuation episode. Now say what you want for the campaign and the story and how the game looks, that's fine. But what of the multiplayer?
There is no denying that the Halo series offered BALANCED mutiplayer gameplay. Your team started at this end of the map, the other team started at that end and you all had the same weapons, the same capabilities and the same basic controls. If you wanted a sniper rifle or extra shielding you had to go pick the bloody thing up and that usually involved fighting with somebody along the way. Face it - if you were getting your bum fashionably riddled in Halo it was because the other player was better than you. Not because he took advantage of game flaws or knew how to manipulate the system.
I don't know what the point in this post is. Perhaps I'm just looking for some other fellow semi-intelligent FPS fans who "Hate to Love" MW2 to come out of the closet and agree with me. I'm just tired of losing out to somebody who plays the game for their rank, for their kill status. Not because they want to PLAY the bloody game.
