BUSY WEEK

by sweep

If this was a podcast, someone would just have asked me what games I have been playing. But it's not a podcast. What are you talking about? Just read the blog, please. Everybody knows that Sweep loves Helicopters Modern Warfare 2 FINALLY completed the Snatch and Grab Special Ops level on veteran after hours of trying. Those Juggernauts are total bitches, and the dudes in Shadow Company really p...

If this was a podcast, someone would just have asked me what games I have been playing. But it's not a podcast. What are you talking about? Just read the blog, please.

Everybody knows that Sweep loves Helicopters

Modern Warfare 2

FINALLY completed the Snatch and Grab Special Ops level on veteran after hours of trying. Those Juggernauts are total bitches, and the dudes in Shadow Company really pin you to the fucking walls. I'm pretty surprised that i'm enjoying the Special Ops so much, it's focus on tight team-gameplay and communication is really awesome. Too often I jump into a standard multiplayer game with some buddies and after 10 minutes everyone goes silent because they are concentrating so hard, only offering the occasional grunt of recognition when a bomb needs to be defused or our flag has been captured. In many ways, the multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 is a grind, as the exciting and interesting equipment is only available to the higher levels. One thing I have noticed is that completing challenges with each weapon yields a chunky XP bonus, so i'm experimenting a lot more with my playing style as I work through the basic upgrades for each gun. Here's some bullet points:

Dual Wielding weapons looks badass but is ineffective.
Never underestimate the Riot Shield.
Silencers are for pussies. Here I am bitches, come and get me!

Don't judge a book by it's cover...

Crysis

Curse you, steam deals. I got this in a 50% off sale otherwise I wouldn't have bothered as my week is already pretty clogged up with stuff to be getting along with. So far I am completely and utterly underwhelmed. The gung-ho characters are totally uninteresting. The enemy AI is complete bollocks, and for a game that is apparently supposed to be "covert" it's weird how at nearly every encounter my attempts at stealth fail after the first kill. The AI seem to be able to see me through rocks, tree's, buildings - and there is very little in the way of indicators letting me know how aware they are of my presence. The suit mechanics are just straight up weird. There is a Invisibility function which is so restrictive that it's almost impossible to use effectively. In fact pretty much all the cool elements of my robo-suit that would be fun to mess around with are given to you in tiny morsel chunks, so it's got to the point where I can't even be fucked to use them as it's just easier to ignore they exist. I really hope these abilities get upgraded as you progress through the game... but in retrospect the first hour of content was so devoid of atmosphere I don't know if I want to play it any more. Needless to say, I'm running the game with every graphics setting on "Very High" and it runs fine, which is... comforting? I thought good graphics would be enough. Apparently not.

Left 4 Dead 2

One thing that was missing from the original Left 4 Dead was spark. It worked great, but the level design seemed functional at best. In the sequel Valve have really begun to experiment with ways of adapting the environment to manipulate your playing style. Often your visibility will be limited by environmental factors which cause you to either stick together or spread apart - both of which can be lethal at the wrong moment. There have been several sections in the campaign where my jaw literally dropped and I just thought "FUCK. This is awesome!", usually while being eaten.
As for the other game types, the two i'm enjoying the most are Realism Mode and Scavenge. Realism mode is the campaign but it's INTENSE. Zombies are now more resistant to body-shots so you have to revert to the traditional "remove the head or destroy the brain" technique. Witches kill you instantly and there are no rescue-rooms so If a guy goes down he's down for good. And there is no glow on items or players, which means if a Smoker drags you behind a wall the rest of your team can't see you. It can get pretty frantic when players get split up. At one point I actually thought I was getting too far ahead of my group and turned around to find them, when actually they were racing ahead and I ended up miles behind. Zombie chow.

Scavenge is awesome.

You play best of 3, zombies vs survivors. Each level will have a central object, a car or generator, that needs to be fuelled up. It basically forces the survivors to split up and search for fuel which makes them very vulnerable to Zombie attack. This is balanced by the fact that the survivors begin with a fucking armoury of weapons and health. Each round lasts about 5 minutes tops and it's great. Because the levels don't actually have to be too big i'm expecting a heavy MOD scene to take over this particular game type. It's going to be awesome.
As for the special infected, I really like the Charger. It's great lining up a perfect run and slamming Nick in his smug stupid face. As for the Jockey... he's a little bitch. His leap doesn't go far, but it has a ridiculously short cooldown which means if he gets knocked off he just jumps right back on again. And I don't care what it says about "resisting the Jockey's influence", if one of those bitches sits on your head you are going wherever the fuck he wants you to go. Oh, and the spitter is lame. Weak as fuck. Being spat on is the zombie equivalent of going to the dentist. It wont kill you, but you sure as fuck won't enjoy it.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to. Until L4D2 came out I was playing a lot of Company Of Heroes. While I still have the occasional match, I'm going to ease off for a while. Those zombies ain't going to kill themselves.

No Hope? No Cure?

No Problem.

Thanks For Reading
Love Sweep