Apologies so for the rather rushed nature of this blog entry but for some reason the blogging urge has eluded me recently. Nevertheless I want to record my current gaming endeavours.
CoD4 Single Player: Finished. Absolutely terrific fps with strong storyline. The game is surprisingly short but has various bells and whistles that are supposed to encourage you to play through the game again. Play through the whole game again with one eye closed, that sort of thing. Personally I couldn't be bothered.
CoD4 multiplayer: Amazingly this is only my second ever on-line shooter. I like it. On the one hand its is more complex than Team Fortress 2 - with greater customisation of classes and more complex maps. On the other hand it is probably a lot easier for a noob to survive. The very complexity of the maps means that you can always hide in a corner somewhere and get the odd lucky kill. In TF2 there is nowhere to hide. The weapons are easier to use than TF2 weapons also. The RPG elements are nice - allowing you to unlock perks as you make progress but happily the default classes are powerful enough to allow you to make an impact from day 1. My favourite weapon is the M16. The three shot burst suits my play style. Amazingly I find I can shoot reasonably straight and I find that two quick taps (6 bullets) kills most things. I play as mbp - say hello if we ever meet in no-mans land.
Lotro: I've signed up for my first real raid on Thursday: The Rift. It has taken a bit of real life organisation to free up enough uninterrupted time but I am looking forward to it. Need to do some reading up and preparation to make sure Throg doesn't embarrass himself. The more serious members of my kinship are already raiding several times a week. I wonder if this will eventually put pressure on the casual friendly ethos of the kinship. I am quite optimistic that it won't, partly because the kin leadership is committed to maintaining the ethos but mainly because of the current design of lotro. As it stands at present you can still get very good gear without raiding so there isn't an unbridgeable gap between raiders and non-raiders.
CoD4 Single Player: Finished. Absolutely terrific fps with strong storyline. The game is surprisingly short but has various bells and whistles that are supposed to encourage you to play through the game again. Play through the whole game again with one eye closed, that sort of thing. Personally I couldn't be bothered.
CoD4 multiplayer: Amazingly this is only my second ever on-line shooter. I like it. On the one hand its is more complex than Team Fortress 2 - with greater customisation of classes and more complex maps. On the other hand it is probably a lot easier for a noob to survive. The very complexity of the maps means that you can always hide in a corner somewhere and get the odd lucky kill. In TF2 there is nowhere to hide. The weapons are easier to use than TF2 weapons also. The RPG elements are nice - allowing you to unlock perks as you make progress but happily the default classes are powerful enough to allow you to make an impact from day 1. My favourite weapon is the M16. The three shot burst suits my play style. Amazingly I find I can shoot reasonably straight and I find that two quick taps (6 bullets) kills most things. I play as mbp - say hello if we ever meet in no-mans land.
Lotro: I've signed up for my first real raid on Thursday: The Rift. It has taken a bit of real life organisation to free up enough uninterrupted time but I am looking forward to it. Need to do some reading up and preparation to make sure Throg doesn't embarrass himself. The more serious members of my kinship are already raiding several times a week. I wonder if this will eventually put pressure on the casual friendly ethos of the kinship. I am quite optimistic that it won't, partly because the kin leadership is committed to maintaining the ethos but mainly because of the current design of lotro. As it stands at present you can still get very good gear without raiding so there isn't an unbridgeable gap between raiders and non-raiders.
Comments
For some reason I am not tempted to try another MMORPG yet. There is just too much hassle - mental, emotional ad life management involved in getting up to speed in a new MMO. If anything I am more likely to abandon MMOs for a while and focus on single player games. That said I haven't reached burnout yet in Lotro and if Turbine continue to bring out updates at the rate they have been doing it will probably hold my interest for a while yet.
I suppose I will have to try Spore - not least because of your enthusiastic recommendations. I would be very surprised if it grabs me though. God games and building stuff games have never really grabbed me.