lost in games

In the 1st Round of PURE Vs UBER session i advocated the optimality of the normal difficulty setting for the single player and also how cinematic and realistic COD4 was. Mardas counterattacked on the difficulty setting with the Veteran argument “I am a man” while also praising the game’s superb pacing. This is now the 2nd and Final round.

FROM: PURE OTAKU COSTAS
TO: UBER OTAKU MARDAS
DATE: 27 NOVEMBER 2007

Dear Mardas,

You have mistaken my words of sympathy with mockery. And I do have sympathy for you as in your never-ending quest for an ever higher gamerscore you have chosen a path which only leads to vanity. Besides COD4 is not a 360 exclusive title. There is no doubt that the Normal setting is easy. I agree with you 100%.

But believe me there is no shame in that, because it is the difficulty setting the game was meant to be played the first time round (do you like my “bold the words” technique?). There is no unnecessary repetition of each checkpoint to destroy the cinematic experience, which is the highlight of this game. You can always try the Vet your second time (“bold the words” technique becomes popular) through the game my hardcore friend.

Anyway, I think that it is time to move on as there is still, like you said, the multiplayer to talk about.

In multiplayer there are really only two contenders at the moment. These are COD4 and Halo3. Even though COD4 may not have the pioneering (in consoles) Forge and Theatre of Halo 3, it too has so many options in multiplayer it is mind boggling. Furthermore playing COD4 online feels like a RPG as you are constantly levelling up and getting new skills, called perks. Now that’s something Halo 3 does not have.

COD4 forces you to change tactics depending on what weapons you are using, what perks you have and what your current killing streak is.

For example having the deep impact perk makes me not really care whether my enemy is hiding behind a wall or not. I just keep shooting at the wall like a maniac. Or when using the claymores perk I found myself getting more inside buildings and taking shelter there without worrying too much about enemies coming from behind.

Another thing is that in Halo 3 you really could not care less whether you had consecutive kills or not (forget achievements for a second). You just want to have more kills than deaths and win. In COD4 it matters. Survival for a few more kills becomes so important that you really fear death when you are on your 4^th or 6^th kill.

And it is not just the online mode mind you. I haven’t seen such obsession with multiplayer split-screen sessions here in Cyprus since the original Halo. Now that says a lot to me on how fun and accessible it is.

“Take no prisoners comrades” goes the saying of the Spetsnaz. In its wake Call of Duty 4 has taken none. It is like getting hit by a train twice. First with the single player and then with the multiplayer and it is my front runner for Game of the Year of the games released in 2007 and I have actually played.

As I conclude my turn in this 2nd and Final Round let me just tell you that I have really enjoyed our first Pure Vs Uber session.

Over to you my friend. Finish it!

FROM: UBER OTAKU MARDAS
TO: PURE OTAKU COSTAS
DATE: 30 NOVEMBER 2007

Dear Costas,

Before I move onto the multiplayer side of the COD 4 experience, let me settle this ongoing fascination of yours with the normal difficulty setting.

COD 4 is a game NOT a film (take that “bold” font and have some of this capped, bold and italic font combo…waaaaaata!) hence my reason for wanting to play though the game instead of mindlessly walking though huge chunks of the game feeling like I am impermeable to bullets.

I agree that Vet is ridiculous and takes away from the emotional attachment but normal feels like simply going through the motions. The sweet spot for me is Hardened, which provides a fair level of difficulty gameplay wise and at the same time lets the game flow like the tranquil river that war is meant to be!

I honestly can’t see us playing through the full game more than once when you consider that stack of games we have yet to either start or finish playing.

Anyway, enough of this infernal bickering and lets just agree to disagree. Onto bigger and better thing, queue COD 4 Multiplayer.

Multiplayer games, apart from sports titles, have never traditionally been able to suck me into their world for more than a few outings. But after playing the Beta of COD 4 I knew this would be the game to finally get me hooked.

To be fair the online “RPG” elements are not entirely new to the FPS genre, Rainbow Six offered a similar levelling up system in the previous titles. But the way Infinite Ward have refined the system is superb.

You are given targets for each weapon, such as 25 headshots, to unlock a better attachment and chunk of XP. Coupled with the unlockable perks (that occupy three interchangeable slots) really adds to the depth of the game. It has a great sense of “just one more go” about it as you are always a few kills away from the next unlockable, and with each unlockable “comes great power and responsibility”, well not really but you know what I mean.

Seriously, you are totally right that each new perk or scope attachment impacts the way you can tackle the game. It will always feel fresh and that’s what we like to see in a game. It also does a good job of rewarding you for every kill and the pop up you get showing your XP bonus was a great idea.

I love finishing a round and then going into the Barracks so I can see what Challenge to tackle next. Then I join another session and focus solely on that goal. The beauty of the system is that if you don’t want to play around with all the different options then you can stick to what you feel comfortable with and you will still have a blast. I personally found the menus and options very easy to use and I didn’t feel overwhelmed at any point by the multiplayer modes options.

As a package COD 4 leaves little to be desired. The only thing worth mentioning is that somebody only playing the single player campaign may find it a little on the short side, clocking in between 6 – 8 hrs depending on the difficulty selected. The meat of the game is in the online mode. Lag isn’t a very frequent problem but I have found that the ability, or rather failure of, partying up with your friends and going into battle together a consistent pain in the backside. It will either throw people from the same party into different sessions or drop part of the group altogether. After several failed attempts to get into a game with my buddies I normally just give up and roll solo.

Make no mistake about it though, this is a great package and it will definitely feature in most Game of the Year debates this Christmas.

Pure Otaku Costas, I bow my head in respect and admiration to you for this great exchange of Otaku views. As always it has been a pleasure and I look forward to our next “duel”.

Uber Otaku Mardas (a.k.a The Godfather) over and out!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 08:20 and is filed under PURE VS UBER. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.