Let me begin by saying I have been a Halo addict since my very strange neighbor thrust his copy of halo 2 into my hand and told me I must play it, and who am I to say no to such a googly eyed stranger? That day was the first day I began to think of myself as a "gamer", I had played video games my whole life starting on an atari and working my way through consoles as I grew. So why did I not consider myself a gamer you ask? That would be because no game had ever so completely sucked me into its story and gameplay before as Halo 2 had. Before I owned my Xbox I owned the Playstation 2 and did get quite engrained with the Gta series, but again nothing hit me quite as Halo has. Upon my introduction to Halo 2 multiplayer I was hooked, everything from fan art to machinima to the game itself fascinated me and its with continued admiration and adoration that I write this now.
When I logged into I was greeted with the main page, and on this page a post about a community called Buddy System Gaming, or BSG and after reading about them I decided to break my usual habit of avoiding large groups and went to their site to sign up. The process was relatively painless and their forums function like many of the others you see out there, but the key difference is i've not seen the egos one might expect to find on a forum that was just featured by the creators of our beloved halo. Instead I found a welcoming, warm group of people who all seem very helpful despite the fact they are currently swapped with new member requests.
After some intial bumps with getting in and setup, last night I was able to game with a great group of players and can easily say that i've not had that much fun in Halo in quite sometime. The night began with a warmup match with a new friend on a custom map he created in forge and it is sufficiently blood pumping. The map itself is rather simple in concept and thats what makes it so brilliant. A two level maze,relatively small and almost all looking identical makes for a rather disorienting experience. The game settings add to it making it even better. Its shotgun starts with unlimited ammo, no radar, no overshield. The only time you have any shielding is when you spawn at which time you have plenty of shield to protect you as you start the game. This feature both got me killed and saved my life and is a great idea, so much in fact I wish that it was a common feature on all halo gametypes to discourage spawn killing. After your spawn you then have no shields and are flying blind as you run through the two level maze. This heightens the anticipation as it becomes a game of finding your opponent before he finds you. I would imagine with more people it might be less nerveracking but in a one on one, this game type and map is rather unsettling.
After that match concluded, He and I were brought into a large group of players from BSG, either friends of the community, guests wanting to gain memberships status, or the BSG guys themselves it was a packed room to be sure. It was at this time I came to discover my new love, Nades N' Spades. This gametype requires that you stick your opponent in order to score points, with a very full room it was a map of chaos as grenades were flying everywhere, and to be perfectly
honest I have never had more fun or laughed as hard while playing a match.
In order to not make this first article so long you age prematurely age before finishing it I will abstain from going over the rest of the matches. But suffice it to say these games were fun, laughter filled and I actually felt a part of something. Regardless of whether or not we won or lost, I still felt like I had a stake in something bigger than just myself and feel like I have finally found a place where I belong.
I purchased my copy of Halo 3 the day it came on sale, I was the tenth person in line to recieve my copy at my local walmart and I have played this new version ever since. While I would never claim to be a god gamer or really even all that "hardcore" I would say I am a hardcore fan. But as of late, specifically in the last few months or so I've been left wanting with the multiplayer experience of H3. The mechanics work fine(lag permitting)but the way that I play tends to lend itself better to working as a team than being randomly matched with people that may or may not hold the same tactic principles as myself."I have been a Halo addict since my very strange neighbor thrust his copy of halo 2 into my hand and told me I must play it"
When I logged into I was greeted with the main page, and on this page a post about a community called Buddy System Gaming, or BSG and after reading about them I decided to break my usual habit of avoiding large groups and went to their site to sign up. The process was relatively painless and their forums function like many of the others you see out there, but the key difference is i've not seen the egos one might expect to find on a forum that was just featured by the creators of our beloved halo. Instead I found a welcoming, warm group of people who all seem very helpful despite the fact they are currently swapped with new member requests.
After some intial bumps with getting in and setup, last night I was able to game with a great group of players and can easily say that i've not had that much fun in Halo in quite sometime. The night began with a warmup match with a new friend on a custom map he created in forge and it is sufficiently blood pumping. The map itself is rather simple in concept and thats what makes it so brilliant. A two level maze,relatively small and almost all looking identical makes for a rather disorienting experience. The game settings add to it making it even better. Its shotgun starts with unlimited ammo, no radar, no overshield. The only time you have any shielding is when you spawn at which time you have plenty of shield to protect you as you start the game. This feature both got me killed and saved my life and is a great idea, so much in fact I wish that it was a common feature on all halo gametypes to discourage spawn killing. After your spawn you then have no shields and are flying blind as you run through the two level maze. This heightens the anticipation as it becomes a game of finding your opponent before he finds you. I would imagine with more people it might be less nerveracking but in a one on one, this game type and map is rather unsettling.
"I found a welcoming, warm group of people who all seem very helpful despite the fact they are currently swapped with new member requests."
After that match concluded, He and I were brought into a large group of players from BSG, either friends of the community, guests wanting to gain memberships status, or the BSG guys themselves it was a packed room to be sure. It was at this time I came to discover my new love, Nades N' Spades. This gametype requires that you stick your opponent in order to score points, with a very full room it was a map of chaos as grenades were flying everywhere, and to be perfectly
honest I have never had more fun or laughed as hard while playing a match.In order to not make this first article so long you age prematurely age before finishing it I will abstain from going over the rest of the matches. But suffice it to say these games were fun, laughter filled and I actually felt a part of something. Regardless of whether or not we won or lost, I still felt like I had a stake in something bigger than just myself and feel like I have finally found a place where I belong.
No comments:
Post a Comment