A British View.So, I’ve not been posting much lately, originally stemming from illness this progressed to a lack of creative thought or interest and eventually I was just too distracted by a mix of Counter Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2.
Counter Strike: Source; Steam had an offer a while back, this game only cost me £3.50 and as I hadn’t ever had the chance to play it previously I figured I couldn’t miss that. Playing I started with the revelation that I really sucked, the extreme emphasis on grenades added to the necessity for cover in this game is unlike most of my usual gaming haunts. Getting used to that, playing mostly on the map Office2, I’m actually pretty damn decent now. I kinda naively reckon I could actually be part of a real SAS/SWAT type squadron, just don’t tell any real soldiers that.
The main thing I like about this game is the ability to use handguns effectively, opposed to just being instantly out-gunned by the rifles etc. (The fact this game can be played in windowed-mode really adds to the appeal, as I can have a film/TV on my extended monitor or talk on MSN between each round.) I don’t overly see why people take it too seriously though, thinking back to the various webcomics about those “counterstrike fanatics” a few years back, the game does have a bit of a bad rep when it comes to the community. Nonetheless, this is a very cool relaxed game to pass the time with, just try to ignore the fact I play with the sound dampened and with most/all players mic’s on mute.
Team Fortress 2’s WAR update was last week, this took up a load of my time as I attempted to help rack up the kills. Unfortunately demoman lost to those scummy soldier sissies, but it can’t be helped; I guess people just prefer offensive characters to actual good ones. I am looking forward to trying out the new crafting system, while at the same time staying cautious about wasting items, so I’m gunna have to wait till I’ve got some decent blueprints before I start doing that. The new items look great, “The Eyelander” and “The Chargin’ Targ” specifically, I really wanna’ give that whole thing a go. I do think it’ll add a new dimension to the characters tactics.
The thing about Team Fortress 2 is I have both the carefree casual gamer aspect, without ruling our the ability to implement both tactics and skill. The skill level of your team is rather important, communication helps but isn’t necessary and knowing your way around the map is always a plus. Finding a decent server can be a bitch at times, load times on map changes are slightly annoying and sometimes you get a lotta rage/quit situations. The thing about this is to remember it’s just fun, looking across the message boards (especially the offical Team Fortress 2 forum) they seem to forget that. Steam keeps spicing things up with their updates, I really can’t wait for the Engineers go, and it’s generally good fun. Again played on windowed mode with dampened sound, but it’s an extremely fun game. Quite often they reduce this game’s price to unmissable standards, this weekend infact they’ve given every Steam account a free trial of the game so you guys should check it out. I’d recommend this game to anyone and everyone, buy it during any of their many sales, or with The Orange Box like me, to get Portal, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast with it. This is usually around the £16.99 mark and is generally worth the buy.
So sorry guys about being absent, I’ll try to post more next week. (That being said, I did recently win a copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum, so the possibility of me falling off the grid again is still there…)
