There has been a wonderful update to the Halo world! Great Anvils, or Forge Island, was released early and is available for download today! Read more here.
Out of the many awesome announcements that have crawled its way back home, this specific piece of news is quite exciting. Great Anvils: a free new map that is the equivalent to forge world v2. Three big platforms of islands appear over water which are in sandbox mode. Free to choose, free to play, free to create to your heart’s content. And if look as closely as possible, there is a spartan standing in the left most, bigger island somewhat toward the edge. Say hi!!
Out of the many awesome announcements that have crawled its way back home, this specific piece of news is quite exciting. Great Anvils: a free new map that is the equivalent to forge world v2. Three big platforms of islands appear over water which are in sandbox mode. Free to choose, free to play, free to create to your heart’s content. And if look as closely as possible, there is a spartan standing in the left most, bigger island somewhat toward the edge. Say hi!!
What do COD4, Halo 3, and Gears of War all have in common? They all remind me how old I’m getting. That’s because at least five years has passed since each of these beasts came out. Yes, I said it: five years. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was a young freshman in college, inexperienced of the ways of college-goers and first/third person shooters alike. I can remember when I would go to the cafeteria an hour before it would open so I could be the first person in line just so I could get the seat I wanted. I also remember when I had kill-death ratios of ~0.25 in both Halo 3 and COD4 (yeah, I was that terrible). But I’ve come a long way since then. Just as I learned that I could wait until 30 minutes until closing when there’s no one in the caf’, I gained experience in a variety of shooters. My K/D ratios are now above 1 in both COD and Halo games, and I’m not too shaggy at Gears either.
Hidden in the shadows on Snowbound. Courtesy of GT:theburglar1337 (the top red elite)
Somewhat NSFW? Back in those days, we wanted to take pictures like that on there. But who knows why now. Courtesy of GT: theburglar1337.
All of these games have a special place in my heart. They may not be in my top 5 games (or even top 10) of all time, but they certainly will be games that I’ll never forget simply because of the fun and competition each one brought. Halo 3 is the game out of the three that has definitely left a imprint on me throughout all these years. It was the first FPS that I actually sat down and actively practiced to get good at. Me and countless others would hop on the university server and spend hours griefing each other. There was one really eccentric guy who went by the name TwoneDaNigga. Let’s just say I couldn’t understand most of the things he said but was nonetheless a relatively funny and good player. I say “relatively” because most of us were terrible except a few extremely talented bunch who actually were in MLG (and flaunted it about with their facebook and shirts and gear and whatnot). Anyway, this Twone guy was always really cocky, so one day I killed him on Snowbound (now called Boundless? don’t remember) by the little mongoose/ghost bridge and I picked up the gun he was shooting me with and shot his dead body until he came back for me. I ended up killing him with his own gun. Oh how I wish I had videos from those play sessions. They were golden.
In another account, me and my friends would go into ranked team doubles, get 1 kill, and hide the rest of the match. The people would be screaming at the end. Halo 3 maps were the best to do the grief-hide thing. While in college, different dormitories would hold Halo 3 tournaments and I would join them, partially hoping to actually win and be heralded as a good girl gamer who’s not wishy-washy. But also partially so I could meet other gamers. I made several friends during that period and to this day a few of them I’m still close with.
Call of Duty 4, on the other hand, had a completely different type of grief system to go off of. There are two brilliant plays which would happen at least once per match: trapping a fellow teammate in a corner or boxed in area and getting you both killed or trapping a friendly and him killing himself, not hurting you. I’m laughing maniacally just thinking about it. I think since the newer CODs have come out, it’s less likely you can do things like that, but I have done it at least once in MW2. Another funny thing we used to do as bored, crazy college hooligans was switch over to hardcore search and destroy. I would have one of the rocket launchers as my secondary weapon. As soon as we all spawned, I would switch to the rocket and blow me and teammates all to hell. Which means the other team will get to score while teammates are screaming. Ohhhh griefing. Those were the days.
Gears was less intense in griefing. I found myself highly inexperienced (ahem, TERRIBLE) and running in there and ruining the whole match for everyone and people yelling at me. But they couldn’t really get rid of me. I guess that’s what just made it so funny.
Playing these games has forced me to evaluate my life for these past five years. What have I done to get to where I am now? What have I accomplished? When you compare Halo 3 to Halo 4, there’s no doubt there’s been a long and great awaited change in the multiplayer system (albeit reminiscent of COD). Halo 3 has went beyond the cartoonish aliens vs. humans to a majestic story and beautiful art in Halo 4. From COD4 to COD:MW3, the system generally got better but at the same time got crappier no because of mechanics but because of the people who play and exploit. Gears 1 evolved beatuifully to Gears 3. But all of this could be said for most games in general.
Reevaluating my own past years has shone light on many questions such as “what if.” Of course, the 18 year old in me at that point in time was focused on a just a few things: getting the next few kills in Halo, getting my homework done for the week, and going home. Fast forward to today: gotta take care of my house, pets, and husband as well as hold down a school job and graduate school. As much as I love games, there’s just hardly any time for them when you have a “real” life. But should it be that way?
While I and my brethren of gamers with families continue to live life 360 degrees different from their initial/heavy gaming days, we have these games to reminisce. We had good times, they made their runs, and now they’re laid in a special resting spot. I have no idea, sadly, if I will ever play COD4, Gears, or Halo 3 again. So for now, they will sit on a shelf dedicated to my favorite games, accompanied by a build-a-bear dinosaur named Assface McGee so they will not be lonely.
Are there any games out there you want to give a shout-out to as being some of the most fun and well-played in your gaming career?
noob theory 