Confessions of a gamer

Solid Snake, do you know this name? Well maybe you´ve heard about it and seen videos about a character that goes by that name but who is Solid Snake? This is something that isn´t really clear to me when I first played Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation, I never played any of the Nintendo Metal Gear games so I was completely in the dark. But this didn´t stop me from playing the game, it was quite something in the late 90´s and I wasn´t really used to stealth games as my strategy was always go for the direct attack. I think Metal Gear Solid changed that a bit, think before you move and when you make a move be ready to make another one. Metal Gear Solid is difficult for new players? If you´re not used to stealth games then it might be a challenge, because running and gunning usually means that things won´t end well for you. Suddenly I had to take it easy and move slowly instead of rushing, this was very strange for me and it caused me to get killed in the game several times where I did...

Did I just say that? Well I actually typed it but yeah I did, something some guys (maybe even girls) think but no one says. But is it true? Should girls play games? Or are games wasted on girls? I´d say anyone with at least some brain activity would know the answer on these questions, but that doesn´t keep some people from giving an answer you might expect from a douchebag! Why shouldn´t girls play games? Some guys think that girls ruin the fun, that they suck so badly that it´s no challenge to play against them and then there are people that are just assholes about it. I don´t think gaming is a guy thing, hell I´d welcome more female gamers to bring something else in the mix. Some guys prefer to play against other guys but then I look at certain games and notice that most people don´t really communicate with eachother and when they do it´s usually a lot of insults that are thrown around, so does it really matter against whom you´re playing? Then the bullshit about girls being so...

Sometimes when I play games with friends the tension reaches a critical point where no one wants to lose and harsh words can be said in the heat of the moment, I mean nobody wants to lose and sometimes when the score is that close then it only takes one mistake to fuck it up! It´s great when afterwards everything is back to normal, but what if things aren´t back to normal? Is it possible to lose friends because of a game? To give you a short answer, yes! But that person is usually not a good friend, unless you´re being a terrible friend yourself then it would make a bit more sense. It´s not uncommon for friends to get angry at eachother because of a game, but it´s completely up to you how you deal with that! Sure you can be mad for a moment but that´s a moment and not worth keeping a grudge against your friend. Of course there are people that are scumbags, but you probably know that if he or she is your friend and to hold that against someone seems a bit weird. Because if you know s...

I think a lot of gamers are familiar with good and evil, you´ve probably played games like Fable or Fall Out 3 where morality plays a (big) part in the game and it will determine the outcome of certain missions. In Fable it goes so far that you actually see your character change into an angelic being or a demon, depending on the choices you made. It´s nice that you can choose, to be good or to be evil. I wish more games did that but sometimes it´s also nice to just follow a story that leads you into darkness or is sometimes a path of redemption. The information I´m getting about Metal Gear Sold 5 the Phantom Pain the more I realize that this is a story about a man that is falling into darkness, a path of revenge that leads him to the darker parts of the soul. I´m quite fascinated by that, because it looks like it´s going to be an interesting story that is quite unique in the world of games. Sure there are games where you can play as the good guy and do bad things, hell you can even b...

Have you ever wondered how your life would be if you never played games, if you never heard about video games and if they didn´t even exist? I think that would change things a lot for some people, especially if it´s your favourite hobby and if you spend a lot of time gaming. But if video games never existed then how would you miss them? I started playing video games when I was nine and got my first console when I was ten, which wasn´t really that early in my life but in that time not many people played video games anyway. I started to spend more time playing games then playing outside with friends, something that wasn´t the smartest thing to do because I lost contact with some of my friends. I stopped playing football (soccer for Americans) and I also spend way too much money on games instead of other toys. But if someone would ask me if I regret anything then I´d say that I don´t regret anything about that, because I love playing games and maybe my life wouldn´t be better without vi...

A lot of popular games have a pre-order option with often a pre-order bonus attached to that, this is a way to convince people to pre-order that game or else they´re going to miss out on a cool items or something special in the game itself. But is it really worth it? A pre-order bonus is nothing special? That depends, sometimes it is something unique and the only way people can get it is via pre-order. Of course there are ways of getting it, sometimes people sell codes that give you acces to a pre-order bonus, but that´s usually a bit more expensive then you´d like and then you really have to wonder if that´s worth it! Sometimes the pre-order bonus is for sale in the game store (online) and there are even items that become available to everyone after a certain amount of time. So a pre-order bonus isn´t always that special! But I´d be too harsh to say it´s all crap, because it´s not! For example playing as Catwoman in Batman Arkham City was a nice pre-order bonus, eventhough tha...

It´s a bold statement, especially when you look at certain games where multiplayer usually keeps a game alive much longer than the single player can. But if you would take away single player then you´re kind of forced to play only multiplayer and/or co-op and I don´t think everyone would be happy with that! Who plays single player? This is something I wonder sometimes when I look at profiles in a Halo or CoD lobby, because so many people don´t bother playing the campaign and go straight for multiplayer. Maybe that has something to do with someone playing on a secondary account or perhaps that person isn´t interested in the campaign. It does give me the impression that there are a lot of gamers that don´t care about the campaign and wouldn´t mind a game that is multiplayer/co-op only. But there are also several people that do play single player, some do it for the achievements/trophies but there are also people that actually enjoy playing the campaign. Somehow I do get the feeling tha...

This game isn´t even that old but I still want to talk about it, because for me this was my first encounter with a Call of Duty game. Of course I´ve heard a lot about it and I´ve seen plenty of videos with some CoD footage but it never really convinced me to buy a CoD game. Until I saw some videos on youtube of zombie mode. I heard about that the first time in Call of Duty World at War, where they put zombies in a game. The main reason I didn´t buy that game is because it´s another World War II game and I´ve played a lot of those a decade ago. But Black Ops takes place during the cold war and I was curious enough to give it a shot. I was not disappointed! CoD sucks? You hear this so many times from people, well you mostly read this in the comment section of almost anything CoD related. But somehow CoD is the most popular first person shooter out there and even when a game is not that well received (CoD Ghosts) there are still a lot of people that play that game and then there are peo...

That seems weird, but in fact there are several people that actually do this to get certain achievements/trophies in games. For example if you need a certain co-op achievement/trophy and you don´t know anyone that wants to help you get it then if the game allows it you can always try to get it by yourself and by using splitscreen and two controllers. It seems sad but the things people do for achievements/trophies actually proves that some gamers are quite resourceful! Maybe some think this is cheating but I think it´s a skill to actually make it in some games with two character while you can only control one at a time! Is it wrong to play with two controllers when you´re on your own? It depends, if you try to get some multiplayer achievements/trophies this way then I wouldn´t be too supportive for that. I mean there are other people you can play against, so if you have trouble getting a certain achievement/trophy then maybe you need to practice a bit more. But with co-op things are a...

It´s Summer! For some this is a great time to enjoy the sun and spend time with friends, but for others this is the worst time of the year. I don´t even mean people that don´t like the heat, no I´m talking about gamers that now face a couple of months without any new releases. It´s a tough time and it´s not easy for some gamers to make it through this nightmare. But here are some tips to help you through the Summer! 1. Spend some more time online with others, you might not enjoy playing with strangers but often that´s a good way to pass the time when you´re bored. It keeps even old games fresh and it´s a lot of fun when you´re kicking ass! Of course there is also the downside where things don´t go so well and that it doesn´t improve your mood. It´s not a bad idea to play with people you do know, so spend time with friends online, challenge them to a race or set up a whole tournament to keep your friends and yourself busy! 2. Spend time with friends or make new friends, it seems eas...

This is one of the things I hate the most in games, when you encounter moments where enemies don´t stop spawning and keep going until you move on to the next area or if you die. Either way it´s a guarantee that you´ll be annoyed by this, because this means that you never get a moment of rest or a chance to heal up. Especially when the enemies also spawn right behind you, then you have the recipe for anger! Why do developers still do this? To be honest I don´t know, but I assume it´s just some lazy bullshit to keep players busy in a most annoying way. I think a lot of games have already shown that you can set a number of enemies in a certain area and then when you killed all those enemies then you´re done. That keeps the frustration low and you move much faster through the game! Which might not be fun for everyone but I doubt that people enjoy being stuck in an area because of enemies that keep spawning! But people don´t like empty areas either, people complain that they hate how en...

I´m curious who still plays GTA Online, because after two months of issues I was done with that, I endured that for many months in Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3, but it seems Rockstar will never change and so the issues they have with online multiplayer will never change. That might seems harsh but it´s just my experience with that and it´s not a good experience! You can´t trust developers? The thing is that people sometimes say things that turn out to be lies, but I don´t think that developers always lie to you because some actually believe that they can make things happen. It´s of course annoying when it turns out that they didn´t do what they said they would do and you´re left with the same old shit. In case you missed this, Rockstar said that they would have heists online in Spring 2014 but now reaching the end of Spring 2014 they quickly left a message saying that they can´t put heists in Spring 2014. They didn´t tell you this in April, not in May and not even in early Jun...

Do you sometimes feel like you have a love/hate relationship with games? No? Well maybe I´m the only one, but I guess I´m a bit of a weird guy. The thing with games is that some can be a lot of fun to play while others can be very frustrating to play. Also when things go well it´s all good, but when things go bad then even a fun game can make you angry. I guess it also depends on who you are, I mean some people don´t get upset as quickly as others but it´s easy to lose your temper when you feel like a game screws you over! What is a love/hate relationship with games? It´s how I call my life as a gamer, how much I enjoy playing some games and how much I hate playing others. Even fun games can be frustrating and bad games can have moments of fun, it´s weird but that´s how it goes. Which is why I prefer not to hate games, usually just certain things in a game that I don´t like. For example I like GTA V, I like the single player and the story. But I´m not a fan of GTA Online, I´ve ha...

No matter how much fun a game is, when the ending leaves you with disappointment or even anger then that is enough to ruin the entire game. It´s the worst when you´ve played several games that all lead to an ending that is just not what you expected nor wanted, but there is nothing you can do about that...or is there? I think a lot of people have heard about Mass Effect, probably the same amount of people have heard about the ending in Mass Effect 3. But if you haven´t then I won´t spoil anything, let´s just say that no matter what choice you make the ending is pretty much the same. Yes I finished the game three times just to be certain! Oh there are some differences but in the original ending that was not really visible, so Bioware made this extended ending that gave the people a bit more details to the effect of your choice at the end of the game. If gamers never spoke about the ending, as in telling others how upset they were (some still are) with the ending, then things ...

I´ve never been a fan of movie games, games based on movies, but Aladdin is one of those games that does it right. It´s a fantastic platformer that is a lot of fun to play, it doesn´t take a ridiculous amount of skill but there are a some moments that will require a bit of technique. But above all it´s a fun game that is enjoyable for both young and old gamers! In Aladdin you play as Aladdin and you defeat enemies by jumping on their head, it seems simple and it is! But that´s the fun part of this game, no need to learn weird button combinations and no need to press certain buttons during a cinematic. No this game keeps it simple and that´s the way it should be! You play in different levels based on the animated movie of Disney, I actually like how they look quite accurate and for that time the game looks fantastic. So it´s just jumping through levels? No, there is also a carpet riding moment where you have to dodge obstacles while trying to escape the cave of wonders. If you compa...

It´s nothing new, a game that is supposed to be all that and turns out to be not as special as promised. It sucks and you might even feel like you´ve been played by the developers, which isn´t that odd because when they promise you things and they don´t turn up in the game then they´ve been lying to you! Nobody likes it when someone lies to you but somehow that doesn´t keep people from doing it and we´re accepting that type of behaviour. Weird... I usually don´t take a big offense in these lies, that´s because I play games with moderate expectations. There are some exceptions where I´m so eager to play a game that I do learn all there is to know about the game and play it the moment I have it. Of course then the disappointment is a lot bigger, which is why I prefer to stay calm about new games. A hype never lasts long and usually does end with disappointment, so unless you like feeling like that then I suggest you don´t get sucked into the hype around a game! Fable is one of those ...

After Far Cry 3 it´s interesting to see how Far Cry 4 will be, but at the same time I can´t help but wonder if it´s going to be more of the same. Why would you change a winning combination? I don´t even think a lot of gamers would mind that, to see more of the same in Far Cry 4 but there are of course people that would mind and I don´t blame those people. A new game on a new console should be more than the succesful game you played before! But is there anything new about Far Cry 4? Let´s start with something important, a friend can join your game and you can play together. But this is only limited to outposts and things not related to the main mission, so it´s not like you can complete the game with a friend. Still it´s cool that you can play together and have a great time destroying everything in your path. In the gameplay trailer they showed a one man helicopter construction that allows a player to fly and also shoot his or her weapon, in the trailer that person used a grenade ...

After seeing the gameplay videos and reading the comments under that video it´s clear that a lot of people aren´t happy with Fable Legends. They don´t like what this game turned out to be and not even a four player co-op can change their mind about that. But is it really such a bad game? Fable Legends is just another co-op game? That´s what you might think but in truth it´s actually a bit different, you don´t travel in the world of Albion but you have to survive in arenas where another player (who plays as the villain) is unleashing hordes of enemies on the four players. This means that the four players will have to work together to make it out of the arena alive. You can choose from four different heroes with the female tank (big shield), male damage dealer (sword), male ranged fighter (crossbow) and female mage (in the video using ice magic). It´s a shame that you can´t really make your own hero or customize a hero like you did in the previous Fable games, to make your own type of ...

I don´t know about you but I love Dragon Age games, even Dragon Age 2 that got a lot of crap is still a game I like to play. But it was clear that the next Dragon Age game would have to be more than that, there are a lot of complaints and the question is: can Bioware make people happy with this new game? Yes!!! I think Bioware did a good job! Of course it´s a bit too early to praise a game I´ve never played but everything I saw and what I heard the developers talk about looks and sounds cool to me! No more human only characters? That´s right! Now you can play once again as a human, elf, dwarf and a qunari! Yes that´s right, you can play as a qunari! It´s great that they brought this back and I´m curious how big of an impact it will have in the world to play as certain races. I mean I´m very curious about playing as a qunari, but if it´s the same as playing as a human (which means characters in the world won´t talk differently or treat you differently) then that would be a disappointm...

Looking at the new trailer of Zelda makes me wonder what to expect, because it looks beautiful but then again there is that look that some people hate from the Windwaker. Still that doesn´t mean that this will be bad, I actually enjoyed playing Windwaker and I was also sceptical about that game when I first saw it. But sometimes things turn out great, so I have faith in this new Zelda game! An open world in Hyrule? As much as I love the ocarina of time I know that the game had limited amounts of freedom compared to some of the free roaming games you have these days. Just look at a game like Skyrim, that´s amazing and to have that for a Zelda game is fantastic! So when they showed how big Hyrule is and how far you can explore I was very happy about that. Finally you can go your own way and not be forced to take the one and only path that you have to take if you want to make it through the game. Which means that people can have different experiences with this game. Sounds good to m...

With all the new game trailers popping up on youtube it´s difficult to pick a favourite and I don´t think that I´m going to, but I must admit that Assassin´s Creed: Unity made a good impression on me. Not just because of the beautiful graphics, interesting setting and smooth controls. No this game is all about the four player co-op! So you play the game with four other people? Well you can, I don´t think they´ll force you to do that and you´ll most likely be able to play it with two or three people (I´m not certain about being able to play solo as this game is meant to be played with others). To me it feels a lot like the wolfpack missions in Assassin´s Creed III and IV. But this time everything is bigger, better and more beautiful! Where does it take place? The trailer showed that it takes place in Paris in the time of the French revolution which is an interesting and chaotic time. The trailer was quite brutal and it showed a lot of violence, but that does seem more believable to ...

This isn´t that old but definately worth mentioning, because it´s such a great game and made me a fan of the Batman Arkham games! Arkham Asylum proved that there are Batman games that are good and worth playing, thanks to an amazing combat system and brilliant performance of everyone and everything in the game. Do those voices sound familiar to you? If you´ve watched the animated adventures of Batman in the 90´s (like me) then you´ll probably recognize some of the voices you hear in this game, for example Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker. For me there is no other duo as good in those roles when it comes to animated Batman. But also the dark style of the game is awesome, it´s how you want to see Batman and put fear into your enemies by just being in the same room with them. So it´s just hack and slash? Oh no, this game has an awesome combat system but it would be unwise to just attack enemies. If you use Batman´s gadgets and stick to the shadows you can take care ...

It´s easy to blame others, whenever I play a game then it´s often the fault of someone else. At least that´s how I see it, but is it really the fault of the other? I don´t think that anyone has the illusions that he or she is perfect but it´s not always easy to admit that you´re wrong or that you made a mistake. It´s easier to blame another, especially if it´s a stranger you know nothing about because a little bit of prejudice has never stopped anyone! When I play CoD Ghosts domination or Titanfall capture the flag then I´m often annoyed by the behaviour of my team, most of the people on my team don´t play the objective and just camp somewhere trying to boost their k/d. Which is good for them but it doesn´t help the team at all! So when your team loses big time then it´s not a suprise that I blame these people, because they don´t help and they don´t really add anything to make a difference in the match. Is it wrong of me to blame them? Maybe, maybe not. But I do know that if they hel...

With the E3 it´s clear that there are a lot of ´experts´ running around giving you the latest news about games and all that, then there are journalists gathering information and just fans that want to sniff up some sweat and desperation...and probably play some of the new games. But what about us? The gamers that spend our hard earned money on these games, where are we? That´s right we often sit at home and can´t go to the events that we probably want to go. Well maybe some of your are lucky enough to go there but for a lot it´s too expensive or too far away. Games are for gamers, right? I´d say yes, but when I look at certain events I´m not so sure anymore. It´s a bit circus with a lot of things going on but where is the let the gamers play games shit going on? I guess I´m a bit bitter about not being able to go to such events myself because I live in the middle of nowhere, but it would be nice if there would be more events and those events would then be more for gamers instead of p...

Have you noticed how a lot of people often find something to complain about? Even when there is something new or cool in a game then there are always people who find something to whine about. I don´t know if they´re just full of negativity or trying to annoy people that are excited for that, either way it´s something nobody really needs nor wants. Imagine how developers feel when every time they create something new or even give what people asked for and still get complaints, it´s more than enough to drive someone insane! Developers shouldn´t listen feedback? I wouldn´t go that far, because sometimes there is something wrong with the game and if the developers would ignore that then they might never discover that themselves and you might find that issue in other games as well. I don´t think it´s an issue to say what you like and don´t like, the problem is when people talk shit about everything without any good reason for it. That´s not feedback, that´s just being a whiny bitch! But t...

To keep it simple I´d say no, because when I look at Dead Island and then at Dying Light then I can clearly see a lot of improvement and something more intense than Dead Island. Not that Dead Island is a bad game, but when I look at the sequel Dead Island Riptide then I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with that. Because Dead Island Riptide is more of the same stuff you encountered in Dead Island and it doesn´t really give you anything new. Oh sure a new character, new skills and a new location but so much of it feels like I´ve seen it before. But not with Dying Light, this game looks like something new! Both Dead Island and Dying Light have zombies in them, how is that new? The action looks more dynamic, you can move around more flexible and use your surroundings to your benefit when dealing with zombies. Of course there is still this desolate place where you have to survive and you can create weapons by combining items, this is nothing new and I don´t mind that to be hon...

After seeing so many trailers of Batman Arkham Knight I´m actually suprised that they delayed the game till 2015. In a way it almost seems like they were misleading us to think that we could have this game in 2014, but then again it´s probably for the best if it got delayed because nobody wants a game that isn´t finished! It´s actually a good thing if a game takes longer than shorter to be made, because games that are released so quickly after the game before that are usually not of the highest quality. Dragon Age 2 is a good example of that, it´s not a bad game but several things feel kind of cheap, for example using the same areas for missions over and over again. Of course it´s nice that you get to play a game sooner or if that comes at the cost of quality then I´d rather wait a bit longer. What does this mean for Arkham Knight? Hopefully it means that this game will be even more awesome then I already think it will be, so if they need more time to do that then I´m ok with that....

You´ve probably seen the announce trailer of Mortal Kombat X, then you probably also know that it shows two familiar characters fighting against eachother. At that point you´re probably still thinking that it´s just more of the same but with a better coat of paint, I understand that pessimist look and it´s not often wrong. But from what I´ve heard about Mortal Kombat X is that it´s going to be more than just a new game in the Mortal Kombat game series. What´s new? Apparently there will be more fighting styles for one character, giving everyone his or her own favourite style to use against opponents. There was something familiar in another Mortal Kombat game where they also had weapons in a fighting style, but this seems to go a bit deeper and more unique. Of course these are just words at this point, nothing has been proven just yet! But this would make it more fun to play against other people and see who masters the ultimate style, but I´m certain that there is a counter style f...

Have you ever played the game Spiderman and the X-Men: Arcade´s revenge? It´s a game on the SNES so I wouldn´t be suprised if you hadn´t, but this was one of my first super hero games and I really enjoyed playing it. It´s one of those games where you have to do your best to actually make it, because you only have a limited amount of lives and if you mess up you have to start over. That seems pretty harsh these days but that´s how it was in the good old days! In this game you play as Spiderman, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops and Gambit. For me this was the first encounter I had with Gambit and he became my favourite X-Man pretty quickly, I mean what´s not to like about a cool looking guy that uses charged playing cards as his weapon? Every character is put in a deadly arena where they have to make it to the exit, of course there is a lot that can go wrong. With Spiderman you have to go through a city like area and you have your typical Spiderman villains to fight at the end of those levels...

I´ll probably sound like an old douchebag but I´m not going to let that stop me from telling you this, when I was a kid I played games for fun and the main reason to play games was for fun. Of course it´s nice if you have succes and later playing with friends in local multiplayer you could have a lot of fun! It´s funny to sometimes be this douchebag friend that makes fun of his friends and try to mess with them if possible, but all in good fun. These days a lot of gamers play online and often with strangers, but somehow that doesn´t keep people from being that same douchebag that makes fun of others. You might think that ok and I guess it´s ok, but the problem is that these people seem to always do that in games where you can´t use such behaviour, which results into annoying and frustrating moments! I´m getting the idea that people play games these days to annoy others and not to have fun with the game itself, well maybe they´re still having fun but if that has to come at the expense...