I admire Valve and the work they do, but most of their games have been far too scary (Half-Life series) or require too much skill (Team Fortress 2) for me to enjoy. For this reason, I was hesitant to try Left 4 Dead (L4D), but I finally did upon the insistence of a few good friends.

I played L4D on two separate occasions: once as survivors against an AI enemy, and later against a rival team of players, switching off between the survivors and the zombies. Although I enjoyed both experiences, I enjoyed being a survivor against the AI best because the game was more predictable, and no one had to be a loser. Regardless of the mode, I really commend Valve for a return to a more close-knit co-op game, which provides a fantastic opportunity for teamwork and tactical thinking.

While I still enjoyed playing L4D when I was fighting other players, it wasn't as fun for me. The other team seemed to understand how to use the zombies much better, and the fact that they had human reasoning behind their strategies became annoying. The other team would know the perfect spot to stand to drag me down, throw up on me, or otherwise hinder me. When I was a zombie, the other team continued to win, and I was dead in just one or two hits. I would wait forever to respawn, then wait in what I thought was a good spot, only to be foiled by those more experienced. L4D, like many online games, has a steep learning curve for novices.

Despite solid mechanics, friends are what kept me going in L4D. I'm not a big fan of shooters, and L4D is a shooter at heart. I lack the skill of many experienced FPS players and online veterans. However, the encouraging words and amusing comments of my friends via voice chat kept me going. I really enjoy the camaraderie of co-op games, whether it's online or in-person.

While I did enjoy playing L4D with my friends, I'm not sure how often I'll seek it out. A dark city overrun with creepy zombies and scary noises is not exactly a world that I would want to escape to at night for entertainment. Perhaps that is why I seem to find myself allying with friends in Lord of the Rings: Online more often. Regardless, I glad to see that Valve is bringing back this type of small-group co-op and encouraging teamwork in games again.  

When I tell people I’m majoring in video game design, they often ask me about Halo. The Halo series has penetrated mainstream culture in a way that most games never will. I think it is great that this franchise has made the entertainment industry take notice of the purchasing power of gamers, but I am not a fan of Halo. FPS games aren’t my favorite, since they usually lack the story, characterization, and lovely graphics that keep me glued to RPGs and adventure games.

When Halo 3 came out, I heard the co-op mode was decent. Hoping that this would mean better chances of survival for me, I grabbed a friend who hadn’t played much Halo and sat down with him to play Halo 3.

The opening sequence was decent but not terribly impressive by my standards. I soon found myself controlling an alien who had grudgingly become an ally of Master Chief. I found this somewhat amusing, as I was a taller than the human but much shorter than my co-op partner in real life. It was fun to tower above him and watch him running ahead of me.

The console FPS controls were somewhat confusing compared to the PC mouse and keyboard. This is a common issue for those used to PCs, and those used to consoles will often have the opposite problem. It seems that it’s merely a matter of preference for most people. However, I often found myself running into the ground or swinging the camera wildly in my attempts to determine whether or not the camera was inverted compared to my intuitive idea of controls.

Due to my difficulties in controlling my character, my partner would often run ahead. We established a nice system where he would jump into melee combat and I would stay behind, sniping off some enemies and providing a re-spawn point. This worked well for a while, but soon became somewhat boring.

The enemies were mostly mindless. A certain group of aliens had ridiculous voices that made me laugh at the game…because it was so stupid. I didn’t like the idea of the enemy being completely idiotic. I prefer games where war is about fighting for what you think is right, but you still realize the consequences due to the humanization of the enemy.

The biggest problem I had with this game in general was the fact that I just didn’t care. There was little cover, sporadically placed, but it didn’t seem to matter much if I died. Ammo was in good supply, so I never had to consider conserving my resources. I could just shoot everywhere if I wanted. Also, there was an A.I. controlled team that we first rescued and then joined. They provided little help; I didn’t really notice if they were around or not.

Compared to games like Half-Life, this game was incredibly dull and lacked a decent story. The story was sprinkled in small doses after completing certain objectives, but it wasn’t very interesting. Since I didn’t care about my team and those around me, I found myself lacking motivation.

Finally, I was frustrated with Halo 3 due to its unrefined design. There were enormous enemies with huge shock sticks that were ridiculously powerful. If these enemies ran at you, you would die, even if your partner was shooting them in the back. This type of imbalance is something I aim to avoid in my games. Then there was little guidance in the form of maps, making it hard to figure out where to go. Unlike the refined level design of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the level design in Halo often left me lost.

For such a popular game, I was very disappointed in my co-op Halo 3 experience. I hope that the appeal in this game comes from the multiplayer aspect, because I was sincerely disappointed in the story mode. Halo 3 seems like an unrefined, mediocre experience.  

“I’m so psyched about it – just seeing that chain saw gun makes me want to play it right now.” This is a shining example of the highly academic talk I encounter before my game design classes begin. This particular conversation was before the release of Gears of War. At the time, I shook my head, thinking, “Boys will be boys.” I knew little about the game and shrugged it off as another hack-and-slash testosterone indulgence.

While the idea of massacring large numbers of monstrous enemies often appeals to me (especially in an RPG environment), the whole idea of using a chain saw seemed a bit graphic at the time. My imagination began to wander…were people actually going to use such chain saw guns to hack up other humans in war? If so, I thought it was a bit extreme on the gore factor. Why couldn’t it just be a chain saw? Then it could be more or a melee weapon. The idea of combining a chain saw and a gun seemed ridiculous to me, but I guess I can’t be too critical. After all, one of my favorite games (perhaps because it was also one of my first) was Final Fantasy VIII, and that had a gunblade (which didn’t even fire bullets).

I guess video game weapons were made to be ridiculous, so maybe it was unfair of me to judge a game so quickly by its weapons. Fortunately, I was surprised a couple weeks later to find that Gears of War had been getting rave reviews.

I happened to watch some co-workers playing it at the end of the day. I was offered the chance to play myself, but, after watching one of my friends (with little more FPS shooting experience than myself) fail miserably, I politely declined. However, I was happy to discover that the game was not about killing other humans.

I watched the guy who brought in Gears of War as he played it. He went through part of a level, explaining how he liked the fact that it had depth, great graphics, and a viable plot. He loved the multiplayer (four on four). He was also explaining what he didn’t like: your partner’s A.I. had a tendency to run him into the line of fire and get him killed.

Then one particularly even co-worker began to play it. At first he was his calm, normal self. I admired the graphics and mechanics of the game, but decided to play Okami next to him after getting the feel of the game. Soon, however, he grew more and more agitated. He began to swear and became more aggressive. Our other co-worker chuckled and remarked on the difficulty of the game.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not against violence in video games, but it was pretty funny to see my even co-worker get all upset over a shooting game. I left that day, glad to have seen the game, but not filled with regret for declining to play. I am more easily agitated than my co-worker and definitely could do without the frustration and stress of a shooter.

The next week, when I walked into class, I heard my classmates talking once again about Gears of War. I was proud that I had seen it and had a little more knowledge than before. However, one of my peers did mention how "it's one of those games that becomes beautiful when you master the mechanics.” Even if I do not think I would enjoy playing Gears of War, I do think I should respect it for the beauty others have found in it.  

Today in class we had the chance to play some old games. I got a chance to check out Real Myst, Doom, Quake, and Castle Wolfenstein. I rarely take the time to try out the older games, and it was fun to go “out of the box” a little – I’m used to my happy children’s games and RPGs.

Real Myst was probably the game I played for the least amount of time. I was playing with a friend, and both of us had grown frustrated by the puzzles of the original games. I had the advantage of a strategy guide, but I quit before playing five hours simply because I felt so lonely in the first Myst. After discussing the exciting ability to move more fluidly through the world in Real Myst, I was excited. However, as soon as I encountered the first puzzle, I decided that I had seen enough of the pretty graphics and wanted to move on. The Myst series appeals to a very select audience, especially in this age (with more variety in games). I think it takes a very patient person, and many people in my generation simply aren’t used to waiting around to appreciate the beauty of a game.

Castle Wolfenstein was not what I expected. When I first heard the game, I thought it would be an 2-D platformer/adventure game, not a shooter. I played it for a short period of time, in which I was confused by the number of identical doors and the limited mise-en-scene. I had little idea of what to do (other than shooting) and shooting didn’t interest me much. After I had seen some of the Germans, I decided that I had the general idea and moved on.

Quake and Doom helped me realize once and for all why I never play FPS games. I was playing Quake and I died in almost no time, even on easy mode. I simply am not motivated to run around in the dark and kill things. I always seemed to be running low on armor, which made it even worse. I felt like I was on suicide missions. I am also very jumpy. I thought I was doing okay when I was playing Doom. I had worked out a strategy where I would strafe behind newly opened doorways so I could scout out enemies and scan the area. If I ran around shooting at the slightest hint of movement, I seemed to eliminate most enemies. The dated soundtrack and growling sounds didn’t seem to bother me too much. After hearing an irregularly large number of growling sounds, I assumed that there could be a monster nearby. I spun around in the dark and saw nothing. Then, I suddenly realized that I was being harmed and screamed aloud in terror as a pixilated monstrosity appeared out of nowhere. Seeing as I was wearing headphones at the time, my classmates all turned to look. My friend, who was watching, stated that it was probably best that I didn’t play FPS games. I think he’s right.

While I do appreciate returning to some of the classic games, it is very clear to me why gamers often stick to genres they love. My friend, who had played many shooting games, picked up the controls easily and found the game design easy to navigate. Many genres, like FPS, RPG, or racing games have similar strategies that experienced players can master. I think I will still devote most of my time to the genres I most enjoy, since it’s much more comfortable, creating a more enjoyable experience.