The Road to 50: A Retrospective
By Nadafinga 11 Comments
The Road to 50: A Retrospective
(Or “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Play an Online Shooter For 459 Hours”)
Shit, man. I did it. I hit 50.
Normally I’m not one to really play a single game for an extended period of time. Very rarely will I go through a SP campaign more than once (But Nadafinga, you played through Uncharted 2 three times). True. But shut up.
I’ll go for a platinum trophy sometimes, if the game is especially fun and I don’t mind mucking around in the gameworld for awhile longer (C'mon Nada, you can't look me in the eye and tell me those speed runs in Mirror's Edge were "fun." ) OK, OK, but let me get on with this.
Even with some of the best online experiences I’ve had, like AC: Brotherhood, my interest dries up after a month or two and I move onto the next thing. (For shame Nadafinga, the MP in that game is awesome!) I know dude!
But in March 2010, I got my grubby little mitts on Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Now, other than playing a bit of BF: 1943 the previous year, I was a Battlefield virgin. But after I put this game into my PS3 and jumped online, something clicked in my brain. The gunplay was incredibly satisfying. The classes, weapons, abilities, gadgets, and balance were all wonderfully crafted. And it helped that a few of my friends were into the game, and we formed a a weekly play night on Sundays. I had found my own version of video game cocaine.
Now, because I have a job, a house, and a wife, I wasn’t able to hit this mark in a couple months like some crazy insane people were (seriously, how is that even possible?) I know, right?! But I played it pretty regularly over the course of the past 15 months. 459 hours later, that crazy distant goal of max rank 50 dinged on my screen. I felt a strange mix of both pride and shame…
Now, the game is certainly not perfect, it has some serious issues, but I was able to see past them. During the best games, it was bordering on video game Nirvana. During the worst games, I’d never rage-screamed louder at my TV. (Yeah, remember when you slammed that controller on the table and broke it?) Shut up man! Nobody knows about that!In the end, I can comfortably say it’s my favorite video game of all time. Let’s look at some stats, shall we? (Nobody cares about your stats, Nada.) I'm ignoooring yooouuu:
As you can see, I prefer the Engineer class. My overall K/D is 1.02, but with Engineers it bounces up to 1.10. I got 10 platinum stars, and I gold starred every weapon in the game, except for the Flamethrower in the Vietnam expansion. That might be my next goal. Or, maybe not. I should probably take a break and save some energy for Battlefield 3.
Thanks for reading my blog...and nevermind that cynical italics guy. He's a jerk.
-Nadafinga