March is apparently FPS month for me this year. Let's chat real quick.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered

Playing this thing feels like visiting an old friend who has aged wonderfully. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is probably my favorite game of all time, but until this month I had never played this remastered version. And boy, what a truly phenomenal game this is, even after all these years. I spent practically the entirety of 2008 playing and mastering every inch of it, to the point where I've been able to jump into MWR and immediately recall sight lines, flanking routes, the timing on every gun's reload... this thing is just a part of me now. I'm really glad they've kept the same music, soldier callouts, and sound effects while wrapping the entire package in the look and feel of a modern Call of Duty. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't fully expecting to dump a hundred hours, if not more, into MWR this year alone.

I can't seem to identify what it is about the Call of Duty series that has felt so incredibly off this generation. Perhaps its the insistence on releasing a new $60 release + season pass every year when really, all you need are these maps and these guns. If anything, MWR has strengthened my conviction that the series should just exist as "Call of Duty," a singular title that gets supported for years like other multiplayer games. Its annual release schedule feels so archaic now.

Last thing: I feared the addition of microtransactions and loot boxes to what has always been such a "pure" game, but thankfully they're completely non-invasive and don't include any of the original Call of Duty 4 content.

Operation Burnt Horizon is here

I look forward to every new season of Rainbow Six: Siege. This was especially true after I struggled mightily in the last season of Ranked, being placed in mid-Silver and only reaching Gold IV near the end of February. I keep a spreadsheet of my kills, assists, deaths, wins, and losses with every Operator across every map, and for whatever reason I killed it on defense this past season but played horribly on attack. My hope for Year 4 Season 1 is to get back to the basics of not getting shot in the head by a Jager poking his gun through a hole in a wall. Thankfully I was placed in Gold this season, so I won't have to make that climb again unless something goes terribly wrong. If everything goes right, I'd love for this to be the first season that I hit Platinum. Let's do it!

Outback

This new map seems decent and looks great. I really like the garage area and it feels pretty easy to move around and flank. Definitely too early for any definitive impressions but I'm excited to see how strategies develop here.

Gridlock

Gridlock is a 1-speed Operator which is a tough pill to swallow just by default, but her gadget--a throwable that deploys a series of large spike traps that multiply over time--seems really effective. We got obliterated on Bomb the other night by an attacking team that planted the defuser, covered it in her spike traps, blanketed the area in smoke, and had a Monty stand in the middle of the hell zone protecting everyone. It was utterly impossible to counter once it all fell into place, and it was kinda awesome.

Mozzie

Admittedly I don't drone a whole lot in Siege, which probably contributes to my lackluster K/D on attack recently. Because of this I'm not sure how much I'll play Mozzie, who can actually capture the attackers' drones and drive them around himself. But it's really satisfying to do, especially if you can capture a Twitch drone and zap her with it. Extremely worth it.

Finished: Metro Exodus

I wrapped up this thing over the weekend. Recently I've bemoaned how the Far Cry series has gotten away the focus on immersion and survival that Far Cry 2 went so hard into, which probably explains why I ended up enjoying this game so much. It feels like a spiritual successor to FC2 in a way, both in its dedication to those two elements and in its sometimes overwhelming clunkiness. You really have to put up with a lot to get anything out of it, but I found the game to be absolutely worth it.