Jan 4, 2010

We're all better off

I've been talking to a few Call of Duty vets - guys I used to play with in my pre-IT( )E days - that bought MW2 despite their misgivings.  To a man, they've all either given up on it, or are on the verge of giving up on it, and the absence of dedicated servers is only a minor factor in their overall disgust with the game. As it turns out, the game that isn't balanced for lean really isn't balanced for any purpose at all.

The dominant complaint, and the primary source of frustration, is the Super Soldier perk setup.  Here it is: Perk 1 ("Marathon") gives the player unlimited sprint juice.  Perk 2 ("Lightweight") lets him move faster in general. Perk 3 ("Commando") increases the range of his melee attacks.  The combo produces a soldier that darts around like a maniac, slashing and stabbing everything in sight, and usually nets the user a K/D ratio of 5 to 1 or better.

And then there's the sheer retardation of the throwing knife, which this video aptly demonstrates. Dead on, one-hit kills ... on the move and at any distance ... versus  the need to land multiple hits with bullets that are best delivered whilst the shooter is slowed by aiming down the site. When the guy with the gun has an inherent disadvantage against the guy with the sharp object, mastering any of the 40+ mechanized weapons starts to feel a bit stupid.

So, it seems Infinity Ward did us a favor after all. By destroying the incentive to buy the game, we are spared the frustration of actually playing it.

Kudos to them.

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