The Top100 that isn't sure what it wants to be continues! More PS3 titles, digging into some PSN games.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (PS3) - Top10 Awardee
I missed all but a summer of the first Black Ops, a summer of some of the most intense gaming of my life. Just ask Steve about our 106 win streak and that 97th victory, or that match where we had a combined 69 of the 75 points needed for victory- and still lost. Or a match of Gun Game where we both got to the Ballistic knife and trolled the rest of the match. Or King of the Woman. Of course, he wouldn’t remember the match in which I was accused of having sex with my sister, as he wasn’t in it, or a custom match where every player moved faster than the speed of light.
But I was player 2 for all of that, goofing around on maps my brother and friend knew so much better. I didn’t know my stats, or particularly care, and I rarely broke 20 kills. Mostly I just defended Steve so he could go 44 and 0.
Moving passed MW3, which was fun but certainly no BO, brings us to Black Ops 2.
I was my own player now. I had stats to keep track of, matches worth recording and the ability to record them. And I stepped at last from my brother’s shadow. Which isn’t to say I took back my crown, as I did nothing of the sort, and don’t expect to in the foreseeable future. But I became my own player, with my own victories. Matches I carried with upwards of forty kills, where I called down killstreak after killstreak after killstreak with impunity. I’d have three Guardians in one life all set up in one corner, or run so many circles around enemies they’d swear I spawned behind them every time. Was every match one of absolute domination? No. I was still playing with Steve, after all, and more often than not he’d be the one killing dozens of people in a single match. He was the one people called a fluke, only to have someone else on their team claim, “No way, dude, he does this all the time. I’ve played with him before.” Of course, I’ve had people say, “Holysaber? More like holycamper,” and got my own share of hate mail, but that’s all part of the experience.
I came into my own in Black Ops 2, and deep down felt a rekindling of my 007 days. Playing online was a blast not just in a supporting role anymore.
Of course, I’d be remiss to skip the local play. Call of Duty has always earned my respect for remembering people had friends in real life, friends who like to get together for some laughs in person. Black Ops 2 reached new heights (though I won’t forget some of the Face Off matches I enjoyed with my family and friends in MW3) in surprising ways.
The most entertaining of them? One versus One Sticks and Stones. Literally every moment can spell a sudden loss, a flipping of the tables. Clutch .05 second tomahawks brought outrageous cries from participants and onlookers both, especially when those tomahawks were cross-map or ricochet shots. The last minute of every match has a rule- both players must run towards each other. No hiding. No fleeing. Every fight is a battle of honor, and a fight to the death.
Some of my favorite moments (a missed tomahawk ricocheting back to secure a victory, for example) are overshadowed by one instance in particular, which was less about the game and more about the commentary: my cousin and I were enjoying our one on one Sticks and Stones at a family get-together, some kid’s birthday party, or someone’s graduation party perhaps, when an eight year old girl finds her way into the room and asks,
“So you’re killing people for fun? That’s disgusting.”
Never have I been judged so harshly. Surely her suspicions as to our sanity were confirmed when my cousin and I broke out laughing.
I couldn’t even catch my breath long enough to remind her it wasn’t exactly real, and we weren’t exactly killing anyone.
Of course, that mode isn’t the only awesome way to play Black Ops 2 locally: 2v14 (or however many bots we can have) doesn’t necessarily seem that difficult or entertaining until you throw in a few self-made rules: only knifing, or you have to pick up the weapon of the guy you killed before you can kill someone else (which gets tough when four or five bots are all huddled together, and you’ve got to run around bullets to get to a newly dropped weapon). We even tried one where we had to play it at 14 (the highest option) sensitivity. Which of course we took online, and I could never drop it again (used to play on 10). Any less and it felt like I was permanently flash banged.
Like most games, Black Ops 2 local play was the best when we added our own limitations and had to apply a different kind of strategy and creativity to succeed. And it’s because of both the online and offline multiplayer that Black Ops 2 is one of my Top10 favorite games of all time.
Flower (PS3)
Describing Flower is an activity for someone with a vocabulary more vast than my own. If you haven’t played it, then I’d say you should: it’s short enough to describe itself. And if you don’t feel up to that, then don’t bother reading reviews or watching Let’s Plays: just listen to the OST. Know what it is to sail with the wind, what it is to discover a beautiful world, only to watch it fall apart as industrialization rears its ugly head.
Flower is a summer breeze against a sun-warmed face, the tickle of the outdoors in a hobby so entrenched inside. It’s something of freedom, of life without limits. A life where you are as shapeless as the wind, guiding the world to a resolution. Not a compromise, but a cooperation, where nature and the unnatural can live side by side. It is a reminder that nature is beautiful and threatened, a guiltless trip in which you are nature, a force not beholden to a container. It’s liberating. It’s alien. It’s one of the finest games ever created.
Comet Crash (PS3)
Sci-fi Tower Defense Comet Crash is a lively multiplayer affair, whether in Co-op or competitive play. Our matches often ran a little strange- players had to place their bases randomly, and work together as teams to form their mazes and choke points and what have you. We banned units we didn’t understand, or found unfair as they limited tower selection and strategy (not being able to mass all of one type is limiting). It was a matter of trust: do you trust Player 1 not to build that air unit? Can you trust Player 2 not to turn against you during your team pincer attack on Player 3?
The answer is no. You cannot trust anyone to follow the rules. The only option left is to be the first to break them. Make those cheap air units that bypass Player 3’s entire maze. Break your alliance with Player 2, before he sneaks up and breaks it first. Victory will not be obtained by the just. Learned we nothing from Game of Thrones?
Leave your comrades in the smoke and ashes. Only the merciless can survive on this desolate wasteland of a planet. And be sure not to leave any meteorites for Player 3. After what he did to you last game, the world can never be too clean of his presence.
Age of Booty (PS3)
Age of Booty’s music welcomed me back when I finally was able to fix my Ps3, after months of waiting for a replacement part to arrive, a jaunty and energetic tune that sets a man’s blood yearning for the salty sea. The game behind it is a fantastic multiplayer- especially of the local variety- title in which matches can last minutes or hours, depending, of course, on the map’s design and the skill-level of the players.
Black Jack is a name well-known across the seven seas, a dastardly scalawag whose exploits earned him the scorn and hatred of me and my staunchest allies. So much so that we created a tiny, 7 versus 1 map called “Black Jack Must Die.” Black Jack spawns indefinitely into his own demise, as 7 cannons fire upon him the second he appears, no matter the time or place. It is a hell he will never escape- and one he never deserves to. Of course, the match only lasts as long as it takes for one of the 7 ships to capture the map’s only city. So, perhaps “indefinitely” was a bit of an overstatement: the battle lasts for something like four seconds.
Then let justice be delivered swiftly!
The “Nile Straight,” map, on the other hand, turns a 2v3 battle into an eternity. Four hours after the game began, my cousin and I at last managed to sneak our way passed the enemy ships through the use of Whirlpools- which place whoever runs into them onto a random spot on the map. Truth be told, we knew our strategy around the two and a half hour mark. And we also knew we had to chain a couple of them, as there wasn’t room enough for us both at the enemy base. Luck, tricky mistress that she is, held out on us for the last hour and a half of the match, during which time we appeared in all manner of random seas, repelled all enemy advances, and waited for the NPC ships to spawn on our side of the map.
Victory came at a high cost: every other cousin at the sleepover had long ago moved on, and we had no more desire to play Age of Booty.
Until I convinced a friend here at college to attempt that very same map with me. Three hours after we started that, we quit.
Dungeon Defenders (PS3)
Dungeon Defenders is a story of abandonment. Four of us played the game religiously for weeks, defending against wave after wave of baddies, building tower after tower of all sorts, grinding, leveling, wielding badder and badder-ass weapons with every fight. The squire, the monk, the apprentice, the huntress- we were a team of four who could not be stopped. We fought countless battles back to back, and over time our trust grew into an indomitable bond.
Then came the Offensive. We were to go out and conquer the enemy base, towers and all, to infiltrate the harrowing, best defended fort that ever existed, and destroy the enemy for good. Nothing could go wrong, we were sure. We’d survived every obstacle before, after all.
And then they left. The monk and the apprentice just disappeared. And we didn’t know it until we were behind enemy lines, fighting for our lives, for our kingdom, for the good of our people. What we’d thought an unbreakable bond was broken. We had been abandoned by the friends to whom we had entrusted our very lives. Thanks a lot, Dark Souls.
Awesomenauts (PS3)
Who would you think to bring to war, in the hopes of securing victory? A French Chameleon? A Space Cowboy? A Soviet Brain? Good. There’s hope for you yet, cadet.
Listen up, and listen good. The year is 3587. Conflict spans the stars, two forces locked in an enduring stalemate. And only one force can help us now: The Awesomenauts.
The plan is simple. Rocket our mercenaries into the danger zone, armed to the teeth with their pockets full of cash. They’ll know how to spend it better than us. Then wait and watch as they tear through our enemy, turning soldiers into gold and destroying turrets with scythe, dynamite, electronic bull, or drones. It’s not our place to question their methods, only to pay them at the end of the day when they deliver. And they’re the Awesomenauts.
They always deliver.
Give them fifteen minutes and they’ll have destroyed the entire enemy base, delivering us their resources when we deliver their paycheck. Just never forget to pay: a scorned Chameleon has a way of sneaking up on you. But hey, all is fair in love and war.
Uncharted 3 (PS3)
Uncharted 3’s 2v2v2 mode is a surprisingly unique battle in which players’ mettle and bonds are tested. And my brother and I proved ourselves up to the challenge. Up to any challenge.
It’s a technique we call “Hawking,” in part because it just fit with our clan tag (HAWK- the largest two person clan ever), and in part because what we did, in essence, was very similar to what a hawk does. It circles the sky, staring down at its prey, waiting for the moment to strike, when the food scurries out from beneath the cover of grass or trees or rocks. That’s what we did. We watched from above, waiting for the meat to sprint from hiding place to hiding place, hoping to escape or hoping to get to us, it mattered not which. They poked their heads out, and we dived in a flurry of feathers and bullets and tore them to shreds. Usually with a headshot.
The uninitiated might confuse Hawking with camping, for they do have several things in common. Smores, a base camp, and a requisite set of survival instincts. In truth, it’s much more fluid a strategy, and it requires two sets of eyes to properly function. After all, the hawk doesn’t hide in a corner. It feasts on the sky, where all eyes can see it from any part of the map.
And there’s the danger. Hawking can see all parts of the map, sacrificing safety for domination. The life of a predator, after all, is rarely one of safety. It requires relentless expulsion of energy. It requires risks. And through risks we surpass the campers. We spread our wings and fly.
Disgaea (1-D2) (PS2-3)
Disgaea is one of those games that has a story- a good story, the kind that can make you laugh one moment and cry the next- or, rather, I should say a series that has a story of that nature, for my experience with Disgaea is a continued tale that stretches across each of the games. I never played the first, content to watch my older and younger brother both play it for a hundred hours at least. I partook in other ways, suggesting names, watching the anime, and enjoying the stories without having to exhaust myself solving the puzzles.
Disgaea 2 I meant to play, mostly because Rozalin was super-hot and Tink was super-funny. But it was not to pass: our memory card was full, and I couldn’t make the hard decision to delete any of our previously forgotten data. Again, I watched it for hundreds of hours, same as the first.
Then came Disgaea 3 on Ps3- the primary reason we bought the system. And the first time I was actually able to play the series myself. By this time, I already knew the intricacies of its systems, and so I was able to quickly fall into a groove. I loved the game immensely.
Disgaea 4 is where I was unhinged. Names lost all semblance of sense. Eric Gar-Tree-a, MsBoots, CatnipEverdeen, SplooshCaptain- and Disgaea D2 only continued that trend with JackDaniels and a whole bunch I’m currently forgetting but might someday look up again.
It was awesome, and creating new characters quickly became my favorite part of the game, coming up with new names half the fun.
The other half came with the grinding and the Item World, and the kind of RPG that I love more than anything: where you plan out your team from start to finish and watch them grow into your maniacal plans. The day TittySupreme had at last learned every Omega spell in the game was one to remember.
It should be mentioned that the Prinny is not, as Steve might lead you to believe, the best part of Disgaea there ever was. That title belongs to the Catsaber, the cutest damned punk that ever meowed on this earth. Or I guess in the Netherworld.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U)
Eat up, dame. You may not have a chance to in the battle ahead. Don’t worry your head about it- that’s simply the nature of business. Go ahead, stew some meat with some fish, or fry some grain with some dairy. Whatever sounds good to you. And have a drink, while you’re at it. Helps take the edge off.
Got your things? Herbs and traps and maybe a bit of dung? Trust me- never a bad idea to have a bit of poop on you where we’re headed. Don’t mind the smell. Not as bad as a corpse, which is what you’ll be if you don’t go prepared.
Ignore him- we call him Jayce. 98% of the time he’s drunk.
The other 2%? Triple carting. Don’t worry. He’s drunk this time- should be good to go.
The other fellow’s Steve. Mostly a good guy. Mostly- just don’t get between him and his food.
We ready to go? Dandy. Oh, and you can call me Dr. Studd. I’ll be out there making sure you get back in one piece. Making sure we all get back in one piece.
After all, Deviljho isn’t about to go down without a fight.
You scared? You seem scared.
No?
Well you should be. Listen, you seem like a smart girl. Deviljho is going to take the first two of our lives in all of twenty seconds. Trust me, we’ve done this before. A dozen times. No, haven’t managed to kill the damn thing. But this time is going to be different, dame. This time we’re giving it all for Deviljho.
Now let’s get out there and give it a group pants, shall we?