Dropping the Joysticks

Like any good adult gamer, I was introduced to video games on a console. NES, to be exact. As the years wore on and I sunk more and more of my allowance in to video games, the terms "console" and "video games" became completely entwined in my mind.

As technology advanced my extended family started getting in to computer games. Everything "casual" back then was pretty laughable, but I still remember my uncle having some weird alphabet adventure game. After we finally got a computer in the early 90s, my mom would bring home floppy disks with the weirdest games on them. I still remember an RPG she got from a friend - the magic system required you to do "hand gestures" that were tied to different keyboard keys, and you had to memorize the sequences of each spell. It was awful, but I still read through the manual over and over because the idea of the game was so enthralling.

On and on time went, and I continued focusing on console gaming while occasionally picking up a PC-only adventure or RPG that interested me. Fast forward to 2002 when I discovered Halo and the ability to play with all my buddies over a LAN connection (basically like playing "online," but requiring you to be in the same room) and suddenly I found myself loving first-person shooters. Games like Goldeneye and Unreal Tournament were enjoyable, but I don't think it was my time to appreciate the competitive nature of FPS games.

I fell out of love with Halo between its 2nd and 3rd releases, but that slack was picked up in late 2007 when I decided to give Call of Duty 4's multiplayer a whirl. From there I was hooked, and multiplayer shooters on Xbox became my preferred gaming for years. I played other games on PC and consoles, but shooters always had that gravitational pull on me.

Two years ago Battlefield 3 released on consoles. I'd heard amazing things about the series, and the rivalry between fans of Battlefield and Call of Duty were legendary in their immaturity. After growing weary of non-stop Call of Duty for 4 years, I wasn't opposed to a change of pace. I played the game's demo and didn't mind it, so the day the game released it was in my system.

Before moving on, I'll explain the major differences between the CoD and BF series. CoD is a fast paced "twitch" shooter where an average player can get 30+ kills in a 15 minute game. CoD has also put heavy emphasis on shooting things with guns - with special kill-based rewards called "kill streaks" rewarding players for getting a number of kills without dying. BF, on the other hand, is very cerebral and realistic.

While people laugh when someone complains about CoD being unrealistic, BF is all about realism. While CoD takes place on small, claustrophobic maps, BF is all about spreading landscapes with buildings, deserts, small jungles, and whatever else you might see in a warzone. BF is all about teamwork and careful play. You are rewarded for killing enemies as much as you're rewarded for teamwork and "playing the objective." So going from CoD and Halo, two twitch shooters, to something completely different was a bit jarring.

Long story short, the experience was awful. Players were treating the game like CoD - hiding in the most unusual places just to kill an unsuspecting person travelling between objectives. No one would play the objective, and matches turned in to a drudgery of wandering around for a few minutes to get to an objective, only to have it taken because you were the only one defending it against 3 players using a tank to take it back. The limitations of console over PC also limited the size of games. Whereas PC could support 64 players, consoles could only handle 24 players. It's also worth noting that maps were in no way altered to support the diminished number, making games feel more like a wasteland than a battlefield.

I swore off Battlefield, unable to understand the passionate following other players had for it. Sure I was playing with fewer players, but having more players would just fill the game with more people skulking around trying to get kills and not supporting the team or trying to win. Right?

Well Humble Bundle had another sale, and this time they gave away Battlefield 3 for PC. I didn't want to do it, but I always like to support Humble Bundle when I can. So I got it and let the game rot in my library, refusing to even install such an abomination. My buddy Tony got the game too, and told me how awesome the game was. He knew how much I loathed the game after my Xbox experience, so I was genuinely curious when he told me it was a completely different game.

I caved and installed it, completely ready to torture him with another rant on how terrible the game is and how worthless my teammates are. For anyone who has played on PC, you know that I never had to make that rant. The game was amazing. It took me a few games before I even ran in to someone not by the objective, and he was on my own team.

Even in games with 32 players, maps never felt empty because you could count on the enemy team trying to capture an objective, or guarding one they didn't want taken. No longer was I running around trying to capture objective unsupported, nor was I dying to someone hiding in a remote area waiting for 5 minutes to get a single kill against someone running nearby.

I shared this experience with my brother-in-law, whose FPS history is similar to my own. His biggest surprise was that I loved a shooter on PC. He was uncertain about using a mouse and keyboard, tools used for searching the internet, to feel engaged in something as immersive as a FPS game.

Honestly, I'm still wrapping my mind around it. The only time I've tried a shooter on PC is when I bought Left 4 Dead, and it didn't go well at all. I'm used to my thumbs and index fingers being the only things that move, and having to control my aim and fire with one hand while controlling movement and weapon selection with another is... intense.

It requires a lot more coordination than I'd have imagined, but when I do it right it makes the game play so smooth! I no longer get frustrated about my aiming because it's not dependent on how well I control my thumb's movement on a joystick. I don't have to take my thumb off a joystick to hit weapons and abilities tied to a D pad or face buttons because I have those mapped around my WASD keys, letting me move and aim while activating something else.

It's too early to tell, but I think I might be sold on FPS games on PC. I never would have imagined it, but BF3 is slowly converting me. And with Titanfall releasing for PC and Xbox One, I don't see that I have any choice but to get used to using my mouse and keyboard.


See you tomorrow!

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