Christmas Day is upon us (and for some it has already passed as you read this) and there is nothing more exciting for a seasoned gamer/player than waking up to all the noobs. From Call of Duty to Helldivers, every online playing cooperative or multiplayer game is getting its fair share of first timers; of low level mentees that can be trained or bent at will to our ultimate desires.A bit Machiavellian, I know, but totally accurate.
My husband was looking forward to leveling up a few of his characters this morning and he chose Call Of Duty: Black Ops III to experience the noobs side of Christmas. His level 2 character died so many times, he decided to admit defeat and walked away from the battlefield. (Sadly, I missed this hillarious debacle because I decided to take my sister to our local Chinese buffet as a Christmas gift.) In my personal experience the seasoned CoD vets have no mercy when it comes to Xmas morning virgins or any low level maggots for that matter. Mute the microphone and stay away from taunting messages. You won’t be a newbie for much longer. 😉
To save the day, he selected Helldivers and from what I have witnessed, one cannot go wrong with this game. The mission planets are presented as opportunities to clear quests to score loot and special artifacts. For a crew of 4 patient and experienced players, the ability to cooperate and share weapons and tools enables missions to go smoothee, racking up experience points quickly. Note thay once you complete a planet it closes forever and new planets emerge for conquest. However, some host players keep planets open by failing the event missions to gain XP. Make sure you have a disciplined and organize crew and don’t hesitate to on on your headset to ensure everyone knows what to do. (Especially the noobs who may not be aware that friendly fire is always enabled.) This title is a good alternative for those who like adventure games but are also into shoot ’em upers. Best of both worlds!
Another popular option this Christmas Day was Battlefront, EA’s take on Star Wars as an MMO (massive multiplayer online). This MMO served a nice plate of new players to initiate and destroy with a side of spoilers. I’ve been avoiding playing the game just in case people are revealing tid bits about Episode VII: The Force Awakens. For some reason I expected a formal single player campaign full of fan service but the game only has levels you can play against an AI. Since it didn’t have anything other than the MMO version, it has been hard to get into the groove. The Empire has such great advantages that you are tempted to quit the Rebel Alliance and join the Dark Side.
For those of you curious about Destiny, if you don’t buy The Taken King you will have a hard time playing on Christmas morning and beyond because most people have moved on to the new levels and missions. We are sore about this as we thought we would have been able to play the older version without missing much. 😦 Fortunately my sister bought The Taken King so my husband may be able to salvage the situation later into the weekend. (She’s tied up playing Fallout 4 at the moment, another good Holiday title that has gotten some hard core gaming folk in trouble already. Legends of lost wages and marriages have hauted the F4 crowd these past weeks. Take mental health breaks every 2 to 3 hours and make sure you call your boss to take personal time off as necessary.)
Speaking of breaks, I’m jealous of the Xbox One peeps who got to play Rise of The Tomb Raider this morning. The Sony people have to wait until February, grr. If you happen to be one of the lucky few who woke up to this beauty, play for me. All the reviews I have received have high praise for Lara and her quests. This new incarnation of Ms. Croft has a Katniss Everdeen vibe and feel to her, which sits well with the current character development. Can’t wait to be back into bow and arrow mode!
This Christmas Day, regardless of console and games, we all took a break from the real world to focus on what matters: playing our Santa given games with family and friends. As the weekend progresses and the bonus XP are rolled through most platforms, we rejoice in knowing that every Christmas there will be a new set of newbies and new gamers to initiate. May we all feed our inner nerds and players this holiday season. Long live the new and experience Helldivers and Battlefronts. 😀
Mrs. Enginerd - Nerd Whisperer 