For anyone unfamiliar with the LEGO franchise thus far, Pirates Of The Caribbean follows in the wake of such classics as Star Wars, Batman, and Indiana Jones along with, more recently, Harry Potter. All of them fun in their own right and a good excuse for an adult to indulge in a little childlike fun along with more than a splash of nostalgia for anyone who loved the little bricks as I did when I wasn’t treading barefoot on them.

This latest LEGO outing comes to us on the usual platforms of Xbox 360 and PS3, both of which were on display and available for hands-on play along with a version on the new Nintendo 3DS, and will also be available on DS Lite, DSi, PSP and Wii. LEGO Pirates Of The Caribbean (hereafter referred to as LEGO POTC) follows the exploits of Captain Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner from their introduction to us in The Curse of the Black Pearl through the second and third films, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, bringing us up to date with the latest blockbuster, On Stranger Tides, due for release on May 20th. With LEGO POTC hitting shelves a good seven days before the new movie, avid LEGO players will get a feel for the story before the film reaches the movie-going public if they stick at the game and complete the storyline quickly, something which I believe is entirely possible as, between Joey and I, we managed to get through the Black Pearl levels and a good way through Dead Man’s Chest in the three or so hours of gameplay we had at the event.

LEGO POTC kicks off with the usual cut scenes merging the film world and the LEGO universe in typical humorous fashion, something that TT Games have managed very well with each of their LEGO titles thus far. This time however, it seemed to me that their animation and backdrops were leagues ahead of previous titles and stunning to boot. The animators have certainly captured the essence of Captain Jack Sparrow and seeing him tottering around the screen looking drunk, swaggering along, and fighting like a demon when, as in the film, he and Will Turner first meet in the blacksmiths workshop was fantastic. The level of detail they’ve brought to the LEGO characters was rather amazing and a testament to the skill of the team that put this together. Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann’s LEGO adaptations were also spot on, although I suspect it was rather an easy job turning Keira Knightley’s somewhat manly chin into a LEGO head. The other stand out characters from the film, Pintel and Ragetti (the man with the wooden eye), were also given the attention necessary to keep them true to their silver screen selves and [[give]] the game a true Pirates Of The Caribbean flair.

Without going into too much detail and potentially blundering a spoiler into this preview, there are a couple of things about this latest LEGO release that are new to the series and add to the general fun of the game. The first of these, and one that Jonathan Smith, Head of Production at Traveller’s Tales was very keen to promote, is the new Super Free Play. They’ve essentially taken the option from previous games where you can hold down the Y button (on the 360 version) to choose between the six or eight characters available to you in the Free Play mode and expanded on it so that now, in POTC, holding down the Y button in Free Play now brings up the full cast to choose from, allowing you to select any that you have already unlocked. It seemed to me to be a natural progression from the previous Free Play system and one that worked well. Another innovation that came up during gameplay was that they now allow you to climb certain parts of the scenery, such as trees and masts and rigging, which doesn’t sound like much but the designers have animated things in such a way that your LEGO character wobbles and moves as if their balance is impaired and they have to adjust themselves, just as you or I would if we were walking across a plank or climbing something slightly unstable.  Then we have Jack’s Compass, whereby pressing and holding B while playing any of the Captain Jack Sparrow characters activates a scroll wheel with a selection of pertinent objects to help you through the level. Select the one you want and little blue glowing LEGO footprints appear on the floor, allowing you to find your way to the object needed to progress which, for me, was an inspired device to help out with the usual LEGO game grinding elements.

All in all, the game itself is classic LEGO fun that has evolved enough to expand the functionality and gameplay to the point where it’s not just more of the same. The cut scenes are beautifully rendered and the graphics in-game are stunning. Gameplay is exactly as you’d expect from the LEGO franchise and is, at times, irritatingly tricky but that is at least half the fun with the series.

The multiplayer element is, as always, enjoyable although the dynamic split screen can be a little distracting at times. I did ask Jonathan Smith whether there were any plans to move LEGO to include online multiplayer but, at this stage, he didn’t think it was something they’d consider as he sees it as a slightly different facet to the social side of gaming in that, in order to play with friends, you have to actually have the friends visit you, or vice versa. No bad thing really, as it serves to bring people together in real life rather than relying on an online arena.

I for one am looking forward to picking this one up and playing through the story mode, and may even grind through the Free Play elements as there seemed to be plenty to explore and mess about with including riding a LEGO pig, as well as horses.

On a final note, if you’re at all precious about your gamerscore and don’t like seeing it end in anything other than a zero or a five I’d recommend that you avoid picking up LEGO Pirates Of The Caribbean unless you fully intend to complete it, as one of the first achievements we unlocked on the 360 version was for just 2G and we didn’t see a 3G or an 8G at all in the time we played.

Gerrof moi server...

So, I quite enjoy a bit of FPS… as I’ve mentioned before, one of my long term favourite games has been Counter Strike: Source because of its fast paced action and the fact that you’re playing against real people rather than bots or AI. Now, I understand a lot of people balk at the idea of playing with online randoms and, to be honest, I can understand why, but really, with the option of mute buttons and even block options it’s no big deal these days. In the world of CS:S the most annoying people were indeed about 12 years old and all they wanted to do was sing or swear to make themselves look big and clever – without realising the opposite was usually the case. Besides which, nearly all my play on the game was done on a server where I had full admin powers, so the options to warn, mute, kick, or ban were always available and, inevitably, because of the server policies and the decent admin team enforcing them (without becoming overbearing), it became a great place to play and had a real community buzz about it.

During that time though one of the things that always got me was the apparent skill of some players! Hacks and cheaters aside (they were usually quite easy to spot), there were some folk out there on the interwebs whose hand/eye/mouse click coordination, coupled – I think – with superfast connection speeds, gave them godlike powers and the ability to headshot from a virtual mile off, using nothing but a tiny pistol. More than a few times in a session I was left looking bewildered (and cursing at the screen – no pressing the mic key) as to how I could have possibly died when I couldn’t see anyone, let alone fix them in my crosshairs.

Over the last 18 months or so I’ve been doing far more Xbox 360 gaming and have kinda missed the whole FPS type of game. I tried Call of Duty 3 (and, more recently, World At War) and, whilst it was ok, it didn’t really grab me by the balls enough to make me want to play online with randoms, apart from a brief foray into Nazi Zombies (we won’t go into Gears Of War and its hideous controls).

Borderlands wasn’t quite the same either, and as much as I adore the game and the RPG element, along with the awesome array of weapons available, whether they be spawned in the game itself (still holding out for pearlies!) or made by people in Willow Tree, the multiplayer side was vastly different to other FPS style games in that it was co-op. Bloody good fun all round, but not a replacement for CS:S really, yet I put in many, many hours with Markuz and it actually became my first ever full on 1000 cheevie max. Alas, I’ve not quite maxed the DLC yet, as Claptrap’s Robot Revolution DLC was a little glitched and we’ve kinda moved away from it in recent months, still, I hope to get back and find all the pizzas and bobbleheads at some point.

Enter HALO: Reach. Now, I’d never in my life played a HALO game (sue me!) and wasn’t really sure what to expect, but Kat was doing a 24 hour marathon in the multiplayer side of things and I wanted to help out and support her, so bought the game a few days ahead of the charity event and got stuck in.  The day of the marathon soon came and oh my effing god how much fun was that? It was like CS:S all over again with the frantic pace, the range of maps, the verbal abuse from friends in party chat, running around trying to find a better weapon and… yep, you’ve guessed it, the bloody ninja skills of faceless l33t players killing me time and time again, despite my best efforts at unloading a full magazine at their heads. Well, I thought I was unloading a magazine at their heads, but the fact that I died and they didn’t probably meant I was only aiming at the vicinity and not actually hitting them all that much.

How the hell do these people do it? I mean seriously! I’m not that shabby when it comes to these things (except in Borderlands multiplayer when I sometimes become distracted by a pick up/crate and apparently become a liability).  After a couple of weeks of playing I was getting decent scores and even winning an occasional round but, even then, I was (and still am) getting taken out in various ways by shots and grenades (we don’t talk about stickies) that come from nowhere and do maximum damage, despite my best efforts to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and… dodge. Then there are the ones who can sneak behind you without you even registering they’re there until they stick a knife in your back or snap your neck as you splutter more than a few expletives.

There are some very scarily talented folk out there, and I assume there are no easy ways of hacking a 360 and patching the game with dodgy bot skills. Even tinkering with my controller settings to make my crosshair move faster and centre automatically didn’t help much. Where on earth does one learn the precision and control that these folk out there achieve? How does one maintain a fix on an opponent that dashes around behind you in a blur that you can’t possibly match or follow? I for one am at a loss to get anywhere close to matching it.  Could someone find out, then bottle it and sell it to us mere mortals so we can elevate our game to those levels and possibly get a little more satisfaction and enjoyment from it?

Anyone got connections to Dragons’ Den because I’d buy that for a dollar.  Or two…

This should really be my next purchase

It’s been a while since I put virtual pen to paper, mostly because I seem to lack inspiration when it comes to finding subjects to write about, or I have a great idea but don’t follow it through because of my apathetic nature and gaming tends to be the same these days.  Recently, gaming for me has mostly involved Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit; both excellent games that are enhanced by good solid multi-player action, and then I got to thinking about my iPhone and how many game apps I have on there.  I quickly realised that they probably provide far more of a distraction from my daily life than my Xbox ever really has.  I mean, I’ve always got my phone with me wherever I am and usually, when I have a few minutes of not doing much, I’ll have a quick play on something simple.

First of these dirty little distractions is Angry Birds… a simple game involving green pigs in various hideouts and constructions, and the Angry Birds being catapulted at them by a flick of the finger in order to break down those barriers and rid the screen of their green presence! All good fun, and not as simple as it may sound, assuming you’re not familiar with the game, as you only have a limited number of birds to get the job done. The creators of the game (Rovio and Clickgamer) really do have a superb little thing going there with just under two hundred levels in the original game plus fifteen Golden Egg levels, and now we have Angry Birds Seasons – a Hallowe’en special of forty five levels plus two Golden Eggs.  At the time of writing, we also have their latest addition: Season’s Greetings – an advent calendar game where each new level becomes available during December, culminating in what one hopes will be an awesome one on the 25th.  Within each of the games are little achievements to be had, popping up in a similar fashion to those in Xbox games, generally prompting a quick look at the list to see what achievements are still to be had and a groan when you realise some of them will mean playing for weeks yet.

Other games lurking on my phone include Bubble Shooter Pro, Bejewelled 2 (including Blitz, which links to the Bejewelled Blitz application on my Facebook account), Scrabble, Words with Friends, Driver and… Fingerzilla!

Fingerzilla is a funny little thing. In each level you’re presented with a cityscape as the game sets you up as a Godzilla type beast on a rampage. You don’t actually see your character on screen and, instead, you just tap as quickly as possible to destroy buildings, trees, cars, helicopters and people to cause as much devastation as you can in order to build a score large enough to move on to the next area. Essentially, your finger IS the monster and the presented city map is your playground, making it an inspired concept which keeps me amused no end. What is it that they say? Little things please little minds… while bigger fools look on!

A few of the games are what’s known as “flick” games, where you skim a finger across the phone to kick a ball such as with Flick Rugby, or twitch the phone to emulate a physical movement like the casting of a rod  in Flick Fishing – great fun looking for the biggest catch. These are usually just a quick flash in the pan for me, but one other game recently caught my attention and has me enthralled, and frustrated, for considerable length of time: iTrials.

With a portable version of TrialsHD to eat up your time, all you need now is a robot to do all your work for you

It’s basically a scaled down version of Trials HD, although this offering from Tooko isn’t quite as tough as the original from RedLynx but is still very frustrating at times as you try and control your tiny little rider through the obstacles presented. Another simple concept, beautifully realised and implemented. The controls themselves are on-screen with buttons to go, stop and reverse as well as a little sliding control that lets you lean your rider back and forth to maintain balance, pull wheelies and flips, or just bash headlong into something when you inevitably mess it up! Much preferable to another similar game I’ve seen being played where you have to rely on the iPhone’s gravity module where you tilt the phone to achieve the same result, but I admit that I’ve never actually played that one myself as it looked far too tricky to get right. As with Angry Birds, iTrials is another game with achievements and goals to keep seekers of such appeased.

All in all there are over three hundred thousand apps available on the iPhone.  Some are good, some bad, some just plain weird but a multitude are either games  or gaming related.  All of them are casual, and a distraction to the daily grind, but is it gaming? Well, I believe so. Maybe not in the traditional sense, but definitely an escape from the daily toil if even for a few minutes at a time, and often a way of keeping your hand in on those skills that gaming people seem to have.

Apps away!

Over the last year or so, I’ve realised that nearly all of my game purchases have been a result of friends’ recommendations and the lure of playing online multiplayer with them. The first of these pressure purchases was Burnout Paradise – my first foray into the Burnout series. The level of detail in the game really impressed me, along with the amount of things you could actually do. Races, billboards, drifting, stunts, crashes, jumps and the simple beauty of pulling off a Super Jump and having a snapshot of your vehicle appear as it flies through the air. Add to that the free roam nature of Paradise City itself and I was hooked! In fact, I think it was Paradise City that prompted me to buy my first Xbox Live subscription so that I could join Markuz (and eventually Lorna and Rook, among others) online in order to complete the multitude of challenges on offer. I have no idea how many hours we spent tearing through the city trying to complete timed challenges and barrel rolls or just literally crashing into each other and calling each other names. Hours well spent, in my opinion, as I honestly do think that kind of gaming can enhance a friendship and make it stronger.

From Burnout Paradise, then came Borderlands, Red Dead Redemption, Left For Dead 2… all games I probably wouldn’t have bought if it hadn’t been for that element of peer pressure and the lure of social gaming. Now, you might think I’m a little easily swayed by others or that I have no real opinions of my own but that’s not true. Well, not entirely!  My gaming life has expanded a lot since I bought each of these games, and while I’m way behind the curve and usually late to the party, the GL Gaming Night has become a part of my regular habit.

There’s a whole lot of fun to be had driving around Paradise City smashing into other players’ cars, listening to your friends curse you and then trying and get you back. Natural leaders shine through or back seaters show their colours. There’s always at least one person who knows the map or game inside out that you can follow so as not to look like a complete n00b, as well as the folks who constantly try to take you down in various ways. Distractions are many too as people try to get the best flat spin score or biggest air time and jump distance. And then there’s Peggles… we won’t talk about Peggles here.

Borderlands took up huge amounts of time, playing co-op with Markuz… night after night, we’d hit Pandora and blast our way through bandits and Crimson Lance…I say blast, usually it was Mark banging away with his cool Thanatos pistols and me hanging back and sniping, before rushing in and getting shot to hell and having to wait to be revived. It was Borderlands that made me realise I wasn’t one for taking leadership roles, being content to follow along and take enemies out from a distance to help my partner(s) reach the current goal.  Not to mention sitting in the passenger seat of a Runner or Monster and firing the rockets at things while the driver runs down skags or spiderants, because, let’s face it, my track record for driving on Pandora isn’t great. Everyone finds their role within a game like that and by its very nature, nobody is left out. Unless of course you happen to leave your partner to kill all the enemies while you run to a red crate without thinking because you can’t wait to see what goodies are inside! Kid? Candy shop? Moi?

The latest instalments in this new lease of gaming life have been Red Dead Redemption and Left 4 Dead 2. More often than not, in RDR, I find myself respawning and having to trek back to where people are chasing each other around, only to get a blown to pieces by Kat’s dynamite or molotovs, or have Ben ride past and shoot me in the head. It can be frustrating whilst trying to get used to the controls and build up experience, but oh so much fun! The other new one for me is Left 4 Dead 2. Not a game I thought to try first time round, as (and you’ll have to forgive me) Zombie games aren’t top of my non-existent list, but it’s turned out to be much more fun than I had anticipated and a million times better in multiplayer. Being tongued by a friend, or ridden into danger is hilarious; being the one doing the riding, tonguing, tanking or charging is even funnier as you hear the yells of your victim over Live as they shout “INCAPPED” and their teammates scrabble around to revive and heal them.

Whatever game you’re playing, with whatever challenges it brings, you soon get to know your abilities in relation to others and it brings your own level of gameplay up as you try and match or beat them. Shooting people in the Versus games in Red Dead Redemption whilst trying to avoid those molotovs certainly is a skill you can take back to the main game itself, just as much as playing the main storylines in these games can enhance your skill levels within the multiplayer sections. The possibilities for mayhem and mischief are endless.

All in all, I don’t regret a single purchase of the games that peer pressure has directed me to buy. I don’t really see it as pressure at all when it’s just a way of being included in a growing community like this one. I’m a confirmed social butterfly, so it stands to reason that I’d want to join in on these things and, as you know, you can’t play if you don’t have the game people are currently playing. Call me easily led if you like; I prefer to think of it as supporting my friends in their gaming lives and expanding those friendships through shared trials and tribulations with a bloody good giggle along the way.

I am a competitive soul it seems, as I do try hard to do my best to win in a game, sometimes even barracking my opponent or attempting distraction at key points. We all do it! Don’t look at me askance like that! I’ll wager a good few of our readers and writers are guilty of a nudge or a cough at key times even in jest. I’m not saying I go all out to put them off their game but a random nudge disguised as a slip or, in the case of say a racing game, a side swipe to push them off course is as much a part of the fun as the playing itself.

Games like 10 Pin Bowling (or the Wii’s 100 Pin) bring out the Champion in me, all be it in an understated way in keeping with my relaxed outlook on life. Driving games get me trying as hard as I can to win too, especially ones like Need For Speed where winning is the only way to progress! 2nd place will rarely do unless I’m playing against friends… then it’s all governed by my feeling of my own ability vs. theirs vs. who’s more experienced in the game itself. I’ll happily take a 2nd or 3rd place against someone I know is much better than me in those instances, though I’ll still try my damnedest to win.

Advantage.... n00b

One game in recent times that did bring out the killer instinct in me was Virtua Tennis 3. Apologies to Victor for bringing this up once again but it’s a stand out moment for me where my competitive drive was brought to life quite forcefully after realising it was something I appeared to be quite good at.

When Victor produced the game and offered me a match I was happily accepting of the fact that my butt was going to be well and truly whooped by someone who knew the game well and had challenged and overcome everyone they came into contact with. I was relaxed and safe in the knowledge that as a total n00b I’d have acquitted myself well if I managed to score a few points against him and if I’d won a couple of games or even a set here and there I could count myself lucky and be proud that I put up a reasonable fight. After the first couple of matches though (which I won) I found myself working harder and harder to win, all spurred on by his explosive outbursts (aimed towards his on screen persona I’m reliably informed). The more we played, the more I tried my hardest to win in order to maintain my unbeaten record (small as it was) against a man I had been reliably informed played the game against all he could and inevitably beat them solid. It was a fine moment for me and I have to admit a little bit of evilness in that the more I won, the funnier it was, and whilst I may have looked calm and serene on the outside, I was frantic on the inside trying to win!

Another area where my competitive side is piqued are the all too infrequent sessions Markuz and I have of playing Command and Conquer when I visit. I’m sure we’d play more if we could ever get the online side to work but that has eluded us for a while now and we’re reduced to LAN games when I’m up at GL HQ. They’re always fun even though he is a much better tactician than I and he wins nearly every time we play.

Our games are never this restrained or polite, and usually utter carnage!

In those games my competitiveness is set aside momentarily whilst I learn what it was he did to beat me so soundly and then try and remember those tactics for the next time we play. This resulted in one of our best ever battles and my first ever win against him after my copying of his previous game plan forced him into a retreat and complete rethink of his own tic tacs. We were about 80% through the game and he had to start building new structures and defences after realising I was emulating him and that his current set up wouldn’t stand a chance. This led to his inevitable demise and my Cheshire Cat grin as the Victory screen flashed before me and his cries of “BASTARD!” rang from upstairs.

By contrast though, if I’m playing a game I know I’m good at against an opponent who is inexperienced or just not great at the game I tend to play down my abilities in order to let them have a better experience with it. That’s not to say that I let them win… hell no, but I do try not to annihilate them right off the bat as that can be a little upsetting. It’s the care bear in me that I feel I have to be nice until they’re more used to the game or better experienced, then I up my play to bring the best out of them and make them play better with it. Hopefully I manage that without appearing patronising or condescending too much. It’s not meant to be! It’s just a small shepherding instinct that overrides the need to win in order to allow everyone to have fun. I think a part of that comes from being married to a woman who got a strop on every time she lost regardless of her abilities and experience with the games we played. It was easier to play down my own side so she at least felt she’d put up a good fight when losing. Mind you, there were occasions when I got fed up with doing that and played my usual way to make a point. And I’ll occasionally still do that if someone gets uppity about their abilities. It’s a side of me I don’t let out often! lol

All in all I play games for fun. I’ll happily do my best to beat the AI opponents as they have no thought or feeling but when playing against friends I curb that competitive streak a little here and there and just enjoy the banter and camaraderie that comes from the social aspect of multiplayer gaming.

After all, nobody REALLY wants to see me Grizzly now do they?

You may scoff as I sit atop this perch, safe from most enemy fire, but what you don't realise is that I can also watch Lilith's arse in uninterrupted close up for ages.

In recent weeks I’ve noticed that, as in real life, in multiplayer co-op games online I’m content to be lead rather than lead… Borderlands for instance, I’ve played extensively with a great friend and for the most part I’ve been happy to defer to him over where we go, what we do and who gets the pleasure of opening up the cool red crates to see what treasures lie inside. (often nothing special but the anticipation of what could be in there is kinda cool, even if the disappointment is a shame after)

When it comes to the fighting situations I hang back taking out the enemy with my sniper rifle and he rushes ahead with his fast repeater pistol and goes toe to toe… occasionally I join him with and SMG or shotgun and get in the thick of it, then when our enemies are nothing more than fast fading pixels I tend to let him decide where to next and away we go!

This has got me thinking back to other online games I’ve played and my part in them…

Burnout Paradise is a good example of my tendency to defer to others with the challenge choices and how to get to each stage! I’ll happily follow the pack to reach where we were heading unless by chance I’d end up ahead of everyone (except Rook usually) The only time I’d find myself in a position of leadership was when playing with relative rookies to the game and even then I’d ask what they wanted to do before selecting the challenges and heading off. In part I think it comes from my natural reserve, in part a desire not to get things wrong and show myself up! Another part of it comes from my own apathetic nature where leading is akin to working at something and takes effort. Effort as we know is bad! I game for the pleasure of it generally (as I’m sure most people do) and I generally get no pleasure out of being the decision maker in a scenario!

Forget your fancy GPS systems, at GamingLives we have our very own Gandalf in The Rook, although he's not known to grab hold of his staff quite so much.

A small venture into GTA IV online had me following in the wake of more experienced players wondering what was going on and hoping someone would give me directions and orders, especially when I found myself in charge of the Police car with 3 other occupants! That was a minor panic moment of “I’m not cut out for this shit!”, though it was quite amusing too. I don’t like the idea that my bad playing could detract from others enjoyment of the game at hand… even though I know when you’re new to something you need time to catch up and learn I still worry about doing something dumbass and messing things up for other more experienced/serious gamers. That hasn’t stopped me from enjoying multiplayer games, but it does kinda make me wary of jumping in where I am at that kind of disadvantage.

You guys take care of all the baddies and stuff and I'll um... I'll hang here and make sure we don't get clamped!

Then we come to Counter Strike Source… as a member of a fairly active clan, we would regularly have training matches on our chosen maps (usually Dust and Dust 2) and at the start of each session the call would come for people to take charge of a team and direct the play. Not once did I put my virtual hand up and say “I’ll have a go!” The pressure just seemed too much and the idea of actively telling people what to do left me kinda cold. A couple of the team were good friends of mine and new me pretty well so they weren’t really surprised and they never pushed me to take on a role I wasn’t prepared for. After all, they were in training for taking the clan into an ED league so they wanted strong characters to call the shots and calling those shots wasn’t something I felt compelled to do! Again in part from being reserved, part apathy and part afraid to come out as a dumbass…. that level of worry about looking like a dick shouldn’t really enter into gaming but it does as so many folk take so many aspects of it seriously! I’m not a happy camper if I’m in the limelight and that’s another part of the whole thing!

I can happily direct a party of NPC’s in Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter Nights, but leading real people in a virtual world seems beyond my comfort zone by too much of a margin to really be possible. I could probably learn to in time I guess but that would need the patience and understanding of my peers and when the games are fast paced and a little frantic, that’s not easy to come by.

Next time you’re in one of those games where you’re cooperating with others to set goals, stop and have a think… are you following my leader or leading my followers?

Britney. Doesn't get much simpler.

I’ve been sitting here over the last few weeks wondering about my attitudes towards gaming and whether I really deserve the tag of “Gamer” and I’ve realised that yes, in fact I do but probably along with the caveat of “Simple”

Not “simple” because of a lack of intelligence or skill (though that is very much up for debate) but “simple” because for me, the simplest games capture my attention for longer than complicated ones.

Trials HD for example… it’s a very basic premise dressed up in HD finery! That might do the game itself an injustice but at bare bones it stands that way. The controls are easy to learn but difficult to master and the tracks, whilst looking simple enough, had more than enough going for them to keep me at the game for weeks on end, repeating and repeating until my fingers felt like claws and I actually started to get weird pains when making certain shapes with my fingers (those shapes based around the 360 controller triggers) whereas massive games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 don’t fire me up in the same way.

I don't give a shit if it's not in the dictionary, it's in my vocabulary... so hand over that triple word score beeatch!

Another indication of my “simple gamer” tag comes from my enjoyment of quick to play flash games. Things like Asteroids, Penguin Bash, Mahjong, Curveball and that most classic of simple games Snake. All of those have recently captured my attention and had me returning to them since they were introduced to our very own Gaming Lives forum soon after its creation. All great fun in their own right and all requiring a different set of skills and coordination and that most elusive of qualities in a Game-Meh…. concentration.  Another format has also got me hooked and those are a number of applications/games on Facebook.  Scrabble, Bejewelled Blitz, Farmville and Farkle are all quick easy fixes that draw me back time and time again to while away a few more minutes of my life in a gaming fashion, albeit a Gaming Lite way perhaps.

For me at least, K.I.S.S. seems to be a way to keep gaming in my life when I struggle to get the energy/inclination/drive (or whatever you wish to call it) to fire up the console and plug away. Some may consider that lazy gaming and they’d perhaps be right to a degree but simplicity works well for me and allows me to consider myself one of the breed.

The life of a couch potato isn't always as dull as you'd think! Just deciding which side to sit and whether to use the recliner can take ages!

Those that know me well will testify that I am generally quite apathetic about life. No big surprise, I’m a big lad and confirmed couch potato who’s sorta moved from the couch to a chair at the dining table to mooch about online with Facebook, a couple of forums and tarting about making new friends in the somewhat vain hope of finding a partner – yes, I go on a couple of dating sites too.

So… how does that all fit around being (or attempting to be) a gamer?

Well, over the last three years or so there have been one or two games that have really caught my attention, my imagination, and have transcended the apathy of life and got me out of that little rut… I say little… it’s probably a lot bigger rut than I’ll admit but that’s ok! Part of the apathy is to bury one’s head and ignore certain things. ;o)

The first of those games many, many moons ago was Baldur’s Gate – a Forgotten Realms based RPG that allowed you to control character and build a party (not THAT kind of party!) to cross the Realms and save the day! Just the kind of thing I loved when playing Dungeons and Dragons for real when my brother dragged me along to a game he and his friends were taking a whole weekend for. Building a character and keeping him or her alive through the battles, gaining experience and levelling up, battling all comers and generally immersing myself in a world other than my own was a great thing at the time.

My ex-wife's response to 'shall we go see my friends for some D&D

Reaching that final battle and winning came as a slight anti climax though, but that was fine because I could start over with a high level that made it even easier to walk through a battle and gain more experience and new levels made up for it and the fun continued… and continued even longer with Baldur’s Gate II, Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale II. All great games and forever in my heart because they allowed me to indulge in my enjoyment of Dungeons and Dragons without having to persuade my now ex-wife to drag herself out of the house and join me in a game with friends she didn’t really like. Those games allowed me an escape from a life that wasn’t happy. Something I’ll never forget.

The next game to really pull me away from the couch was Command & Conquer: Generals (and Zero Hour). It was bought for me as a gift by Mark and Lorna and it quickly got me engrossed in building bases, amassing arms and trying to obliterate the computer controlled opponents in order to reach the next enemy as quickly as possible. Again it was at a time in my life when a relationship was on the rocks and it provided an escape from the mundane. What it also achieved is a quick introduction into multiplayer online gaming! WOOHOO!! I could play against friends who were far away without having to get out of the house! I was one happy-thetic bear I can tell you!

Since then, and the acquisition of an X-Box 360, the tally of games that have got me out of my world and interacting with others has increased to include Burnout Paradise, Call of Duty 3 and, in a lesser way, Trials HD. All fantastic in their own way and all meh breaking too.

COVER ME!! But not with that quilt, thanks!

One game though stands out. It’s not complicated but it is immersive and I was introduced to it by a friend from work. Counterstrike Source

When I came to the game it was already a good few years old and there were hardened campaigners out there scrimming in teams and clans and generally getting well into the tactics of defending bomb sites or planting bombs as terrorists and generally trying to kill each other as quickly as possible with a selection of weapons and small ordinance. It quickly caught my attention and away I went running around different maps trying to keep up with experienced team mates and not blind them with flashbangs or kill them with badly thrown grenades. Great fun all in all but it was another aspect of the online gaming scene that has continued to draw me in night after night and keep me up til way past the time I should go to bed because of wanting just one more round… and thats Gun Game! For those who’ve not come across this yet it’s an individual game where you start with a small Glock pistol and you have to run around and kill your opponents in order to gain the next (and usually bigger, more powerful) weapon and eventually win the game by knifing an opponent!

Might not sound as involved as games like Fallout or Left 4 Dead, or as technical as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 but it’s the one thing that assures my place in the gaming world. Not perhaps as a hardened Gamer… but definitely as a Game-Meh ;o)