(sorry this is a little late, I joined the class the day it was due)
IST 446
Jonathan Ludwig
Gaming Profile
My favorite game genre is shooters. When I was younger Gears of War (the original one) was by far my favorite game and still probably is. I liked that the games were played with only a few people on each team and was very team oriented. I had a group of friends I played with and we became very good at the game and especially working together. This game required a skill to become good at and isn’t like call of duty where the first person to see the other is usually the victor. The game play was also very solid, and the gore made it very fun. Nothing was more fulfilling than blowing apart your nemesis with an up close shotgun blast.
I also really enjoyed call of duty 4 (Modern Warfare). This game was less team driven than Gears of war but you could still be significantly better than other people because of quick reactions and being able to predict common locations and routes of enemies. I really enjoyed using snipers with an acog scope because it is usually a one shot kill and provided a quicker pull up time than a normal scope. The one thing I don’t like about call of duty is there isn’t a huge difference between an average player and a very good player. Everyone has bad games and good games, the very good players just have good games more frequently.
Another game genre I like is role playing games. I haven’t become too entrenched in many role playing games because of my love for player versus player shooters. I have however put plenty of time into Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Far Cry 4, Grand Theft Auto V and my favorite Mafia II. These games are fun because they are shooters and provide a sandbox type game where doing missions is not the only fun thing to do. I enjoy running around and getting into battles with AI enemies or trying to evade police. Mafia II was my favorite of these types because I really enjoyed the old school era. Mafia II was also pretty realistic in terms of evading police. The police would remember your plate and your face depending on the situation. They would even come after you for speeding but if you pulled over it would just be a ticket. It’s hard to generalize what makes a good role playing game but I would say ease of use is a big part of it. I hate it when role playing games force you to do tedious tasks. That is one thing I wish was different about the Fallout series, there are many things that are a pain and just consume your time. An example would be in fallout 4, trying to share junk across settlements was a real pain. There were two perks that allow you to get around this but that isn’t really worth saving up for since it doesn’t make your character better, it just makes the annoying part of the game take less time.
My last game genre I’m going to talk about is mobile games. I enjoy playing clash of clans and clash of lords. These games require you to think and to customize and prioritize your upgrades on both offense and defense. These games can be played for 30 second to 30 minutes depending on how much time you have. These games also have a social aspect to them; where you and your clan/guild, composed of real people, work towards a common goal. There is something addicting about gaining experience in order to make your set up in a game better, this is important in any genre of game.