Yes, here we are again. Another CoD and another year of what the hell the next developer screwed up - or did they this year?

Call of Duty Modern Warfare has certainly divided opinion after a strong and solid Beta that was released, coupled with early news that there will be no loot boxes to the sounds of joyous high fives in the community. The game has managed to retain a lot of positives from the beta into the launch unlike other CoDs and has been highly praised on the fact they've kept many underlying mechanics and gameplay to the level that everyone wants.

So why the hell are people still hating on this game?

Well, we all love opinions don't we? And when it comes to the Call of Duty franchise its unlike any other game that i see out there over the past 5, 6, 7 years that takes this level of criticism. You see, most criticism that is strong usually comes with emotion. And emotion for this game is strong. Possibly the highest I ever see on a game, because it is the basics of boys and their toys imagination of being Action Man: The Greatest Hero of Them All (don't lie, you sang that line in your head, didn't you).

So my view of the world as I see it right now for this CoD is that people jump to the negatives straight away, forgetting the positives. I understand that to a degree - this one still has some glaringly obvious ones.

• Maps - The most open maps a CoD has ever had. Yet still manages to have a 762 snugs for camper based play to pick you off 4 seconds after you spawn
• Skillbased Matchmaking - Not a massive negative for me, but i've had the odd game whereby you get a Road Rash punch in the face at 150mph, and the same happens every 2 seconds until the round is up
• Challenges - Can be cumbersome in how they are implemented and only one at a time is frustrating at times
• Menus/UI - Overall, that is a shambles, like most CoDs because they do not care about it

Most importantly though, I find its the behaviours we're all used to that come out because we want CoD to do well so we can get that nostalgic feeling back when we played early CoDs and ransacked every team in town.

Let me be clear - This game has the ability to give you that feeling. Open your mind to it.

For all the weaknesses, the pros are clear as day and when they get things right, regardless if it is part of Activision, the developers deserve some credit for listening to the community. What am i talking about? Well:

• Gunplay - These has to be one of the best CoD games ever for overall gunplay. Guns feel solid. Nearly every gun does (apart from Pistols at the time of writing this but thats not fundamentally a bad thing).
• Gunsmith - The amount of customisation thats available at your disposal is huge. It gives the game a sense of depth to each and every gun. When the game is all about the guns, you want variety at your disposal and you have stacks of it here
• Changing Loadouts IN GAME - Why o why we have never had this is insanity. It looks like the smallest of Quality of Life changes but it makes a huge difference to the game. Loadouts can be really overwhelming to most people and usually once you've made it you'll stick with it but now theres more incentive to change an attachment mid-game and try more varied loadouts
• No Prestige - I see this as a massive plus which to some may be surprising. To Prestige in CoD literally helps nothing other than seeing how huge you wanted your forehead to be. I was with many others that used to level up to 55 and never Prestige as i wanted access to all the guns. This way you have that but can still unlock further items and attachments the more you go into the game. Having Season ranks after that level is a way they can keep a certain amount of grind to the game with access to vary the offering to the player base with specific seasonal content in the future. Its a great model to have to help players return more often
• Choice - In my opinion there's more than enough choice in gamemodes AND maps. Whilst maps require some fine tuning, they aren't all as bad as people say they are. Apart from Piccadilly. Piccadilly can die by being sucked up in large Black Hole with loot boxes. Some have some great verticality and decent sized lanes that have a twisted on how interlocking doors connect each lane. Just because its never been done before doesn't mean its a bad thing.
• Gameplay - Over the past week i've noticed it doesn't matter what style of game you play any longer. It all depends on what you mode you play in. You can run around all you like in Hardcore and dominate the scoreboard like a madman, or, take it safe and steady in Core.
• Score and Killstreaks - Not too hard and not too easy to obtain. Not many seem OP and the ones that do, usually can be shot out of the sky reasonably quickly. UAV spamming doesn't seem an issue any longer like it was in the beta. The Personal Radar is a great alternative and also gives away your position so with great reward comes with great risk.

Veteran CoD players really need to give this time and try all gamemodes. Clearly, in a party it will ALWAYS be better because people will react to how you're feeling and make you feel brighter. Even if you're team is getting spanked. Our mindsets have to change from this CoD forward. We can't just keep labelling it same old CoD anymore and also running around trying to find the first piece of info to royally fuck it over.

Give yourself a fresh outlook on a game that has usual dusty name.

Alright, as this was requested, here goes. I want to be very clear that this is just what I do when I spawn in with nothing and other may do things differently or have additional tips.

Alrighty then, as a fresh spawn in the land of Chernarus there's 2 things you want to find as quickly as possible.

The number one thing is something to drink as you spawn with your thirst level at about half. So check every house you come across and any zombie you end up punching to death.

The second thing you want to find is a melee weapon. It'll make it easier to kill zombies and should you run into a hostile player it might save your life. Bladed weapons seems like the better choice for zombies, doesn't matter if it's a Machete or a steak knife, they both do the same job. Knives also open canned food and gives you the most out of those cans besides actual can openers. (Any tool besides the can opener that you use will cause you to lose a bit of food.)

Once you have those two things down. Start trying to get a backpack. Being able to carry supplies is important if you want to get away from the coast and backpacks are your best friends! The bigger they are the more shit you can carry, but that also cuts your stamina once you carry a lot of heavy stuff and you wont be able to sprint for as long.

Once you have a backpack, start looking for food and medical items. Most of the medical items aren't much use if you are on your own, but Chlorine tablets and Tetracycline pills will save your ass as you can either purify even the filthiest ditch water with chlorine or cure the impending cholera you get for drinking said ditch water without purifying it by popping a Tetracycline pill.

Once you've loaded up it's a good idea to start moving inland, I'd suggest having a map open on your phone or laptop next to you so you can navigate easier, look for signs just outside cities/towns and check the map on phone/computer to figure out where you are and where to go. There's always better gear inland than on the coast.

I'd also suggest not sprinting, just jog around unless you HAVE to sprint to get away from a player, you can't sprint for an unlimited amount of time so be careful with it, it also burns drink and food levels much faster so again, don't do it unless you have to or you have plenty of supplies to get food and drink levels back up.

Once you get inland I'd suggest going to places that have either hunting cabins or military areas or both. This is  the best way to get geared up with weapons to defend against other players, clothing with more storage space, ammo, night vision goggles and more. These are usually high risk areas, but if you go about it with some care you should be good. Don't go to these places at night without Night vision goggles (NVG's) as there are a lot of zombies around and if there are other people around with NVG's... Well you're fucked.

Do not forget to check your indicators at the bottom right of your screen, always keep an eye on your food and drink levels, as well as anything that indicates an injury or illness will pop up there.

Quick stop in terms of clothing items again, your shoes/boots will get worn down over time, make sure you check them regularly or keep an extra pair on you as once they get to their "ruined" state, you may suddenly start bleeding on your feet, same goes for running/walking without shoes/boots. Also try to avoid sliding down ladders without gloves, you might also cut your hands and start bleeding. Also, if caught in the rain, you may get a water symbol in the bottom right, if you do, get to shelter. Once in shelter take your jacket into your hands and wring it out, same with your pants. This will stop you from getting a cold and possibly dying.

 I'd also suggest playing this with a group. There's a fuckton of running in this game and it's not so bad if you have people to talk with/run with while doing so. It's also nice as you don't need to carry ALL the things, you can easily split it up between the group and share it as needed.

Finally, do not trust anyone. If you see a player always asume they will kill you for your shit. Not everyone will, but the majority will even if you have nothing as they are just cunts. So if you see another player, either avoid them, shoot them first or prepare to get in a fight.

Hopefully this will get you to survive the intial 30 mins of DayZ and even more, if anyone else has tips, feel free to pitch in!

Have you been questioning the directions in which most studio's have taking recently?

Maybe it's the content or even the possibility of only digital titles, in the rambling's of this controller warrior you may find some of your queries raised. The expectations of the modern gamer seem to have drastically changed due to the games in which we purchased being released broken or unfinished, we then purchase said product with the promise of it being hot-fixed or patched, this sadly has became the norm and more people are becoming numb thus letting it slide.

I personally find this quite disheartening, as the sole users our say should be driving studios to make changes to the way games are released. Let's go back to the days of old, no internet, no CD's that act as product keys I'm talking about cartridges. Games were as intended and I think it's needs to return to that methodical style of producing in order to not stifle or erode the games industry. For many people games are collectors items, whether it be a limited edition, contain extras such as prints or figurines. In my eyes a code for in game currency or a downloadable soundtrack should never be put into this because they are not physical, this is going to be a huge issue for many fans of a particular studio/franchise.

All in all I feel somewhat fobbed off when I buy a new title, after spending hours downloading and then copying only to finally get stuck in then find a game breaking bug. Don't worry though guys, it will get patched and this all depends on the size of the studio for time scale. Hopefully things will change with the next gens - not only graphically also with the games being done to a better standard.

Sweat and skill are intrinsically linked. Like peas in a pod. Or Diddums and Kronenbourg.

SBMM is a factor that seems to always spark huge controversy but in reality its always down to how the individual player’s mentality. True, we don’t want to always meet 'Mr. 360noscopeskillzproplus' but at the same time everyone is also very happy to meet 'Joe Noob' that has two thumbs but uses his nose to move around the map. The inner nature of 99% gamers is to win. Every game is a competition and its fun to win. But its when you get caught teetering over on the wrong side of the double-edged Sword needing to win - the next controller is going out the window quicker than the annoying cat stabbing your sofa and then becomes a real issue.

I personally think the moaning and criticism of SBMM is a minor point - unless it is abundantly clear you are always coming against Pro MLG players. Playing against better players will make you a better player in longer terms. Fact. For this reason its why I’d rather have two playlists, similar to the Overwatch style that pools players of any skill together in a form of Quickplay and then another pool that SBMM rules. But lets be clear, I don’t care what these rules are in the minutia.

"Something, something, rank near players, something" Whatever.

They are all much of a muchness and to think a game developer will go out their way to match you in SBMM games against full teams of FPS Ultras if your skill level is lower is utter BS.

This all resorts back to mentality though. Players need to be more mentality prepared to enjoy games for what they are. That doesn’t mean you can’t expect more but to be the ultimate sweatfest competitor in general won’t help your game, job and life tactics. Games are made for fun. What creates the sweat is people, not SBMM. Try to win, work as a team, get in the zone, but losing isn’t a bad thing. It helps you learn where you went wrong (yeah, you did) and what you can do to put it right next match.

But who am I kidding with all this talk of enjoying the game? People want to win at all costs. And they will always want an excuse. I wouldn’t be surprised if gamers follows football trends and the number one driver turns into making money rather than for the love of the game.

On that note we leave that story for another day.
 

The new Season of Dawn is nearly upon us. And as we get closer to the ‘shortest day of the year’ (22nd December if you wondered) some gamers are struggling with the same lack of daylight we are used to, or content in the case of Destiny 2.

A beautiful trailer as always by Bungie displayed less content than some Destiny lovers hoped for. Then the Bungie stream felt even more sparse with information as they attempted to go back to allowing players to find new things on the launch day rather than give every single bit of info out to the general public. Where the problems seem to lie now for Bungie is the capability of being able to meet the evolving expectations of some of the Destiny community to deliver what is seen as new enriched endgame content on a regular quarterly cycle – without the help and support from Activision and studios like Vicarious Visions (who made two very good seasons might I add). I think as soon as the words ‘Raid’, ‘Trials’ and ‘Dungeon’ didn’t feature in the latest information the whole season became a huge let-down for the masses. It's not even here until December 10th.

I won’t try and explain Game Development and how hard it is as I haven’t been one. However, I do get system development and releases work which isn’t too far away to game development cycles. You can’t just magic up Raids, new gamemodes and Dungeons within 3 months. You need Requirements, Options, Solutions. Then it’s Build, Test, Build, Test, Build, Test, Fault Fix, Test, Get Ready to Release, etc. Maybe because someone thinks they know exactly what everyone wants they can just build and forget testing it because Benny over here knows best. Things take time and you can’t just turn the ship around if they think the next imminent content is not going to land well. Equally, getting more employees isn't an answer that solves problems overnight.

However, going towards the Season model of dropping a portion of content each 3 months will automatically change mentality in how gamers will fundamentally play the game. FOMO can immediately kick in so they rush through content as quick as they can. I've felt this big style. No one is a fan of time-gating content, but hey, with ravenous gamers not taking in any of the time and effort spent on well-made content I can see why they do it. That’s not endorsing it though. They’ve set their own expectations by committing to 4 drops rather than 3 in a Season Pass all with less developers and less income streams. There’s no wonder why Eververse has so many thing on sale for Silver only. They have to continually make money somewhere.

‘Who gives a Rat’s-Ass Thursdays’

Well, seemingly not many players. But that is the world we live in. No matter the fact that Bungie have explained very clearly early doors that content will be readjusted and spread across the season because they can’t build things as quick as they could. No matter the fact that Seasons cost generally less than previous ones and cost approx. £6-7 when you have the pass. No matter the fact we don’t know all the content for the next 3 months as they want people to discover it on their own. No matter the actual content that is being delivered is still considerable when you list it down. No matter…oh you get the point.

Datto put it very well immediately after the stream. People don’t care how much effort goes into making good stuff. They just want to know when they’ll get it and is it good. Just like they don’t care how long it him to make a YouTube video or you not caring about me writing this essay. They just want the good shit. Well, if you have those expectations, unfortunately you need to ste; back into the real world.

Just because what you want isn’t there doesn’t also mean that the content is bad. We have to be more realistic and start reminding ourselves of what skills we learned or experiences we've had and adapt. Like when you we’re at school and we actually listened to people so we could understand how the world works. Or even if you were a D1 Guardian and played hours and hours when there was dramatically less content AND no regular updates.

Just strikes, crucible and a few raids. Good to take stock at these points.

One of my favourite things on Call of Duty is the domination game mode. It’s fast paced and forces out all of the campers as you have to push on to flags etc to win.

After watching many different videos and playing for a long time I have to admit - playing dom, getting the win and hitting some streaks requires a certain strategy.

My argument for this is, it’s hard to go on long kill streaks if you don’t know where your enemies are coming from, this is why I’m not a fan of team death match as the spawns are a lot more difficult to predict and gun fights are often 50/50 rather than 90/10 when you know an enemy is coming. Also, you don’t want to be the loser camping in corners trying to get a streak going whilst the enemy has 2 flags capped and you’re losing the game.

So, what is the strategy? Well it’s nothing ground breaking but it is often one that is overlooked - grab a home flag (A or C) and cap B. Then, use the power positions overlooking the enemy spawn to kill them as they come out. This only works if all members of the team don’t break the imaginary line that crosses between the last third of the map where the enemies will spawn at their home flag.

The problem is, it never seems to go this way as we all go looking for kills or (what usually happens) the enemy pushes deep into our spawn and then we get flipped over to their side. In this circumstance you shouldn’t cap the enemy flag but instead retreat and catch the enemies on the flank.

Communication is also key in this context as each member of the team is responsible for covering gaps in the map and maintaining map control. A word on this.

Map control relates to having a member of the team in certain areas so that enemies do not spawn their (for the most part). A good strategy when capping B is for someone to push past the B flag and kill anyone coming to defend.

So, if you want to hit some streaks and get a guaranteed win on Dom, give this strategy a try the next time you are in a sizeable team! Also, give this topic a little YouTube as well because there are people much better than me who can explain it better.

Thanks

Elliot