EUROGAMER EXPO 2012
Eurogamer Expo 2012 was amazing. It was just as amazing as GAMEfest and the previous two Eurogamer expos I attended. Did anyone really think any different? Don’t be silly. I travelled to London the day before to attend the Women in Games Conference with a friend from work and stayed an extra day for the expo. It’s the first time I was let loose by myself to wander around (I admit it, I got so distracted by all the shiny games I forgot to meet up with my friend), which was an interesting experience. I’m normally a pretty shy person, so I would normally let other people do the talking or just sit and wait my turn. But I actually found being a lone girl wandering around that the people running the booths would come over and talk to me more whilst I waited and occasionally snuck me into queues (ZombiU WOO!!). I didn’t play everything because some of the queues were INSANE. I don’t even want to know how long the queue was for Black Ops 2, but let’s face it.. there was no point queuing for that when we all know it’s going to be pretty similar to the CoD before that.. and the CoD before that.. oh, and the CoD before that. But I played everything I wanted to. Here’s a run down of my top five games I played..
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 3
Considering Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was possibly more hyped up than all the previous Call of Duty’s, and took more than ever during the first five days (over $775 million), I expected more than what I got. “More than what I got”? That sounds like I bought it. HA! No chance. No offence Infinity Ward but I’m not spending £45 of my hard earned cash on a game I completed on Hardened in 8 hours. Yeah that’s right.. 8 hours, and that was with all 46 pieces of Intel. There’s no doubt it was a massively intense and action packed campaign, but it felt exactly the same as the past two Modern Warfare’s.
I’m not one of those gamers who lives and breathes for Call of Duty. You know.. one of those. I worked the midnight release of Modern Warfare 3.. I saw PLENTY of those gamers. But I do enjoy a good FPS which makes me feel I’m a badass with a gun, and Call of Duty happily fills that slot. I’ve played every Call of Duty since the first one back on PC (yes.. I’m a hipster CoD player.. but that’s talk for another article), and I’ve enjoyed the way they’ve progressed. But I’ve always predominately been a single campaign player. Every now and again I’ve jumped on multiplayer with friends and giving all those zombies and 12 year olds a good beating, but there’s more to games than multiplayer. Which is something those gamers and even the developers need to understand. I haven’t even touched the multiplayer for Modern Warfare 3 and I don’t have the intention to. I don’t even care about playing Spec Ops on this one whereas I CANED it on Modern Warfare 2. So this review is going to be entirely about the single player campaign. Sorry.. I’ve never even prestiged once.
GEARS OF WAR
Recently when playing a game, I’ve come to a point where one of two things have happened; either I’ve got so bored I can’t bring myself to play it, or I’ve reached a point in the game which makes me want to throw my controller at the TV numerous times. So I’ve taken it upon myself to play some older games and get myself caught up on all the big titles I’ve ignored over the years. For example, I purchased Halo 3 having never played any of the previous games. Unfortunately I found myself completely and utterly lost, and a little underwhelmed by the whole fandom surrounding it. Halo fans please don’t stone me for saying that, I’m still going to give it a go before I give up all hope. However I have had much better success playing Gears of War. I’ve had the game for over half a year and never got round to playing it (well my first achievement dates back to November). But recently I’ve been playing it on Hardcore co-op. And I must say I’m really enjoying it. I’m itching to go play it now!
GAMERSCORE AND COMPLETION RATE
Lately I’ve heard a lot of talk and done alot of thinking about gamerscore and completion rates on games. Of course, everyone is impressed by insanely high gamerscores, but is that as impressive as completing a game to a full 1000 gamer points? Or is it a combination of both which earns you the title of “hardcore”? Because let’s face it. Achievements, at least on the 360, have become a big part of gaming. Getting 5 points for kicking a chicken or starting a new adventure may be so easy it makes you feel dirty, but at the same time (for me anyway) they make me want to play harder to complete a game or play through it on the hardest difficulty possible (which I’ll probably get my ass kicked doing so, but that just makes it more sweet when I beat it).
GAMERCARD
CHANTELLE PORRITT 