They talked me into trying out one of those shooters with them, despite my relatively firm stance about first/third person shooters and consoles (I don’t like them to be together, bob. They should not touch~). It was this game called Gears of War.

When I started playing, I was a bit unsteady with the controls, because I’m used to having omnidirectional aiming in one hand, using the mouse. It took a little to get used to the sticks, since I can’t whip around to kill nearly as fast on the controller AND retain my fine aim that I’m used to.

But, I plowed forward like a trooper, and my first experience on ‘Insane’ settings impressed the guys.

Apparently, I’m good at: Getting to objectives without dying, Tossing the grenades, Conserving ammunition, Finding answers to puzzles that I’ve never seen.

I didn’t have to be picked up by my partner (the only way to get up when facing death in the form of a large red gear plastered in the middle of your screen is to be tagged by your partner. It encourages you to communicate with the partner to get things done) very often, though I did have to help one of the other partners up off the ground a lot.

Jason was pretty good with this, but Zeke is a bit death-prone.
Both of them communicate their part of the plan with me well, and I try to do just as much in return (eg: I told Zeke not to move until I exclaimed that “I am the Light” in one level, because traveling in darkness will almost immediately kill you, instead of letting you face death), but it’s kinda different for me to actually be playing a shooter in a cooperative mode.

Still, I was actually impressed by the game play, and the need for tactics, dodging, wall-crawling, crouching, and overall just staying alive.

It’s like, we’ve come so far since Unreal Tournament, Doom, and Duke Nukem 3D.

I’m gonna miss my shield belt, though.