Slayer!
anupma is probably(pleasantly) surprised with the lack of geek/gamer posts I’ve been doing lately. Never one to disappoint, here goes another:
So this weekend I got in quite an intense round of Halo multiplayer, close to six hours at a stretch actually, playing against 15 of the 1337-est, meanest fraggers around. Of course they don’t call me 53r10u554m for nothing… I finished in first in all but two matches, where I finished 3rd and 4th. Not too bad, I haven’t rusted all that much. But despite the intense LAN party, I was left wanting a little more. One, because gearbox decided to do away with the co-op mode that really made the X-Box version shine. Frag fests are all fine and dandy, but I am a sucker for co-op matches. I admit I’ve snuck in a few NOLF co-ops and absolutely loved it. Too, because I’ve been too used to fast paced UT2003 bouts, and comparatively Halo is a tad slow. Three, the maps. Gearbox snuck in a grand total of 6 PC exclusive mutiplayer maps, which were moslty made with race or CTF modes in mind. Free for all slayer modes, which seemed to be the flavor of the day at the LAN party, get a raw deal when it comes to these maps. You don’t know how highly unsatisfying getting a frag after running around the beach side for a good 5 minutes can be.
Don’t get me wrong though, I had oodles of fun, and since LAN parties/multiplayer matches in relatively broadbandless India are few and far between, it was bound to be full of raw adrenaline pumping through the air, the very atmosphere of the place was intoxicating. Fun fun fun. I have another 3-4 hours lined up this night, I’ll let ya know how it goes.
The stoopid map review: Timberland was nice, I guess. CTF was a blast, but Slayer is wasted on Timberland, what with humongous outdoors of foliage to cross, in order to reach the central lake structure. Death Island was kinda like the Silent Cartographer level, and like anybody who’s played that will tell you, its huge! And not to mention utterly stupid for non CTF/KoH modes. Gephyrophobia, I didn’t play much, which is sad because though its basically a race mode map, it lends itself to some pretty mean games of free-for-all action. Danger Canyon was very llinear and very fun. Especially satisfying is using the melee attack to push a guy off the cliff. Its a loooong fall. Ice Fields, I absolutely detested, because I finished in my lowest ranking. Heh heh, but personal prejudices aside, this is one mean map for Slayer as well as KoH modes. I have to get in some more practice for this one. Infinity is a very cool map. Its a giant 8, which makes it challenging for CTFs, and very cool for race modes. Also the terrain is varied and very conducive for cheeky Slayer matches. Coolio.
Halo @$$-kick@ge aside, I also found a very nice book store which had some awesome out of print collectors edition comics, and some great new DC novellas. I know, I know, I’m a self-professed Marvel guy, but sometimes you gotta take what you get. So Narnia set(all of them!), and although I restrained myself for a while, I know its gonna be difficult for me to stop myself next weekend. 
Life update: Having done the right thing still kinda sucks, but I’m down with it, yo! And if anybody in Delhi/Noida/Faridabad wants a Touchtel DSL line, sushubh‘s got one that he has to let go of. You’ll save around 2 grand on the installation bit, and its very broadbandish.
