Rising The Ranks

You know, there’s nothing worse in modern videogames than allowing your skills in a partiular area to become rusty. No longer are a few hours’ walk among the trees and fields punished by a short, sharp humiliation in front of your own living room TV. The constant level of challenge available night and day online leaves unwary folks wandering into a very public massacre. No longer do videogames leave their players in that wonderful ring-fenced luxury of believing they’re the best in the world at a particular skill. Well, apart from the one blubbery mess who actually is, of course. With this in mind, my embarassing, fumbling foray back into Gears 2 through Dark Corners is put nicely into context. There’s no running away nowadays – I’ve outgrown that. Now it’s bobbing up and down around heavy weaponry until my head becomes simply nothingness. Also cause for concern is what’s known as the ‘Space Invaders’ tactic – shooting where your opponent was, not where he is going to be. Other than that, everything’s peachy…