Yielding of a Solo Man

As you may have read before, my undying passion towards Left 4 Dead remains evident. L4D is by far one of my most beloved video games, and not solely based on it’s zombie-bashing weaponry or putridly designed enemies. The story of triumph and brotherhood (including a lady) is an encouraging tale to follow. Watching four characters with different personalities come together as one team to survive the zombie apocalypse is raw indeed, unabashed sentiments and the chronicle of their four lives colliding together. It wasn’t enough to just enjoy the video game; I had uncover their journey to collectivity.

 

During my search for the tale of how these four non-infected citizens met, I discovered each of their back stories in an online comic called The Sacrifice, which I recognize as no coincidence to the story’s dismal but glorious ending. For those of you who are reading this and are unsure of the premise; I’ll leave you the tale for your own discovery. After enjoying the petite-sized comic, I came to the realization that stories behind character interactions hold more excitement than just playing a game to ‘hit the bad guys’. It was rewarding to see their courage under a horde of ‘brain-thirsty’ zombies, of which not all enjoyed the brain--an arm or leg would often do. Their valor was truly a spectacular image to behold; one of which will be difficult to forget.

 

Experience this quick tale of each individual’s life before and after the virus invasion for yourself: http://www.l4d.com/comic/

“Hey, You Hear When the Water’s Gonna Come Back On?”

I’m what you would call a casual gamer, if there is a name for it. I started my gaming experience playing mindless match 3 games, point-and-clicks, and the occasional puzzle game. Aside from the infrequent run-in with a crazy airtight game (i.e. Limbo), I felt myself reaching a dead end. I’ve always hesitated playing anything more difficult than these three great but limiting alternatives, due to the fear of failure. Lame, right? I hate the feeling of losing and do not take the disappointment lightly.  

In an attempt to put these notions aside, I agreed to try my first crash course in Borderlands. I had enough courage to play Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance for Game Cube by myself, simply due to the fact that I played a hack n slash character, which is my chief MO. So, I figured I could enjoy time spent with this video game as well. The opening is pretty much amazing as well as the menu and character options. As per usual, I chose the tank character that takes and deals a massive amount of damage, Brick. I was ready to start this party. We even had this cute little metal contraption, Claptrap, greet us at the gate - man, I was getting excited. While preparing myself to have a mind-blowing experience, I enjoyed all the beginning encounters the game had to offer, especially the scavenged, post apocalyptic environment. Then Claptrap gave us a pep talk, opened the gate and we ran inside…and it quickly went downhill from there. I couldn’t figure out how to aim and shoot, and ended up frantically spinning in circles looking at the sky. Which resulted in myself literally throwing the controller to the ground in frustration and walking away with a little more hatred in my heart.

After some time passed, weeks or months, I caved in and decided to give the game another try, and have never looked back. It’s super fresh and really addicting! The fact that I gave this amazing game another chance makes me smile a little brighter, and because I use whitening paste, but mainly the second one. Borderlands reminded me of how much fun shooters can be, taking me away from my thought that RPGs are always better than shooters. From the creative thought up enemies to the tormented inhabitants of the land, this is a game worth the sacrifice. I encountered the feeling of failure and did not squint in fear or feel overcome with fret. I no longer had to drag others into playing continuous matches of L4D, although L4D 1 and 2 are definitely in my top 3 games of all time. A small accomplishment was undergone that day, as well as the reward of achievements to boot! Because of this gaming experience; I have opened my mind to almost all other forms of video games, other than racing and sports games, I just can’t do it. You get to meet some pretty interesting characters and get to blow up all kinds of stuff, which is my favorite part. This really is a game for anyone.

Unfortunately, the day will soon come when we will beat Borderlands, but no worries, games are meant to be replayed.