Hello again, brothers and sisters. In this edition of the Xbox Café I would like to give props to my significant other…
“Put your headset back on Ru, I am definitely NOT talking about you.”
That’s right, for those of you who don’t know, the idiot playing Xbox Live here is my partner and beverage maker, Ruprick. We’re close, but not THAT close. The significant other I am referring to is my actual girlfriend, and she has enough sense to stay away from the Café and my controller-challenged sidekick over here.
But since Valentine’s day is here, I though it would be nice to have a little discussion of a problem many of us male gamers have, how do we get the girlfriend involved in our torturously time-consuming hobby?
“Hehe…Ru…just keep playing, this is a problem you certainly don’t have right now.”
So let’s just look at a couple of favs for my Beloved and me (At least when it comes to playing the Xbox at home):
Make Sweet Love With A Single Screen For Two
I mentioned the plethora of Baldur’s Gate (or similar) engines featured in recent games in the last column: D & D Heroes, Fallout, and of course Baldur’s Gate and BG II. And there are more coming to the Xbox as well, friends.
Now for those of us with love lives, this is fantastic news, at least if your GF is as FPS challenged as mine is. (Fallout, and BG II are new Xbox releases.) Now, I have tried and tried to play various split screen shooters with the Beloved. She can’t see, she can’t move, she can’t tell who is who, etc. She just don’t like dem FPS’s.
“Shut up Ru, you can see just fine when you play shooters co-op, you’re just lame brother.”
Actually, I remember when I first attempted to introduce my GF to my dirty perverted gaming world. It was on a Nintendo 64, and the game was Perfect Dark. As many of you know, PD was considered to be a great co-op game in its day. But not for my GF and me! (Remember the above complaints? ‘I can’t see, can’t move…etc.’)
However, later on, when I put in a little title by the name of Gauntlet, on that same system, everything changed. ‘We are playing together on one screen, I can see, I can move, I can tell who you are, etc.’ Co-oping single screen made all of the difference.
Since the days of Gauntlet on the 64 we have completed BG on the PS2, and of course, replayed that classic hack and slash on the only console that matters in here, the Xbox. And the Xbox really seems to be a great platform for playing this style of game. My only complaint right now, is that while that OTHER console, is taking great versions of this genre, Champions of Norath, even Lord of the Rings, online, we don’t have any such online choice for our vastly superior Xbox Live.
Gladius And A Nice Bottle of Red
Another excellent genre for a gaming girlfriend who is FPS impaired is the MMORPG. These games are more about planning, strategy and community than button mashing, and my GF and I enjoy this type as well. But we are in the Xbox Café, brothers and sisters, and there is no MMORPG for us to discuss right now! Yet another hole in the Xbox’s library has been exposed, but we’ll see what lies ahead for this genre on the Box for us when True Fantasy Online hits.
In the meantime, we have Gladius, another quirky RPG type that has filled the void. Gladius, in terms of its mulitiplayer is classified as ‘alternating cooperative’. Quirky, no? Gladius is a turned based game, so you wait for your friend to plot his/her move before you make yours. Sound slow? Well, it is. But that is also the beauty of this game.
In Gladius, you pace yourself, and enjoy the items, storyline and strategic challenges each battle has to offer. Gladius also features interesting characters of both genders, so the RPG elements of customization and equipment also take a lot of planning. Indeed, Gladius has offered my Beloved and me hours of fun on the Xbox.
So to sum up what works in gaming with my GF: I stay away from first person shooters, and try and get my hands on as many hands single screen co-op games as I can (even if they have gotten mediocre reviews, chances are that doesn’t reflect the multiplayer fun) and look out for other odd co-op possibilities, especially with a strategic or RPG flavor.
So there you have a little glimpse into how I have managed to get my significant other involved with my Xbox time. Now your Beloved may or may not have the same proclivities as mine, and perhaps you can enjoy a little time on Counterstrike or Halo, but while we have shifted to that topic, let’s close with a new FPS on the Box that my GF would never, never, EVER play, Unreal 2: The Awakening.
Unreal 2: Play That One With The Boys
Indeed, this whole time Ruprick has been blasting away on Unreal 2. We have already established how much she dislikes first person shooters, and Unreal may be the perfect form of the FPS. Or, as my GF likes to put it, ‘The A**hole Game.’
“That’s right my infrequently bathed, fake Euro-trash friend, I said A**hole. Works for you, eh?”
I do have to admit, looking at this game right now, it is pretty impressive. Sort of Unreal Tournament meets Halo. There are some big interesting vehicles to wheel around in this environment…
“That’s great Ru, can’t shoot, can’t drive either.”
But I especially like two things about Unreal 2: First, there are 3 classes of soldier, each with different skills. So much like Castle Wolfenstein, in online multiplayer mode (XMP), players are actually required to work with each other. Secondly, U2 doesn’t have a ranking system. Now this may upset some of you competitive players, but I think in order to cut down on cheating, and to allow a lighter atmosphere for players of all levels, it’s a really good idea.
The focus should always be on the games people, not your “stats.”
Well, on that note, I think it’s time for me to get up out of this booth and get on home. It is HER day after all. Maybe we’ll play a little BG II, but for her sake tonight, I know I will definitely not be getting on Live to play with the “A**holes.”
“That’s ok Ru, you keep playing, I just think I need to stay off of Live this Valentine’s Day. It’s as romantic a gesture as I can imagine!”
Ciao, Happy Valentine’s Day, and I’ll see ya’ on Live, brothers and sisters! (At least after February 14!)
