GhostofAnakin

I also lost out on bonus XP on a bounty because right when I was about to kill the target, my allies came raiding his camp and got into a firefight with him and his men, killing them before I had a chance to.

I was just doing these missions where you clear out certain camps/villages of enemies. You gotta kill a handful of them without being noticed or setting off an alarm, otherwise they have reinforcements come in. You don't "fail" if that happens, it just gets more difficult with a dozen bad guys shooting at you rather than the 6 or so that you first have to take out. The sniper rifle with silencer works like a charm, especially since even if they notice one of their comrades down, they sort of look around trying to figure out where you are, giving you time to take them out. My last mission didn't go so well. I unlocked the bow and tried to take back a village using it, but they saw me and a bow isn't very effective when you've got multiple enemies rushing you. I was able to dispatch them after picking up one of their AK-47s, but then a giant friggin' tiger jumped on me and mauled me. I guess it was stalking me when I was sneaking through the bushes.

Reclaiming those towns/villages/outposts is pretty fun in Far Cry 3. I've got a sniper rifle now, and upgraded it to include a silencer. I just stand up on some hill, and take out the individual bad guys one at a time without them even realizing it.

So far it is. I'm early in the game (only done two "main" missions), and I'm just running around the island either doing sidequests or just exploring. There's a part that's similar to those perches on high buildings in Assassin's Creed, where in Far Cry you have radio towers you have to climb and switch on, it gives you details of the surrounding area. I've done a couple of those and just been going around picking up items or doing some exploring/beast hunting. I don't know if it becomes less open the farther into the story you go, however. But right now it's, as the commercial says, like Skyrim (open world) with guns.

I'm quite enjoying Far Cry 3 so far. The only thing that's slightly annoying is I can't seem to go anywhere on the island without running into enemies, and I simply can't lose them. They track me down and call in reinforcements so I end up having to kill them all.

Far Cry 3. It's ... interesting so far.

Did someone say something?

Playing some Spartan Ops in Halo 4. I'm enjoying it much, much more than the MP.

Darque still posts here?

I don't know how anyone can find Halo's MP fun. Shoot enemy 5 times, he doesn't die. Instead, he uses a jetpack and hides, replenishes health. Rinse, repeat, and hope that eventually I can get enough shots in before he's able to hide to regenerate his shields. It's one of the things CoD does very well. You shoot people ... THEY DIE.

I'm really trying to get into Assassin's Creed III, but I just can't seem to do it. I really don't know what it is ... the controls seem clunkier than I remember. Or maybe I've just forgotten what most of the buttons do. Whatever. I tried it for about half an hour tonight, but decided to give up and play some NHL13 instead.

It's been so long since I last played the previous three Halo games. I've forgotten who the heck the Forerunners are. So I was kind of lost for much of Halo 4 whenever they were mentioned.

I'd agree with that. A lot of the levels do seem to take place in smaller spaces than what I recall of past Halo games. And the writing's pretty good.

Halo 4's single player campaign seems shorter than previous Halo games. It's probably not, but it seems like it to me. I'm on the final chapter already and I've only been playing it off and on over the past four days.

God damn is Halo 4's MP annoying. You have to shoot your opponent a hundred times before he dies, and that's if he's not smart enough to hide behind a rock to let his shields replenish. I remember now why I prefer CoD's MP.

I don't know if there's been 10 games in 2012 I've enjoyed enough to even list. Games I had fun with this year (in no order): Sleeping Dogs The Witcher 2 (XBox edition) Risen 2 Borderlands 2 3/4 of Mass Effect 3

Currently jumping back and forth between Assassin's Creed III and Halo 4.

On a more serious note, I do think it should be game over if the main character dies. I think it makes more sense that way since that's the character you're roleplaying, the character you're controlling. The other party members are more like minions or hire hands that come along for the journey.

It was an improvement over what was there the last time I played MP way back in March? April? And I know the maps were already there. But the environmental effects add another element to them.

Tried playing some Assassin's Creed III MP. It's ... confusing. Half the time I don't even know which is my target (unless they make it obvious by running around). I also really suck at defending when I'm the target.

If your character dies, your game should blow up in your DVD tray so you can never again play it. Now that's hardcore RPGing.

Merry Christmas to everyone, especially the folks who get cranky whenever they hear "Merry Christmas" or Christmas music playing in a store.

I'll give the MP team credit for one thing: they've certainly done a nice job of mixing up/adding environmental effects to the maps. One map I was playing on, my shields were taking a hit when I was out in the (I'm assuming) toxic rain. Another map now looks like it's a full blown desert storm, with almost zero visibility.

This was one of the highlights of the game for me.

Mass Effect 3?