Day 13 of this pursuit into Wintry related video games is a day to tip the scales towards the adult oriented crowd. The crowd that probably would give me the Nelson point & “Ha, Ha” insult towards some of more ‘cute’ entries this month.
Today is a look at some of the great snow encumbered stages in history we’ve shot friends and foes alike on. If you consider some glaring omissions to be going on then get back to me in the comments. Tweet @enter_initials, hit up the article on the Facebook page, or speak up in the comments section at the bottom of the article.
Oh and before I begin listing some off, this is more directed at multi-player, you can feel free to tout single player snow campaigns that created memories for you. If I revisit this winter feature in 2017 I’ll make sure to take your mentions on board…
[edit: Consider this list part 1, as the post went on I knew I had too many for a singular post. Expect a part 2 soon]
Timesplitters 2 – Ice Station
I’d not be lying if I said I’ve spent more hours on this map than I’ve spent with my grandparents collectively throughout my life, and I did really well in all my draws for the grandparents lotto. The sheer amount of time I put into this game along with many a friends over the course of several years (even after the sequel and newer games on the market). TimeSplitters 2 was a gift to gamers, and a game I’ll surely man-crush more on in future articles at any given opportunity.
With the right friends and weapons load out this map had some great potential. It also played a part in a few challenging scenarios too (then again most stages did). I sort of feel like Ice Station may have laid some design inspiration down for the next entry on the list too…
Halo 3 Snowbound
Halo 3 still to this day remains the highest selling entry into the Halo series, so it stands to reason a lot of people will remember this map. I wouldn’t personally rank it as a favourite of mine, the open nature of the level meant lives were short, and on a hectic map it became very easy to go numerous respawns without getting a good footing on your K:D ratio. Nevertheless any multiplayer map has a chance to put a smile on your face if you’re playing with a good group of people.
America’s Army – Pipeline
Something of a curveball to the list. America’s Army became a cult hit for me back when I first REALLY got into PC online gaming after I’d built my first tower over a decade ago. It’s hard to say whether this map is regarded as a decent map, or if I just had some good strats at the time, came out favourable, and therefore have a biased good opinion on it. Still, I never really see anyone mention or talk about this free-to-play classic from PC gaming time gone by.
Modern Warfare 2 – Sub Base
The amount of hate I’d get if no Call of Duty was mentioned in such a talking ground would bury me. Then again the fact that I’m trying to keep this post lean and not go on forever means I had to have a think about what COD entry to put in.
For me I’m submitting this, whilst it may disappoint a lot of more recent COD fans my reason is simply because I’m in the dark. I’ve not stayed relevant on Call of Duty for a long time now so this is the map that wins it out for me of what I have played. I asked around for help on this subject and got a lot of Black Ops response so maybe I’ll have to look into some of those when I get chance.
Bear with me, they may make the next list (whether in 2017 or if I feel the need to do a bonus post on this topic before the months over).
Good map though.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – White Pass
You know I miss Battlefield. I need to pick up Battlefield 1 before it’s too dated. Speaking of dated… Bad Company 2. It kind of shows how fast gaming moves that I thought this game was a little younger than it is, or perhaps it speaks to me not playing enough FPS games to push it back in my mind. Either way, I’m always pretty tense when playing online shooters and this map certainly aided that. Great design, lots of options, and drama could come from anywhere.
Bad Company 3 anyone?
007 Nightfire – Skyrail
This entry practically brands me as a console gamer, and perhaps more specifically someone who spent far too much time on a Gamecube.
Timesplitters aside the GameCube lacked a wealth of console FPS games (which was a pity considering Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and to a lesser extent the Turok games sucked so much time out of me and friends at the time).
The GameCube was the system I had 4 controllers on though, so we made do with somewhat unremarkable games like Nightfire because once again, good company can generate great times even if the medium at which you’ve got together around isn’t doing the work for you.
Skyrail was pretty fun though. Me and my friends tended to break the “No Oddjob” rule that was previously the law in Goldeneye because in this game he had a character specific homing hat that could be thrown literally about 3 miles across the map to net you a kill. That plus the guided missiles. The Ski lift transport, and numerous windows and walls to try to bounce grenades in if someone had a solid position on the map just made for some hilarious yet thought out encounters.
I vividly remember sometimes moving across the map by memory whilst staring up at the sky just to prevent my friends from ‘screen watching’ and knowing what my next move was.
Ahh…memories.
to be continued…
