2004 in Gaming Terms (k3nshi) (k3nshi)

"It gets really good from the next level on,"

Except it didn't. 2004 for me was like one of those really crap levels of a game that appear when you are really hoping the game will start to get really good. The difficulty was set way too high, too early; Too many enemies; Too many bosses spitting walls of bullets and thriving within an unbalanced system. Broken playmatics, shoddy controls, cheating AI, dropped network connections - mid-game - this was 2004.

Needless to say, I lost power-ups early on and saw my shields get run down real fast. Energy levels close to depletion, the inevitable time for the wall behind me to fall away to reveal a room of fresh enemies. And of course, just when I thought I was making some headway.

Pause.

Continue or Quit? The promise of a better gaming experience to come - "It's got to be better than this?!" - meant it wasn't time to let the rampaging hordes win just yet.

Unpause.

Somewhere along the way, things started to slowly shift in my favour. New (improved) buddy AI took up the place of fallen comrades, providing support from enemy forces. This game's much easier when someone's got your back - co-op is the only way to play. In the end this monotonous soul sapping level proved to be the training ground to build a repertoire of new skills and tricks, along with the confidence and flair to use them. I started putting those tactics and stratagems into play towards the end, and the score started to slowly increment. The reward of getting to the end? Bonus levels providing a change of scenery and pace, and a new perspective on the game itself. I'm not sorry to see the back of this level, but I'm glad I finally learnt the things I did.

2005?

Game On.