Do you want to know what I think the biggest difference is between console gaming and PC gaming? With a console, you never really have to worry about the "state" of your console. Is it beefed up enough to play the latest game? Should you buy a new video card or perhaps double the RAM? Is your new Operating System (thanks, Bill) going to lock up every twenty minutes, or just simply refuse to let you play?
Battlefield 1942 - Omaha Beach Opening
Console owners only real concern is this: Do I have enough money to buy the latest game? Yeah? Great! For that, I envy them. And don't get me wrong, in my household, we own an Xbox 360, a PlayStation 2, a Nintendo GameCube and even an old Nintendo 64 - it's just that I personally prefer the PC when it comes to gaming. The main reason for this is simple: I grew up playing games on computers and I have mastered the keyboard/mouse/joystick combination. When I attempt to play Halo 3, I look like a blithering idiot running around, guns blasting - pointing up at the sky or straight down at the ground! I just can't play FPS games with a joystick as my only control.
I've read many articles that teach the reader how to get the most "bang for your buck" when upgrading a computer. Many of them invariably start with, "So, you'd like to play the latest game, but your PC just can't perform? We'll show you how for less than $1,000!" I'm not a gaming fanatic, okay? My last big PC purchase was a laptop last year - a low-end laptop at that. Just barely good enough to run Vista Home Premium and not much more. It's a decent little machine for surfing, checking email and the occasional letter. But when it comes to gaming, it's definitely lacking. Every once in awhile, there comes a moment when it would be nice to play a game of ... anything. No, not solitaire or pinball, I want a good old fashioned shoot 'em up! A first-person shooter (FPS) where I can just run around and blast away the bad guys. What to do? Time travel, in reverse. Many of the games that are now several years old are perfect on most of today's low-end laptop and low to mid-range desktop systems. These games will play very nearly perfectly without the need to upgrade your hardware. As an example, I offer the following:
In 2002, Electronic Arts released Battlefield 1942 (BF:1942) - a multi-player FPS. After purchasing this game, I quickly realized that I would have to spend some more of my hard-earned cash on a new video card and additional RAM in order to play the game as it was meant to be played. Once my PC was up to specs, I became immersed in the game. It was one of the first FPS games that encouraged teamwork.
A nice feature of this - and many FPS games - is the ability to modify, or "mod" it into an entirely new game. The original game was a First-Person Shooter set in World War Two. Battlefield 1942 was unique at the time of it's release in that you could move around the playfield on foot, or operate any vehicle that you could see. Jeeps, tanks, personnel carriers, airplanes, boats, ships - even submarines! It was a huge step forward in the FPS world and the Battlefield series has spawned two sequels, Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142.
In addition to these games, the mods add even more playability to the series. For the purposes of this article, I will stick to the original game, BF:1942. The mods are many and I am only going to touch base on a couple of my favorites. If you want to get an idea of the many mods available, check out a few websites such as fileplanet.com, planetbattlefield.com or fileshack.com. My favorite two mods are Desert Combat and Forgotten Hope. Both are completely free and change the look and feel of the original game. First, my favorite, Desert Combat (DC).
BF:1942 Mod - Desert Combat
Desert Combat takes the original BF:1942 and changes the time to semi-present day Iraq/Middle East. Instead of flying P-51 Mustang's and Spitfire's, you'll be piloting F-18's, the menacing Frogfoot and A-10 and even helicopters (my absolute favorite bird - the Apache!). Instead of chasing Nazi's or the Japanese Army around the battlefield, you'll be battling Iraqi's and insurgents. Desert Combat uses the original BF:1942 maps as well as incorporating new maps based upon the middle east.
