When it comes to video games, there is a particularly bothersome conundrum that must be faced for each new game: whether to play the game on a lower difficulty and have tons of fun or to play on the hardest difficulty for the prestige and glory. You can definitely not have your cake and eat it, too, because no one will raise an eyebrow if you clear the game on normal and you’re bound to have several angry breakdowns if you try to run through on insane.
This problem was highlighted even more so with the release of MW2. No sooner had I brought the game back to my dorm and into the 360′s eagerly awaiting tray when my roommates urged, “Do it on Veteran!” The tag line next to the Veteran difficulty says “You will not survive.” True statement. Ignoring their nagging I proceeded to play through the game on normal. Having played it’s predecessor, MW, I was all to aware of how hard and frustrating Veteran can be. Thinking of my sanity and already high stress level, I decided normal was better, and as expected, I had little to no trouble beating the game.
In fact, it was too easy. Withing a few solid hours of gaming I was done. Looking at the achievement list, I decided that I had far too few and embarked on the campaign, this time on Veteran. Sure enough, despite the upgrade in the game play bugs and annoyances from the 2007 MW, there were sections in both Spec Ops and campaign that made me want to walk away and never play again. I finally managed to overcome the odds, but it didn’t stop there. Buoyed by my recent success, I decided to take on my longtime nemesis, the infamous Modern Warfare original. Hundreds of deaths and gallons of sweat later, I was done. Did I have fun? No, not really, but now my profile proudly boasts a higher score and nearly all the achievements.
Thus the Gamer’s Paradox: to have fun or to have the glory. Choose wisely.
