Sniper Rifles - Modern Warfare 3

Alright boys its camping time, what do you bring? I know, hard question right? Well lets go down the list of the essentials to great camping:

• Snuggies
• Baked beans
• Loosely clad women
• Camera (No relation to the previous essential....)
• Fishing equipment
• Machete (Rarely practical but how can you feel like a man in the woods without a big sword thingy?)
• Sniper rifle

So there are the essentials. Questions? No? Good. Now since you guys already know where to find the loosely clad women around you and the others aren't actually that essential, I'm gonna be telling you about what sniper you should bring. Get ready campers, here we go:

1. Barret .50CAL - If you like playing the brain game with people and you want to do it in semi auto, this is your baby. Largely unchanged from MW1 and MW2, the Barret will almost always be a 1 shot. The guns semi auto capabilities allow you to keep spraying and keep praying if you miss the first shot. Due its forgiving nature, it is an easy gun to pick up if you aren't a top shot sniper. 
• Recommended Setup: Stability, Heartbeat Sensor
2. L118A - Not only does it look like someone lit its face on fire and put it out with a soccer cleat, but its no better than the MSR. The actual handling of the gun itself is in no way bad, I just think its exceptionally ugly whereas I would have children with the MSR. Certainly fun to use and a good gun, just don't look at it too often.
• Recommended Setup: Stability, Heartbeat Sensor
3. Dragunov - In one word.....an absolutely horrible sniper that is completely replaced and exceeded by the RSASS in every way. When compared to the RSASS, it has much higher recoil, the same damage multipliers, half the clip size, and comes with less ammo. It is simply a bad version of the RSASS that becomes obsolete once the RSASS is unlocked. Using the gun is still enjoyable if you are trying to challenge yourself (something which I always advocate in video games), but just know that you will be at a clear disadvantage against anyone high enough to use the RSASS. I always use it with the silencer, no need to be loud and proud if you aren't going to get many 1 shots.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer
4. AS50 - In my experience, this gun gets the most hit markers out of the high powered snipers. The damage multipliers are the same as the Barret which nearly always kills in 1, but for some reason I collect hit markers with this gun like a fat kid collects chocolate bars for snowstorms. One advantage that this gun does have is the power of its scope. Compared to the rest of the snipers, the AS50's standard scope works at a far less magnification, this comes in handy due to the fact that most MW3 maps are extremely small and clearly not made for snipers.
• Recommended Setup: Stability, Heartbeat Sensor
5. RSASS - My pride and joy when sniping. I have 3 MOABS using this gun alone. Very low recoil, 20 round clip, looks like a supermodel, and can 1 shot to the head unsilenced. The RSASS is very fun to use and can fill a host of rolls on the battlefield. I always use this gun silenced for the same reason as the Dragunov. In smaller maps such as Dome and Bootleg, I run ACOG and silencer, allowing me the maneuverability of an AR with the damage and accuracy of a sniper rifle. In larger maps, heartbeat sensor and silencer cannot be beat. This guns true strength comes when dropping to prone. In this stance, the gun has virtually no recoil and can be fired as fast as personally possible with each shot landing on top of the next, silenced of course, from across the map. The bread-winner of the sniper category in my opinion.
• Recommended Setup: Attachments, Silencer, Heartbeat Sensor
6. MSR - As mentioned earlier, this gun is essentially the L118 with a face lift, boob job, and Botox. It will almost always kill in 1 hit, and provides the player with the enjoyment of using a bolt action gun that takes skill from close range. In previous Call of Duty games, silencing any of the high powered snipers made them next to useless. In MW3, I have found very little difference in the amount of 1 shot kills while using silencers on guns such as the MSR and the Barret. That being said, my preference for this sniper is still the heartbeat. Due to its bolt action nature, the user is already placed at a close range disadvantage while using the MSR, the heartbeat allows the player to regain some of that disadvantage.
• Recommended Setup: Stability, Heartbeat Sensor

Now that you have all the information you need about snipers, get out there and camp with the best of them. And while your camping, make sure to check out my blog when you've got some downtime. Next post will be on the never popular shotguns.

Light Machine Guns - Modern Warfare 3

Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox, my girlfriend. These are just a number of people that parallel the sexiness that is embodied within the LMG's. If you enjoy snacking on the other team like Cheetos, and looking good doing it, then LMG's are for you. They are large and in charge and one of the only gun classes I will use on a regular basis. Doing the usual, throwing it at you, if you don't like it, throw it right back:

1. L86 LSW - Like pissing bullets? Want a big gun to do it with? This is for you. With an alarming rate of fire, amazing iron sights, and virtually no recoil, its only downside is taking 5 hits to kill from range. Many people will notice that the MK46 has almost the same fire rate and handles very similarly to the L86 LSW, while boasting 1 less hit to kill from range. The difference between these two guns is a tradeoff of damage and functionality. The L86 LSW is slightly less powerful from range, but you gain a much faster reload due to the drum mag, and far better iron sights. The choice is personal preference, I like them both.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Heartbeat Sensor
2. MG36 - For the most part, I'm a strong believer that no gun in an FPS is bad, and despite how unpopular it may be, has an advantage. The MG36 is one of the reasons I say "for the most part." This gun simply has no advantages over any of the other LMG's, or other guns of any class for that matter. It's shoots slow, has high recoil, bad iron sights, and for some reason its fire rate randomly drops for a few seconds during games. Basically, its just a bad gun all around.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Grip
3. PKP Pecheneg - I normally don't talk about this gun in public because of the half chub it makes me sport. Its sexy, its foreign, and it lets you play Call of Duty; its the perfect girlfriend. One reason this gun is so great is the variety of attachments you can use to keep it interesting. Most people generally stick with kick and grip on LMG's because nothing else is very good. Almost all of the attachments for the PKP is effective. The ACOG adds virtually no additional recoil, rapid fire is completely controllable, and the silencer is very fun to play with. Probably the main reason this gun is good stems from a simple rule that has been carried trough the Call of Duty games: the slower the fire rate, the better the hit recognition. Many of the guns with extremely high fire rates don't pose any advantage over powerful guns with slower fire rates due to the fact that the game just doesn't register every hit on body that the guns perform. In essence, they are too fast for their own good. The PKP's slow and steady fire rate maintains that all your bullets hit the target as intended.
• Recommended Setup: Stability, Grip
4. MK46 - As mentioned earlier, the MK46 is near identical to the L86 LSW. Choosing between the two is personal preference given the advantages I have listed. I usually roll MK46 with heartbeat because its red level sexy.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Heartbeat Sensor
5. M60E4 - A tiny violin plays in my head when I reminisce on the Black Ops glory days of the M60. The M60, throughout FPS's has always been my baby and what they have done to it in MW3 is depressing. Okay we will start with the downsides. Words are hard to come by when trying to express the gun's iron sights. Its not so much that they are bad, but more that they want to make me stomp kittens. The iron sights are extremely obstructive both vertically and horizontally, and moving even a little bit off target while firing will leave you wondering if he had a Harry Potter invisibility cloak and suddenly disappeared. Secondly, the gun has a crazy amount of sight sway considering none of the other LMG's really have any. I like to break up the sexiness level of the gun into halves. The back half of the gun looks like Angelina Jolie. The front half looks like a penis (it actually does though). I don't know why they made the barrel look so skinny when the body of the gun is so bulky and sexy. The upsides to the gun are its damage and its hit recognition. As discussed previously, the slow fire rate of the M60E4 gives it great hit recognition, especially when hip fired. Overall, its still a good gun, but it could have been SO much better.
• Recommended Setup: Stability, Grip

I hope this makes some people put down their AR's and pick up an LMG. Next post will be on sniper rifles so keep checking in.

New Xbox GPU

Interrupting my gun reviews for some Xbox news I had to share with you. Joystiq.com recently released this article talking about the GPU the new Xbox will be using. It looks like super serial bizniss so I'm looking forward to see what Microsoft can do with it. Here's a link to the article:

• Report: Next-gen Xbox to launch October/November 2013 with this GPU

Sub Machine Guns - Modern Warfare 3

And we're back in action with the shorties that pack a punch. No not body building midgets, whats wrong with you? Sub machine guns are the topic today and as usually, I'll be breaking them down and giving you the goods. So for round 2, in order of level unlock, here comes the steak and cheese:

1. MP5 - By far its major strength....is its looks. Its terrible with a silencer, decent at best without one, can barely kill people at range, but it does look pretty sexy. Use it with extended mags if you can, but seriously, don't use it with a silencer, you will never want to use it again. Since this review has been written, the MP5 has been tweaked. It is actually fairly good now and can effectively be used with a silencer.
• Recommended Setup: Range, Silencer
2. UMP45 - Probably the weakest gun in its class in terms of real life stopping power and performance, but for some reason Call of Duty thinks it should be king of subs. It is carbon copy of its MW2 counterpart in terms of appearance and feel. The gun charts state that it takes more bullets to kill than in MW2, but you never be able to tell.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer
3. PP90M1 - Its got lettuce, tomato, turkey, swiss, and everything else you'd ever want in a sub. With rapid fire it basically just makes a grinding noise as the sound between bullets is indistinguishable given its new fire rate. Complemented with flawless iron sights and a large clip, this sub is probably the best in game. On a side note, I have personally dubbed this gun "The Sardine." Confused? Slap on a silencer and it should be clear.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer
4. P90 - Sometimes I feel like Infinity Ward develops AR's, realizes they need more subs, and re-skins them accordingly....this is one of those times. The P90 is just as accurate long range as most of the AR's and you move faster with it. The main disadvantage to the P90 in MW2 was poor hit detection, but it seems that has been fixed this time around.
• Recommended Setup: Range, Silencer
5. PM-9 - If you could only shoot people from 5 feet away and weren't allowed to use your sights, this would probably be the best gun in the game. Since this isn't the case, its probably the worst. That being said, its still not that bad. As with any video game, if you are good enough, you can make anything work, the same is true with the PM-9. It is amazing when hipfired, but dumps its ammo too quickly to use without scavenger and its simply ineffective past 20 yards regardless of setup.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Extended Mags
6. MP7 - If you like shooting lasers, but the ACR 6.8 is just too big for your small hands, this ones for you. Pinpoint accuracy, fast fire rate, huge clip, awesome iron sights, its basically the PP90M1 minus a little power and all the horizontal recoil.
• Recommended Setup: Range, Silencer

Well that's it for the subs. Next post will be on on LMG's, my bread and butter and the most fun gun class in FPS's. Visit daily to see new updates and comment if you have an urge, ill try to respond to each one personally. Drive slow homies.

Assault Rifles - Modern Warfare 3

Alright snitches, gettin' down to business with the assault rifles of MW3. Letting you know whats good, whats not good, and what gives people the double pits to chesty is spectacular fashion. Counting it down in order of level unlock, lets do this damn thing:

1. M4A1 - The classic jack of all trades. It cant jump over buildings in a single bound or do anything else super, but it doesn't take no for an answer. The iron sites and above average, recoil is very manageable, and its all around a solid gun.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer
2. M16A4 - Just like Enron, all good things must come to an end. What was once a great, maybe overpowered AR, is now a pellet gun with disturbingly low stopping power. My suggestion, use it with a silencer, because if you aren't gonna get one burst kills, you might as well be a ninja about it.
• Recommended Setup: Attachments, Silencer, Extended Mags
3. SCAR-L - Still a knockout after loosing its heavyweight title. The speed definitely seems higher than its MW2 counterpart, but it no longer kills in 2 hits from close, probably due to its addition in MW3 as the light version and not the MW2 heavy version. With what I believe to be the best iron sights in the game, its only downside is its low ammo capacity.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Extended Mags
4. CM901 - I seem to be at a loss for snappy comments with the CM901, but its probably because there's not much to talk about with this AR. The stopping power seems impressive, but using it without kick is like riding a bull without a saddle. Being a skill player myself, its one of the only AR's I'll consider using, but only because its definitely one of the worst considering its laundry list of disadvantages.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer
5. Type 95 - Three burst gun, 2 bullets to kill from close range....really Infinity Ward....really? If you've ever seen the old Ronco "Set it and forget it" kitchen appliances, this is the MW3 equivalent. I'm not even sure you need a controller to get kills with this gun, I'm just surprised it doesn't trash talk the other team for you when the games over.
• Recommended Setup: Attachments, Silencer, Rapid Fire
6. G36C - Kudos to Infinity Ward for bringing my favorite AR back to life. The G36C is nothing exceptional, but its sexy and it knows it. With decent iron sights, low vertical recoil paired with kick, and an actual sense of power when firing, the G36C is certainly worth the time to play with.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer
7. ACR 6.8 - A lot of people have been wondering what the new ACR will be after its previous success in MW2, well the debate has finally ended....its the ACR. Straight out of Star Wars, the ACR 6.8 shoots laser beams at an alarming rate, with virtually no recoil. Its harder, better, faster, stronger, and its got a 6.8 on its name now.
• Recommended Setup: Attachments, Silencer, Heartbeat Sensor
8. MK14 - The best FAL Call of Duty has ever produced. I've never had it take more than 2 to kill through open air, even with a silencer. If your a fan of semi-autos, there's no going wrong with this AR. Just please, for the love of god, and my personal anger issues, don't use your mods with it.
• Recommended Setup: Attachments, Silencer, Extended Mag
9. AK-47 - It wouldn't be a Call of Duty game without the AK-47. That being said, I don't know why they keep adding a 65 year old gun to what should be "Modern" warfare games. I know people still use it, but damn. Alas, I digress. It hits like a truck, and it looks like one too. I've used it with a lot of attachments, but it always seems more powerful with the silencer somehow. Either way, it may be old, but its still kicking (a lot actually).
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer
10. FAD - The hit-marker king of MW3. This gun suffers from what many guns in the Call of Duty franchise have been plagued by over the years, a strangely high number of hit-markers considering its stopping power being close or even the same as the rest of its gun class cousins. Its iron sights are amazing and its clip is huge, just don't stop shooting 'till you see the points.
• Recommended Setup: Kick, Silencer

So there we have it. Next post will be on sub machine guns so check back soon, and as always, leave comments if you like it, love it, or think I should go to hell.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

About a week ago, my friend excitedly sent me a link to a trailer for the game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The trailer showcased the games dynamic combat system and visuals. I have always been an RPG fan and especially love MMORPG's. I was pretty impressed by the trailer. The graphics looked amazing, combat look complex, and as a whole the game looked solid. A couple of days ago I played the demo for it, and my metaphorical hard-on for the game quickly subsided. Heres a few things that turned me off about it:

1. Graphics - Definitely not what they seemed to be in the trailer. They look cartoony at best and are not up to the industry standards of today's blockbuster games. 
2. Inventory System - Probably my main problem with the game. The system they have implemented looks like something out of the 80's. It is archaic and makes any simple task, such as equipping an item, a long and painful endeavor filled with multiple unnecessary clicks.
3. Customization - In my experience, the most successful RPG's on any platform gain their respect through one key factor....customization. The player wants to feel that they are in control of the game, and that the game is not forcing them to play in a way that does not interest them. Customization is also the basis for replay value in these types of games. When you select a race in KoA, you can select a stealth tree, magic tree, or melee tree. There is not much variation within each tree and you cannot decide what type of magic dealer or melee user you wish to be.
4. Camera - I'm not normally bothered by camera control in games becomes most of them seem to get this should-be-simple aspect right. The camera angle in this game never seems to be where you want it, especially when turning your character and blocking with a shield.

Overall, I think the game was pretty disappointing but I'd like to know what you guys have to say about it. Anyone planning on picking this title up?

Necessary MW3 changes

MW3 is by far one of the most unbalanced games I've ever played and is in need of some serious changes. Here's my wish list for Infinity Ward's future patches:

Skyrim's Flawed Class System

So I, like most people, was excited about Skyrim's new class system, or should I say classless system.

Skill playing on Call of Duty MW3

Skill playing... what is it? Well it’s definitely not playing with the FMG9 or the ACR.