I’ve been getting back into a bit of gaming on the computer and online over the last few days. Being without internet access and pretty busy over the previous few weeks meant that I hadn’t been doing much gaming, so it was pretty fun to get back into it.

So, I’ve been playing the Halo demo, Jedi Outcast, Battlefield 1942 and Max Payne. Here’s some observations:

Halo demo
Good fun. I can see why Halo was, at one stage, the only reason to buy an X-Box. The single player was great fun and the multiplayer was also pretty good. The multiplayer, though, seems as though it would be nearly unplayable without broadband. We’re on 512-128 ADSL and I was experiencing considerable lag in about half the games I played. I think this is becuase it’s all hosted by individuals rather than on dedicated servers. But for me, anything with pings >100 was practically unplayable.
However, I think it will be great for LAN parties, since even team-based play is very good with only four people – the maps are small enough and the action is pitched so that small-team based affairs are still fun – not like BF1942 in this regard.
I think I’ll eventually get the full version of this one.

Battlefield 1942
Always fun. Playing this online is one of the best things about having broadband. I finally got to play the latest version of the Desert Combat mod as well. More of the same, but some of the new maps look like fun.

Jedi Outcast
Andrei was over on Friday night and, as is perfectly understandable, played a game of this for old time’s sake. So, of course, it was at hand on Saturday when I was demonstrating to another guest the joys of online gaming. I’d almost forgotten how much I enjoy this game. I might have to play a bit more, and maybe grab Jedi Academy to see if the multi-player there is better or if the crowds have migrated.

Max Payne
The best single player only game in recent years, in my own humble opinion. I’m looking forward to the sequel, particularly if the kung-fu mod is re-created for it.

And then there’s the games that I haven’t finished yet, like Neverwinter Nights and Republic: The Revolution. I guess I’ll eventually get around to them again – one of these days…