Playing CoD:BO wager match Gun Game on Grid.
For those who don't know, Gun Game you start with a pistol and every kill you get you advance a level through other pistols, shotguns, smgs, assault rifles, lmgs, snipers, rocket launchers, grenade launcher, finishing with the explosive bolt crossbow and finally the ballistic knife, where the knife must be fired at your opponent to count, just stabbing him isn't enough.
As for the map, it's a medium small map, perfect for clan matches on objective based games like Search and Destroy or CTF, but not well suited to Free-For-All style gameplay.
Everywhere i went, i hear rapid footsteps and turn just in time to tag another player, this sees me in good stead through the the sniper rifles with only one death and a matter of seconds having passed from the Python revolver you start with, one of those perfect games where you see your next level walking round the corner just as your gun comes up, but they haven't seen you. First sniper rifle is the L96, i'm running through the centre street towards the hangars when i see a flicker of movement on the balcony above and to my right, i turn and fire, taking out the guy mid air who was jumping onto the roof of the truck in the street. Off the hip... Second sniper, WA2000, my favourite rifle, the rifle i use in clan matches to support my team. I don't even think, the rifle flies instantly to my shoulder, settling perfectly to the remembered groove it's made in my flesh, trigger squeezed, rifle barks, target coming out of the hangar side door dies. I'm barely past the truck. Grim Reaper settles on my shoulder and before the sight is opened i'm firing it into the doorway on my left, killing an unlucky player stuck on the shotgun. I duck round the truck as i open the tube of the LAW now in my hands, heading into the doorway underneath the balcony and through that building, out through the yellow lighted doors and i'm behind my next target. I take my first breath since before i had the sniper rifle, not even realising i'd been holding it in, and take my aim. Right as the rocket leaves the tube, i hear a bang and see a splatter of blood on my own screen, I'm dead, down on one of the hardest..... I'm not dead, that bang was someone catching up to me. Through the smoke and explosion of the LAW hitting the wall and killing my mark, a sniper had fired and killed the guy about to set me back a level with his knife. As a thankyou and a mark of respect to my opponent and saviour in one, i give them time to escape as i draw out the China Lake and run through the grid area at the top of the map, then fire it through the gate in the back wall at the jeeps the sniper fired from. He didn't try to escape when i gave him chance, he got greedy and waited for me. He hit me, but he died. I take a moment to watch the killcam, grinning as i see the 40mm projectile didn't hit the jeep, but flew straight into his face. I respawn in the yellow-lit doorway i'd been at moments before and run straight to the middle road, taking a quick detour round the block infront of me with a pylon on it and reflex-fire the crossbow now in my hands as my screen starts to flash, hiding behind the jeep as the quarrel explodes and kills my would-be slayer. Now, after all that brief firefighting, a round that has lasted 3 minutes roughly, all the heart stopping, breath-catching close calls and shots taken at ranges i really hate, all the "shit gettin' real" already, the shit got so real on the ballistic knife that moments like it should be class B narcotics at least.
I came round the jeep in what felt like slow-motion, heading towards the hangars, and i see my previous mark. The sniper. The one who'd killed me. Killed me using a WA2000. The sniper who now has a Grim Reaper, 4-shot, semi-automatic rocket launcher pointed at me. He fires and i literally jump, as player and as avatar, there was air beneath the feet and air beneath my bum, the rocket flies under and blows up the jeep i was just using as cover. Range: 40m. He fires again and it goes wide without me having to dodge. I feel my heart beat a second time. Range: 30m. Third shot, i'm feeling touched, i hit my prone key whilst i'm sprinting and hope for the best, the rocket flies under my airborne, prostrate body and kills someone behind me, that's not good news for the guy. Range 20m and he's changing weapons to the LAW. He's earnt it and my "honourable gamer" personal code of conduct stops me taking the shot, but it's not long before he fires the tube and i go to stab at my prone key and make it fly over me. I miss the key. I hit lean left. The rocket flies over my right shoulder as i fire the Ballistic Knife. It hits him, clean, professional, right in the heart. I let out my breath and watch the replay, seeing myself lean out the way of the rocket as if it had been intentional, seeing the guy standing there defenceless and reloading a single use weapon as the deadly projectile arcs the 20 meters towards him and hits squarely in the chest, knocking him back to slump against the crates stacked outside the hangar.
That was a very special moment for me and i tried to contact the player through steam afterwards, to congratulate them on a game well played and for managing to keep pace when, on a map like that, usually the first person to get a few kills will finish miles ahead of everyone else. They don't reply, or accept the friend request.
Shit got real for me then and, also, in Red Orchestra 2, the uber realistic WW2 shooter, when i get ambushed by a german MG team, fire my nagant at the first man and he dives into cover the otherside of the sandbag wall i'm using myself, work the bolt and second shot kills the MG gunner and his ammo runner, through-and-through. So i vault the wall to bayonet the first man and as i land and go for the deathstroke, all i hear is gurgling coming out of the body already stiffening in the snow. My first shot had killed him already, just not instantly. 2 bullets, 3 bodies.
Apologies for the length of post, but when you consider that a moment like that can happen in a game like CoD:BO being played on the PC, i like to think it gives a little hope that there is still some good to be had in this world. Even in the darkest places, you can find a spark of light.