Video Games Our Brave Troops Overseas Enjoy

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Video Games Our Brave Troops Overseas Enjoy

Postby TheLoneTerran » Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:00 pm

GamePro did an article in the Dec 06 issue. A retired Marine working on the GamePro staff and he wanted to get in touch with some old friends and find out what they liked to do in their down time and it turned out the majority liked to play video games. Here are their choices.

10. "Because feeling like Clint Eastwood makes you bulletproof. *Laugh*"

Spec. Lambrix of the 4th I.D., U.S in Central Iraq said that, "I think it has a better storyline than most of the first-person shooters and the bullet time is like Max Payne's." (direct quote)

9. NCAA Football 06 "More fun while wearing a gas mask."

They enjoy this game a lot, especially since now they don't need to play on some concrete airfield. (Summerization)

8. Command and Conquer Generals "Don't call me sir, I work for a living."

Having been enlisted, I can tell you why this one is popular - becausesometimes it's just nice to be in command, and here we can run the war just like we know it should be done! If more of the brass would pay attention to how we play this game, this stuff would be over and we'd be back home in our livingrooms (playing this game some more). I'd love to know how much combat pay is getting recycled through Dell so these soldiers can have their laptops and play Command and Conquer. (Direct quote)

7. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat "It's funny to see what game developers think we're doing"

Ok, so I was a bit suprised to find war games in the war zone. These soldiers do this all day long, every day for a living, so why would they want to do it in their down time? The answer is fairly simple. "When we're sitting in our hut with a controller in our hands, we don't have to duck! Oddly, we do anyways." "...seeing the damage several Tomahawk Missiles did to that place, I've got to say they did a real good job imitating battle damage..." Thumps up for the developer. (Direct Quote)

6.Need for Speed: Underground Rivals "Hummers just don't compare."

This is the only handheld title to make it to the list. The handheld units are all over the place overseas, but the reigning champion seems to be the PSP and the hottest title they are playing is Underground Rivals. The most appealing aspect is that you can play "on the fly". You can do a race, save, go do some work, come back and pick up where you left off. (Summerization)

5. Need for Speed: Most Wanted "I did that in real life, and now I'm in the Army. The judge didn't give me any choice."

This game is just plain cool no matter where you are. The overseas attraction is that it contains all the things our soldiers are missing: fast, shiny cars; scantily clad women with feisty attitudes; and making lots of money by doing illegal stuff. The married men in arms are dreaming of their wives and they'r ejus tplaying Most Wanted because they can drive fast and it's fun. Really, that's what they said. (Direct Quote)

4. Sid Meier's Civilization IV "We built this city!" -Starship

For anyone that has played this game, there's no doubt it's a relentless addiction, and while spending your holidays 13,000 miles from home, it's an unarguably pleasant distraction from the task at hand. There are always the CNN reports of Saddam's trial for troops entertainment, because the hairstyle and really crappy suit we've given him to wear are really funny, but CIV sucks you in and won't let you go.
There are days you just feel like rubbing out the planet and starting over again. CIV gives you the opportunity to do that and sometimes, I like the results. (Direct Quote)

3. Half-Life 2 "It's better than no life!"

The success of Half-Life is what has carried this title on and into the battlefields of modern warfare, as just about anyone that played the orginal game would be hard pressed to leave the sequel alone. The fact that man of these individuals are now fighting for our freedom in no way diminishes their desire to see this story through to its end, or at least, this end. This is another one of those "better first person shooters" that Spec. ambrix referred to that actually have a reasonable storyline. (Direct Quote)

2. Halo 2 "All super soldiers report to the game room!"

Given the age of a lot of these guys and girls in the military, they spent their formative teenage years around the original Halo, so it's only natural they would want to spend some time in their grown up military careers with the badass Master Chief. I was told that there is a lot of down time in Iraq spent in Halo 2 tourneys. There is no group of gamers better suited to face off against the evil Covenant. (Direct Quote)

1. Dance Dance Revolution "Don't ask, don't tell."

Whether or not this is actually the number-one game being played by our soldiers overseas is still up for debate because it is hard to get them to fess up to actually playing the game. When I talked to a friend in the 101st Airborne Division in Kosovo about this article, the first thing that popped out of his mouth was, "I walked into a room the other night and there were 14 guys crammed in there having a DDR tournament." (Direct Quote)

Direct Quotes are from the magazine. Summerizations are my own words trying to condense the paragraphs.

GamePro Magazine, December 2006.
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