This is the concluding part in the three-part-series on a day in the life of an Indian gamer.
8.30 PM: Its din din time (dinner as some sophisticated people would refer to it as) and the daily news is on the telly, if people haven’t noticed most news items have already been converted into games; the September 11th attack led to numerous patriotic games being made and were lapped up by the Arab hating world… the same logic applies for the Somalia Conflict (Delta force: Black hawk down) the news relating to the economy I presume has already been translated into god games where you control the fate of an entire city/civilization(The SimCity games, Black and white), violence ha… that is something that I do not need to elaborate upon one bit, politics, well there is a game called “Republic the revolution” by Elixir studios and Eidos interactive which lets you to rise in the political ranks to become a powerful supremo using all the tricks in the book…
8.45 PM: I excuse myself from the table once am done and escape from the “ what about the future talk” which has become the norm ever since I turned twenty and crash on my bed daydreaming (funny thing to say cause the day is nearly over).When shall I become a renowned figure in the gaming circa… now the thing is whenever I start to think about all this I start scribbling/drawing something or the other, this time I draw a very crude portrait of my very own game villain who is a cross between Sauron (Lord of the Rings) and a Vader (my favorite non gaming villain). I stare at my own creation christening it “Emperor Steeg” and think of the day I shall be able to utter the phrase “Its alive… Its alive”
9.00 PM: The telly is finally free for me to begin my quest for glory in a “galaxy far far away” (Which equals Star wars: Battlefront II)… am a huge fan of Star wars, love the Lightsaber duels and the force, if it isn’t games that is running through my head its how I would use the force if I were a Sith lord, this particular thought runs through my head whenever I have to cross a busy road, if I had the powers of the force I would use it to stop all the oncoming traffic for a split second and cross the road in a jiffy…wacky but I do perpetually live in a world which is Unreal… I wish someday they’d make a game from a villain’s perspective not an anti hero or a character with shades of grey but pure evil!
10.15 PM: Am back onto something a bit gruesome, from a hunter( Jedi) I become the Hunted(Manhunt) once again I am in awe of the game even if it is really old, am getting My PS2 fixed with only one goal or should I say two, the next star wars game (force unleashed) which fills in the story Between episode III and IV and lets you control Vader(drool…drool…) controlling Kratos in God of War II might be another, Bully might be the next, The sequel to Manhunt, just delete the one goal theory and am Sony fanboy period…
Rockstar North thought a lot about the game the game was supposed to be on the lines of Resident evil and Silent hill but ended up being a stealth/horror game. The protagonist James Earl Cash is no superhero nor is he a Physicist (pun intended), he is just an ordinary guy trying to get out of this Jailhouse of entertainment where he lands up after escaping the chair. Hence numerous weapons and moves were deleted from the final game, the developers played a lot of multiplayer games to get the right feel of hunting down an opponent and butchering him to “gory”…I meant glory….
11.00 PM: Have had my fill of blood for the day! I switch off my console and lie down and am back to my game “The unholy”. Finally I have the peace need to imagine the level which was interrupted not once but twice…
…communications and sniper are down…heavy machine is trying his best to take out the power core to stop the droids from advancing further…but once the droids are down the infantry shall pour in with their guns charging…blindfire should take a couple of them out…the droids need to go they are taking down my entire squad…
-Radio signal “Kssssssssssshhhhh….delta do you copy…delta come in…reinforcements are on their way…we just intercepted your distress signal…”
…its going to take another 10 minutes before the transport modules arrive…we have to hold our position till then…
…Sir they have started to used the vitriol grenades (sulphuric acid)… half our squad has been wiped out…I decide to concentrate my firepower on the Core…that should but us some time…we are not getting a clear shot…enough is enough time for some heroic action…I jump out of our makeshift bunker and start heading towards the core…take a few droids on my way…this should be a piece of cake why the F@#$ did I not think of this before…this should be over in a matter of minutes says my rusted brain….huh…what s this…a royal guard how is it possible…not as easy as I thought it would be …switching to shotgun
…Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…that piece of blue blood just took a cheap shot at me…wait till I get my hands on him…. I jump and doge the on coming fire and am in arm’s length of my foe…who is heading running…not so fast you scum…I use my shotgun and aim at his knee…that should slow him down…bang! The corridors echo despite of the heavy battle that ensues in the background…the enemy has found cover… a Shard grenade should bring him out of his hole….my radio crackles…sir reinforcements have arrived we have taken down the core the base is going to be secure shortly…
This news makes this little cat and mouse game even more interesting…he’s bleeding profusely…I have the advantage now…need to take him out of that hole…before the pain starts to take a toll on my head…there are gas pipelines above…If I plant a charge on the pipe…it will cause a humungous tunnel of fire (Think Hollow man…) across this tiny corridor…the blast may take all both of us out…but this is a chance I ll have to take…I set the charge throw my armour and run to the exit…4…3…2…1….made it….
The blast not only took out the guard but a couple of the Infantry, which was trying to yank him out of there….
I have my trademark smirk… but this is only the beginning of the war….
11.25 PM: Am going to have some dreams, well the transitions from reality to wonderland is not the most difficult thing for me. I live in a dream most of the time….
–Neelesh Mukherjee