Warhawk (PS3) is frantic fun. At least once I can get on the game servers. It’s not as tactics-oriented as Battlefield 2142 (PC), but it’s lots of fun. I keep springing for the “Spotted” command, however, which just isn’t there — enemies show up on the map once they fire, not once they’ve been spotted by friendlis (or at least so I gather this far). Mostly one is competing against one’s teammates to score more frags. Many times we found ourselves shouting, “finish him off, finish him off! Someone else is going to get the kill, you did all that damage…!”. Whereas in Battlefield it goes more like, “thank the HEAVENS he killed those 2 soldiers and the walker. Let’s move!”.
But even so, it still sends a jolt when, everyonce in a while, you manage to coordinate something with your teammates. Even without the quick voice commands, the voice chat (I don’t have a headset available for it right now, and most people online don’t seem to either), or the squads, every now and then we’re able to pull off a pincer attack instinctively. Or we save one of our teammates from an enemy plane just behind them. It’s a nice rush.
What is it that makes it feel like team actions are good? Probably some genetic inheritance, meant for the species’ survival, even though humans mostly act like crocodiles, devouring their young. I like team and co-op games — I always have. Even when playing board games such as War of the Ring (table) or Warcraft (table) I’d rather be part of a team than going solo. Which is interesting, since being a team player was never a big part of my childhood. Maybe that’s why.
Online gaming is fun, but only because it emulates what we get when playing a tight LAN: the ability to shout, “LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!” and see your teammate turn around quickly and defend against the coming assailant. I think saving your teammate is much more rewarding than fraggin’ an enemy… Specially if you can see the relieved look in his face.