Game Moments #12 - Rainbow Six
There I was - on the port side of a ship, the last survivor of my team, facing the last survivor of the enemy team... none other than Bryan, the quintessential "perfect wingman" of Falcon 4.0. And in the next few seconds, one of us would be dead.

The game was Rainbow Six - the "thinking man's first person shooter." There was no rocket-jumping (or jumping at all). Moving while shooting was unlikely to score a hit. Holding down on the trigger was just "spraying and praying" and would most likely make you run out of ammunition before you hit anything. Rainbow Six was a game about being slow and methodical up until the point where it became split-second timing and action. Man, we loved that game.

Bryan wasn't so great on the split-second timing thing - that was my only advantage. But he was VERY methodical and exact. Better than me, which is why HE would end up finishing cooperative missions while I was neutralized (see the above link for THAT story). Which probably explained why he was the last man standing on his team. We usually played as teammates, so he knew how I operated. If I made a mistake, he'd kill me. As simple as that. And I knew he was being too careful for me to surprise him.

So I was extra careful. There was a door into the inner part of the ship up ahead. It was far enough away that if someone came through the door, I'd probably be safe enough for a couple of seconds while they took aim at me. So I took advantage of the opportunity to whip out the heartbeat sensor.

I doubt anything like the heartbeat sensor works in real life, but in Rainbow Six it was a little magic short-range radar to tell you where people were within 50 feet or so. 50 feet isn't very far, but in the close-quarters combat of Rainbow Six, there were so many intervening walls and obstacles that was a good length.

On my heartbeat sensor, I saw there was another dot right next to me. Maybe five feet away. Behind the metal wall of the boat. By the way it was moving (or, rather, NOT moving), I guessed that behind the wall, Bryan had his OWN heartbeat sensor out, and was seeing that he was standing next to me as well. He'd also gauged safety based on distance from the door ahead of us.

I put away the heartbeat sensor and drew my MP-5 submachinegun. I quickly moved over to the door - and then anticipated what Bryan would be doing on the other side of the door. He knew I was there. He'd probably moved right to the door at the same time I did. He was probably standing RIGHT THERE.

Grenade time. I popped the grenade, stood to the side of the door, and then thew the grenade through the door, bouncing it against the wall so it would land at Bryan's feet.

Even as I did this, I thought, "What is Bryan doing right now?" I realized with horror that he was undoubtably popping a grenade threw the door on his own. So I immediately backed up. And I saw Bryan's grenade bounce and land right next to where I was standing.

BOOM! BOOM! The two grenades exploded a split-second apart from each other.

The game didn't end with a success screen, so I knew I hadn't nailed him. In fact, he'd probably anticipated MY grenade throw, and had backed up himself. So far we were exactly mirroring each other's actions.

And I knew what he'd be doing next. The same thing I was doing. I drew the MP-5 and rushed the door, shooting (or doing the "spray and pray" thing). I don't know if he was charging too, or if he was just standing there to greet me.

Either way... as *I* remember it, I got lucky. I hit him with one of my wildly inaccurate shots enough to spoil his aim, and then finished him off. After thirty seconds of mirroring each other, I managed to get lucky in the "split second timing" phase of the action.

But you know, I may me remembering it wrong. The details of who actually won are really fuzzy. Maybe we killed each other. Maybe he killed me. That's the funny thing - it really doesn't MATTER to me. What I remember with clarity was the details leading up to the end - the mirror-image cat and mouse game we played for thirty seconds anticipating each other's actions.

That was a freaking awesome game!

Labels: Game Moments, Mainstream Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:29 PM (Permalink)