I guess this is a Rant, and I dont really have any other place to post a rant, and most of my friends are tired of hearing me go on and on about random stuff I hate...so I will subject you all to my wrath. I think I have come to my wits end with the average gamer, I belive I have turned into a gaming Snob if you will, and this will explain what drove me to this point.

The Greatest 1st Person Combat Simulation ever made..."SEAL team"

"SEAL team" simulates American operations in the Vietnam war. Missions include Patrol (kill enemies), Ambush (kill enemies), Demolition (building or well), Rescue (friendlies), Recover (certain object), Snatch (capture enemy leader), and Observe (call in the fire support teams). The player controls a single character giving orders to the others, with his statistics improving as the game progresses. Guys who get killed or wounded, are no longer part of your team, and like yourself each memeber progresses and gains more experience making them a more effective part of your team. "SEAL team" had many outstanding features, Real time tactical command :Give your oders to your seal team or individual seals for maximum combat flexibility, change their formations, fields of fire, approach routes, and firing orders. Another Key feature is its use of real data fromt the Vietnam war, the campain has 4 complete tours of duty, with 80 Historical missions made from actual combat reports from the UDT-SEAL Museum Associations. It also had a decent arsenal of very accurate weapons, 19 to be exact, ranging from M-16s, Ak-47s, M60s, Ithica Shotguns, Stoners, RPGs, and LAWs, all very authentic and realistic.

This game is the best and most realistic 1st person shooter to come out yet...and I bet most of you have never even heard of it. Well you are in luck...do you want to play this game? How bad do you want to play a game with so many features and addons, and such detial to realism and accuracy...are you frothing at the mouth anxious to get your grubby little paws on this game...what if I told you, that you can not only play it right now, but it will run on whatever computer you have right now,and it wont cost you a dime...I will let that sink in...

Not a single dime...download it right here http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/simulations/games_s/seal_team.html and it is 100% legal, the reson for that is the game came out in 1993. Thats right, 16 years ago this game came out, and there has never been another game like it.

The Tactical 1st Person shooter world hit its peak and climax in 1993 with SEAL Team and its a crying shame with the technology we have today, that we as gamers are stuck with the crap that is given to use...and make no mistake it is crap. Games Like call of Duty 4 and 5 (there is no real difference only the time peroid changes) and HALO bring nothing really new to the table...I will give HALO some credit, it showed Hard Core PC gamers like myself that First Person shooters can be done on consoles, but damn guys HALO 3 is basically HALO2 only with more eye candy...and eye candy is where the problem is. Gamers have become so into how something looks they have no idea how crappy the actual game they are playing is, we have been programed over the past few years and tricked into thinking GFX are what makes a game...when infact GFX should not be even listed on the features, espically with the Tech we have today, GFX should ALWAYS be second to game play...but it has not.

Let me make one thing clear, war is not fair and is never fair. War is not balanced, war sucks and is very very unfun to take part in...for anyone who has seen war the only thing they know is how much they hate war. Games make war seem like...well its fun...and there are some aspects to war that are appealing. For Example, war is one of the only time in some ones life they they really get to measure themselves with other men in the action of kill or be killed, and not go to jail for it. Its a chance for you to see if all you have been taught and learned is true, but with that power comes great responsbility...and of course comes great misery...taking a human life is something no sane person wants to do, and should only do when faced with that as their only option for survival...games sort of take that part out of it and you are left with just the contest, the male craving to kill and win if you will. So why does that mean we are limited only to that part of it? Why cant games come out that are thought provoking, that make you make decisions...deeper decisions than "Should I go to the left or the right" which is esentially the only choices you have to make in current 1st person shooters, "Should I go left, right, or camp..." those are your 3 choices...not to much thinking involved there.

The games we are forced to play now lack any real features worth speaking of, sure they all have their "coolness" factors...but to many "cool" things are spread out in to many different games...you have to own 10 different games to get all the features offered in SEAL team and that game is damn near 20 years old. Far Cry has its Fire and may editor, Call of Duty 4/5 has its GFX, grand Theft Auto IV (granted isnt a 1st person shooter) has the scale, but none of the games have any sort of level of realism to speak of. Simply put, a US Marine in the pacific would not be carrying a SVT-40 with a scope on it...that kind of crap just didnt freakin happen...so why should it happen in a video game? What is so wrong with doing things right, I swear to god the most intresting books ever written about warfare are the true ones...books like "Hell in a very small place", "We were soldiers", "The coldest winter","Marine Sniper","eye deep in hell"...the list goes on and on...all great books and very entertaining, and would make great films and games but it will never happen because it is easire for these big corperations to keep pumping out these BS games that only further how bad we as gamers have turned into sheep. Its time we wake up and realise that these games are actually not really that fun...I mean how fun is it to play the same map 5358265925 times with the same weapons, running the same routes, getting the same kills, with the same weapons...its like you know whats going to happen...the thrill is over, the thrill of the unknown. AND thats what takes me back to seal team...no 2 missions are the same...and you can play each mission 100 times and it will be different every time, you can change how you do each mission to save more lives, or take more lives, or to blow up more stuff...the game did not limit you...games now limit us.

SO why do we keep playing them? Its simple...we like to war game, we like to shoot people in the face and blow them up...we love this shit and there is untill a game like SEAL Team comes out...we all have to do what I do...deal with it and complain. But am I the only one out there that thinks this...is it to late to change the way people think about video games...and will there EVER been anyone with enough balls out there to make a game like SEAL team? Only time will tell, so untill that day comes...we are stuck with the garbage we are forced to play...its either play with garbage or dont play at all.

So Im stepping of my soap box...what do you guys feel?

• The Progression of 1st Person ...