This week's installment is brought to you by my name Xav, which is pronounced Z-Have. This is in honor of Dan and Kevin who couldn't figure out how to say my name during the podcast. Bless 'em. Well, that out the way... Chapter Two of A Spartan Life for Me was originally called Me & My Laser but seeing that I act like a 10 year old trapped in a 23 year old's body I realized that really would have turned into a series of penis jokes very quickly.

This week I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to but I did get a chance to grab some video of one of my best matches, Team Slayer on Valhalla. The video makes me look better than I actually am since I only cut in my kills, but rest assured I was being Edgar Allan Powned myself. This week was interesting and I tore shit upside-down with the Spartan Laser, don't believe me eh? Well step inside and let me show you...

OVERALL COMBAT STATS (as of May 31, 2007)

Games Played: 23

Total Kills: 213

Total Deaths: 229

Death Ratio: 0.9301

Total Assists: 109

Game #1. Team Slayer on Valhalla

Total Game #20 - Save Film Name: TSR C2G1 (Video Below)

Playlist: Team Slayer

5/22/2007, 12:55 AM PDT

Length: 00:12:49

The two matches I'm focusing on today taught me two things about the new Spartan Laser. The first is that the gun so super powerful and by using it correctly you can fan the laser blast to shoot in multiple directions if timed correctly. The second is that everyone I met online hates the weapon. Traditional Halo multi-player is about two different strategies. Range or close-quarters combat. Snipers like the idea of safely killing an enemy and still keeping their location secretive in the process, while close-quarters combatants enjoy the ratio of life and death in the middle of a frantic firefight. The Spartan Laser doesn't fall into either of these categories. When you aim and press fire with the Spartan Laser your location is given away while the laser waits to discharge the blast giving your enemy the opportunity to evade the red sight and when you attempt to use it up-close your enemy can fill you full of lead while the three-second timer counts down. The interesting thing is a lot of people hate the sniper rifle or rocket launcher in Halo 2 but those same people will rush to get the weapon, in the Halo 3 Beta you could go an entire match without someone picking up the laser. It's the most interesting thing I've noticed so far. One funny thing to note. The last part of the video below shows something that I assume was a glitch in the game. I was firing dual Brute Spikers at an enemy driving a Warthog, as I dodged the vehicle from hitting me I was clipped by the edge of the car and he drove into a rock formation in the middle of Valhalla. The Warthog was destroyed and I was award a kill, but I died from being clipped and the game charged me with committing suicide. See below, very strange!

Snypz' Team Wins 50 Kills to 43 Kills

Game #2. 1 Flag CTF on High Ground

Total Game #23 - Save Film Name: N/A

Playlist: Team Skirmish

5/23/2007, 9:50 PM PDT

Length: 00:16:17

This was (finally) my first 1 Flag CTG game on High Ground. The map is a personal favorite of mine and lends itself very well to CTF. The map is structured in such a fantastic way that you have multiple entry and exit routes and tons of strategy in between. The problem my team had was focusing on the flag carrier and we quickly lost the flag in our first match. Interesting strategy that the opposing team used was having two team members go into the base via the broken pipe (on the right side of the stairs near the main gate) and having two members go from the Spartan Laser spawn (via Gravity Equipment) through the top of the main gate (where the turret sits). Both mini-teams rushed in together, the team attacking from above the gate would jump toward the flag and deploy the Bubble Shield while the other 2-man squad would grab the flag and either make a run for the beach through the opened gate, over it or backtrack to the rear of the enemy base and use the Mongoose to high-tail it. It works well most of the time, but while they strategize better together my team was more efficient with kills. I got into a fantastic firefight with three enemies at one point (I will post the video soon) where one of my teammates had the flag near the Brute Shot spawn point (right-rear of the enemy base), as I jumped down to kill the enemy trying to get the flag back I was greeted with tremendous firepower (I had the Assault Rifle he was dual wielding), I quickly deployed the Bubble Shield and stood inside as he continued to fire. He stepped inside and I melee attacked him and stepped out... he came after me again and I hit him again killing him. Then two other enemies came after me, I made quick work of one with my AR and I jumped back into the Bubble to regain my health... I saw that I wouldn't make it as the 3rd enemy was approaching, so I backed up out of the shield lined him up and stuck him with a Brute Grenade. I died, but I brought him with me!  My team was unable to score, but we held the enemy off from adding to their point total and I inched closer to evening out Kill/Death Ratio.

I learned that smart use of the equipment can really change the outcome. I don't think I've ever been able to kill 3 enemies in a row in Halo 2 while they were all firing at me at the same time. It just doesn't happen.

Snypz' Team Loses 1 Capture to 0

This week I will be playing as much as I can so I can try out the Banshee (that was added recently to Valhalla) and focus on using some of the other weapons (like dual Spikers).

Until then, this is Xav from the battlefield - over and out!

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