Headshots

Headshots are the great equalizer.



David defeated Goliath with a headshot (A bullet from a sling does 1d3 damage. Blesses by God, the bullet was obviously a +5 Holy bullet. Scoring a headshot, he would have dealt double damage [(1d3+5+2d6)x2=16-40 damage]. Most likely, this isn't enough to have killed him, so it must have been a critical hit, giving it an additional doubling [([1d3+5x2]+2d6)x2=28-56]. Assuming that Goliath was at least as strong as your typical D&D ogre, this would have slain him in one hit, even if David rolled poorly). Headshots are what assassins and hitmen use to guarantee the kill. The concept of a headshot has been ingrained in video games for years. It allows for a player to defeat a foe with a single bullet. They are violent, messy, and finish a conflict fast. In first person shooters, performing a headshot, especially while the player and target are both in motion, is one of the truest testaments of skill. In fact, the weaker the weapon, the better.



A while back, I was trying to do laundry while playing Counter Strike: Source (doesn't work, don't try). I would dart between my desktop and the laundry room down the hall, sorting colors and changing loads in between respawns. I returned to my chair just in time to miss my 30 seconds window to purchase gear, and to see that my team had failed to hold the garage on CS_Office, and that half of the Terrorist team was bearing down on me. Behind the cover of the dumpster I spawned next to, I quickly side-stepped and fired twice from my USP, clotheslining the Ts rounding the corner. The flat, metallic screrch that resulted from my shots told me that I scored a headshot. Hoping to repeat this, I popped out again, only to be cut down by a hail of fire from his three surviving teammates. I had neither armor nor hope.

But I can't score one at the moment.

Not because I lack the skill, but because I'm reduced to playing Counter Strike: 2d, rather that Counter Strike: Source, which is on my desktop at home. I'm stuck on a midnight shift, due to staffing problems, and there is nothing to do. Even if I was to bury myself in my work, at best, I'd spend an hour on menial tasks before finishing, and still having 5 hours of nothing to endure.

Of course, I say reduced, implying the game isn't that good. On the contrary, it's pretty fun, for what it is. Like the title indicates, the game is two dimensional, top down. So, the ability to target the head of my opponent doesn't exist. Graphically, it's like playing a more violent version of Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, where the Moblins have AK-47s and C-4. Cute, chibi looking Terrorists and Counter-terrorists jog around the map, firing weapons that match their diminutive frames.

But, CS should never be cute, and I think that's why I feel the tiniest bit embittered when I play it. That, and I want my screrch.

That, and I want my David vs Goliath moment. I want to be able to face down a superior number of foes, whom possess superior firepower, and defeat them purely by merits of marksmanship and reflex. A victory that doesn't exist on a two dimensional battle field.