Day Two Hundred-one: Evening of February 21st 2010

I did manage to sneak in a little gaming today. The session was short, but it gave me a chance to finish up one of the recent releases - Army of Two: the 40th day. It wasn’t smooth closing scenario because the game locked up when I finished up the last challenge of the enemy stronghold. It was frustrating and it reminded me why I put the game aside in the first place.

I went online to see if others had faced the freeze and discovered that the game did freeze, but not necessarily in the same spot. No solutions were offered other than the shut down and restart that I had done in the past. This is a situation that causes me concern because what do you do if the lockup keeps happening. I noticed that when I started the game an update was loaded. So now, if I can’t get past the freeze, it might be awhile before a patch that addresses the issue might be long in coming. A very depressing situation when you think about it. The only thing that I thought might work is to change my approach to complete the final stage. If that didn’t work, I’d have to put the game aside and wait to see if another patch will be issued in the near future or restart the whole level and hope something changes.

Well, I tried changing the course of events by being a bit more aggressive and just before the final push, I picked up a grenade launcher. Nothing like being prepared for what is beyond the large doors. I planted the C4, held my breath, and waited. The doors exploded and no freeze. basically the game was over.

(Spoiler Alert) There was a moral choice place before me by the master mind behind the carnage in the city. Kill him and the 7 million people in the city will die, or kill your partner and save the 7 million. I thought about five seconds and shot him, just to see what happens. He could be bluffing, so I decided to call his bluff. No atomic blast, other than some cryptic closing scene of the city. The game was over and I thought, “What just happened?” I wasn’t satisfied with this closing.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make whatever kind of contribution that you can afford.