Up Close and Personal

Once I got to level 51 on MAG, I decided to take a break from grinding on Raven to get a trophy that I needed. Up Close and Personal is not the most difficult trophy in the game, but for your average player, it is a little overwhelming. Basically, to get the trophy you have to get the Combat Melee Ribbon 5 times. To get that ribbon, you have to knife-kill 15 enemies in 1 match. Sound simple? "MAG maps have 32-125 people on them to knife. Sounds like a walk in the park if you ask me. You barely have to kill 10% of them once each!." On some maps, and in some rounds, yeah it is "easier". But it definitely requires some skill. You could go into Domination and see a line of 32 people you want to knife. But can you walk past their barrage of bullets? How about the 4 turrets firing at your squad? Mortar Strikes? Still sound simple?

Yeah, I need to work on my editting lol

I basically did mine on the Suppression Maps. You have 32 people to work with. Ten to Fifteen Minute rounds, so if you fail miserably, you will be ejected quickly. Suppression also has most of the worst MAG players, including snipers that always go to the same spot even though I will knife them each time. But best of all is there is less fear of disconnecting or freezing in Suppression. The chance is there, but it is less likely to happen. You run around with the Sensor Jammer, and as much movement speed as possible. Medical Kit is a must(as with any build) since chances are, no one will be aiding you if you get hit. Some people recommend heavier armor so that you can survive enemy knives, but I put the points instead into Raven's best Assault Rifle. The suppressor keeps enemies from hearing you and giving away your position. I tried my best NOT to shoot people, but you will wind up in situations where the enemy is too far to run and knife, and they are preparing to open fire.

Rinse and repeat a dozen times and I finally got the trophy. Sorry for no picture, I was too slow.

Now that that is over, I have gone back to leveling my character. The next ribbons to tackle are Combat Sidearm, Shotgun, Machine Gun, Sniper Rifle, and various other things. They are mostly like the Combat Melee Ribbon, "do this specific action X amount of times." None of them are very difficult, perhaps except the grenade ribbon. I do think I will at least get to level 60 before I try those. I did decide to "Vet" back to Valor after achieving the maximum level in Raven.

In other news, I actually bought a Sharp Shooter today for the cool price of $25.00(Never buy at full retail unless you get something in return!). It is... a challenge. I only tried the Killzone 2 demo on it, with the same settings as in my first playthrough. Needless to say, I got stomped. I did some quick changes to my turn speed and Deadzone, and still got the same results. My reticule moves too much to control with the sharpshooter. Or perhaps, not the reticule...maybe it is my Deadzone? I don't know. I almost feel like I play so close to the camera, that movements are exaggerated. So even "at rest" I am in danger of sending the camera in a frenzy because each twitch in my hand moves the controller. Moving the room around may be the answer.

I do want to get good at the Sharp Shooter. As of right now, I am probably "Mediocre" with the move controller in anything competitive. With the Sharp Shooter, I am "Might as well turn the gun around and shoot myself." Playing MAG with the sharp shooter is a scary thought though. I can hardly imagine using something like that while trying to mow down a room of people. The controller feels a lot more stable in high stress situations, but that would be skill wouldn't it?

Someday lol. Guess I better start practicing.