Games on blog | alinuxuser

Golden Age of Battlefield

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 21:06:00 -0500

This is what I consider the peak era of gaming in my life. Battlefield dominated most of it. This post is try and post all my thoughts, almost 15 years after.

2011: The Alpha

Battlefield 3 open alpha was announced in mid 2011, and there was a lot of chatter about this on Twitter and other gaming forums back then. Competitive gaming was not something I Was into at this point. The whole idea confused me. I had a lot of single player games to play, so I exclusively played them.

Life and Gaming Update in 2026

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:02:00 -0500

I didn’t post anything in 2025. Since starting this blog in 2011, I’ve rarely gone an entire year without writing something, so it feels strange to see a gap that long.
Games I Played in 2025

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Dishonored 2
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle

I played this on Xbox Game Pass, which I picked up for $1. I finished it in a few days without doing many side quests. The companion character was predictably annoying and dragged the experience down. The graphics were excellent, but the gameplay had issues and the weapon system felt clunky. Overall, it felt like a $5 game.

Infinite Backlog

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 10:24:00 -0500

As of Sunday September 17, 2023, I am looking at the games I own, and it is clear that I will not be able to finish or even play all of them in my lifetime. So I decided to make a list of games that I intend to finish or at least give my best shot.

I have 111 games listed in my backlog. It appears as if it will take 111 days of playtime to finish all these games. I am not sure how I am going to playthrough all these games, and also fit in Halo: Master Chief Collection, Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty, and the next Battlefield game.

How To Fix Middle Mouse Button To Give Orders - Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Steam)

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 06:51:00 -0600

This is a fix for the middle mouse button not working when giving orders in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I am using the Steam version for this, but I would imagine this fix will work on any PC version.

Navigate to the following location:

E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter\Settings

Open the following file in a text editor:

ctrl_set_def.xml

Change the following line:

<button id="hud_select" binding="2" device="mouse" group="misc"/>

To this:

<button id="hud_select" binding="2" device="mouse" group="tactics"/>

Save the file and start the game.

Here is a video showing this process.

DOOM Diary: Initial Thoughts

Sat, 28 Jan 2023 19:47:00 -0600

I put off playing Doom (2016) for many years because I wanted to have a machine powerful enough to play it. After finishing Gun yesterday, which was a thoroughly mediocre shooter, I was in the mood for something good. Considering that I am now fortunate enough to own a fantastic computer, I decided now is the time.

To this day, I avoided all media related to this game. After watching the gameplay reveal video many years ago, I decided this game needs to be experienced without any spoilers.

Assassins Creed Unity is Looking Good

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 16:24:00 -0500

I recently started playing Assassin’s Creed Unity after briefly watching Whitelight’s video on this game. I had this game in my library for a long time, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I finished Black Flag and Rogue earlier this year, and those are the only two AC games I finished to date. After playing other games for a while, the time felt right to get back into an Assassin’s Creed game.

Call of Duty Warzone - First Impressions

Sun, 29 May 2022 16:59:00 -0500

DICE released their latest Battlefield 2042 briefing. It was underwhelming and disappointing. They repeatedly insist that they are listening to feedback from the community, yet they continue to persist with the awful specialist system. To add insult to injury, there is only one map in the season 1 update. The only new content we are going to get until then are weapon skins (which are not that great to begin with).

Revisiting Battlefield 1 in 2022

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 18:13:00 -0500

I played a few rounds of Battlefield 1 today. It was a great experience. It got me thinking, how did DICE go from making a game as good as Battlefield 1, and follow that up with Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042?

A pristine looking Arisaka rifle

Weapon has cosmetic degradation as the round progresses

Fantastic atmosphere

Must Play Games In 2018

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 07:36:00 -0600

I made a similar post in 2017 , and I have been good about finishing games in my backlog. Last year, I said that I wouldn’t purchase anymore games except Battlefield 1 Premium but I did end up buying a few.

Mad Max - $4.99
Battlefield 1 Premium - $49.99
Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition PC - $1.89
Hitman: Blood Money - $1.79
Helldorado - $1.99
Humble Saints Row Bundle - $1.00
PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS - $21.89 (By far the worst purchase. After playing it for a few hours, I do not see myself playing this game ever again)
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The - Game of the Year Edition - $19.99 (By far the best purchase. 100+ hours into the game, and I am still enjoying it)
Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain - $0.97
METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES - $3.99
Just Cause 3 - $7.49

The story for 2018 is very similar. The only game I am looking forward to buying is the new Battlefield title, assuming that it will be released this year, and that it won’t go the Battlefront route.

Battlefield 3 Back to Karkand in 2017

Sat, 14 Jan 2017 11:30:00 -0600

In 2013 I purchased GeForce GTX780, and Battlefield 3 was my main game at the time. I ran the game at ultra settings to see how it was going to handle it. I have never played games at such high settings before, so I was thrilled at this prospect.

I was using the Hannspree HZ281HPB monitor at the time with a resolution of 1920x1200. At ultra settings, the 780 managed to deliver around 45-60 FPS, which at the time was great. Below is a video I recorded in June 2013.

2017 Backlog Gaming Challenge

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 13:06:00 -0600

In order to minimize the money I am going to spend on video games in 2017, I decided to make a list of games I want to finish before buying any new games, with the exception of Battlefield 1 Premium. I will buy the DLC pack for Battlefield 1 when the first DLC launches, and hopefully, I can find it a discounted price.

So here is a list of all the games, I want to finish before buying any new releases (Other than BF1 Premium) -

Must Play Games In 2017

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 05:35:00 -0600

I decided to make a list of games I want to play in 2017. I realized that I will never get to finish and play all the games I own. I have 210 games on Steam, I finished about 40 of those, so I got a long way to go. I combed through GOG, Origin, Uplay and Steam and came up with this list -

Alan Wake
Assassins Creed 3 - Got it for free on Uplay. Never played an Assassin’s Creed game before, and I am not sure how well received this game was. I hear good things about Black Flag…but there is not a whole lot of talk about this one.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Battlefield 1 Single Player
BioShock Infinite
Borderlands
Borderlands 2
Call of Juarez
Call of Juarez 2 Bound in Blood
Call of Juarez Gunslinger
Commandos 3 - I am not sure if I will get to finish this game. Its difficult, and the fact that resolution is restricted to 1024x768 adds to the difficulty. I would still like to finish this.
Commandos Strike Force - The last game in the Commandos series. I would like to finish this purely for nostalgia sake.
Company of Heroes 2
Crysis 3 - Purchased this on Origin for a very low price. Its a good game to test my GeForce GTX 1080
Dear Esther - The very first walking simulator…I’d like to see what they are all about.
Dishonored
Dying Light
Fallout New Vegas - I haven’t played a Fallout game in a very long time. I think New Vegas would be a good game to get back into the series.
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
Hard Reset
Max Payne 3
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Got it on Steam sale a few days ago.
Watch Dogs 2 - Got it free with my Samsung SSD
Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings - Finished The Witcher over the weekend. This game is next on the list.
Wolfenstein: The New Order - Picked it up on sale a few days ago

I want to make sure I don’t buy a whole lot of games in 2017. If at all I end up buying games, these are the ones on my watch list -

Battlefield Moment With Nvidia ShadowPlay

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 22:00:00 -0600

For those that are not familiar, ShabowPlay is a program that is bundled with GeForce experience - the download for this is available on the Nvidia website. This program is compatible with Nvidia GeForce 6 and 7 series desktop video cards.

Depending on the specified settings, the program automatically saves the specified time of gameplay in a temporary location, and the user can hit a key combination to save the video to the hard drive. I do not see any loss in performance when this software is running in the background. I am using an EVGA GeForce GTX 780 ACX.

Battlefield 4 Launch Fiasco

Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:33:00 -0600

The launch of Battlefield 4 was very disappointing. It felt as if those who pre ordered the game were paying to beta test it. It was such a broken mess at times, that I find it hard to believe they released it in such a state. Problems in the beta are present in the release version. Makes me wonder what the beta accomplished.

To an extent I understand the server side problems which were taken care of as quickly as they possibly could, but some issues with the base game are hard to justify.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (PC) - My Thoughts

Sat, 13 Jul 2013 01:55:00 -0500

When they announce a new Call of Duty game - I am optimistic. Maybe this time around things will be different; maybe its not, all flash and no substance; maybe they don’t treat gamers like puppets; maybe the gameplay will justify the hype and just maybe the game is going to be good.

Then I play the game - and disappointment ensues. Within the first couple of missions, I know exactly how the entire game is going to play out - pretty much as badly as the previous ones. This serves to reinforce the point - just because the marketing people managed to get a lot of TV coverage for a game, it does not make the game any good. It just means the marketing people are doing one hell of job, while the developers are rehashing the old formula to death.

Unlocking the L85A2

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 18:10:00 -0600

To unlock the L85A2 in Battlefield 3, two assignments need to be completed in this order:

Best Friend Forever

This requires:

10 revives
10 heals

Professional Russian

100 Kills with assault rifles
20 kills with underslung grenade launcher
Win 5 rounds of squad deathmatch (SQDM).

All of those can be easy enough, except winning 5 rounds of squad deathmatch.

I have tried to join in to a SQDM by myself, but I never had any luck winning. The chances of winning a SQDM game are one in four, and going solo has never really helped. The best way to do this is to be in a squad. I had my wife join me, and we won five out of the 8 games we played.

Mass Effect 3 and Guild Wars 2

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 02:07:00 -0600

Mass Effect 3

I played a little more of Mass Effect 3, and I am still impressed with it. I just finished playing a quest where one of my favorite characters in the previous game is killed off. That was a little disappointing. The mission had me make some tough decisions.

I enjoy the gameplay in Mass Effect 3 so much, that it makes me put up with some very awkward controls. I am not a fan of the way the cover system works. There are several times when I wanted to run, and I took cover instead, and times when I vaulted over cover when I wanted to just stay behind cover. Any other game would have probably annoyed my to a point where I would just give up playing. I hate putting up with console controls on PC. Mass Effect is an exception.

Battlefield 3 Aftermath - Scavenger Mode Tips

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:41:00 -0600

I started my first game of Aftermath on December 4, 2012, with a round of Scavenger on Azadi Palace. This gentleman , happens to be my first victim.

So here are a few tips on playing scavenger mode for people like me, who are not the best shot with pistols. Keep in mind, some of these are very obvious, I don’t pretend to have just discovered them. This is to help folks who are new to the game.

The Battlefield 3 Problem

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:57:00 -0500

When I first purchased Battlefield 3, I never would have believed that I would play it for almost 250 hours, considering that I returned it the first time I bought. I purchased it the second time, and it seemed like a different game!

Too much Battlefield 3

So anyway, what this has done is prevented me from playing any other game. I have a large number of games I haven’t even started playing yet, and I have a feeling I will never finish them in my lifetime.

What happened to Quick Save?

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:31:00 -0600

I am not sure how and when this started, but it is getting really annoying. I understand that for some people this is not a problem, but some of us care about this. It feels like my experience is more watered down without options that were available to games from 8 years ago. There is no reason why the developers are not giving players the option to quick save in 2012!

Valve: Three Surprises

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:57:00 -0500

So back in August, exactly a month ago, PC Gamer interviewed Valve Software at length. They talked about many things, but conspicuously absent was any mention of Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Yet again, I was disappointed.

However, Gabe Newell did say this during the interview:

Gabe Newell: Yeah. The average surprise is negative, not positive, and so if we’re going to surprise people we need to be conscious of that fact. Because we’re going to continue to surprise. We have three pretty big surprises in the next twelve months, at least.

Games To Look Forward To

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:30:00 -0500

I was disappointed that there was no update on Doom 4 at 2010 Quake Con and Rage was pushed to September 2011! That was a double dose of disappointment for me. I was hoping I would be able to play Rage this year along with Crysis 2.

Well, as things would turn out, Crysis 2 is pushed all the way to March 2011. I am not sure what I have to look forward to this year. There is the new Medal of Honor and Call of Duty: Black Ops. I am interested in seeing how they are going to perform, but I had absolutely no intention of playing them until they are available for under $10.

Using Adrenaline Powerups in Unreal Tournament 2004

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:34:00 -0500

Once you have collected 100 points of adrenaline, you can perform one of six moves that last until your adrenaline wears down. These moves are performed by pressing a series of keys in order. The commands listed are used with the default control scheme.

Speed

This power up increases your movement speed, allowing you to run at twice the speed. Command: W, W, W, W

Regenerate

This power up replenishes your health every second by five points. If you manage to reach 199 health, it will begin adding to your armor count. If you manage to reach 150 armor, it will stop until you lose health/armor, or until your adrenaline runs out. Command: S, S, S, S