Shooters belong in a game category that requires so much of the game for it to be worth the 60 dollars. It has to have multiplayer, obviously, good graphics and animations are also welcome, and so is a thrill ride in the single player.

But then there's the personal requirements that everyone has. Preferences. Me, for instance, I'm one that really appreciate games that stimulate individuality, especially when it comes to shooters, in which the online community is so much more active than in any other genre. So it's natural that if you like individuality, you'll like it in the multiplayer component, right?

Yes. And it's an element that's rare to be supported by this genre, which luckily enough, is my favorite genre. Few games really embrace the individuality of a player and give it as much focus as the rest of the game. Imagine, for example, if Uncharted 2 (I know it's not a shooter, but it's the best game I could think of) had something like character customization, or maybe even weapon customization, or perhaps a little emblem or title selection. Not much to ask, is it? Apparently, yes, because another great game is the same: Red Dead Redemption. Yeah, you can choose titles and yeah, you can select who you play as. But again, you can't pick your loadouts, you can't customize your character and you can't even write your own title, which inevitably will lead to other people having the same title. And that is opposed to the whole concept of 'individuality'.

Obviously, that's not the only feature that's important in a shooter, but it's certainly extremely important, for me at least. That's why I'm keeping an eye out for a little game called Brink.

I've never seen a game support so much the uniqueness of each player. Not only in the incredible depth of the character creation and weapon customization, but also in the gameplay. There's the classes you can choose, and a number of abilities to enhance those classes, which work exactly like a skill tree in RPGs (role-playing games. You know? Those in which you play a particular role?). So you WILL play in your own unique way, and you'll have your own unique character, AND your own unique weapon. You can even customize the controls to the extent of altering the acceleration of the crosshair's movement. So you can have an aiming system similar to that of Killzone 2, which a lot of people seemed to like. Add in a great dose of Call of Duty-like gunplay (lots of reloading and aiming down sights) and Mirror's Edge's freedom of movement, and you have an incredibly appealing title on your hands. Also, it's good that it's not Sci-Fi. I hate Sci-Fi.

I actually bought RDR, Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2, but only for their gameplay. Actually I bought RDR because that game is so unbelievably fascinating it could freeze the testicles of a polar bear, just out of amazing awesomeness. So now that Activision (actually I don't know if this is the developers' or publisher's decision) is starting to support this beloved feature of mine into its games, Call of Duty Black Ops will probably also be a great game, one I'll almost certainly buy. They added an expansive customization system, a theater mode, and ZOMBIE MODE. And CoD's gunplay has yet to be beaten by any shooter, in my experience. So yeah, I'll trade Modern Warfare 2 in for Black Ops.

I also wanted to buy Ghost Recon Future Soldier, but I'll have to wait a bit longer to see if it's worth it. I don't like shooters that require too much tactical, complicated stuff. Don't get me wrong, I like strategy, just don't overcomplicate it with satellites and airstrikes and we'll be fine.