Okay so I may be slliiigghtly drunk but I feel like writing the things that, in my experience, helped me through the gaming process. Any comments about mis-spells and general typo-nese shall be punishable by death from lack of gaming :P

So in this blog I'm gonna cover the basics need to survive most FPS (first person shooters for all you you noobs out there...or 'newbies' if you will LOL) games and maybe even the odd third-person, since I play mostly FPS games. As a gamer girl, I find most of the gaming community to be mostly surrounded by guys, which suits me fine, but should I stumble on a girl-gamer, she'll probably vouch for me when I say the 'run in and shoot anything' approach doesn't usually work LOL :P

So my tips for surviving a FPS or most games are...

1. RELOAD!!!
Always reload whenever you get the opportunity, which ISN'T in the line of fire, with 6 guys shooting at you and no cover. Shoot your weapon in CONTROLLED BURSTS and look at your ammo gauge frequently, when it gets low and you get a spare minute or second from kicking ass, find cover and reload. Never reload without cover, as this makes you weak to get shot and can be the fine line between winning and losing a battle. Also note that some weapons take longer to reload than others.

2. Reserve ammo!!!
My trick to winning is to use the smaller weapons i.e. pistol, uzi, even machine gun, for less powerful enemies. I know how tempting it is to use your super-gun as soon as you get it on any enemy...or rats...but trust me, they gave you that gun at that time for a REASON, you'll most likely need it later on for some super-bad guy. Now as a girl and a gamer, here's my advice, just because you CAN use your big guy, doesn't mean you should ;)

3. Health/armor.
This is vital to your survival in-game...since it is your health, let this go down and poof! You are dead in a pile of your own intestines wondering what the heck happened and why the world picked on you this way. As with the ammo gauge, check this frequently. If you have any reserve health packs, use them whenever your health is low. I personally like to wait till its in the 25 percent gauge before healing because I don't like using health packs. Sometimes you can use them and the end of the level or checkpoint is nearby and it's a waste. But whenever you're feeling death knocking on your door, use a health pack. DO NOT use them when you've lost 5 percent health in a panic. You may need them for said super-bad guy.

4. Saving!!
Another good way of keeping your ass alive...and stopping the annoying-ness of getting all the way to that point where you didn't think you'd ever get, die then realise you forgot to save and have to do it all over again. Or if you're a PC player, have your computer on purposely crash as your getting to a good bit. Places to save are, after you've gotten more ammo and/or health, in a safe spot. After any major fire-fight that you nearly got sent back to your momma on. Or just anywhere where you get that feeling that something is gonna go down on. NEVER save in the middle of a losing fire-fight (unless your Chuck Norris) or when your health is really low as you may get yourself into a lose-lose situation and have to start all over again.

5. Brains.
A good way of not walking around like a headless chicken is to use what your momma gave you. Loads of things can be done with that bunch of spaghetti in your head. I know, I know, it SEEMS useless but trust me, it's not. Firstly, whenever you go into a fight, DO NOT jump in there like Arnie with PMS and try and take everyone out at the same time, because most times, this won't happen and you'll get shot in the ass before you can say 'Pappa can you hear me?' ...Take your time, look at your surroundings, your cover, your weak spots, any ammo/health lying around, any objects to use at your advantage or that can be used against you i.e. explosives or general squishy things. Count how many enemies you have, where they are or how you plan on taking them out and making your way to the exit.

6. Flashlight/flares.
In games I've played like Doom 3 or FEAR, these are gonna be essential to you. You need light. To see. Plants use it all the time so why shouldn't you? In the darkest of dark, crapusually goes down like a bat outta hell so you're gonna need to be able to see where your going and who you're shooting at. Not to mention hidden goodies. Trust me there can be some scary poop in dark places!! Keep your eyes open and your wits about you! And try not to show your light when approaching enemies, they may see it!

7. Sound.
Listen. Just stop for a second and listen. You're mind may be telling you to shout profanities at the enemy but just listen for a second. In places like corridors or whilst walking around, listening to the sound around you can alert you to threats before they even notice you. Things like radio chatter, conversations or even footsteps are clues that there is something going on nearby!

8. If your stuck.
Look around you, take it easy and gather all information you can find. If you can't find a way forward you may be missing something by rushing around. A lot of games require more than just a shoot and run policy. You'll need to check, computers, valves, doors, anything explosive, people etc. to open up a passage before you. Use some common sense. NEVER use a walkthrough unless you've gotten completely and utterly stuck and you can't find anything. It removes the feel-good feeling you get when finding it yourself.

9. Don't get stressed.
Big mistake. When your blood starts to boil, a game loses all its fun and excitement. AND you lose the ability to think straight, making levels a lot harder to finish than they would be if you just calmed down, left the game for a while and came back to it in a better mood, trust me I know. It may feel good to bite your controller, curse at your keyboard or stick the jacks up at the moniter but in the end, it doesn't help you win does it?

10. Difficulty.
Yeah there are a lot of hardcore guys out there that will only play a game on super-impossible difficulty and like to brag about it but if a game is tough for you, too tough to complete without losing your gaming experience. Turn down the difficulty. Normal is a fine mode to have your game in, if you aren't sure about how well you can kick ass. Or even if your more in for the story than the actually fire-fights as I am sometimes. Don't be ashamed. It's there for a reason. You may gain enough confidence to replay at a higher level and show all those losers how good you really are. Yo momma didn't raise no fool.

11. Explosives.
These little gems of goodness can be fantastic at clearing a room or helping you defeat a big guy. They come in all shapes and sizes, from flash-grenades to full on mini-nukes, they are FUN FUN FUN! As long as you remember to back the hell off when you throw or launch them, if they can hurt the enemy, they can hurt you!

12. Weak points.
Look for these. These are the way to kicking ass without getting yours kicked first. Things like zombies may have head weak spots or eye weak spots. Some things are weak to fire, electricity, water etc etc. Use it to your advantage. Things with shields may have a certain part of the body you have to hit to disable it. So if you seem to be shooting at something for hours on end with no avail, 'til you convince yourself that God himself has sent this creature to kill you, check for weak spots. Don't just shoot in the chest 'cos it's the biggest part, look around for better spots, you'll kill it quicker and conserve ammo that way!

13. Lucky 13, last but not least. Enjoy yourself!!
Don't let it become a chore. Enjoy your gaming experience. If you know what your doing and wanna go running in a room full of guys just to hear the splatting of their heads on the wall, then by all means, do it. Save it first but still, go do it. It's your game, your way. Whether you like sniping the brains, like I do, or gunning someone in the knees and watching them limp around, whatever you want to do is your choice. You bought this game to enjoy so do it!!

That's all I can think of at the moment but if I think of any more I'll add it later!! Peace out folks!!!

Nik Nak xXx

One of the most annoying things about a game, to me, is when you buy it for sometimes £30 to £40, take all your time out to play and eventually after hours and hours of squeezing, biting and throwing of the remote out of sheer frustration, finish the game.

Since you've spent hours, days even weeks trying to finish it, you kinda expect something decent waiting for you as a congratulations for completing it...but nope...nothing there. A lovely single concept art, maybe even some achievement points...fan-bloody-tastic! In case you can't tell, this is sarcasm.

It makes most games lack any replay value what-so-ever, something which is very important to me if I'm gonna cough up the money for a game these days. Gimme some cheats or costumes or something to unlock please!!!

Count me as one of those people who've noticed that most 360 games count more on achievement points than anything actually decent as an end game reward, which is one of the most irritating things for me. I'm an offline gamer so acheivement points are nothing to me. Plus I can't help feeling bad for the people like me, who don't own a 360 and have PC's or other consoles to game on, who aren't getting anything as a reward.

One of the games I loved for all the rewards, was Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary. Packed solid with things to unlock such as loads of costumes, cheats, game models, interesting character biographies etc etc for you to unlock by finding all the relics in game. Even after completing it you can use Level Select to go back and search for the ones you've missed. Fantastic replay value! That's what I want!

Tomb Raider Underworld was disappointing, I had such high hopes after Legend and Anniversary, but alas, there was nothing but concept art. Meh!

So please, PLEASE add something cool to your games for when we finish them, I think we deserve it after buying and playing them don't you?;)