Lately, I’ve been playing WARDOGS. I’m lousy at firefights in FPS games, but this one is so much fun.
I spend a long match finding enemies, marking them for teammates, and taking shots with a sniper rifle. I thought I would get bored after one match, yet I keep wanting to play again.
Choosing How to Play Based on My Mood
WARDOGS is a large-scale FPS where up to 100 players fight across three teams. The teams compete over an area called the Control Zone.
There are plenty of roles to fill, but they aren’t locked to specific characters. I can choose weapons and equipment to fight on the front line or run around healing teammates as a medic. I can also scout for enemies and snipe from a distance.
Other options include working as an engineer to build and maintain bases and artillery, delivering supplies, or driving teammates around. There is plenty to do on the battlefield besides shooting enemies.
And I don’t have to stick with one way of playing for the entire match. I can choose my loadout again each time I respawn.
If I’m in the mood for a firefight, I can head to the front line, and if I want a change, I can switch to healing or transport. I like being able to choose how I want to play over and over within a single match.
Helping Teammates Through Recon
I mainly play a recon role. I spot enemy infantry, vehicles, bases, and weapons, marking their positions for my teammates. Sometimes I take them out with my sniper rifle, but I often focus on supporting the team.
When I try to get kills myself, a lot depends on how well I’m playing that day.
But when a teammate takes out an enemy I’ve spotted, that feels good too. Even if I haven’t won a firefight myself, finding and marking the enemy has helped someone else. There is satisfaction in contributing indirectly like that.
Spotting also earns cash, so my balance grows as I keep scouting. Alongside the feeling of helping my teammates, I think watching that balance go up is satisfying in itself.
As well as sniping, I can enjoy simply finding enemies and marking them. It suits me that how much fun I have doesn’t depend too heavily on how well I’m doing in firefights.
Long Matches Without the Same Mental Fatigue
In my experience, a match lasts about two hours. That alone probably makes it sound pretty demanding. But I don’t feel as though I have to stay on edge the whole time.
There is time spent traveling, and I don’t have to keep fighting on the front line. Even if I’m hiding behind cover, I still count toward my team’s presence as long as I’m inside the Control Zone. The team with the most players in the zone earns points, so just being there can help.
When I step away from firefights, I can still heal teammates or mark enemy positions. I can also take on logistics work, transporting people and supplies. Knowing that I can change what I’m doing and still help the team makes it easier to reset mentally.
Personally, I find long sessions less mentally tiring than playing VALORANT. A match still takes a substantial amount of time, but I think it helps that I don’t have to maintain the same kind of focus throughout.
A Different Battle Every Time
As I keep scouting, I gradually get a sense of where enemies are likely to be. Good recon and sniping positions seem to be common knowledge among other players too. That sounds like it could lead to watching the same places and fighting the same way every time.
Yet the battles actually play out differently each time. Some matches have lots of snipers, while others have intense firefights in the Hot Zone, an area that offers higher rewards. In other matches, attack helicopters are flying around and there is much more fighting in the air.
I might have an idea of where to find enemies, but that doesn’t determine what kind of battle the match will become. Even when I stick with recon, it doesn’t fall into the same pattern every time, and that’s what makes it interesting.
At first, I thought such long matches would make me get bored after just one. Now I think of it as a game that’s like surume, dried squid that keeps releasing flavor the longer you chew it. I’m curious about what the next battlefield will be like, and I can decide whether to keep scouting or try another role based on how I feel when I get there.
I’m still lousy at firefights, but I can see myself playing a lot more.