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I'm a shooter fan from start to finish. But it's only in the past two and a half years, that I've become obsessed with them. Back in 2001, I was playing a lot of PC games (with Starcraft being my all-time favorite) at the LAN center across town. I went so often that the owner and I became friends, and asked me to watch the shop at times when he had to leave and run errands. During this time, I played a lot of Counterstrike with buddies and strangers, but for some reason, I started to develop nauseating vertigo sensations, and over a couple weeks, it got so bad, I had to stop playing CS altogether.

Unfortunately, it entirely affected my ability to play first person shooter games, and everytime I tried to play any FPS or third-person shooter, I would just get sick within the first 10 minutes. So I stopped. And it came to pass that there would be no more FPS's for me over the next two years.

But after two years, I decided that it was time for me to really try again, and get over my weakness. And so I chose Halo 2 to be my training game, and set a regiment: 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week to start. It's a bit like boot camp when every time you play, you feel like the ceiling's about to cave in on you, and your guts are about to go reverse way out. I did that for 3-4 painful months. And it worked, and since then, I have been playing shooters and FPS games more than ever, having become my favorite genre.

With Halo 3 though, I recognize it as a great shooter. I was lining up my quarters every few days so I could play with my friends (another reason why I love my Xbox 360 so much). Technically, Halo 3 multiplayer is near perfect. The weapons, vehicles, maps and gameplay are well balanced and perform exceptionally well. There is very little lag, even in 16 player matches. Kudos to the matchmaking system, and I'm digging on being able to play ranked matches with friends.

However, I'm just not enjoying Halo as much as I thought I would, and I actually feel guilty about that. Halo lacks the personality of games like Team Fortress 2 and the visceral graphics and gameplay of Gears of War. I see it as a safe game, that delivers a skill-reliant, yet familiar experience. I don't overlook some of the very cool features in the game, like Forge mode, or the truly unique use of camera and video to create player films and screenshots. But, right now, I just prefer something a little more varied in its character/class set, and a bit more strategic and team oriented. Which leads me to my next game…

I am in love with Team Fortres 2. There's something so satisfying about the way a multiplayer shooter can bring people together to cooperatively play in competitive ways. The class system is so genius with all the individual weapons, arsenal, and abilities that each class can utilize. It's amazing how well-balanced the gameplay is when taking into account the various strengths and weaknesses in each class' offensive and defensive abilities. These strengths and weaknesses become so integral to the strategy of winning in each of the levels, but what's interesting is how key each of these classes play to the different maps.

For example, in the 2Fort map, if you were to have a six player team, ideally, you'd have at least one scout (to race to steal the opponent's intelligence briefcase), two engineers (to build a more secure defense), and a spy (to zap and disable the enemy Sentry turrets), along with a few heavier offensive characters (like a Heavy followed behind by a Medic healing him while he takes the hits, or a soldier or flamethrower).

I found TF2 taking up so much of my time a couple of months ago. But now, Call of Duty 4 is pretty much my game every night. It's a great game with great MP (see my review below). As much as I do love COD4, part of the reason why I play it is because there is no one playing TF2 anymore :( What can you do? I also wish there were more maps to download.

My favorite shooter game list of all time (which is in the last 2.5 years) would go like this (in order):

1) Gears of War
2) Call of Duty 4
3) Team Fortress 2
4) Bioshock
5) Ghost Recon: Advanced Warrior 2

Tip for boyfriends: Boys, if you want your girlfriend to play shooters with you, and they have a hard time with the controller, consider having them try my above Halo 2 regiment to gradually get them into the game.

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