War Rock - An Improvised Version of Counter Strike?

War Rock is released by ABS-CBN, one of the leading network stations here in the Philippines. Right now, they are giving away Php 20,000 to the player with the most number of player kills. For those of you who are familiar with Counter Strike, it's basically the same, except for a few things.

War Rock is an online game whereas Counter Strike (CS) can be played through a local area network connection. War Rock also features four different characters - a medic (female), an engineer, a sniper, and a heavy trooper (all male) each with their own specialties. Obviously, the medic can heal herself and her team members, the engineer can repair all sorts of vehicles, the heavy trooper carries the bombs and the biggest guns in the game, and the sniper - well, he's a sniper. They're all appropriately and automatically equipped with their own weapons, accessories, and ammo. They can also mount tanks and motorcycles, crawl, and plant bombs. As of now, War Rock offers 5 different maps where you can unleash your gun slinging wrath on other players.

On the contrary, CS characters (Terrorists and Counter Terrorists) are all male - the only choice you have with regards to personalizing your character is to change the character's skin. There are no sorts of vehicles to mount, and once you're hit, there's no way to heal yourself. You also need to buy your own guns and ammo while you're still at your base. There are a lot of different maps to choose from (including the infamous De Dust map), and best of all, when you have no one to play CS with, you can always team up with bots and and kill other bots. You can even set how good you opponent bot will be.

In a sense, War Rock is a role playing game (RPG) since you can choose from different characters that I've mentioned and even change your character in-game. The thing is, your account - yes your account, not your character - increases in rank (level) with the more number of player kills you have for each round. However, once you start playing, everyone's back to square one - the same medic, sniper, trooper or engineer you were when you started the game.

What I don't find appealling with these two games is the first-person view, which honestly makes me dizzy. Although I like RPG's, I'd want my character to acquire a different set of skills/clothes reflective of my level that would in turn, differentiate me from the newbies. I would like the number of hours I've spent playing the game to show on my character. And lastly, well, I guess I just don't find violence appealling.