History of Healing
I mentioned in my previous article that TF2 was the first multiplayer game that introduced me to the concept of playing the team medic. That got me thinking of where that intrigue lead me to in games to come. Well, spoilers, it lead me to bullets, explosions, dodging and dragging my teammates out of whatever hell they had fallen into.
Thankless work, usually, but someone’s gotta do it! On the plus side, playing the role of Medic in chaotic shooters is an adrenaline rush of its own. But if that isn’t enough, resting on the knowledge that you’re making every link in the chain as strong as it could possibly be feels pretty good.
Oh, Bad Company 2, how I miss you. Always something needing to be accomplished, the feeling of teamwork as you crushed any opposition and took their territory. It was wonderful. But it didn’t come free. As a Medic you would constantly shadow Assaults, dodging and weaving between cover to reach them as they spearheaded attacks on enemy locations. Providing medikits to the wounded who reached cover and risking your own life running into open ground to revive fallen comrades with your defibrillator.
Hearing that familiar “thud” and the beep to tell you the defib was good to go again before killing, or at the very least, suppressing the enemy to allow you and your teammate to return to (and hopefully remain in) the world of the living. Only to turn around and see the many puppy dog eyes of untreated allies.
Ah, Gotham City Impostors, I haven’t forgotten you. Nor have I forgot the effort I put into mastering playing the Medic in it. Introducing – The Motivator! A megaphone capable of transferring the raw power of motivating public speech into pure healing goodness for any ally nearby! This turned you into a mobile buff unit, especially with the advanced mobility the game had to offer. Oh, hello Overwatch. You’re a few years late.
Able to push through the toughest of chokepoints by spurring on allies who were much bigger than me, with much bigger guns. Mostly I remember mastering the Motivator though. (Gold skin!) 1,000,000 points of healing as well as multiple insane “efficiency” challenges such as healing 1000hp in 10 seconds. But… You did get a wolf vomiting a rainbow as a background for your troubles, so it was definitely worth it.
The United Kingdom may be an apocalyptic wasteland after the UK referendum Horzine Biotech decided to play God, causing a teeny, tiny, country-wide zombie outbreak, but I’ll be damned if I don’t go down fighting for my country. Y’know, THAT and there’s money to be made… Dosh. Moolah. Wonga. Dough… A couple of quid, at least! But you can’t get your hands on that if you’re dead, can you?
Mopping up waves of nightmarish creatures, unsurprisingly, carries a rather grave chance of serious injury or death. No worries! I have a medical syringe full of… Stuff! Provided your target still has some limbs, you can inject them to heal for more health than they could provide themselves. You can also buy Medic guns to save your allies with ranged healing! Familiar, eh?
Though, again, I have to hand it to the grandfather of healing who set me on the path of saving lives and restoring the wounded to good health by playing the role of the supportive Medic. Otherwise, I might have become the “that guy” of medics in every game. The one who strictly only plays as a healer in order to boost their own survival odds, DESPITE the myriad of cries for their assistance. Because, as we all know, killstreaks are the most important factor of being a fantastic medic in any team-orientated video game with a clear, focused objective. Right?
P.S. – Been awake 30+ hours due to the warm weather and subsequent health issues it brings on for me. So I apologise if this is an incoherent mess, seemed as good a time as any to write something… Trying to stop myself faceplanting the keyboard at this point. Thanks for reading!