All I had to do was tell my girlfriend that we were going to spend time off of work and whatever both our families were up to by playing some video games. It’s the first she’s been offered that in forever, she said. Instead of starting her from the beginning of Halo with Combat Evolved Anniversary, I thought we would have more fun relaxing by playing Halo 4’s Spartan Ops.
It was her first time playing a First-Person Shooter, but she did learn very fast, even if I had to memorise the Default controls to show her what everything does. I even got a bit confused by the Recon buttons for a minute before snapping back to attention. She uses The Claw Grip, where she has her middle finger on the trigger, and her index finger on the buttons. I guess she picked that up from me.
My first thought is that she should learn to shoot the big gun. Like my old Halo 3 habits, I raced over to the driver side of the Warthog, and my girlfriend mounted the back of the Gauss Hog. I told her, “Try to shoot that floating tower there.” It took her a few tries, and some R-stick sensitivity changes. Once the tower exploded, I set off into Quarry to shoot some Covies.
Boy, did she have a hell of a time trying to earn a kill! She jerked the R-stick completely to either side instead of teasing it in slowly. It was manageable, anyway I guided her right thumb for her. After the round was over, I had my girlfriend customise her loadouts so she could prepare for missions that are not vehicle-dependent. She took a preference to the equipment that I used, so I copied my primary class, save the Fast Track, because she is not SR-50.
Once Land Grab was over, we moved to Sniper Alley. Still crappy at shooting, but I gave her props for trying. I zapped a few enemies of their shields so she could kill them. I even let her poke the buttons. As you guys would guess, we got through the first half of Season 1. Victory celebrations ensued, I got the sodas, and we toasted to success. My girlfriend has just achieved the status from Beginner to Amateur.
The next week, I had already finished the Spartan Ops Season on Legendary at this point, so I just showed my girlfriend what was going on after Crimson was declared MIA. We were blowing through levels more easily than passing through space. My dad walked in on us, and we were just chilling in Snuggies and cotton/polyester sleep pants. Our marathon was stopped short halfway through Episode 7. She was getting so much better at the game. It’s a shame I didn’t meet her earlier, or we would’ve had great fun playing other video games. I suppose a casual game wouldn’t hurt until I can introduce her to the start of Halo. The next Saturday, I invited my girlfriend up for more Halo on Sunday. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
With Crimson Team back in action, we saved the UNSC Infinity twice in the same day. Man, was it a joy. Near the end of Episode 9, my girlfriend has all the controls stuck in her head, and she was only a few marks of skill below me. I felt like we could conquer anything. We finally got to the end of Spartan Ops Season 1, and, to keep it brief, there was much smooching and cake. I could tell that my girlfriend had the three greatest back-to-back Sundays ever.
jhmgrose + jhmgrose (1)
Side note. Six-month anniversary came up in February. I bought my girlfriend Left 4 Dead 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for Steam. We’re going to kill some zombies together. When it isn’t L4D time, she’ll be playing the hell out of her favourite science fiction. 
