GEARS OF WAR

[MONOLITH]

Anyone else looking at this?

If you have an Xbox360, this is heralded as the biggest game to hit the shelves this year. Lot's of hype around this one, built on the Unreal 3 engine.

I'll be in the store the morning it comes out.  


http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/612/612066p1.html


http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/g/gearsofwar/

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/gearsofwar/index.html

[Lostroth]

read a review on this a couple weeks back, and man it sounds like an awsome game, multiplayer is gonna rock, so many ways to kill your opponent.

[sithdemon]

It defenetly looks nice, but I'm gonna to wait to play a demo before getting too jazzed. The gameplay has to be on par with some of the games I got already, and hopefully getting soon (SC:DA for PC).

[Xuxa]

I am going to preorder the LE of it 2marrow I can't wait....I wish I had a HDTV it would look sweet!

BTW anyone know when the demo comes out?

[TaLoN]

no demo.

[Xuxa]

Oh. No to change the topic or anything talon u no when R65 Vegas demo comes out on 360

[MindlessOath]

it looks like nice grfx, but honestly doesnt look like a good game in my honest opinion.

is it going to be the halo of xbox360? hrm, time will only tell, but they also have to release the halo for xbox360 so it cant be as good (if ya liked halo that is - i didnt).

i think ... im 90% sure that alot of the stuff we hear is just SPIN, and marketing dollers telling everyone that its good - its all hype because ms wants this game to whomp the ps3 sales when it releases.

hey im not saying it wont be good - but alot of people are dragged into things that LOOK GOOD and play marginaly good (if at all).  my money is on trying it before i buy it.

[MONOLITH]

Your glass is always half empty.

[MindlessOath]

ya, true that, but im sick of hype. it happens, a big compainy has so much money they can hype anything even if its not so great.

[MindlessOath]

http://www.warp2search.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=30445

this link has a few videos (streaming) of multiplayer. i havent watched them yet myself but will soon.

[Aramis]

http://www.mtv.com/games/video_games/ghole/

I know, it's mtv.com. But, they have Cliffy B walking you through the first level. Shows some of the gameplay and the graphics, and it looks pretty damn cool. Looks like a lot of action and there's some neat little things they've added to the shooter genre. Take a look. It's under episode 10.

Also in there is Marvel Ultimate Alliance for you comic book geeks.

[MONOLITH]

Thanks Aramis.

(I was actually thinking about the Marvel game. Just didn't want to tell anyone.)   :tongue:

[farmboy]

(I was actually thinking about the Marvel game. Just didn't want to tell anyone.)

I think you just screwed that up:tongue:

[MONOLITH]

Gears of War looks real good. What looked even better was that big 32" screen he was playing it on.

Christmas is coming for MONO.........:tongue:

[Xuxa]

I read that there will be tournaments, does anyone know when they are?

[MindlessOath]

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/gears-of-war/gears-of-war-believe-the-hype-213127.php
so they say its good. lets hope ms didnt pay for those reviews.

[MONOLITH]

Okay, so  a few weeks later, I have to vent about what I don't like about Gears of War.

Definately a great game. Somewhat unique, great graphics. Cool characters and story. But I think the multiplayer is probably better than the single player.

Here's my problems;

No audio positioning. None. Every sound, whether it's left or right of you, is heard pretty much dead center. And even worse, a monster that is two blocks away, still sounds like it's right behind you. This is a terrible flaw for a shooter game in a 3D world.

The blood effect from bullets is horrible. Whether you're getting shot, or the enemy is getting shot across the room, those ugly blotchy patches of blood look like my 6 year old colored them on my monitor.

Most of the monster movement animations suck. They're a bit choppy, not fluid.  And the NPC characters are moving around so fast you can't enjoy the graphics of them. And when they're dead, just touching the body sends it flying across the room. I know I'm strong, but c'mon. That's an immersion killer.

It's what I call a "Rail game". You play it like your stuck on a rail, like a roller coaster. You can only follow the same path, again and again. And those couple of attempts of "choose a path, left or right" is a pretty piss poor attempt to make it seem 'replayable'.

Oh, the horror of doing something over and over. I hate those games where you get to a boss fight, and you spend 72 hours dying over and over again, the same exact way, until you finally figure out the secret little button combination that will get you past that spot. Grrrrr. That's not fun.

All in all, the game comes off being arcadish. i think the multiplayer is probably great...good maps, blind fire from good cover controls, revive downed teammates, cool environments and characters, etc.

But single player is not the least bit tactical, and it becomes repetitve. As opposed to strategy games like M2:TW, or tactical shooters like R6:Vegas and GRAW, Gears just feels like mindless path following.

EDIT IN: One thing that would seriously help this to feel tactical, is better control over your squad. If I could actually direct them through firefights, this would be so much better. But instead they run off on their own, race ahead into combat, and you have no clue or control over them really. There is a minor aspect of 'squad control'. but it's amazingly ineffective and barely useful at all. it's an attempt to make you think you have control over the AI, but you really don't. Sort of like those feeble path choices they gave you.

It's cool, it's unique, it's nice to look at and fun to play for a bit. But with so many other games offering so much more gameplay depth, I may not play it very much anymore.


So, in two weeks I went from "Gears Rocks", to "Meh"  :hmm:


Oh well.

*Fires up R6: Vegas*

[Fixxxer]

just touching the body sends it flying across the room. I know I'm strong, but c'mon. That's an immersion killer.

LMAO

[MONOLITH]

Yeah, there's something about their ragdoll physics. Just walk up to an obviously 300 lb dead monster, and his body flies around helplessly and haphazardly like he's marshmallow on wheels. It's really goofy.

This would be a really great game if it gets some seriously large patch changes.

[Fixxxer]

I wasn't so much laughing at the ragdoll effects, but rather how you said, "I know I'm strong but c'mon...", I just found that funny.

But yeah, I had a feeling just by the way the game looked that it was a stereotypical console game that lacked what most of us here desire in a game. However, I'm glad there are games like R6: Vegas that are more suited to our tastes. If the trend continues I'd switch to a console, but I don't see it happening for quite some time.