Time to eat my words. Doesn’t happen often. I should sell tickets…
It is my pleasure to announce that Gears of War is a Good Game.
So far, in fact, this gamerblogger would say that Gears of War is a f#cking fantastic game. Shame on me for waging an uninformed smear campaign to convince eveyone otherwise prior to launch – or emergence, if you will.
I didn’t think I would be drafting a positive appraisal for this title. I didn’t think I would be playing this title. Thankfully, a few Gunslingers descended down the mine shaft like test canaries and came back with rave reviews.
Taking into account the final press push for ‘Gears of War’, it seemed as if Epic Games had made every style choice with an objective to alienate a gamer like me. It’s a shooter, but not in the First Person. It’s supports ranked online play, but not alongside your friends or clanmates. Right down to that weird Tears For Fears commercial, it seemed as if the developers of ‘Gears of War’ lacked a basic understanding of their potential for cool.
Whoops! It is nice to be this wrong. It is a pleasure and a joy to admit that my initial reaction to this game was way off the mark – just like my approach to sniping. There is a lot to love here. This gamer is breaking rank with the UNSC [for just a heartbeat], and urging you to become a COG in the machine.
A funny thing happened over the weekend. After numerous hours of exploring GoW’s campaign, I sparked up the 360 dashboard to see how many Spartans we had online. There were three. Out of a Halo 2 Clan boasting 100 members, I had three people on my list playing Halo 2. All the other familiar faces were stumbling around the fresh maps of a fresh game.
Like a swarm of locusts, gamers were migrating to kick the tires of this new offering. That old and delicious sense of terror was setting in again as I gave it a spin over my broadband connection. It had been a long time since I had found myself dashing across an unknown battlefield, with thoughts of panic gripping my brain. I hadn’t been this out of joint since Ivory Tower was an alien landscape…
“Where did everyone go?”
“Where am I?”
“How the hell do I reload this thing?”
Before I get carried away here, allow me to repeat something that has become the consensus among the TTL Gunslingers: While GoW is great, it is not a KillerApp up to the task of dethroning Halo 2. The mechanics of hosting an online party are [once again] too clumsy to insure the endless replayability of Halo 2 on Xbox Live. When are people going to get the message that ripping off Bungie is the only way to beat them? Either this cannot be done, or developers just don’t want to do it.
The best thing about playing ‘Gears of War’ online is the chance to interact with the friends on my list in a different world. The community I enjoy in GoW is something that I owe to Halo 2. I don’t see myself meeting a lot of new people through this title.
That said, GoW is absolutely georgous. This is the most heavily art-directed game to pass before these aging eyes. The world created in this game is beautiful in its tragic scope. Every building is a masterpiece, with their cracked domes and their filthy floors. The scenery is a character of the game in and of itself, settting the stage for the desperation of mankind in the final throes of an exhausting conflict.
Until Halo 3 is released, the reason to own a 360 is to play ‘Gears of War’.
There. I said it.
“Check, please…”
And those three playing Halo 2 were probably those us who do not yet own a 360 – much to our shame. Man, I’m envious…
I remember when I first played Ivory Tower. I was lost for SOOOOOOOO long.
Nice article Deej. I have been playing maybe too much of this game recently. Between the thrills online, and the achievements and campaign, it is too much to handle.
KillerApp that dethrones Halo? No. Darn close? Yes. This is my kind of shooter. I’m glad you bent to our pressure! I will be playing this game for a while, methinks. Even longer if they make the lobby system a little less tedious.
Heh….sucker….
j/k GoW rocks! But if you want a really good multiplayer game, go check out Call of Duty 3.
Your words ring true. I was a GoW hater. Over the weekend I played it, in HD on a 53” plasma. That is all I needed. I am a total convert (or should I say cog).
Don’t get me wrong, I hate the XBL. It sucks. It needs more options, but I have hope that the next incarnation of this game will correct the problem.
One last side note, I felt the campaign was lacking in plot development. Great game, beautiful and stunning environments, but lacking in a good story to compliment.
I was holding out on a 360 until Halo 3. But with all the good words I have heard about this game I may have to dive in a bit early.
This game is fun to play. Especially with the caliber of people I have on my friend’s list. I don’t think Ranked games are going to get much play due to the cheaters, but it definitely is a fun time with the buddies.
CoD3 is also a great game. Between that and GoW, it’s almost enough to make you stop playing Halo…. almost.
I really like this game. Epic is posting on their own forums that they want to be considered the most responsive, player friendly game company out there. They have already announced upgrades to “known problems”, although they’re being mute on whether this means an overhaul to the party and matchmaking system.
However, if they live up to half of their reputation with games like Unreal Tournament in terms of player support, then this title could become a Halo killer. It has that much potential.
Although someone needs to teach me that trick of sticking grenades on people… I got stuck so many times last night…
This game is new, pretty and just plain fun. But, the multi-player “options” will kill this game. There is really only 2 things to play:
1 – Kill ‘em all
2 – Kill that one
Playing ranked games is just pointless:
1 – You can’t get into games easily
2 – One game can have a huge difference in player skill level
3 – Cheaters (already)
The only way to enjoy the multi-player is with your friends and, being a Gunslinger, I’m happy to say that I have a bunch to choose from. But, even with many people to fight with, the setup that Epic has used will be the downfall of this game. I hope for the sequel Epic copies Bungie’s lobby system and adds some different gametypes. It’s their only hope!
I’ll play this soon enough, it looks like fun. This won’t be the Halo killer it was projected to be though.
Also that commercial featured the Gary Jules cover of that Tears for Fears song. The same one that was in Donnie Darko.
Epic has oceans to cross to be the most player friendly game. I don’t see any mapviews with killcounts or stats on that website.
I saw a show on MTV last night that was following around Cliffy B during the final stages of GoW. After seeing that, I have tons more respect for the guy. He doesn’t care about this or that, he cares about making a game that people enjoy.
He has done so. I can’t wait to see what Cliffy B works on next.
I have a lot of faith that this game could be even better ever since I read what Wayn0ka said. If they are going to fix some of the problems then it will make it that much better. I mean there are a few glitches in campaign and there is the mic problem in multiplayer. They should fix those, then get the online an overhaul.
this game is a blast. although, i do get killed a lot more than i kill. hopefully that’ll change with more time in game. it’s such a beatufiul game. it’s like i’m playing an animated pixar/disney army movie minus all the celeb voices and terrible jokes but with a whole lot of blood and a whole lot of chainsaw.
I’ve said my peace on this at length (sorry) in the forums. It is a fun game and the total campaign on line co-op is a huge step forward for on line gaming as a whole. You can enjoy what is good about this game very easily though. Fun is infectious and help one overlook the rough edges and this game is fun.
What are you talking about? This game is waaaay better than Halo and/or Halo 2. The online gameplay has almost no lag, no cheaters, and looks way better! Screw the Halo community, I’ve found a new baby.
I miss all of you… I’m hoping it’s only 10-17 days until I can kill zombies and join you as a Gear in this War.
I hate 3rd person shooters, but all of the articles I’ve read about this game points to it being more immersive than the “Dead to Rights” and “Max Payne’s” (not to put Max down…) of the past.
Don’t get too ahead of me on the skill.
I have warmed up to the multiplayer now. But I think there should be something for players to do when they get killed though, instead of just watching the rest of the game. Thankfully the maps are small so games don’t last forever.
On another note, there ought to be a better rifle, something that can down a guy in fewer shots. The sniper is what it is, but the default assault rifle takes forever to kill a guy. Hence the abundance of flanking maneuvers to get close enough for a chainsaw, shotty, or sticky.
Still, an awesome game by Epic. The 360 really needed something like this.
Man I’m jealous, I’m one of the unlucky souls that doesn’t own a 360. It’s getting closer to time to pony up the cash…
There is one gametype Burritoh that lets you revive yourself after you have been knocked down. That is as close as you will get to a respawn.
I too, am one of the poor sould sans a 360, although I do feel better than the heatless souls outside my Best Buy waiting for a new PS3 (the true SUKAHS!)
Deej, why don’t you have me over and I can play on it. And I make a mean crab dip. (That’s not code)
I had not picked up GoW because i was afraid that it would be like when i bought UNO from the arcade because nobody was on halo, but then nobody was on UNO…ever. Now i probably wont pick it up because it most likely indirectly caused team SWAT and Carnage to be removed. Remember Deej, the sword is behind the waterfall and taking the elevator isnt always the best idea.
-Dragon