Author Topic: First Gears of War review is up at GSpot! (Read 8822 times)

Pugnate · « **Reply #40 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 02:46:44 AM »

Why don't you get a cheap limited Xbox Live subscription, and find out how the multiplayer is? Since this game is made by Epic, I expect the multiplayer to be nothing short of stellar.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #41 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 11:30:43 AM »

Because I don't have a router and don't have my 360 hooked up to any kind of internet connection. I suppose I could just move the plug from my PC, but... eh. I know nothing about Xbox Live. Don't you have to pay?

EDIT - So I guess you only have to pay for Gold and Silver is free? I dunno'. Maybe I'll fiddle with it. Problem is I don't know anybody that plays, or even really anybody that has a 360. I'd love to try out some of the competitive team stuph online, but I hate playing games with random people. That's never been any fun to me and to this day I have absolutely no idea why people enjoy it. What's the difference from playing against a nameless computer? What I'd really like to try is the coop, but... there, same thing. Hence why I want Sy to get his ass over here so we can play split screen.

MysterD · « **Reply #42 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 11:41:54 AM »

Quote from: Pugnate on Sunday, November 12, 2006, 02:46:44 AM

Why don't you get a cheap limited Xbox Live subscription, and find out how the multiplayer is? Since this game is made by Epic, I expect the multiplayer to be nothing short of stellar.

C'mon, Pug....

Doesn't Microsoft get enough money from gamers???
Especially ones supporting the PC and X360?

hehe.

idolminds · « **Reply #43 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 11:55:40 AM »

You need the Gold (pay) subscription to play online. The Silver (free) stuff allows you to access the Marketplace to download stuff like demos, trailers, and buy XBL Arcade games like Geometry Wars.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #44 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 12:04:24 PM »

Ah. Well, fuck that. I thought it was the other way around. I don't have to pay jack shit to play online with my PC, so you can bet I'm not paying anybody jack shit to play inferior multiplayer games on a console.

scottws · « **Reply #45 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 12:38:42 PM »

Quote from: Quemaqua on Sunday, November 12, 2006, 11:30:43 AM

I'd love to try out some of the competitive team stuph online, but I hate playing games with random people. That's never been any fun to me and to this day I have absolutely no idea why people enjoy it. What's the difference from playing against a nameless computer?

Your answer is that people play smarter than the computer, and you can actually have some sort of teamwork (yes, even with random people) vs. a computer that follows you around and just shoots at things that it sees.

Also mostly because it is fun if you find a game you like. I've only really enjoyed the online experiences of the Wolfenstein games and Starcraft. And one level from Soldier of Fortune II.

Pugnate · « **Reply #46 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 01:14:21 PM »

Yea I was pretty surprised by that Que statement as well. There is just something about playing against human opponents -- even if anonymous -- that kicks a lot of ass. After all, the ambition of any programmer is to get bots to behave as humanly as possible.

When it comes to shooters, Unreal Tourney was brilliant online. And away from shooters, Diablo II kicked ass even with strangers.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #47 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 01:15:06 PM »

Correction - SOME people play smarter than the computer. Some just suck. The rest camp, cheat, abuse legitimate game systems however they possibly can, and act like idiots and teenagers (probably because a lot of them are). I've yet to play with random people who'll actually play as a team in a team game. It's never happened and I'm not holding my breath that it ever will unless I'm down to play 5 hours of multiplayer a night in a given game in the hope of getting an hour or two of good play with decent people. And even at that I'd consider myself lucky.

Eh. Pass.

idolminds · « **Reply #48 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 02:02:01 PM »

Probably of no interest, but today until 11:59 PM you can download a GoW dashboard theme for your 360, along with a gamer image and some video of CliffyB. The dashboard theme would be the coolest.

PS, fuck MS for selling that shit. How awesome would it be if your new games simply included themes?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #49 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 02:13:55 PM »

That would be awesome and might help justify the fucking huge price tag. And yes, fuck them for charging for every last little thing. I'm enjoying my 360 well enough but I still hate Microsoft and I still hate that fucking Peter Moore asshole more than probably anyone in the gaming industry currently. And I'm also miffed that the Xbox, for all its attempts to be something more, is still just a lousy console that can't do shit in terms of video output. Oh, I can't get fullscreen 1024x768 on my 4:3 monitor? Gee, that seems... absolutely retarded. Oh, so if I want fullscreen I have to use a nice non-HD 640x480 because you somehow think the wave of the future is making currently and widely used technology only vaguely compatible with the system?

<Oliver Twist>Please sir, can I have some more?</Oliver Twist>

But... eh. It is what it is, and that's more or less what I expected it to be. At least Gears lived up to the hype and has me all excited even on my second run through it. There's something to be said for that.

I guess I'll hook this thing up to my broadband for the day and see how big that dashboard theme is and stuph. I don't have the HDD, so... space limited. Then later I'll try out the Gold 48-hour demo (maybe next weekend?) and see how the multi is.

EDIT - Well, apparently I get a free month of Gold just for signing up. I guess. So that's cool. I tried to get into some games but no go. Every time I tried to join up I got a message saying that I lost my connection with the host. I tried hosting my own game, but nobody joined after 15 minutes of waiting. I managed to do all the Live stuff fine and download the theme/pic, which are nice (and free for today, which I knew already, hence my willingness to try it -- I'd never pay good money for some stupid theme). Theme is cool. Nothing special, just adds a slightly darker look to it and throws pictures onto the backs of the different slides. The pic is just a pic of Marcus, but at least it's better than the generic ones. Though I can't believe they charge for those. Themes I can at least sort of see... but little fucking avatar pictures? That's just stupid.

Also, while the Live system is actually pretty slick, I was a bit miffed at the amount of information they want you to give out even if you don't plan on using the system to actually BUY stuff. I don't like giving out my name and number. Eh. Anyway, it all works pretty well though its a bit of a pain for me since I have no router and have to power cycle my modem every time. I'd also have tried coop with someone, but again... I don't really see the point if I don't know the person and can't interact with them in any way. They just become a slightly more intelligent AI companion that kills more of the shit that I want to be killing. I just really don't care. Plus you can only have one campaign game going at once, so it would have overwritten the progress I'm now making in my solo hardcore venture, and who needs that?

So yeah, first impression of multi are... well, bad, because it just plain didn't work. I did actually manage to get into one game at first, but had to sit around spectating waiting for the round to end so thought I'd bounce out and try to find something just forming up. Couldn't get into any of the 10 games I tried after that because of the aforementioned error message.

HxCeddie · « **Reply #50 on:** Sunday, November 12, 2006, 11:44:39 PM »

Well, I definitely missed out on this thread, but that's because I've been playing GoW so goddamn much. And....well goddamn it's awesome. Co-op is a real blast, but I really want to play on two different screens so that it'll just be that much better. But...I have nothing really to say except that this game rules.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #51 on:** Monday, November 13, 2006, 08:16:01 AM »

Dude, what's your tag? We should do some coop or something since I have a free month of Gold.

Pugnate · « **Reply #52 on:** Monday, November 13, 2006, 08:49:31 AM »

You guys could team up on DM servers and just hold a place down and kill everyone yes.

Cheating... yes.

Fun.... yes.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #53 on:** Monday, November 13, 2006, 06:41:15 PM »

Well, there is no DM. Just team DM. The closest you get to straight DM is 1v1.

Pugnate · « **Reply #54 on:** Monday, November 13, 2006, 10:38:15 PM »

I wonder why. It is pretty standard to have DM. 1 v 1 sounds pretty cool though.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #55 on:** Monday, November 13, 2006, 11:27:09 PM »

Well, it's like a round based thing. There's no respawning or whatever. I think max is 8 players for certain modes, 4 per team. The idea is that the game mechanics mimic the single player more or less. You use cover, you think somewhat tactically, and you try to minimize your own damage by using cover and good movement, then maximize your damage against the enemy using good tactics and your reflexes. But the health system is still in place, so if you take damage near to the point of death, all you have to do is run away and hide for a few seconds to get it back. However, if you die... you go down and have to wait a certain amount of time before you either "bleed out", get curb stomped or further shot to death by an opponent, or "revived" by one of your teammates. Failing revival, you just die and that's it for the round. You don't respawn. So the team thing is really the focus.

iPPi · « **Reply #56 on:** Monday, November 20, 2006, 03:41:55 PM »

Well I finally tried Gears of War. I opened it yesterday but didn't have time so after classes today I just sat down for 30 minutes and gave the game a shot.

One word: Difficult.

Amazing game though. I chose to play on Hardcore, and in retrospect that may be a bad idea since I died like 5 times on the training mission... literally. I just finished the training, but I think I'm gonna go back and play it on Casual first.

scottws · « **Reply #57 on:** Monday, November 20, 2006, 03:47:01 PM »

Quote from: Pugnate on Monday, November 13, 2006, 10:38:15 PM

I wonder why. It is pretty standard to have DM. 1 v 1 sounds pretty cool though.

Sure DM is standard, but it's also really lame. The only time I ever liked DM was in Goldeneye.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #58 on:** Monday, November 20, 2006, 06:38:45 PM »

I'm a hardcore DM guy, but... eh. This game was designed around teams, so that's the way it goes.

And don't judge it too much on the first half hour, JB. It does take a little getting used to.

MysterD · « **Reply #59 on:** Tuesday, November 21, 2006, 06:41:32 PM »

Looks like there might be more than a GoW2 -- there might be GoW trilogy planned!

Quote

Gears of War trilogy confirmed?

Source: A GameDaily interview with Jeff Bell, Microsoft's corporate vice president of global marketing.

What we heard: Though it might not be Halo 3, there's little question that Gears of War is a monster hit for the Xbox 360. Less than two weeks after its release, the game surpassed Halo 2 as the most-played title on Xbox Live. It has topped charts in the UK, and was second only to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on Bestbuy.com's sales rankings for the week of November 13-19. As of November 21, two weeks after its release, over 1 million units of the game had sold worldwide.

In addition to its popular success, Gears of War is also arguably the best-reviewed game of the year. Besides earning a 9.6 from GameSpot--tying the Xbox 360 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as the highest-rated game of 2006--Epic Games' shooter enjoys a sparkling 95 metascore on Metacritic, which averages dozens of game-review Web sites' ratings.

Given Gears of War's ability to tickle critics and mint money, a sequel is a near-certainty. However, the GameDaily interview with Bell appears to reveal Microsoft has even grander plans for the game. When outlining his company's holiday ad blitz, the marketing guru gushed about Gears' burgeoning popularity. "Gears of War is a popular culture phenomenon in the making," he said, referencing a semi-controversial television advertisement. "The goal of this ad is to establish Marcus Fenix as the hero of the Gears of War trilogy. The intention is to create emotional connection with him that is lacking in typical third-person action title marketing." (Emphasis added.)

The official story: Microsoft representatives had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Looking not bogus. Though it might be a ways off--the original took over two years to develop--Gears of War 2 is pretty much a lock, particularly given its (SPOILER ALERT) cliffhanger ending (END SPOILER). As for a third, Bell appear to unofficially confirm comments made by Epic's meteoric lead designer Cliff Bleszinski, who has said on numerous occasions he wants to make Gears a trilogy along the lines of Halo. Now, it would appear Microsoft does too.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #60 on:** Tuesday, November 21, 2006, 11:47:25 PM »

Awesome.

ScaryTooth · « **Reply #61 on:** Friday, November 24, 2006, 04:37:33 PM »

Man, this game is insanely awesome.

How long is it, Que? I've been playing all day, heh.

(click to show/hide)

Quemaqua · « **Reply #62 on:** Friday, November 24, 2006, 04:44:17 PM »

The game is hideously short. So short you'll contemplate suicide when it's over. But don't despair... it's totally fun to play through again. My 2nd run was just as fun as my first. The action is so solid that it's just plain satisfying even repeated, and if you up the difficulty it feels even better. So don't worry too much about it. I beat it in 2 days. But there's still incentive to play again, *especially* if you do some coop.

ScaryTooth · « **Reply #63 on:** Saturday, November 25, 2006, 12:26:01 AM »

Oh man, I just beat it a little bit ago, heh. I played all day. Took me 12 hours to beat it. I haven't had a gaming session like that in a long long time. That was fun. Awesome game. I felt like such a bad ass running around getting behind walls and shit. The graphics are amazing, the sound is awesome, the gameplay was top. All around bad ass game. I'm going to play through it again.

I watched the credits and, John Di Maggio(the guy who does Bender's voice) does Fenix's voice, heh. Cool.

idolminds · « **Reply #64 on:** Saturday, November 25, 2006, 12:39:45 AM »

Some link I dont feel like digging up in response to MysterDs post. Cliffy stated that GoW might not be a trilogy, meaning as long as the series sells, they will make more sequels. 4, 5, 6 games? Whatever.

iPPi · « **Reply #65 on:** Saturday, November 25, 2006, 01:06:13 AM »

Wow you went through the game incredibly quickly. While I do hear it is short, I'm only on act 2 right now myself.

ScaryTooth · « **Reply #66 on:** Saturday, November 25, 2006, 11:30:25 AM »

I played from about 12:30pm yesterday, until about 12:45am this morning. With about an hour worth of breaks. So, it's aout the average length of any action game really. It was awesome.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #67 on:** Saturday, November 25, 2006, 11:53:26 AM »

Shorter for me. I think I only got about 9 hours out of it. But, of course, playing through again is great, so I have no complaints. Though in the future I'd hope the games would be longer. Now that they've worked out the systems somewhat and such.

Xessive · « **Reply #68 on:** Sunday, November 26, 2006, 10:28:47 PM »

I just played GoW. I am speechless. If beauty could manifest itself in a video game it just did. It is incredible.

MysterD · « **Reply #69 on:** Monday, September 03, 2007, 07:28:39 AM »

GoW: Hidden Fronts map pack has been released for free for the X360 over XBLive

Quote

'Gears of War' Map Pack Free Today
[Uros "2Lions" Jojic] 02:15 am EDT @ September 03rd, 2007
As 1UP reports: "The Gears of War "Hidden Fronts" map pack, which sold for 800 Microsoft points ($10) when first released in May, will be made available for free starting Monday, September 3rd at 2am (PDT)."

Hidden Fronts -- which includes the Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process, and Subway multiplayer maps -- has been downloaded by nearly 500,000 gamers to date, and will follow the original map pack and the Annex gametype into the realm of free content for Epic's system-selling shooter.

News:

Author Topic: First Gears of War review is up at GSpot! (Read 8822 times)