Gears of War is apparently amazing

[FrostyBoy]

The real question is; is it coming out for PC and when? and if it isn't coming out for PC, why the hell not?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Sn00py
The real question is; is it coming out for PC and when? and if it isn't coming out for PC, why the hell not?

Microsoft provided the funding for the game as their Xbox 360 system seller before Halo 3 is out.

So if it does come to the PC, it'll be years down the road a la Halo and Halo 2.

[flash9286]

From the Gamespot article:

Hammer of Dawn, which is an orbital satellite that beams down hot, fiery death from above when you paint a target.

lol, that sounds more fun than the chainsaw.

[vovan]

Well, my roommate brought the game in yesterday around noon, and we pretty much played it with breaks just for food till like 1am. Skipped classes, work, everything.

First off, the graphics are absolutely stunning. Easily the best looking game so far. As a programmer with an interest in games myself, I was very very impressed with some of the things the graphics engine can do, but really you don't need to be a tech geek to appreciate how stunningly great the game looks. I can't wait for more games to use the engine.

Next up is the gameplay. It's cool. I am personally not a very big fan of FPS (well this one is a TPS, technically), but I like it. Only things that bother me are aiming (I suck even with the mouse, but using the analog sticks to aim is even worse for me, but that's of course a limitation of the platform) and some quirks with hiding behind obstacles. Here's the thing, like the review on Gamespot says (that's the only one I've read), you pretty much have to hide. The gameplay is basically find an obstacle, hide, pop-out and take some shots, hide, reload and heal, pop out again and take more shots, advance to the next obstacle. That actually is pretty cool, because it's sort of different from other shooters. You can only take a few shots before dying, so you have to hide, unlike some other shooters where enemies need to pump you with your weight's worth of lead for you to feel it. So that's a cool concept in my books. But sometimes this hiding thing can be a little bit clunky. It's all good when you are hiding behind flat objects, like walls and what-not, but if you hide behind a more complex object, say a car, (incidentally, you can push cars around - very useful mobile obstacle - that's about as close as you come to driving... spike ), sometimes this won't work as you expect. Like if you come up from behind a car, and press the button to hide, sometimes if you aren't aligned quite right, you will hide on the side of the car, not behind it, so that can be a bad thing for your survival.

Also, a little annoying is that when you hit the melee button to use the chainsaw, you take your thumb off the stick, so you can't really turn. That, together with the fact that the chainsaw takes a bit of time to fire up, makes it a bit hard to use for my taste.

Other than those minor gripes, the game is awesome. Oh, also, story... Umm, yeah, it's a shooter people, expecting a good story is like wanting one in a porn movie. Sorry, ain't going to happen. Although my rommate got the collector's edition of the game so it came with a little colored booklet with lots of pictures. It gives you a bit more background info on what the heck is going on. So if you really want a story, you can always shell out a few more $$.

So yeah. Awesome game. Not a 10/10 due to the minor quirks, but a 9.5 for sure.

[vovan]

Originally posted by flash9286
lol, that sounds more fun than the chainsaw.

Well, it depends on what is more fun to you: see a beam from the skies fry a squirming enemy, or whip out the ol' chainsaw and saw them in half with a very satisfying sound and blood flying in all directions. I, personally, prefer the chainsaw just for the pure gory satisfaction of it. The other weapon is surprisingly anticlimactic in action.

[RGBVideo]

looks like hype

and we all know it will work, and this will sell well

sigh

[Asher]

Hype is what happens before it's released, the excellent reception after occurs for a good game.

Although I am concerned that it will be like Nintendo games, which are sold on hype and thus expections are so high weird psychology works so that the fans can't see how dull a game is.

We'll see.

[vovan]

Originally posted by Asher
Although I am concerned that it will be like Nintendo games, which are sold on hype and thus expections are so high weird psychology works so that the fans can't see how dull a game is.

Well, to me, it's a play through once game. I will definitely finish it, but probably won't play it again afterwards. So I don't know if that fits your definition of dull or not.

[Asher]

No, it looks fun to me.

Dull is Super Mario Sunshine, Zelda: Wind Waker, Luigi's Mansion, Mario Golf, etc.

[RGBVideo]

We'll see.

I hope I'm wrong and it's really a good game, since we've seen a lot of mediocre games, particularly FPS's, becoming top sellers after lots and lots of hype during release. It started around the time when Black&White was released, reviewers not realizing that the game they're praising will get old within a few days and is actually a mediocre cake with pretty icing.

The concept of this game looks like FarCry all over again. Very short and fun single player, bad multiplayer... well-displayed pretty graphics overwhelm the reviewers trying to finish up their article for the deadline, ensuring rave reviews and big sales.

[Asher]

The cooperative mode looks amazing, and it's something I'm very happy with. As far as I'm concerned, that's multiplayer...

Regarding deathmatch-type multiplayer, I'm growing tired of that after, oh, 10 years. I prefer multiplayer like Splinter Cell...unless a game does something radical with multiplayer in an FPS it's not really a feature to me.

[vovan]

Originally posted by VJ

we've seen a lot of mediocre games, particularly FPS's, becoming top sellers after lots and lots of hype during release. It started around the time when Black&White was released, reviewers not realizing that the game they're praising will get old within a few days and is actually a mediocre cake with pretty icing.

Oh, I definitely see your point, and I have myself been disappointed by overhyped games that turned out to be not that great after all. I'll make sure to come back to this thread in a week or two, after me and my roommates have beat the game to post an update on whether any of us still desire to play more or it got old.

Vovan

[Asher]

I ran out and hit the flagship Toronto Best Buy store just now, and snagged the last copy of Gears of War they had (and picked up Call of Duty 3 also).

[El_Cid]

Originally posted by vovan


Well, to me, it's a play through once game. I will definitely finish it, but probably won't play it again afterwards. So I don't know if that fits your definition of dull or not.

Aren't all these kind of games? I thought that was the idea, lots of 'wow-band' graphics - one play through then onto the next game. Its the perfect publishing model?

Enjoy your 10-12 hrs of entertainment for £50(better value than a movie!!). Unsurprisingly i'm not interested at all in it

[Asher]

It's only 10-12 hours if you play it through once on easy.

I usually play games like this on easy to get the hang of it, then try again on hardcore/hard. It's usually a much different game.