Gears of War 2

[DuckThor Evil]

I was rocking through having a good time all without much difficulty on hardcore. Then I hit the first(last?) vehicle segment. Decided to take a break and come back to it later because I can see myself getting very frustrated.

Are you talking about the Human vehicle with a rocket launcher? If so then you should know (if don't already) that Baird fixes the tank constantly, but it takes a while for him to do it after it get's damaged, so don't just plast through like a maniac and give him time to repair it . If you are talking about the sections were things kind of fall under you, then just drive really slowly. If you are talking about something entirely different, just forget everything I said

 

[Pugger]

I'm still at the beginning of the game. Is it like cutscene, a bit of gameplay, cutscene, rince and repeat or it gets more about gameplay later on? 'Cause the only game I like that does that is is MGS. GoW cutscenes are too cheesy for me. They lack the intentional self ridicule of MGS :smile:

The cut scenes are short (in short I mean around 1 hours shorter than some of MGS scenes!) and there's not that many to be honest. The game hits the ground running and just keeps on going.

 

[Tap In]

I'm not a big SP campaign player but this game's Sp keeps drawing me back in.

Is this game beautiful to look at or what? I find myself wanting to play just to see what the next vista looks like. After playing 3 years of Next Gen games, I've got my brain wrapped around what the best texture quality is possible with 512MB of RAM and it is just on this side of being "flat" in most cases especially if you look too closely. This game does as good a job as any to walk that fine line of extremely high quality looking texture resolutions (given the Ram constraints) without having to squint to avoid seeing the flaws.

also the story and interaction with the teammates makes me feel like I am in a real squad in a real war. (sort of )

I also like how you can start a separate save point form anywhere and continue on a different difficulty level.. I have been playing normal as I get used to the game (only played Gears 1 for about a week) and have started a continuation of my game midway with Hardcore. If it gets too much I'll go back to normal

 

[obonicus]

Got the game yesterday, rushed through the campaign. It's incredibly polished, and yeah, there's so much happening on the screen. I do think they went a little light on some of the core combat, and opted for too many gimmicks, which weren't really as ironed out as the stop and pop gameplay.

I'd have liked to see more of the old enemies, particularly more Theron guards and more boomers. I don't think grinders/maulers were as fun as the boomers. And in contrast, the mortar locust felt a bit cheap.

Also, if there's a Gears of War 3, what're we gonna see? Ninjas vs. dinosaurs?

 

[chambers]

I just finished the single player the other day and it was a blast. I picked up Resistance 2 before this and was very disappointed with the way that changed from the first one, but I have no complaints for Gears 2, everything is better. Horde mode and the ability to use bots in matches are both great combined with split screen gameplay.

 

[DrJay24]

I finally picked up gears 2 in a trade (for Fable 2 which I could not get into, but will finish later).


I can't comment on the SP, just played some bot matches. I don't think it looks much better than Gears 1, not that that is bad, but there has been some talk about how well UE has evolved. If it has it's hard to see.

They did add some color, which is good. It looks a lot like UT3 with the 3rd person mutator. The dreaded UE streaming texture delays still exist, even when playing from a full install. I look forward to some co-op, but I have to wait for my buddy to get it.

 

[vanquish]

I recently finished my playthrough of the game and was blown away by the production values, the visuals are an impressive achievement both technically and artistically. Epic has again raised the bar again for visuals on the 360.

The art design of the Locust, their creatures and their environments are particularly striking. I was not expecting the game to look significantly better than Gears 1 but it does, and the game's cinematic appeal is further bolstered by the thrilling Hollywood style action sequences. The greater length and scope of the campaign and the darker writing help address some of the shortcomings of the original.

I'm beginning to have doubts over whether even Killzone 2 can match some of environments seen in the game, and I'm quite confident that it has the character detail contest all sewn up (even compared to any other AAA titles).

Multiplayer is also great with a full suite of cooperative and competitive modes, the addition of bots just shows how much Epic has packed into this game. I also like the neat touches like how texture streaming is shown working while you load multiplayer maps. (and is far more interesting than watching a progress bar).

A question I have on the technical side of things, I assume it is still 720p with no AA.
If so is there some sort of edge blurring or similar post processing effect to compensate? As I haven't noticed any significant aliasing during my playthrough.

And how is it that playing splitscreen sees no discernable difference in IQ from singleplayer (to me at least), while in other titles such as Halo 3 the SS IQ differences are very noticeable.

 

[Neb]

I'm beginning to have doubts over whether even Killzone 2 can match some of environments seen in the game, and I'm quite confident that it has the character detail contest all sewn up (even compared to any other AAA titles).

The cave part is magnificent.

A question I have on the technical side of things, I assume it is still 720p with no AA.

If so is there some sort of edge blurring or similar post processing effect to compensate? As I haven't noticed any significant aliasing during my playthrough.

I am sure it is 720p and it sure is in the resolutions thread. Maye the aliasing is less visible ebcouse of edge AA and post-process + color contrast between objects. i also found it hard to single out jaggies in UT3 with no AA enabled.

And how is it that playing splitscreen sees no discernable difference in IQ from singleplayer (to me at least), while in other titles such as Halo 3 the SS IQ differences are very noticeable.

I wonder if they render effects, post-process etc at lower resolution to compensate. Would perhaps not make that large of a difference IQ but make it possible to render more?

 

[ultragpu]

I'm beginning to have doubts over whether even Killzone 2 can match some of environments seen in the game, and I'm quite confident that it has the character detail contest all sewn up (even compared to any other AAA titles).

The lack of dynamic lighting & shadows is really killing the overall look of the game. I just dont get that wow feeling like when I played the 1st one. UE3 is really showing its age with it's dated lighting model imo. The only things stood out the most from the sequel were art design and texture res, (although I hated those repeated textures with a passion, eye killing!). Also the character model in gears2 is hardly industry leading at least in terms of raw polycount, 15000 poly Marcus vs 35000poly Drake. I wouldn't even put gears2 in Killzone2's league though, in terms of overall visual package IMO. But dont wanna drag this on since we're just expressing our own opinions. cheers.

 

[Neb]

...15000 poly Marcus vs 35000poly Drake...

How come Drake gets a bump in the polycount from time to time?

latest I heared was Diamant on this forum saying 25-30k.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This is a polite note to signal further OT comparison talk will be removed. Game comparison talk requires separate threads. Thanks.

 

[vanquish]

The lack of dynamic lighting & shadows is really killing the overall look of the game. I just dont get that wow feeling like when I played the 1st one. UE3 is really showing its age with it's dated lighting model imo. The only things stood out the most from the sequel were art design and texture res, (although I hated those repeated textures with a passion, eye killing!). Also the character model in gears2 is hardly industry leading at least in terms of raw polycount, 15000 poly Marcus vs 35000poly Drake. I wouldn't even put gears2 in Killzone2's league though, in terms of overall visual package IMO. But dont wanna drag this on since we're just expressing our own opinions. cheers.

I was quite impressed by the lighting (although not as good as KZ2 obviously) in some parts of the game, like when Jack or the Derrick is following you with their flashlights on.

With regards to character detail, I was referring to the actual art, rather than sheer polygon counts, I remember reading a book on the art of Gears of War, nd how the use 100 million polygon models to make the normal maps. And if Marcus et all are only 15000 polys, then it definitely shows how Epic can do more with less.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

It's a difference in art styles. Most people would probably say that Marcus is the industry leading asset, just because the character artwork has a ridiculous amount of obvious in-your-face detail.
Does it matter in the end? I don't think so. It's like asking who's using more molecules for their paitings, Michaelangelo or Caravaggio... or rather in this case, Valleyo or Brom

 

[obonicus]

It's a difference in art styles. Most people would probably say that Marcus is the industry leading asset, just because the character artwork has a ridiculous amount of obvious in-your-face detail.
Does it matter in the end? I don't think so. It's like asking who's using more molecules for their paitings, Michaelangelo or Caravaggio... or rather in this case, Valleyo or Brom

Vallejo has better-looking women, so... wait, is he Epic or Guerilla?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

He's the Really Naughty Dog.

 

[tha_con]

Finally I'm able to sink my teeth into this Only finished the first chapter last night, hopefully I'll have more free time today to play more!

 

[Rangers]

Got the game yesterday, rushed through the campaign. It's incredibly polished, and yeah, there's so much happening on the screen. I do think they went a little light on some of the core combat, and opted for too many gimmicks, which weren't really as ironed out as the stop and pop gameplay.

I'd have liked to see more of the old enemies, particularly more Theron guards and more boomers. I don't think grinders/maulers were as fun as the boomers. And in contrast, the mortar locust felt a bit cheap.

Also, if there's a Gears of War 3, what're we gonna see? Ninjas vs. dinosaurs?

I agree with a lot of your thoughts, which I've already posted about. I think it's a great, Epic, sprawling game, yet I still oddly think the first was superior.

I also agree with the Ninjas versus Dinasours qoute, I think Epic got too caught up in the idea of just trying to come up with the most over the top scenarios they could (picture staff meeting: "how about, fighting ten brumaks, while flying backward, while on fire!") instead of making a solid game that flows naturally so the highs mean something. I noticed this in some interviews they gave and I was worried about it before the game even shipped.

Hell, honestly I still feel like we were denied a proper, one on one, on foot, Brumak fight. You may see, fly, ride by, ride on, dozens of brumaks in this game, but not once to you get up close and personal for a fight. In fact the many times you face Brumaks you are seeing usually LOD models and such from a distance, making me wonder to this day if the system simply cant handle a proper PC-style Brumak battle that I crave so much.

And you didn't even bring up the very lackluster end boss/ending. The only positive thing about the ending is it felt so rushed, It honestly gave me some hope that the initially ridiculous-seeming Gears 3 in 2009 rumors are actually true. Though I really doubt it, man that would be a happy surprise.

 

[obonicus]

And you didn't even bring up the very lackluster end boss/ending. The only positive thing about the ending is it felt so rushed, It honestly gave me some hope that the initially ridiculous-seeming Gears 3 in 2009 rumors are actually true. Though I really doubt it, man that would be a happy surprise.

Yeah, I don't know why I didn't. RAAM wasn't a great boss, but the Predator guy fight was just stupid.

Spoiler

I thought it might be a bit like RAAM, so I went and picked up a torque bow and a sniper rifle, and then the cutscene happens... look, a lancer out of nowhere! Wait, heat-seeking columns and chainsaw battles over and over? Then half-rate Panzer Dragoon?

The last chapter was cool, in contrast, though I feel they give you the hammer of dawn only begrudgingly. Also, it's a hell of a lot more powerful this time around.

 

[jb]

I kind of agree the boss fights this time around dont seem as fun as they were in Gears. However there are other things Gears 2 does better. In the end I really liked them both and think Gears 2 did more things "right" then it did wrong. That is the hard thing with a squeal as you have a reputation or a measuring stick to live up to...

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D4foUP2LuX8

I hope Epic is planning on patching these issues.