Gears of War 2

[Rangers]

Yep, instead of being tighter and more focused (code words for repetitive) Gears 2 uses weak plot elements to string together a large variety of gameplay dynamics to keep the gameplay unrepetitive. I will take fresh gameplay with a lame story over a solid story with poor repetitive gameplay anyday.

But then again I don't play many games for stories (because almost all of them stink, are cliche, and poorly executed). But that is my take on the game story genre. Horde is a good example of excellent gameplay with really, really bad "story telling." I think more games would benefit from not bowing to the concept of story and leave the story stuff to games that do it well.

Except for all the "un repetitive" gameplay is the worst.

Whereas for my dollar what Gears does well is on foot firefights. Those are the fun parts of the game.

There's never been a fun vehicle section in an FPS yet imo, and Gears 2 wasnt the first. They are simply "tolerable".

 

[vanquish]

There's never been a fun vehicle section in an FPS yet imo, and Gears 2 wasnt the first. They are simply "tolerable".

What?

Have you never played Halo?

 

[Rangers]

What?

Have you never played Halo?

Interestingly the closest thing to an exception I was going to mention was Halo 1 and the warthog.

 

[vanquish]

Interestingly the closest thing to an exception I was going to mention was Halo 1 and the warthog.

Yeah, those were some crazy physics back in the day. It was like: "oh crap that plasma mortar sent me flying, I hope I land the right way up after this triple barrel roll!"

 

[obonicus]

Yep, instead of being tighter and more focused (code words for repetitive) Gears 2 uses weak plot elements to string together a large variety of gameplay dynamics to keep the gameplay unrepetitive. I will take fresh gameplay with a lame story over a solid story with poor repetitive gameplay anyday.

Well, calling GeoW1's story 'strong' is a pretty heavy exaggeration. But otherwise, Gears is a series that does better off repetition. The central, 'pop and drop' gameplay is very strong. In contrast, all the gimmicky stuff you do in Gears 2 doesn't hold up (in part because some of it is really really bad). It's more original, yeah, but I get a 'everything but the kitchen sink' game-design vibe. With Gears 2, what I get is okay, I'm

Spoiler

riding a Brumak/riding a Reaver/driving a tank/sitting in a silly platform/'platforming' through a rock worm/etc.

, can I get back to going on foot and killing Locusts? And 'mixing it up' the way they do for the Predator Locust boss is just terrible.

 

[Acert93]

I never said Gears 2 had a strong story...

 

[AlNom]

They manage to pay homage every great sci-fi universe out there though. What will they have next? Those experiments with Sires... what were they thinking Just seems way too out out there. I didn't mind the brumak or giant worf stuff. It was just this... pay-off to having gone through all those waves of locust; it's this over-the-top feeling where they just do not take themselves all that seriously. The Horde mode easily takes care of that need to play over and over and over again without any other objective than killing A.I.

They ought to have the boomer class be chainsawed limb by limb instead of just being invincible to it. Heck, they should even dual wield those lancers and hammerbursts for the sake of Awesome. Maybe they should try having the chainsaw take down a player's shield after a couple attempts... It might be interesting for gameplay reasons. I don't know. Whenever I fight a bloodmount, it seems too ridiculous that they cannot take me down because I'm holding up a giant metal shield.

 

[vanquish]

They manage to pay homage every great sci-fi universe out there though. What will they have next? Those experiments with Sires... what were they thinking Just seems way too out out there. I didn't mind the brumak or giant worf stuff. It was just this... pay-off to having gone through all those waves of locust; it's this over-the-top feeling where they just do not take themselves all that seriously. The Horde mode easily takes care of that need to play over and over and over again without any other objective than killing A.I.

They ought to have the boomer class be chainsawed limb by limb instead of just being invincible to it. Heck, they should even dual wield those lancers and hammerbursts for the sake of Awesome. Maybe they should try having the chainsaw take down a player's shield after a couple attempts... It might be interesting for gameplay reasons. I don't know. Whenever I fight a bloodmount, it seems too ridiculous that they cannot take me down because I'm holding up a giant metal shield.

I agree with Al, the set pieces and storyline, though over the top, (was generally handled well) and made the game much more interesting, rather than just being another dark and gloomy TPS (which is oversaturated genre currently).
It turned it into some sort of action-adventure/TPS hybrid like Uncharted.
Which makes sense for the genre actually, as third person shooter's are somewhat like FPS lite. And most other third person games such as GTA or platformers have varied gameplay.

Go play Dark Sector or something, if you just want repetitive TPS combat gameplay, level after level.

 

[mcsven]

After purchasing Gears 1 with my 360 many moons ago I had left it fallow because I'd found that it just wasn't that enjoyable. However my girlfriend bought me Gears 2, so I figured I'd better get on with it. Returning to Gears 1 I realised that my issue was the difficulty; when playing an FPS on the PC I always go for 'Hard' or similar - clearly I'm just not much cop when playing with a console controller, and ended up repeating parts over and over. This kills my enjoyment fast.

Anyhow, I finished Gears 2 this weekend and I must say that I enjoyed both games thoroughly. I thought Gears 2 was better, mainly due to sheer polish (draw distance, smoke trails on rounds, sound effects, glowing muzzles etc etc) though I agree that some of the vehicle bits were somewhat weak. Anything 'on rails' tends to feel less of a game to me these days (bar when you're actually 'on rails', i.e. "On A Rail" from Half-Life! ).

Re: the storyline:

Spoiler

I thought it was pretty clear from hints within the game that the secret lab was where the Locust were originally created. That is why the Queen, in her opening speech, referred to mankind 'bringing this on themselves' and the mountain location to which the lab administrators escaped to also happened to be the way to 'Nexus'. What's happening with Marcus' father is another matter however...

 

[vanquish]

Re: the storyline:

Spoiler

I thought it was pretty clear from hints within the game that the secret lab was where the Locust were originally created. That is why the Queen, in her opening speech, referred to mankind 'bringing this on themselves' and the mountain location to which the lab administrators escaped to also happened to be the way to 'Nexus'. What's happening with Marcus' father is another matter however...

I think the fact that we're actually discussing the story, says that they've done something right.

Actually I think the Sires are not the Locust, (and it helps if you've read all the collectibles) but rather some experiment gone awry by the humans trying genetic experiments as a 'bridge to the future' (or as a way of countering the Locust with their own mutant army). The experiments could have used Immulsion as a catalyst.

If so this could explain why they look similar to the Locust, as the Locust could in fact be humans who moved underground ages ago and were mutated by the exposure to Immulsion.

I don't believe that the Sires are the forefathers of the Locust for the simple reason that there are a lot of Locust ruins, temples and a civil hierachy, which would have hardly sprang up in a decade or two, and instead suggest a longstanding Locust civilisation.

 

[obonicus]

They manage to pay homage every great sci-fi universe out there though. What will they have next? Those experiments with Sires... what were they thinking Just seems way too out out there. I didn't mind the brumak or giant worf stuff. It was just this... pay-off to having gone through all those waves of locust; it's this over-the-top feeling where they just do not take themselves all that seriously. The Horde mode easily takes care of that need to play over and over and over again without any other objective than killing A.I.

I disagree, I think it's a result of GeoW2's (well, most games') design by committee process. It reminds me of stuff I've read about God of War's design process: Jaffe would ask for everything, including the kitchen sink, but the programmers would only pay attention if he had asked for it 2-3 times. And God of War is a game that thrives off its cluttered gameplay (in part because no individual part is the best in its genre). Gears was a game where part of the coolness came from the fact that you were essentially fighting monster dinosaurs. But IMO GeoW2 managed to disarm that. Reavers are just another thing you kill and are more annoying than anything. Brumaks and corpsers are just cannon fodder as well.

 

[Tap In]

Title update 3 and new map pack drop tomorrow

Rod Fergusson has posted the official TU3 release notes.

http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=667510

Rod Fergusson wrote:

Improvements
Title Update 3 makes these new improvements:

• Adds 100 levels of player experience that you can gain based on your score in Public matches. The game still uses Trueskill for matchmaking to find the most competitive matches, but the skill rank is now hidden. The new level of experience appears next to your gamertag, with levels 1 through 99 displayed as numbers and level 100 displayed as an icon. The game normalizes experience based on match type so that players earn an equivalent amount of experience across all modes.
• Adds an experience penalty for players quitting before a match is complete.
• Adds bots automatically to a Public Match if players quit and cause unbalanced teams. This ability has always existed in Private Matches if the bot count is set higher than zero.
• Optimizes playlists to only have two modes per playlist. Ties are decided by random selection.
• Adds the ability for teams to talk to each other between rounds in a Private Match.
• Adds the ability to save Public and Private Horde high scores after each complete wave, in case the host loses connection before failing or completing all fifty waves.
• Makes minor changes to general bandwidth usage.
• Adds region preference to matchmaking.
• Improves standby detection.
• Adds nine new achievements worth 250 points. Progress toward them starts after Title Update 3 is applied. Six of the new achievements require the Snowblind Map Pack, a set of four new maps to be released soon. The nine new achievements:
  o "Rookie Gear" (10 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 5 (Public only).
  o "Seasoned Gear" (20 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 15 (Public only).
  o "Battle-Tested Gear" (30 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 25 (Public only).
  o "Battle-Hardened Gear" (50 points): Reach level 50 and play a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
  o "Veteran Gear" (75 points): Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).
  o "Never Eat Red Snow" (20 points): Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Snowblind Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty).
  o "Icy Dead People" (25 points): Complete waves 1 through 50 on any Snowblind Map Pack map in Horde (any difficulty).
  o "Frigid Body Dynamics" (5 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).
  o "The Weather Outside Is Lethal" (15 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).​

Exploit Fixes
Title Update 3 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances:

• A player could swap from a pistol to a two-handed weapon during a cover slide and then mantle greater distances.
• Players could kill themselves in Wingman to avoid giving their opponents more points. Now, suicides and team killing will reduce team score.
• A player holding a meatshield could melee through some walls.
• A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a shield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol.
• A player could equip a two-handed weapon with a meatshield using either the Boltok or the Gorgon pistol.
• A player could prevent planted shields from being picked up by other players.
• Players could launch themselves into the air with a smoke grenade while mantling.

General Fixes
Title Update 3 fixes these other issues as well:

• An issue that caused chainsaw interruption when a player is shot to be less reliable in some body positions than in others.
• An issue where a third player could join a Public Wingman party lobby and remove another player from the game.
• An issue in Submission games where occasionally the meatflag would immediately run back to the spawn point after being dropped.
• An issue where players that were knocked down but not out (DBNO) while planting the Boomshield would appear to be standing.
• An elevation-based issue where the detection for a headshot might not align properly with certain character model heads.
• An issue that could cause Wingman teammates to have different character models.
• Additional miscellaneous bug fixes.

Balancing
Title Update 3 makes these balancing changes:

• Reduces stun duration of smoke grenades. Currently, characters always start to get up after 2 seconds.
• Gives melee the same delay after roadie running that shooting received in Title Update 2.
• Removes spawn protection from the Horde in Horde mode.
• Increased the forward angle that triggers chainsaw duels so that players with Lancers equipped won't be sawn from the side without a duel.
• Reduces the delay before a player can climb up after entering low cover.
• Makes minor changes to weapon spawns on the Subway map to provide greater balance.

We continue to test internally and monitor online gameplay to determine what else may need adjusting.

Thanks,

Rod.
​

 

[obonicus]

Title update 3 and new map pack drop tomorrow

Seems like a thorough list of changes. I wonder if the extra levels will make a difference.

 

[BRiT]

Only the Title Update 3 drops tomorrow. The map pack drops on the 31st.

 

[Tap In]

Only the Title Update 3 drops tomorrow. The map pack drops on the 31st.

thx!

 

[Shompola]

Hi,

I just bought Gears Of War 2, and I have never played the first one. is it ok to play the second one? Or should I search for a copy of the old one now? And what difficultu should I play? I played RE5 on hard difficulty and did not find that hard. Thanks in advance!

 

[Billy Idol]

Hi,

I just bought Gears Of War 2, and I have never played the first one. is it ok to play the second one? Or should I search for a copy of the old one now?

You don't need to know Gears of War 1 to enjoy GeOW2, but I would definitively recommend that you try to get a copy of GeOW1, because its a really good experience with excellent graphics and brutal non-stop action with some memorable parts.

 

[Shompola]

Yes I really want gears of war 1. But I refuse to buy classics/platinum and/or used copies. Thus I am in this situaion hehe.

So playing 2 and then 1 is ok? good!

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Hi,

I just bought Gears Of War 2, and I have never played the first one. is it ok to play the second one? Or should I search for a copy of the old one now? And what difficultu should I play? I played RE5 on hard difficulty and did not find that hard. Thanks in advance!

The story will make a little more sense if you play the first one, but not playing it won't ruin your enjoyment of the second one.

Regards,
SB

 

[Billy Idol]

The story will make a little more sense if you play the first one, but not playing it won't ruin your enjoyment of the second one.

Regards,
SB

agreed! (except: change "not playing it" to "playing it afterwards" :smile