Gears of War
 

November 12, 2006

Mark that day on your calender, folks.

It will be known as Emergence Day from now on. Of course, it's no coincidence that it's being released a mere 5 days from the launch of the Playstation 3. Just goes to show how brutal this generation's "Console Wars" are going to be.

Here's hoping that a demo is released soon enough, as I'm sure Microsoft and Epic both want this game to get as much exposure as possible, and what better way than to give gamers a taste with a demo, only to leave them salivating for more when Emergence Day arrives?

I'm sorry to say that Cliffy B. himself said that the demo wasn't coming out until after the game's release, if at all.

No I don't have a source to confirm this so question it if you like for time and factual truth will stand to be my witnesses.

Well, if time and factual truth are your alibies, then I guess I'll just have to accept it :biggrin:

If not the demo, than at least release the E3 playable walkthrough that Cliffy showed in the Marketplace so we can watch it in 720p.

A good alternative, no?

Watch this become the next Halo even though Halo wasn't anticipated at all. I can't see how Sony can do any good with the games coming out for 360 around Christmas and the ideal 360 price. Oh and it could be tough to play this game with Splinter Cell Double Agent coming out in October. Guaranteed AAA title that will be hella addicting.

True, but the PS3 is only $50 more for the standard which has everything, and more then the premium 360 has. Also Sony has a much larger following then either of the other two.

But hey, I learned a long time ago that you can never really predict what's going to happen before it does, so I just leave it at that each console has it's strengths and weaknesses and we won't know who "won" until it's all over anyway.

I'm a huge fan of Epic shooters, and can't wait for this one to come out. It's too bad that we won't be getting a demo of any sort (as they even had a multiplayer demo at E3), but I'd definitely rather have an earlier release rather than a demo and a year 2007 release.

Concerning the PS3, they still got the mysterious Killzone up their sleeve... Resistance isn't impressive in the least however.

Well non of the stuff for the 360 looked all that great at the E3 before it's release either. But that's because it still had 6 months before release, which is when the real magic happens for a game. Therefore the things we saw for the PS3, while some might not have been as impressive as others, they still had like 6 months before release, so it's not a good source to judge based upon. (and this is the key reason why E3 has now been moved to July to show off later and more complete builds of games.

Heck if you compare the E3 trailer for Tekken 5 to the final build of Tekken 5 there is a MASSIVE difference, so it really does make a huge difference.

Let's not forget that MS' got a new bundle coming out next I think which is a Premium 360 with PGR3, 3 months of XBOX LIVE and 1250 MS Points for the original price of a Premium Pack. Now that's good!

As for GEARS, it's one the title I'm craving and one that will definitely set a standard for Action-Adventure titles.

Good point. Though no one can argue that what was showed of Resistance was not impressive, and they clearly showed too much of too little.


I think we all knew this would happen. No price drop, but a better bundle to compete against the PS3. It's definitely a real good deal for anyone interested in the 360.

Yeah, a few months, especially when switching from a Beta Dev Kit to a Final Dev Kit can do wonders, just take a look at how DEAD RISING evolved visually in a couple of months.

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/...7062827520.jpg

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/...2043808783.jpg

Im have been on the waiting list for this game for about a month now. Im liking the chainsaw at the end of your gun!:lolsign:

Pricing info was also released for Gears of Wars. $59.99 for standard and $69.99 for deluxe. I have no info on what the differences are between the two.

Deluxe has an art book and a making of DVD for it.

Judging by the hype, the pictures, the videos, and whatnot..this could be one of the killer apps the 360 needs.

I'll be sure as hell to keep an eye on this baby.

I can't wait for this game for 360, along with a few other titles (Rainbow Six Vegas, Splinter Cell Double Agent, and Call of Duty 3)

I don't know if we're going to make this the official/unofficial thread for this game, but I'm going to try and keep this place up to date on this game.

GameTrailers.com now has a 3 part SD & HD gameplay demonstration on the functions, features and all around impressive demonstraion of this game that is TOTALLY worth checking out. Even if you're only slightly interested in this game.

Part I
SD: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...13652&type=wmv
HD: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...13656&type=wmv

Part II
SD: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...13654&type=wmv
HD: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...13655&type=wmv

Part III
SD: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...13656&type=wmv
HD: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...13657&type=wmv

Goddamn! This looks pretty goddamned impressive.

I hope Microsoft is smart enough to advertise the hell out of this one, because this game is a real system-seller from the looks of things.

I heard something yesterday about this one being leaked onto newsgroups. Any clarification of whether it's real or not?

Check it out, it's real. I don't think that it's possible for it not to be.

It happened, 7.2GB file. I don't have a flashed drive because well, I expect this system not to last 1yr without a problem and I'm on warranty. It's out there floating around fellas, just have to find it. :fishing:

Doesn't really matter though for you need a modded 360 to play it. And if you do somehow have a modded 360 you definatly won't be able to play it online which is just as amazing as the offline portion. In the end it would only be "you" who misses out... not anyone else.

But for some who don't have the intraweb, it's pretty cool.

The leak proably wont hurt enough to matter based on what you have to do to play it.

Unless your like tube and have 4 xboxs lying around.

But then how would you download it in the first place?

These minor details are inconsequential. I think he means no Live, or perhaps he will download it from a friends house.

Im probably going to play this online before I touch the single player. Sounds backwards, but this game is just screaming for some online blood baths.

There are 9 awesome multiplayer videos here. I'm pretty sure it's from the "Match made in Hell" event. The 8th and 9th video even show splitscreen, but I'm 99.9% sure that it's over system link so I don't know if you can do that over Live as well.

http://leech.thewopples.com/gow/

Looking good :)
Thanks for the links man.

Oh but you know, the Wii will like, totally have the best games EVAR, and games like Gears for the 360 and PS3 will just BLOW cos Sony suxx0rz amirite?

Seriously, i've had my eye on this game for a long time. I remember when Epic was everyone's whipping boy back in the 90s, when idiots seemed to think they were trying to unseat/copy iD software. Here we are today with Epic in position as possibly the best supplier of FPS games and ready with another stunning title. The amount of effort gone into creating this is staggering, if you appreciate all the different type of textures and content that had to be created even for those short clips.

Well anyway, it looks incredible and plays nice and smoothly too; I can't wait for other titles based on this engine to come out.

Are you a ...cyclops?

Isnt this game using the Unreal 3 engine? If so, then their are a slew of games coming out using this technology.

No, i'm a pirate... ha harr!

I think you can really tell what 1up was talking about when they mentioned some quirks with the context-sensitive A button, and with getting the chainsaw to work when you want it to. People were having difficulty navigating around obstacles or running away from enemies without getting stuck on things.

I really hope the game turns out well, but I imagine the multiplayer will take some getting used to.

I hope so because I only like games that have depth to them, and this looks to be one of thoes. As for people runing into things, that all depends. If it's because of sluggish controls then that would suck. If it's because the person is not aware of their surroundings then they're an idiot and they deserve a deth of a thousand pains.

I'm thinking the same thing. Those players are just picking up the game for the first time. I don't think the system is perfect, but I'm sure that with some practice you'd get use to how it works regardless.

Nah, it's their first time. You can clearly see a little progression through the videos.

The controls are simple and intuitives, you just need good dexterity and knowledge of how a game is suppose to work. Most of the times, the people playing the games during those videos are missing both.

Gears of War - for all intents and purposes is banned in Germany. Legal prostitution good, Gears of War bad?

Sucks to be German. Well, unless your into the whole prostitution thing. In that case, Cheers!

Germany's ratings rules are insane anyway. Luckily these days, products are individually rated in each country but in the past, a single European rating was given and it was always the Germans who insisted on stupid changes. In Soul Blade, Li Long has a three point staff rather than nunchuka because of the Germans and when the Gun-con was released, Namco had to paint them blue and orange over here because the Germans were worried kids might try to commit armed robbery with them.

If you look back over the pre-release Halo 2 updates, there's one where Franky goes to the German censors and then to ours here in the UK and whereas we will pass just about anything, they struggled to get Halo 2 rated in Germany.

Looking at the BBFC website (The English classification board), the only way to get your product an 18 rating these days is to have gratuitous, glorifed violence with no comeback, making drug use look fun or violent rape scenes and unlike America, getting an 18 rating for a film or game generally makes it more popular here whereas I understand that over there, an M rating tends to kill things off.

It can in the states... depending on the state. I have many friends in the US on X-box LIVE and they all say different things as to how M rated games react with the public in each state. It's interesting to see the differences from state to state, though I think the general gamer opinion is pretty uniform on the matter in the whole country, lol.

I know here in Canada, not many people care about ratings. We (or at least most) believe in personal responsability. Therefore we don't care if you were robbing the bank like you did in GTA: Vice City, your and F'n idiot and you're going to jail. Think of it as a "director's cut" of Vice City. Sure we still have ratings and what not here, but the only games that you have to be 18 to buy is Manhunt, so for all you minors just hop on a plane and come to Canada when you want to buy GTA4, or all you Germans if you want Gears of War. ^^

That's interesting because I'm living in Germany and my German copy of Soul Blade has Li Long with the nunchuk and my Gun-con that came with the uncut (!) German version of Time Crisis is dark grey. Urban legend?

Anyway, I guess the situation isn't all too bad, because we can easily buy games from neighbour countries like Switzerland and Austria and still have a German language version. A lot of games have been banned in Germany before and that didn't make them any less popular.

That's good to hear. Because if I lived in Germany and bought a 360, I'd be so pissed if I couldn't get gears simply because that's really the only game that's actually worth buying the system for. Sure there are other great games like Dead Rising and Condemned, but I wouldn't buy the system just for either of thoes.

I wouldnt say thats necessarily true, but then again, like Slayer X said, it varies greatly.

Sorry Slayer but why are you such a Xbox hater? You bash a system that you've purchased and either bought or rented MANY good games. Your gamertag shows them.

Call of Duty 2
Street Fighter 2
Chromehounds
Fight Night Round 3
Nintey-Nine-Nights
Dead Rising
Oblivion (For a console anyways)
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

These are all amazing games in my opinion that can ONLY be played/enjoyed as of now on the XB360.

I got my entertainment buck already from the machine with my 3000 games of Street Fighter II and various stomping matches with Skills in Chromehounds.

If nothing else came out for the system, I got my money's worth. However, we've yet to see what people can deliver now having a solid year's worth of development experience on the system.

Edit: COD2 is on the PC, however the vid card alone is a fair chunk of what the 360 cost.

I bash the 360 from time to time because first off if you don't try to look for the faults in something, it'll never get better. I'm not saying that it's a horrible system, but really, there's not much YET that I think makes you have to buy the system.

Side Note: SF2 is a great game, but the 360 controller is horrible for the game. I have SF2 for the SNES and the PS2 and thoes controllers work a LOT better then the 360 controller. In other words I regret buying it SF2 for the 360.

COD2... a great game it is, I play it on LIVE a lot too, still not something that I'd buy the 360 for over a PS3. (price doesn't matter to me)

Chromehounds
Fight Night Round 3
Nintey-Nine-Nights
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

While all entertaining, I didn't keep any of them longer then two weeks. And Oblivion is also coming for the PS3, therefore you don't HAVE to have a 360 to play the game. (unless you've got a shorter attention span then a five-year-old on speed drinking Red Bull)

And like I said Dead Rising, SC: Double Agent are the only two games that are close to being "killer apps". And then you have Gears of War which is what I bought the system for.

And finally you say that we should start seeing better stuff now that the system's been out for a year. Well I'm currently seeing better looking games on the PS3 that are coming out at launch or close to it that look better then almost ANY 360 game (other then Dead Rising, Gears of War & SC: Double Agent). LAIR, Motor Storm, Resistance, Ridge Racer 7, they all look better then the 360.

Long story short, there's lots of potential in that white box. And I'm not upset about the machiene itself, I'm upset with the lack of titles for it that actually make it look like you're playing Next-Gen, and not the next half of a gen.

Finally everything I say is simply my opinion of course. I'm not saying that it's the word of God or anything, it's just how things look from a gamer that plays two games a week, and if there's not a high enough amount of quality titles I become bored and cranky. Hence why I'm still playing my PS2 more then my 360, the games may not look as good, but there's a lot more new titles coming out for it that are really good then the 360 right now.

Gamespot had some exclusive footage run on their website. I don't know but it felt a bit dull, hmmm...GOR or COD3? :eyebrow:

http://www.gamevideos.com/gvdata1/7006/gowgspreview.wmv

While this statement is true, it's kind of faulty reasoning on your part. YOU will not effect any kind of change by looking for these "faults" and putting them on a still-kinda-obscure internet forum. Unless of course Microsoft has a team of dudes who sit around and scour internet forums for feedback on their system...

If you want to at least try to change things, you're probably better off talking to Microsoft themselves. Then again, they probably won't reply to you and certainly not with the fervor and tenacity of message board users, which is probably what you're after in the first place.

But you shouldnt think a console sucks because of a few trivial problems.

Theres gonna be problems wether you look for them or not. You need to look at the overall package and how much enjoyment or lack thereof you have gotten out of it, and base your decision on that.

Theres always room for improvement, but dont call it incomplete and garbage because the company has not made those improvements yet.

That opening scene looked amazing, but gameplay sure was dull. I can't believe how generic the actual level design is. Despite minor variations between checkpoints, the "arenas" where pretty much identical, with concrete blocks and debris placed in a systematic pattern throughout the rectangular area with no other purpose than to be used for cover. Most of the animations also looked unfinished.

I hope the final product will offer some more variety in those aspects.

I don't know why, but this game does not seem like it is going to be some killer game like Splinter Cell or Halo. Sorry it just doesn't. If I didn't have a 360, I wouldn't get one for this just by looking at videos and screens. We just have to wait and see.

Lost planet with a similar perspective and kind of game looks way more appealing.

I still hold high hopes for this game. Even if it isnt a killer ap its bound to be a great game none the less.

An ad was posted on the XBL marketplace and wow, that looked amazing on the DLP. Thank goodness for gameznflix, COD3 & GOW at my doorstep on release day. :)

Am I the only one that doesn't think this game looks all that good? Maybe I'm just not a fan of 3rd person shooters, but I think I'd be anticipating this more if it was a FPS.

I watched a lot of gameplay videos and stuff, and I'm not all that impressed. Nice graphics, but the gameplay looks over the top bloody and I donno. I'll still buy it, but I don't have insanely high hopes.

The tactical edge of the game appeals to me, and makes me think Day of Defeat, but when I see how slow they move and how relatively hard it is to kill someone, it shunts me back into the arcade frame of mind.

I personally hope the multiplayer is more of a tension-builder when it's sitting in my hands. Stop and pop is a good idea in theory, but what I've seen so far is mostly people getting lucky. If there's not that much difference between taking damage outside of cover and behind cover, then what's the point?

Alternately, if someone rushes you and you can't get unstuck from a wall, what good has the cover done you? =/

Like I said before, a lot of this is just speculation based on the MP vids I've seen, so I hope the context-sensitive A button doesn't turn out as bad as it looks right now.

No i guess you are not alone here.I equally hate bias and hype,sites and magazines create.

I am also not too impressed. I have bashed games earlier on just previews and videos, later finding them one of best. So i am still waiting for release.

I have bought 360 for DeadRising,Splinter and this.

Dead rising has satisfied me totally.

Waiting to get Double agent,it will be good too,already am mad over new levels,atmosphere and model of sam,looks damn nice.

If GoW will be average, i will really bash the game here. I am neutral now,for time being.

Then i will think to keep 360 or sell it. But Lost Planet is on the edge and then BioShock in feb and Mass effect in march.

If Bio or Mass will delay more, then i will suely sell the white box after LostPlanet.

Dude, Lost Planet at this point is so good that they could just release the demo as the full game and I would buy 5 copies of it.

http://trailers.gametrailers.com/gt_..._cinematic.wmv

Gary Jules - Mad World, i need this song.

Obviously I'm going to buy it and see whether I like it or not, and I hope I do... who doesn't want a good game? But, from the looks I probably won't like it. I'll buy it to decide for sure though.

You'll find it on the Donnie Darko soundtrack.

Watch the movie, while you're at it. =p

I know its from Donnie Darko, i want the single song not whole album.

Anyways,they said the whole ad is made in realtime, still the graphics look very plastic/clay mix. Anyone else is getting toy figure feel?

Thats just the Unreal 3 engine. It makes everything look like that.

One of the things that pissed me off most about GRAW was the sticking to cover nonsense. It's just one more thing to think about when you get unexpectedly out-flanked.

It's tricky for games to get a decent balance of realism and arcade and brave for one to attempt to fall between the two. Battlefield 2 MC does it ok but is far more arcade than realism. I think I'll withold judgement on this until I've played a demo myself. Some things you just can't tell from watching someone else play something.

I didn't have that problem at all. Perhaps because you move around quite alot, and rushing towards an enemy might not be the smartest thing ever.
A simple press on A gets you unstuck. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm getting the Limited Collectors Edition. Whether this game turns out excellent or crappy, I'm still gonna play it. I can't wait to see the achievement list for this game.:biggrin:

I didnt think this game would be as bad as GRAW when it came to getting unstuck from a cover spot. Taking cover is a major focus of this game, and being able to move from spot to spot smoothly is definately something they have worked on.

Masseffect,BIA dont look platic to me.

They do to me. You can pick out a game that was made using the Unreal 3 engine because they all have the same plastic look and a strange glow around alot of stuff.

Three new HD-QUALITY MULTIPLAYER VIDS!!!

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=1650



Looks awesome.

The HDR/bloom lighting that seems so prevalent in most of the U3 engine games doesn't NEED to be in there, but it's often used because it's the current fad. This sort of shit has been EVERYWHERE recently. It's not just games using this particular engine that are suffering from this design choice.

I never had any problems with motion sickness in first-person shooters, but just watching the Gears of War gameplay videos (especially with the running camera) makes me puke.

The running camera doesnt bother me, but it seems like your character is oddly placed on the screen. He seems in the way. The positioning in GRAW was alot better when switched to third person.

Based on the videos, the camera seems excellent in my opinion. It shows enough that you can see what you're suppose to see. If it showed too much it would discourage flanking.

Its gonna boil down to actually playing the game, but right now the camera seems a tad bit off. I just think of games like Resident Evil 4 that take the same approach camera wise, and nail it perfectly.

The fact that it has been basicaly the only game for the 360 that I think has lived up to the graphics standers of next generation gaming, that alone should be a buy. Game play in this game alone is the deciding factor but from what ive read and seen, It sure seem to fit the part of an amazing game.

Maybe I'm just swallowed up by the hype, but I can't imagine why anyone that owns a 360 would not buy this game.

I think and believe LostPlanet is much better than this and needs as equal hype and promotion as GoW.
Altough graphics are not apar with GoW but gameplay and other features surpasses GoW.
I have played LostPlanet demo and all i have to say is that when it comes to Capcom, gameplay always is addictive.

Latest from IGN:
'The graphics in Lost Planet are looking great so far, thanks in large part to some impressive particle effects. The smoke and fire in Lost Planet, and there is a lot of smoke and fire, look phenomenal. Seeing a rocket zip by your head and watching the nice smoke trail it leaves behind it looks so good that it makes your heart skip a beat. The ice looks excellent, too, as the designers have managed to avoid that plastic-like appearance we've seen in many other 360 games.'

I am glad about plasticless looks.

I think it's really just more of a timing thing. The release of GoW is coinciding with their competitors and MS just wants to steal all the attention. I'm sure that Lost Planet could just have easily taken the place of GoW. The demo looked and played great, but I'm not sure that it's fair to say that its gameplay surpasses that of GoW without having given it a try yet.

So what do u guys think about that Gears of War ad - Mad World?

I think it's a pretty cool commercial. Makes me wanna play it even more so, despite the fact that I don't have a 360, yet.

i'd post a link but apparently i'm just not good enough to :(

You can also post a link by starting it with hxxp:// instead of http://

But anyways http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...pe=wmv&pl=game

I like the fact that they didn't go for an overblown blood thirsty hardcore theme for the advert.

The ad was cool, and I think it does a really good job of drawing in people who may not have been familiar with the game. I personally wasn't as impressed by it as many others, but this is only because I was already actively following the game.

I was moved by the music, the choice of music was great, made me to request the track.

I had downloaded cutscene trailer from gamevidoes(it was first intital hours of story), i was shocked to see the cheesy voice acting.It was really corny.

So had to see and play whole game before jumping on any conclusion about cinematics and shit.

Graphics looking good but i think Deadrising and Oblivion were equally good if not better.I have to give credit to Oblivion even with jerks.
Its scale is so big, clip distance way long , where Gears is using too much depth of field,HDR and Bloom.The over all feel is not what i expected.

Still i have to say again, they could be hiding the real stuff.Few more days to go.

I don't think I ever said no one should buy this game. In fact clearly the opposite.

As much as I love the song, it still feels a tad bit out of place for the video. I know they were going for an opposites attract feel, but it just didnt fit the tone of the video.

Gotta agree with you here. The same played out stereotypical voices and attitudes

I would agree with you on Oblivion if you were referring to it on a PC with settings maxed. As for Deadrising looking better, please. Deadrisings only graphical claim to fame is how many zombies it can fit on screen.

I'm just curious, and if this question has been answered already then I apologise but will the GoW for PC ship with an editor like UT does?

On a different note, the more I watch these lovely videos of the game, the more tired I become of GoW. It looks stunning, but they seem to be playing up the "run and gun" aspect of the game. Someone narrating over one of the videos described the plot as very "deep" but the videos show none of that. The soldiers seem very stereotypical in their wooden dialogue and voice characterisation.

Epic in my experience have become supreme when it comes to technology, but judging from previous versions of UT and now GoW it looks like they aren't very skilled at story-telling; something which Dr. Barry Atkins (my teacher on my last degree) told me was very important in games to give them substance. At least, that's what he thinks and writes in his different publications.

Not all games require a deep storyline to have substance, but some would be alot better off with one.

Question concerning the release date of this game. Many I'm sure are aware of this and at times it drive me insane but when is the actual release date. I've seen shops like Gamestop & EB get it in stores (Nov. 7th) but won't sell until a few days later. Emergence Day as far as I know is November 12th so at this point in time I'm hearing mixed dates as to when I can actually walk up to the counter and have that barcode scanned and call it my own.

I beleive for those who pre-order they can pick it up early. Or at least thats what the gamestop guy said I could do on the 8th. I don't know if it's true. Im guessing stores that dont take pre-orders won't release until the 12th but will get in stock on the 7th or 8th.

I would like to have come clarity on this myself. My local EB told me the 8th, but alot of sites are saying the 7th, while on the other hand emergence day is on the 12th.

Edit: Thanks Throw.

IGN will definately notify you when it will hit shelves, afterall its Gears.

DeadRising: I personally go for complete screen composition. DR is most higly photorealistic game i ever have played, in other terms most real. Level of detail in Mall, each object, to pixelperfect detail. Zoom in the textures and they never burst out. Specially the roof top alone is most realistic scene/place i have ever experienced. Unbelievably photrealistic, high res texture maps.Try to zoom on pipes and wires they are made sperately, not bumpmapped or merged in one texture.I had taken pictures of many places and showed to many people, gamers and non-gamers, no one can make out if they are real or not , even i can't. Not talking about all of the places but most of them, though character models are not the best i have seen.

I played in HD wonder about SDtv.
Its not eyecandy stuff , its real stuff.

I also think that only game that can somehow surpass DR in photorealistc graphics is, Alanwake.

For me priority is like this

Story(for this voice acitng is most important and good script, can ignore bad motion capturing/direction).

Music.

Graphics(level design, environment aesthetics,great art is more important than great technology).

Gameplay(average gameplay can do).

Life defining,intelligent,emotional stories leave ever lasting mark on Brain whether its Novels,Movies or games. Games being interactive leave more deep scar on brain, isn't it?

This question goes to those who have downloaded the Gears of War ad from the XBL marketplace. I noticed that after the fall update, the Gears of War clip slightly, just very slightly, struggles a bit during the opening seconds. Anyone else have this going on with their 360, same thing happens with the TMNT 720p trailer as the camera works its way down from the high rise buildings to the rooftops. :eyebrow:

Just dropping in to say that the TV spot for this game is phenomenal. The music is amazing, and it all just looks so damned epic. I just might have to shell out for this one, even though I'm not a huge shooter guy.

Well it looks like I'll be using my Sears Gift card for this game, I just hope they have it available on the 7th or 8th. No way on earth am I going to wait until the 12th. I'm passing on COD3 so this game better impress me a helluva whole lot. :ashamed:

If story is your main priority with gameplay being your lowest then you should be watching movies and reading books instead of playing games. RPG's might be able to squeak by with subpar gameplay, but FPS/Adventure games are all about gameplay with story only increasing the overall appeal of the game.

Brokensword,DeusEx,EternalDarkness,Residentevil,MG S,Soulreaver,Yakuza,Darkearth,Halflife,Condemned etc , they all are action adventure and some FPS with equal concentration of both story and gameplay.I can name even more.

I had harldly missed any game on any console,alteast tried all if not finished.
What i meant, was that i can digest sacrifice of graphics to some level,and gameplay to some level,but can't compromise bad,cliched ,thrown for sake of it story.
Infact all games have same gameplay , its not monthly we get games like Okami or Shadowofthe Colossus, it happens rarely in years.Is Gears an different in gameplay, RE4 and Killswitch bastard child.
Why games you say, its because unlike movies and novels i lead the character and experience the story myself ,its dynamic and nonlinear.More hours , more music, more interactive.

I think we had enough of this, coming back to Gears talk, check this out

http://download.gamevideos.com/7292/...ow_640x360.wmv

My leveldesign/graphics worries are gone

Residentevil, MGS, DeusEx, Halflife, Eternal Darkness, are all games that are known for their style of gameplay. Gameplay isnt just talking about what genre the game is in, its talking about how well the game plays (hence the name). Its about responsive controls, how the ideas in the game are executed and how those ideas all tie together. Halo 1 had a great story that was even fleshed out in books, but its claim to fame is its tight gameplay and control.

Some games only have stories to provide some kind of momentum while you play. It seems like your arguing this case from an RPG players perspective. Where alot of times, story is very improtant.

Because based solely on what weve seen, GoW is refining those gameplay styles. I hate to keep using Halo to prove my point, but you know why its so popular? Because it refined the shooter genre for consoles. Much like GoW is doing for the next gen round of games.

Checking out the video now.

Edit: Links not working for me.

DeusEx and MGS atleast are famous for stories more than anything.Look at message boards of MGS, they hardly talk about stealth elements or gameplay.It was always story/cinematics that matters most for fans.MGS caought attention for cinematics,Kojima is famous for direction more. Stealth ideas are'nt his creation they were totally ripped from Thief. Even Splinter ripped the ideas.

DeusEx is best thing that has written uptill now in any medium, it had gameplay issues ,rememberd for story,choices but if you remember the game for gameplay than i seriously can't argue with you further.We will never see eye to eye on this.

Halo was famous for its Highly approchable/accessible gameplay, thats what developers said themsleves. Like Counterstrike it works for everyone even beginners and casual gamers.

Go to gamevideos.com ,Gears video is on top.

You hear that, ladies and gentlemen? Thief invented the whole concept of stealth in video games!

I suggest you shut the hell up, fuckstick. Tell me, how could MGS rip off Thief when it PREDATES THE GAME BY THREE MONTHS? Must be TIME PARADOX.

And read some god damn books or other literature if you think Deus Ex is the best story every told on any medium. And I don't mean Sonic the Hedgehog comic books. As great as Deus Ex was, it wasn't just because of it's narrative. Get the FUCK off my internet, you gigantic piece of shit.

Good lord, you're dumb. Stop speaking out of your fucking ass and people won't have to call you on all your bullshit. Akira is completely right here.

For me this game is about blowing shit up and enjoying it, if that is accompanied by a good story all the better.

Personally I find the most important factor in a game is that I enjoy playing it, story, graphics, music etc.. all become irrelevant if I don't 'enjoy' the gameplay.

Just by viewing the various multiplayer and single player videos it looks like a galatically fun game especially Xbox Live wise.

It seems that Epic have gone for a more complete game rather than concentrating in particular on the mutiplayer aspects as they have done with the Unreal franchise, so it will be fun but also have depth, so I really do have high hopes for this game.

Didn't Metal Gear on MSX make stealth back in 87?

ANYWAY, it's kind of annoying how we have to wait a week or so to get it in Europe. It seems like they could have easily had a worldwide launch. But never the less, i'm looking forward to playing this, especially with co-op over Live.

And T1249NTSCJ, the ad does slow down a bit at the start since the last update.

It seems fine for me pre and post update.

Hmmm, so far that's 2:1. I'll need more people to chime in before calling Microsoft and report the problem so they can ship me a new hard drive.

I wonder what pissed you so much,if you are frustrated kind, kill your frustration in sewers.That was my opinion and be civil.

Even if MGS was released early it doesn't change the fact that MGS got attention for its cinematic presentation not gameplay.Thief is true inventer of stealth, or what "I" call stealth. If you are kojima bitch thats fine with me i have faced them earlier in many other boards.

Why Thief?

Thief-Shadow/light meter, stalking, walking in shadows copied directly in SC.
Hiding bodies copied in MGS2 and SC(i hope this will shut ur ass up).
Stalking then later copied by koji in MGS3.
MGS2 also had firing from corner thingy from Winback.
And this time line is correct dude.
MGS is not stealth is abuse to stealth.Think what happens in real stealth and Thief is more close to realism.


DeusEx is best story TOLD , i repeat TOLD, here i was emphasizing that in games telling stories is an art too,it inlcuedes presentaion,how it unfolds etc. its much different form linear stories of any book or literature.Tell me one book with multiple endings or where you can choose your own path.Don't compare game stories to movies or games, games are interactive dude.
Apart form that DeusEx had everything Politics,conpiracy,Sci-fi,Human drama,suspense evrything. My actions changed the entire course of narrative, thats why i put DeusEx over evrything.
You must read every book,mail and newspaper in DeusEx.


English is not my first language.
and Internet is not yours.

I was having discussion with Akira , you dont intervene.He has got his opinion , i have mine.

http://i14.tinypic.com/2uhpoup.jpg

Sorry, I had to.

Anyone see the TV SPOT. MAD WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I was like WTF and omg sweet at the same time.

EDIT: actually you did, read some earlier shit.

Well the madness begins, trying to score a copy of GoW today if you're lucky. Will be trying my luck at BB, Walmart, Sears, Target & Costco. :)

I reserved at EB and they wont sell till the 8th. So fucking gay.

Right, this reminds me not to go anywhere this thread untill the 17th where us Ewropeeants gets to play this game. Dang it...

Ill make a video of me playing it and you can just hold your 360 controller and pretend your actually there.

Just one more day for me.... Canada....

I reserved at CC and they won't sell until the 8th as well.

Dammit. At least I get my faceplate.

Alot of gamers are getting their copies today, some have it at this very moment at the Xbox forums. Most are expecting their copy around 5-6PM at their local EB or Gamestop so note to those who pre-ordered. Toys R Us, not available until the 10th, Best Buy tomorrow, Walmart tomorrow morning, Target the 9th, Costco, well my local one doesn't have it in yet. And certain EB & Gamestop shops won't sell until tomorrow which is mind boggling, I'm surprised they're not out of business yet...what kind of bull is that? :cussing:

It's called shipping, man. Some stores farther from the distribution depot will get the game later than others.

I remember I waited an hour and a half in a Gamestop waiting for my Wind Waker pre-order to arrive, as it was late due to shipping problems.

It's not like there's gonna be a shortage, so I don't need it RIGHT THIS SECOND OMG NOW, especially since I've got FFXII.

I want it now, because Im out of games to play. The only interactive thing ive done on this rainy day is vote.

Any idea to whether it will be region free as I can import a copy rather than wait almost 2 weeks.

So anybody got it yet? I heard Gamespot gave it a 9.6.

According to Play Asia it's not region free.

It seems alot of us are going to have to wait till the 8th, but did anyone happen to score a copy today?

Nothing here, problem is tomorrow I'll be busy with classes from 10-4PM at which by that time I'll be completely exhausted to pick up anything let alone something to eat. I'll just crash tomorrow and hope for the best Thursday morning. :doh:
In the meantime, some reviews...

IGN Score 9.4
Gamespot Score 9.6

Im gonna check the IGN review.

I just got a call from EB saying they wont have it till around lunch time, and I have to work till 8, so I might swing by that night, but I doubt Ill play it much after I pick it up.

Post your gamertag, or register one at http://www.mygamercard.net/ and post it up. I hear this game is awesome through Live's co-op campaign. :rock:

My gamertag is Zuki Method.

I just hope I can snag it tomorrow. The thing im most excited about is seeing this game in full high def glory. Ive only seen its amazing graphics in ads, screens, and small grainy videos. I want the real deal.

Already beat campaign on Casual, started on Hardcore. Insane scares me :O


Gamertag: Tankazz X

played a little bit online but was having mondo trouble connecting to ranked matches. (would get something along the lines of "connection could not be established" or some crap.)


<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3 this game

Jesus, even I don't smash through my games that fast. How long did it take you to finish the single player?

I think Ill start on Hardcore. I dont wanna bust through it too fast on my first run through.

Ill look you up when I get it tonight.

Most of you will have finished the game once if not twice before we even get it; which is a shame as we will be lambs to the slaughter on Xbox live as well.

The campaign was admittedly short (even CliffyB said so) but it's jam-packed with awesome :D

Took me about 6 hours of gameplay on casual to beat it. Hardcore is definately more challenging though, so It should be interesting :)

I went to EB on my lunch break to pick it up for tonight, and they said FedEx messed up their order, and they dont know when they will get the game.

This is the norm for our shitty EB so im not surprised, just pissed.

I received my copy yesterday afternoon around 3:30PM. I must say it is a good game but I think its a little to "star ship Troopers" - ish. Anyways...I can give my own review and I give it a good 9. The detail is AMAZING for tube TV's and HDTV...which is actually amazing. Camera Angles and Maneuvers beautifully done and voice actors match the person...lol (unlike Prince Of Persia).

So far this is my review from only playing about 2 hours of the game

I'm going out to pick up GoW or CoD3, I've heard mixed opinions about the online play with both titles. I haven't a clue as to what to pick up but at the moment I'm leaning towards CoD3. Hopefully they'll setup a few demos before I make a purchase.

Well just came back from my local EB/Gamestop and FYE. It turns out because of the rainy weather we've been having that the game never arrived or so they say. As for EB well they were only selling to those who preordered which means I won't be shopping there anymore. Why is that you can't walk into a gameshop and pick up a title the same day as it's released. It's really getting out of hand so I just went to the nearby FYE and picked up CoD3 which was the only game that arrived. I'll play it a bit later but I'm just so darn exhausted at the moment from driving from shop to shop.

Jesus christ. I go to pick up my Gears game today in the morning. "Sorry. FedEX did something with our shipment and will be here later in the day". Okay. No problem. I'll just come back later.

So I come back later. "You get Gears in?" "No sorry. You'll have to wait till tomorrow." What a fuckity shit day. -goes back to playing FFXII-

FYI, this was at Gamestop.

Beat it on hardcore. Insane is next on the list ><

Man, you're already beating the game, and most of us haven't gotten it yet :(

I pre-ordered mine through Circuit City (do they give you anything special with it, or do you have to buy a deluxe version to get anything?), and they said they haven't gotten it in yet either, nor does it seem likely that they'll get it in tomorrow.

If the game doesn't even last that long, I may consider getting a refund (I don't have Xbox Live, and don't plan on getting it anytime soon, mostly cause my room is far away from my brother's room where the router is, and I'd have to buy about 200 feet of LAN cable to hook up the Xbox). I pre-ordered it, and I really only did that because it seemed like a badass game (not to mention the Xbox magazine had a CC coupon for 15% off Gears of War), but if it's not going to give me much value for my money, I think I'll wait till it goes down in price (I seriously considered Chrome Hounds, but hearing that the single-player mode sucks, as well as not many peeps on the Live version anymore, I didn't buy it).

Oh well, looks like it's back to Dead Rising for me.

friends and I had a GoW party, got together, had some pizza, the usual. Unfortunately, we didn't have a big enough TV to justify link cable, so we were stuck with one-on-one the whole time we played multi.

Played some co-op on hardcore, and switched off whenever a pair would die, so we each got some play time in.

I have to say, like a lot of reviews I've been reading, it really does live up to the hype. It's not deep, by any means, but it's certainly fun and action-packed. It's a damn shame they didn't put any other multi modes in, though, like king of the hill or capture the flag. This game would best be served with opposing sides and objectives to be taken. (whether that's flags or a hill area).

The way the multi comes off as so bare bones makes me wonder if they won't try to release a map pack or extra game modes later on down the line, like they did with Halo 2.

I was told CC would have it tomorrow, so I'll stop by and pray.

How does the game look on a standard definition television?

I fucking hate EB. Whats the point of preordering a game when they dont even get it on time. I got fed the same line of bullshit Kainlightwind did. It was to the degree of, "FedEx lost our shipment in Tennessee, sorry."

I went up there twice. Once when it was supposed to be in, and again that night when FedEx was supposed to finally show up. What a waste.

A friend of mine said he tried to call me and tell me that Wal Mart had it out early and to just buy it there. By this time I was tired and it was late so I said fuck it. I find it funny that EB bragged so much about being the only one to have it on the 8th. I probably wont have time to get it until Friday now, what with all the work I have to do.

How do you lose a shipment anyway? That sounds like a bad excuse for not having the game on time.

Our local EB has a nasty habit of "losing" preorder shipments. I blame it on them.

Sounds like it's time to switch gaming stores, akira :\

Side note: Insane is f*king insane. 2 Wretch hits and you die :(

Yeah, I would in a heatbeat if there were more around.

I actually went to an EB in Georgia (a neighboring state) to preorder Halo 2 when it came out. I wasnt gonna chance it with my local store.

I remember the IGN review mentioning this. They said it was bascially you popping out of cover long enough to get a shot or two off before going back. I think its gonna be something you creep through over a period of time (think legendary mode in Halo) instead of doing it in a single sitting. I wont know for sure till I play it though.

That's about the size of it... pop up, get a few bursts off, your ring glows bright red, back into cover you go. It's pretty frustrating and you get a lot of :doh: moments.

Just picked it up today.

It took me a while to figure out the health system and all that, so I died 10 times or so before getting the hang of it.

It's pretty goddamn awesome though. Good GOD the graphics are amazing! It's fun as all hell, and generally kicks all kinds of ass!

I can't play online at school, but one of my roommates is getting a 360 soon, so I'm hoping for some system link action eventually!

Why would you not have Xbox Live anyway?

Great investment. Don't let anyone fool ya JT =D

I can't use it at school. My school's firewall doesn't like my 360.

And since I live at school, I'm pretty much SOL.

Well, just got the game from Circuit City (along with a faceplate :D I bought the collectors edition). I won't blame them, because there's not much they can do regarding shipping (if anything I'm pissed at Fedex or UPS, whichever one they use). Here's my initial impressions, and I do like it for the most part.

The cover system, where you hide behind stuff, is really nice, and definitely gives it a fresh feel despite being a shooting game. It's not HALO if you're wondering. It's probably more along the lines of Star Wars: Republic Commando, because you're always with at least one other guy, and you can "rez" them if they get "killed" (ironically enough, if you get killed, you just die and have to restart from the last checkpoint (I don't know about co-op though, this is true for single player though). While you can go in with guns blazing if you want, that's often not a good idea, unless you're down to one bad guy left after a long firefight.

Some of the deaths seem cheap, because the bad guys can do exactly the same thing you do to them, assuming it's a regular grunt with a gun. You can often 1-shot a mob with a shotgun at close range, but they can do that to you as well if they have a shotgun. It was also kind of funny at one point how I used the chainsaw on the rifle to kill a mob, then one of those bastards chainsawed me right afterwards (because I didn't see him behind me). Cool animation for it, and is insta-kill if you land it, but it sucks when they do it to you lol, and you can still get shot up by his buddies while the animation is playing out, so just a warning for you if you get overzealous being a Friday the 13th Jason-wannabe.

The AI is relatively good, and enemies will try to flank you if they can. They will also use cover (well, the ones that don't have explosive weapons anyway), and cover each other as well. Like one guy hides and reloads. While you're waiting for that guy to pop back up, his buddy starts to shoot at you. Even if it's just one guy, he will try to trick you as well. For example, you saw where his head should be when he pops back out, so you put your aiming cursor there. Instead of just popping back out though, he may duck first, then come out to shoot you, so that your shot will miss. If it's cover where he can shoot you from the other side as well, he may alternate sides so that you think he's coming out one end, but he comes out the other. It's still nothing compared to a human player, but the AI is challenging and does give you a good run for your money (oh, and before you ask, the NPC soldiers that are on your side are pretty smart as well, and can usually hold their own, and will even save your booty from time to time. There's no friendly fire in the campaign, so feel free to light up a machine gun to kill a mob next to them).

The last boss really sucks balls because he has so many cheap manuevers, like being able to 3-shot you with his machine gun (I'd imagine it's insta kill on the harder difficulties), and if you're hiding too long, he has a zerg of bats swarm you. You can hide near/under a light to repel the bats, but if you're in view of him, you'll probably get lit up by his gun. I've noticed during this fight that the cover system can be very flawed. Here I was trying to sneak around to the other side of the box so he wouldn't be in direct view of me, but my character apparently decides to make a leap into the open, which then leaves me to get shot up, or if by chance I somehow dodge the bullets, the bats make sure I don't last very long.

I'm sure I'll beat him eventually, but wow I hate bosses that are tough because they can only be hurt at certain times (like HALO 2), and are given so many cheesy moves to help them win (rather than having them dodge and use cover the way his minions do in the game). I don't mind a challenge, but when the challenge is that the boss has 10000 hp and can 2-shot you, that's kind of lame after like the 10th death in a row.

I haven't tried it yet, but this game would probably rock on co-op, because there are times you get split up, and each player goes through a slightly different area (still the same end goal of course). And it doesn't seem tacked on either, anytime this happens, the game seems to have a good reason for making you split up (like trying to find a way into a building where the front door is locked, or staying behind to protect something).

Just got the game last night (finally), and Im wondering if you are making this statement based on how the game plays, or more to the effect that its not as good as Halo. I havent put to much time into the game yet, but so far its completely blowing Halo away. This is the first game Ive ever been completely in awe of how amazing it looks and plays.

This was my favorite part of the game. You feel like your in a fire fight.

Most games have you running through countless hordes of enemies, but in this game every encounter is a life and death fight. It almost feels like someone else is playing the enemy. (I started playing on Hardcore BTY)

I'm saying basically that if you're expecting a HALO or any other FPS type game, then you're wrong. While it does have elements of an FPS game, the game makes a ton of use of the cover system (Perfect Dark Zero does this too, to be fair, but in that game, it's often not needed that much at all, and you can just go in with guns blazin' and be fine for the most part), which I also like.

And yeah, this game's got a better storyline that HALO 2 although it's got that "one man army syndrome" lol. While I suppose this could be "the war from a squad's point of view", I often wonder why there's no air support (other than at the last boss, and yes, I'm aware that any air support brought in usually gets shot up. What I mean is like a fighter jet doing bombing runs. And yes, I'm also aware of the satellite cannon thing, but it seems like you can only use it when the game requires you to kill a bad guy with that specific weapon, otherwise "The satellite is not in orbit above"). Or even why are there no more ground troops other than 4 guys? You can almost tell that anyone wearing a helmet and doesn't look unique is going to die (they'd be an "extra" if this were a movie), while the guys that are wearing uber-looking armor won't die as easily. I already knew at the beginning of the game that the guys in the generic armor was going to die at some point early in the game, and I was right lol. And once those guys are gone, it's just you and 3 other guys for the most part fighting the bad guys.

I'm not bashing any game really with my comments (other than HALO 2's story which seemed kind of hashed together), just that this game feels familiar to many others, but has enough qualities to it that it feels like its own game.

Now that I think about it, this game is probably more like Resident Evil 4 in terms of combat and what not. Cept you can move around more easily in this game, for better or worse (least you don't have zombies mindlessly charging towards you and eating you, but guns kill quicker than a bite lol. And see my above comments about doing a wrong move while fighting the last boss).

It sometimes gets that feel, but alot of the firefights are small in scale. The enemies dont outnumber your squad by very much when your in a fight. So its not quite as bad as Halo in that department.

To be fair on this subject I believe the reason there are no massive armies of guys running around, and air support flying in is because its really just one long mission that takes place in little over a 2 day time period. Not really time to have extra troops being dropped off and huge battle fields erupting. Also the guys are kinda cut off for most of the game (think the nighttime portion).
I agree with you here, but the game does take even the familiar stuff above and beyond what were seen in previous games.

This game may be the only reason why I'm willing to get a 360. I've heard about the Kill.Switch mechanics of this game (Hide -> Shoot -> Shoot undercover etc) and got curious.

Comparing it to Kill.Switch is a fucking travesty, but yeah, you can blind shoot.

I'll really write up a review about this when I'm more impartial. As it stands, it's my favorite 360 game (usurping the throne than Chromehounds occupied), and probably got onto my top 10 list.

Seriously gushing here about this. Wow.

By the way JT, Co-op makes the campaign about 5 trillion times better. Me and Devo make a kick ass team. It's really awesome.

Lord knows when Sears will stock GoW, damn Sears gift card. :doh: But to get back on topic here, just letting gamers know that there is some GoW content only up today on the XBL marketplace for free.

Oh, SHIT. Thanks for the heads up. =D

Yes, because most people who play a third-person shooter expect Halo.

This isn't really a fair comparison. Perfect Dark Zero gives you the OPTION to use cover, and I capitalize option because it really is optional. Gears of War REQUIRES you use cover. There is NEVER a situation where staying out of cover for more than 2 seconds longer than you need to is a good idea.

I actually like the meatheadedness of the plot. In a way, it's a sendup and a tribute at the same time to totally wacky-ass action movies back in the 80's. Anyone expecting brilliant prose from a shooter game really needs to, you know, play another fucking genre and not pretend that Halo had a plot.

Oblivion played kind of like Halo, but it had enough unique qualities that it was sort of its own game. What the FUCK kind of argument is this? Gears of War may be a third-person shooter with a rather typical weaponset, but its overall gameplay is something that a game has never pulled off with this much actual FUN to it. Sure, kill.switch did it first, but kill.switch also sucked monkey nuts. This is the first game to get it right, and for that it deserves a fucking medal, because it really makes the game a lot more tactical and, by extension, a game where you actually have to THINK both in online and in offline.

Um, what? What similarities does this game have AT ALL with RE4? For one, you couldn't really use cover all that much, for two, enemies went down with a LOT less bullets in RE4, and for three, RE4 threw a lot more enemies at you. RE4's shooting was more about making you screw up by getting freaked out. Gears' shooting is all about setting you up so the enemies can flank you and use other tactics to fuck you over. You're not fighting mindless zombies, you're fighting an army that actually knows what the hell it's doing.

Well, I haven't played the game yet (Euro release is Friday ;_; ) but from various articles and videos, I would say quite alot. From the looks, Gears follows Resi 4 not only with the fixed camera angle which Resi 4 made popular in more recent times, though it certinaly did not invent.

Both Gears and Resi also seem to be about keeping you busy. Both games seem to throw enemies at you in amounts that won't bore you and will keep you moving, although Gears looks like it has less than Resi and more cover.

And cover was in Resi 4 in my opinion, just not the same way as Gears. Remember those parts where 7 or 8 ganados are after you and you think "Shit, i'll duck into this building and reload and take some herbs"? I'd say that's cover. Infact, the game forces this on you, for example, running into the house with the shotgun in the village at the beginning.

Also, Resi influenced Gears with more subtle things, such as pacing. With Resi 4, you play for a few hours around the village and such and you begin to think "ahh, this must be what the whole game is like" but then you move on to the Castle, and then when you are beginning to get used to these surroundings, you arrive at the island. It keeps it fresh. It keeps it moving. From what I read, CliffyB wanted this with Gears, though I don't know if this is true of the game as I haven't been able to get it just yet.

Infact, didn't he say somewhere that both Resi 4 and God of War were the main influences for Gears?

How could you even think to compare the pacing of the game when you haven't even layed it yet? Honestly.

Like Capo said, if you haven't played the game, you can't really comment on the pacing.

And yes, those parts of RE4 are technically places where you use cover, but the only reason you get away with that in RE4 is because most of the enemies in there aren't exactly intelligent. In Gears of War, not only are there practically no doors EVER to hide behind, the fact of the matter is when you take cover you are still very much in danger, especially if you want to shoot something. In RE4 you still just stand out in the open and fire at shit without worry, in Gears you HAVE to be behind cover or else you die. Period.

So people really meant it when they said you couldn't play the game without cover. Interesting.

And as I said, I'm unable say whether Gears had the pacing like Resi, I just said thay CliffyB mentioned it to be one of the things that he saw in Resi 4 and wanted in Gears.

I've beaten the campaign on Hardcore and have spent a good many hours in multiplayer so far. The campaign definitely feels a bit shorter than it should be, but I can't complain because it's awesome gameplay all the way through. The multiplayer in this game is stellar as well. Very unique and not quite like any other shooter I've played.

The guys weren't lying when they said that multiplayer matches really focus on teamwork. I'd say that your odds of winning a match are about 60:40 with teamwork and your own personal skill. Getting flanked 2 on 1 is almost always death. My only complaint right now is that the grenade tagging seems a bit cheap (unlike the chainsaw that has to rev up, there seems to be no buffer time for the placement), though it's true that you have to pick the grenades so it sort of balances out. Other than that, the weapons are pretty well balanced. Though the Boomshot seems a tad weak with only 2 shots (and hard to aim) compared to the Sniper's 11. I think the Torque Bow has the best balance with 6 shots.

I honestly can't wait for those bonus maps!

Dont forget the part where you have to run up to the enemy attempting to blow your head off, and actually put the grenade on him. I think that mechanic is extremely well balanced. It has its perks, and its drawbacks.

I love the games storyline and general feel.

Oh, and Devo

I think the grenades could use a LITTLE bit of tweaking. Overall grenade tagging is neat, but it's far too easy for people to do a roll dodge right up to you and then tag you before you can even turn to aim at the guy. In my opinion they should add some minor delay between the end of the roll dodge and when you can tag to make it a little more balanced.

Also, as a side complaint, I really hate people who try to use the sniper rifle at close range. The sniper rifle is NOT the AWP in CounterStrike, people. Unless you get a headshot it will NOT kill the guy, and the reload takes far too long! I'm sick of watching people try 4 or 5 times to shoot somebody from 10 feet away with the sniper rifle only to eventually get chainsawed during a reload.

I wish this game was set up like Halo 2's online. It seems like a pain to get into a game, and set up teams the way you want them. I especially agree with the having to hide in the middle/cant team join in rank complaint.

A buddy of mine would hop into private chat and tell me a game name to join, and we would both try to find that name. Pain in the ass after awhile.

Id be up for that.

A few days back I ninja joined one of the sessions that Skills, Devo and Moo were doing - I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST.

Nothing funner than to thrash on your fellow GF'ers.

Also Devo is really good. Watch out for her. :P

We were all pretty good, cept Mo0, who's terrible and got a face full of buckshot within the opening 5 seconds of every round.

That's because you guys were mean and wouldn't let me on your team. :(

So...when are we gonna set something like this up? I should really add some GFF names to my friends list.

We didn't want to lose.

Man Gear multiplayer features are GODLY compared to the despicable Call of Duty 2. That had the worst live setup ever. Devs didnt even try. Best thing was that there wasnt even a lobby.

But yeah GOW has some setup issues like you guys said.

Getting into ranked with friends is my only real complaint.

I have to say, I am addicted to GoW Multiplayer mode. Normaly I hate console online gaming, but this game does it right. Very intense action, great feel and controls. Also if the teamplay is right, GoW beats any game right now, its just great. The cover, hide, tag, closefight, active reload and whatever are really well done.
If they fix all the bugs it has right now, then the winter can come.

Man this game looks awesome.Only problem here is i dont have a freggin xbox 360.Is this game great online?I want to so badly play this game.

Its great, but still needs some patchwork for little stupid things.

Yeah, I've been addicted to the online since launch. With a mic fix, ranked game invites, and some map glitches fixed the Cole Train should be running right into spring.

This is a must. The mic glitch is terrible. Im surprised they didnt catch it before release, but I guess it all comes down to time.

What exactally is up with the mic? I don't know when I should and shouldn't be hearing people in online games.

I belive they are talking about when the mic will randomly work. It would be great if they could get a patch or something out for it. I also think they need to fix the chainsaw glitch when you dive away and the person still gets you from 6 feet away.

The mic glitch is when the original players simply cant hear anyone who joins after the first match, not round.

As for the chainsaw thing, it's not really a glitch. It's just that you hit the dodge command at the same instant the chainsaw comes in contact with you, therefore it does both animations. It may look weird, but at least it's not a balance issue.

I've been able to get headshots when they're out of bounds using the Sniper & Boltok

At least most of the glitches aren't as game destroying as they could be. I don't doubt something of some similar nature will be found at some point but we don't have rampant map abuse or crazy mobility glitches yet.

The glitch fixes and ability to invite friends to ranked matches is the only thing I care about right now, you guys are right. And maybe a short delay added to grenade tag melee recovery so you can't do it so fast, but I dunno how well that'd affect grenade tag balance.

The grenade tag recovery isn't all that fast, then again it depends on how good the people you play with are. Whenever I try to tag someone in my clan, if I miss, there goes my head via shotgun.

What I think is even worse then the tag is the chainsaw sucking you in when you're still two meters away from the stupid thing. That just annoys me, at least when someone tags I can blow them away in the process.

Theres a new glitch. You can roadie run while shooting. They were doing it on Gridlock to a few friends of mine. The cheating team lost, but it was annoying. Apparently its only on Gridlock you can do it though.

You're right, it's only on gridlock. Just like you though, the team that was doing it lost 5-0 against my friends and I.

There's a glitch that I found that allows you to climb one of the tall boxes in the warehouse of Fuel Depot.

Good god. I don't think Action Games need to be any better than this. I'm up to the point where it's "Road to Ashes" or something and you had to take out like 4 emergency holes. Fucking fun game man. Stupid question, when you reach a checkpoint, does it basically save the game so you can basically turn off your console, or go to another game etc?

Sweet deal. I wish I hadn't spent so much on stupid animu now. I could have easily gotten like 4 more games for it. But meh.

I know this is a bit late and has been done, but does anyone want to make another GFF match? I've been playing the game online alot recently and would enjoy a game with some fellow GFFers.

I could go for that. Set up a date & time and I'll do my best to be there.

Has anyone heard anything new on the upcoming patch?

I havent heard mention of a patch, but one is definately due. Im sure more bugs will pop up in the future, but if they fix the few current problems the game will be damn near perfect.

I played Gears at my friends house, the game is fun really, makes me want to buy a 360. My only problem is that the multiplayer mode doesn't look all that fun.

Did you actually try the multiplayer mode instead of just 'look' at it?

I assure you its good fun.

My gamertag is also "randomwab". I'm on regularly though so if you're ever making a match with some spaces, send me an invite.

Here's a wealth of info of the two new FREE maps coming out Wendsday Jan 10th called Raven Down and Old Bones.

http://www.beyondunreal.com/daedalus...t.php?id=10124

Here's a list of bug fixes that'll be coming in the patch tomorrow Tuesday 9th. http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/sho...54&postcount=1

Fucking shit. Why does my Xbox have to breakdown now. I wont get it back for another week or so. I want maps now damnit.

What do you guys think of the new maps. I like the old bones map beacuse it is a lot bigger and open. I dont like the raven down map because its to small and teams spawn right on top of eachother.

Hey for FREE I'll take anything... almost, lol.

I like both of the new maps. Raven Down offers a nice change of pace from the other maps, and is probably the most 1v1 split-screen friendly map of the bunch. There really should have been some Hammerbursts and Pistols put around the map though, as those weapons get too little usage as it is.

Old Bones is a bit like Gridlock, while taking the early split path of Mausoleum. It's definitely the better of the two maps overall, and offers lots of opportunity to flank with the statue in the middle obscuring the view of the main battlefield.

I can't understand why people in other forums are complaining so much. These maps and the patch were absolutely free, very few console games even get new maps to begin with.

I don't like the running shooting glitch =\

Quoted for truth. If people would just be happy with it, im sure Epic would be more than happy to send more content down the pipeline in the future.

I havent tried the new maps yet btw.

Hi guys my gamertag is xroc88, (in my sig also)

LOOK OUT FO ME!!

You guys should make a smiley of the crimson omen.

Me, I personally like Old Bones over Raven Down. it's just that Old Bones matches my taste for what I like in Mulitplayer maps. Raven Down is kind of meh for me because it's too small for a 4 vs 4 game. I can see it at the most being a 2 vs 2. But when it starts to go on to 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4, it's chaotic.

Why the fuck hasn't this been done yet? Im gonna rock this when I get off work.

It's hilarious since it's over so fast. That's what makes it so different from all the others and a fresh change of pace.

Besides, it's over in 10 seconds anyway, so even when it's in the rotation it doesn't last long.

The only two maps I dislike are escalation and rooftops, though. Horrid maps.

Escalation is one of my best maps when the weapons haven't been touched. However I agree that rooftops is a horrible map. I also dislike Gridlock, it's way too open for any hide & seek gameplay.

I beat the game recently, it's a great game altho it was too short. I had a hard time beating General RAAM, cause I didnt know head shots would work better with him plus I suck at sniping so yea. I go check some video on youtube.com on how to beat him, and wow they make it seem like it's so easy when the person recording the fight was in a damn co-op mode with his buddy helping him out...Wow.

Rooftops and Gridlock are two of my favorites. :p

My favorite maps are

Mansion ( anything can happen on this map )
Gridlock ( I think everyone loves this map )
Clocktower ( boom and Sniper spawns are in legendary locations and it is a blast always to play this map )

My least favorite maps are

Canals ( Sniper haven and it is a bitch to get anywhere without getting shot with a sniper )
Mauloseum ( Just plain fucking boring ).

Hands down the best map in the game. Quick and in your face matches. I could almost play this map exclusively. It even makes for a good one on one map if your playing with a guy who enjoys a shoot out.

Ditto. I agree. Mansion is an exciting map and anything can happen on that map. The only thing I hate is when people start glitching on this map. I was playing this one game in which my teammate decided he wanted to glitch rather than just play and help out. I was getting pissed off. I hope that I never play with that person again. I forgot what the gamertag of that person was though. Anyway, other than that, Mansion is a fun map to play on.;)

My brother and I just got this game and have been practicing online a bit recently. My tag's Poojums (don't ask) if anyone wants to play just send a message or keep an eye out ^^

Anyone try out the new game mode Annex? It came out yesterday but I haven't gotten the chance to play it yet. If anyone wants to play lemme know ^^

Annex is pretty sweet, and makes for a lot of hilairous shotgun deaths. A shame it doesn't count towards the kill achievements.

Yea I just played a few games of it and its pretty fun. We weren't exactly working as a team so there was a lot of just running around trying to kill anything that moved, but I could see it being a lot of fun if you've got competent team mates.

Personally i was getting sick and tired of Gears until i played annex yesterday. It practically reinvented the game for me; it is like a 30 minute non-stop action fest that relys more on teamwork then individual skill and i love it.

plus, defense and rushing the annex circle provides far too many legendary moments that you couldn't achieve or see in any of the other modes. All it needs now is maps specifically designed and tailored for Annex mode and the ability for host to add execution style play to annex.

As a few times on ranked, i've encountered bastards who would down 3-4 guys on the opposing time and then let them bleed out which takes like 20 seconds, so the action becomes nill for a brief period of time.

To fix this, when I was hosting ranked games of it last night, I set the bleed out time to 5 seconds, because people are cockmunchers and that's a totally lame way to play, ESPECIALLY with the circle power boost, it basically one sides the whole thing.

Why would you do that? The idea is to use stratagy in Annex. And that's a good way to go about it. Down someone and let them bleed out. It's less people to worry about when you have just three others trying to take out your node that you've captured.

It isn't strategy at all. It is called be a gutless coward who prefers to play unfair. All the people i've run into who has done this style of play are the same who exploited all the glitches before they were fixed.

Yea I don't feel that leaving someone downed for 20 seconds is part of the strategy the team was aiming for when creating Annex. The strategy part comes in 1) When defending a capture point (or w/e its called) and choosing where to position yourself in relation to teammates and weapons and 2) when charging a capture point with your team.

Get yourself a good team. Then you won't have to worry about that 20 second down time. Like the game is, if you play any of the modes, it's team based. In Annex, it's a whole different style of play. Gutless coward? Don't get mad if it happens to you. Don't hate the player. Hate the game.

Uh, no. Let's see. Host sets up bleed out time to maximum, then abuses host shotgun and circle power boost? The problem with Annex is that thanks to the altered mechanics and host advantage, the host team's innate advantage is HUGE. Abusing downs also helps people get into position to spawn kill while the other players are downed.

If you want to call it "strategy", go ahead. Team strategy isn't "let's abuse the system", it's "Let's find a way to flank them or outsmart them to capture the hill".

But hey, whatever floats your boat. I'm sure weapon sliding is a valid strategy for not getting shot too, right?

What they should do is change Annex like they changed Assassination, and make the deaths Execution style instead of Warzone style. It would have kept the pressure up on the defenders and made it more exciting.

I love this. "It's in the game, so I should be allowed to do it!". Glitchers often stick to this mantra too.

Last time I check, all the glitches are fixed. And it doesn't take a glitch to get a good head shot or bow kill ;) I don't need to glitch to win. If you don't like, then you leave the room. Find another. Go to a different mode of play. I'll say this though, after the patch there's a few things that are different. One good, the other annoying. First it's the wall issue. Too many magnet area's now that kills you to the point that you can't even escape the wall. Broken. The good thing is the Boom Shot. The splash area effect of the Boom Shot is a whole lot different. It acts more of like a UT rocket shot against the ground. It doesn't kill instantly like it used to unless hit directly. Instead it pretty much downs then. So if say you got someone behind a wall, fire at the opposite wall and 75% of the time, that shot is going to spray on them from behind and down them. If not, it's a quick swipe of your pistol and easy down.

Actually, the patch only fixed one type of weapon slide. It can still be done, although crab walking and long jumping and the like has been fixed, that's true.

The cover "fix" is terrible, but if you get used to it it's not so bad. I can now run the same runs I did before without sticking too badly. At first I was having trouble though.

The patch has left me most fustrated for the fact that I keep sticking to walls more/going into cover, I've read numerous other forums threads by other disgruntled players too. It really needs to be fixed, but I am familiarising myself truth be told. (I thought the patch meant less cover but infact NO).

Annex is ok, but useless if you don't have a good team of players or people you know. In honesty it got boring quite quickly; face it people go for the kills rather than the areas which does spoil the fun a bit and just turns into a match of 'respawn kill and repeat'

The one thing I'd love to see Epic do is release a patch so as enabling the host to give you the option of which weapons you take into the match, that would make things so much more strageic and dictate your tactics from the start rather than weapon rushing. (Having an all sniper match would be fun especially when rushing up the stairs to the mansion). And lastly some bigger maps would not go a miss.

That is why you have a friends list on Xboxlive. I never play annex or any other mode in Gears with random people as i don't find any enjoyment in it. I only play gears with a bunch of dedicated online buddies, many from here and a few not.

Hell, last night. A group of us got together and had a ball. Skills was part of the group. Some of the rounds got IN-FUCKIN-TENSE, last night. One round, it was me, Skills, Mo Black and wicked on a team and we literally took the annex circle away from the opposing team, 1 point away from them winning and ended up winning ourselves.

Another key thing to making xboxlive fun, is playing with a bunch of black dudes. It may sound strange, but it is the truth. On the mic chat, they're so much more animated and playin to have fun unlike most of the whiteys i've run into and for me personally, the mic chat is one of the key factors for me to having fun. As much as i like certain people like Devo and Mo0, i tend to avoid being on their team because they take the shit far too seriously and the voice chat is always drab and riddled with bitching.

Oh God, that was the most epic of all epicness. We are GODS. (Well, primarily Mo is but STILL. That was the craziest shit EVER.) 300-299 was just GREAT. Ahahaha.

Laughing at the black dude thing. I think it's just that Tails's friends are hilariously stereotypical black dudes, not that all black dudes are like that. Kurado isn't nearly that "animated" when he plays, for example.

Come see me on live! I'd love nothing more for you to be the first person I try the revised chainsaw glitch on. =D

Anyways, agreeing that the bleed-out tactic in Annex is the gayest thing ever. I can't even do it myself, since part of the fun of Annex is the fact that your opponent is going to respawn and you need to work together with your team to defend the point you've captured when they return. The bleed-out tactic is the biggest pussy thing I've ever seen in my life.

Take your kills, don't about the bullshit that is Warzone bleed-out style. This is why I prefer execution. If you don't take your kill, I'm going to get back up and fuck you up in no less than 5 seconds.

Protip: Try holding back on the movement stick and whatever direction you want to turn after you hit A to roadie run. Since the game checks for wall cover you're pointing at every frame, holding back nullifies it.

The man speaks the truth. This is the way of handling it. Alternatively, what I do sometimes is just hit the direction enough to turn the corner and then not hit any direction and let the guy run on his own instead of readjusting my course. I stick to shit far less that way.

WHAT? I take Gears too seriously? I need to work on that, then. ;_;

I will admit I do get frustrated. Not as much lately from my perpetual lack of skill but the fact that whenever I try to celebrate, I get shot down with "Nah Mo0, you still suck." Let me have my fun, faggots. :(

Annex would be better if it didn't sound like there was a train coming my way every time I'm about to end the damn round. It's MORE annoying on surround sound because it overlays my music playing in the background. AT LEAST have it play in the last 3 seconds or let us dim the sound. I refuse to play Annex for that reason alone.

The new patch only made the gameplay worse, IMO. Everytime I run I stick to a wall 30% of the time. I should just be able to Hold A and if I want to snap to a wall...press A again. If any of you saw the 'excuse', it was claimed that the snaps make Gears more 'realistic.' They have a point...when alien lifeforms emerge from the ground with machine guns and speak like their semi-retarded - we better be realistic and jump on every wall before we turn the corner...because the Locust behind us is doing an active reload.

One thing I would love is more sensitivity on the right stick so I can turn around faster, even on the highest sensitivity setting its really annoying that I can't turn round fast enough to shotgun the guy behind me.

Also the lancer's bullet damage needs to be more powerful; if it weren't for the chainsaw I would never use it. I've been using the pistol more of late and am surprised how powerful it is in melee and more than decent and downing in enemy, warranting upon them a curb stomp.

Been awhile since I played some gears, but If I remember right you can turn around pretty quick by rolling. Correct me If im wrong. Maybe it's because thats my first instinct when getting shot from behind.
The pistol is a beautiful thing if you can pop some headshots on a power reload. I also like how it shoots based on how fast you pull the trigger. It can be a waste when your targets moving around alot, but if you can out gun them in a straight up fire fight the pistol is perfect.

I find rolling is too slow as you have to adjust more after rolling to get the better shot, I'd just rather like the ability to be able to turn 180 degrees faster.

So how about those new maps? Worth the points they cost or no? I've hardly played since the last patch because of changes in the gameplay that I feel have hurt the experience, but perhaps the new maps make it worth playing again.

Worth it for Bullet Marsh alone, but Process and Subway are also really, really good. The Marsh is one of my favorite maps now, and Subway has been likened to a "better version of War Machine", but I don't feel that's quite an accurate description.

Garden is the only one I can't quite get behind as much. I don't think it sucks like Rooftops, but there's nothing particularily enjoyable about it either. Poisonous gas or no.

I need to get back into gears, but does it seem like you can't get into a game if you don't have the new maps? I know it was like that in GRAW. You were basically black listed if you didn't purchase the map pack.

There are plenty of matches, ranked or not, that don't have the new maps in the rotation. Granted, the new maps are plenty popular, but it's not hard to find matches that don't use them.

Awww, new achievements are achievementy and new.

Achievements seem like they won't be trivial, which is nice. More grinding and all that but 'eh. I don't like the fact that they attached these achievements ot the DLC after the fact, instead of including them with it. At least when Crackdown and the other games released their +250 GS packs they made sure you knew that the content you were getting added the points, and wasn't just something for enthusiasts for the game to get.

Ah, well. I'm just not looking forward to having to play in the Garden again.

I'm just glad that they are making an effort to fix the wall sticking bullshit. Maybe I will actually turn it on and play some more pretty soon.

I'm never going to play this game again until they make the Shotgun at least as good as it was in V1.0. After they changed it in the first update the thing became as random as a round of Russian Roulette and totally killed the game.

On the topic though it's good to see Epic keeping their reputation of keeping their games up to date. Not many developers are this committed.

These two are a Godsend:

EDIT:

Post Update I still cannot notice a sizeable difference; I still get snagged quite a bit.

I just want it back to the state it was when I got the game; at that time the Roadie Run was perfect.

Nah, they work in unranked/private/split screen, actually.

So they are indeed trivial, but they still take a fair bit of grinding to get. The THIS. IS. ANNEX. one and the win by less than a 5 points twenty times one is just annoying.