Gears Of War- any good?

[evil_ash_xero]

I rented part 2 a LONG time ago, but was massively busy that week, and was unable to play it almost at all.

I didn't get past the tutorial!

Anyway, I got a bad vibe from it. I hate first person shooters
where you're a team, and everyone is yakking constantly, and it seems like you're listening to people chatter more than play. And this seemed like the third person version of it.
Well, I thought "well, maybe that was just the tutorial". Does it get better after that?

Or is this just another American game that I wouldn't like?

Maybe i'll just wait for Vanquish...

[Rob]

It's really good. Having a good grasp of the controls (play online) made me appreciate the series a lot more. The talking in the campaign is annoying. Hit the back button.

[linko9]

Well, I played the first one on PC, and I guess it was fun, but it got boring fast. The gameplay is repetitive, the graphics are repetitive, and the enemies are repetitive. Still fun, and every once in a while they throw in something new (I loved getting the explosive arrows for the first time), but not my type of game. I'd say if you like modern FPSs, you'll love Gears, and if you don't, you won't.

[Jockel]

Well, I played the first one on PC, and I guess it was fun, but it got boring fast. The gameplay is repetitive, the graphics are repetitive, and the enemies are repetitive.

This. The game isn't too impressive IMO, but the online co-op was fun to play through with a friend. Once.
I'd suggest renting or borrowing the games somewhere and plow through them.

[evil_ash_xero]

I'll give it another rent.

[Acid King]

The campaign isn't that but multiplayer Horde makes the game.

EIDT: I should note I only played the second one.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I'm sure that Gears of War is a good series, but I can't stand the graphics. Everything is excessively gray and the macho thing it has going is very bad taste. Massive dudes wearing a car with two giant speakers for armor and shooting aliens with their long fat "guns"? lol.

[Specineff]

It's all about compensating for deficiencies somewhere else, UFO.

I heard that steroid use can be detrimental to man's virility.

[Rob]

I'm sure that Gears of War is a good series, but I can't stand the graphics. Everything is excessively gray and the macho thing it has going is very bad taste. Massive dudes wearing a car with two giant speakers for armor and shooting aliens with their long fat "guns"? lol.

What, you don't like Contra now?

2 is quite a bit more colorful and shiny. I prefer 1 that way, since Gears works better for me when it's ugly as shit. Even then, the series easily has some of the most impressive graphics on the 360 and it's certainly not as unimaginative as most shooters.

[Skykid]

Fuck yes, one of the very few current gen titles worth getting stuck into.

[E. Randy Dupre]

The second game is all kinds of brilliant, and I say that as somebody who more or less hated the first. From the underground city and giant worms onwards, it's astonishng.

WThe gameplay is repetitive, the graphics are repetitive, and the enemies are repetitive.

I always love it when somebody here slates a game that *isn't* a shmup with negatives that could be leveled at pretty much every single shmup ever. "The gameplay is repetitive". Welcome to videogames!

[Acid King]

The second game is all kinds of brilliant, and I say that as somebody who more or less hated the first. From the underground city and giant worms onwards, it's astonishng.

WThe gameplay is repetitive, the graphics are repetitive, and the enemies are repetitive.

I always love it when somebody here slates a game that *isn't* a shmup with negatives that could be leveled at pretty much every single shmup ever. "The gameplay is repetitive". Welcome to videogames!

I think that the second game would have been awesome if they had taken out all the turret/vehicle sections and the giant worm. More repetition would have improved it and they had more open area battles and fewer tunnels and hallways.

[linko9]

I wouldn't ever use those criticisms on good shmups. Visuals are usually quite different from stage to stage (see DP/DDP, Giga Wing, Batrider), enemies and bullet patterns are quite obviously novel from stage to stage (in that new enemies and patterns are introduced with each stage), and when a runthrough only lasts 30 or 40 minutes, it's hard for the gameplay to get repetitive. Perhaps it's an odd sentiment, but I never feel that a good shmup gets repetitive even after many many hours of play, because the drive to improve is always enough to keep me engaged. In a game like GoW, there's no drive to improve, as there's no score, and it's not the type of game most people will play through multiple times back to back. Thus, 8 or so hours of drudging through similar-looking environments repeating the same actions over and over starts to feel like a chore, while playing a shmup over and over is much more engaging for me. I'll even add on another criticism; the sound design is bland. I guess they felt the need to match the audio with the video.

[ncp]

I always love it when somebody here slates a game that *isn't* a shmup with negatives that could be leveled at pretty much every single shmup ever. "The gameplay is repetitive". Welcome to videogames!

Repetitive shmups are boring, too. Welcome to videogames.

[brokenhalo]

the first game is definitely the better of the two imo. i probably clocked around 300 hours playing online with friends in warzone mode. but i can't imagine anyone is still playing online anymore, so it probably isn't worth picking up at this point. gears 2 i thought the story was kinda dumb, and the gameplay pretty boring and repetitive. online just wasn't as fun either. my friends and i migrated over to COD for our deathmatch kicks. hopefully gears 3 recaptures the magic, because i really miss the gow headshot sound effect.

[Khan]

yea its good, i enjoyed the story modes for both games however multiplayer to begin with can be frustrating but once you get good at it can be alot of fun although it has to be said it was always a rush to see who could get to the boomshot or sniper rifle first and with them in hand lay down the ownage.

[E. Randy Dupre]

I always love it when somebody here slates a game that *isn't* a shmup with negatives that could be leveled at pretty much every single shmup ever. "The gameplay is repetitive". Welcome to videogames!

Repetitive shmups are boring, too. Welcome to videogames.

And there's the entire problem with this argument: you're conflating 'repetitive' with 'boring'. The two aren't necessarily the same thing.

[Dragoforce]

I'm sure that Gears of War is a good series, but I can't stand the graphics. Everything is excessively gray and the macho thing it has going is very bad taste. Massive dudes wearing a car with two giant speakers for armor and shooting aliens with their long fat "guns"? lol.

Reminds me about Cho-aniki in some ways.

[MX7]

It's quite fun, and can get quite tricky in places which is cool. Lots of stuff explodes, everything is war torn and angsty, man. But after an hour or two, when most good action games have the decency to finish, it gets old very fast. The character design and setting is as boring as hell, which makes it a slog to actually want to play it. Two player co-op is fun, and it's easy to convince someone to play with you. If not, you can go online, but without a real life chum it's a pretty weak experience. Unless you prefer the cold embrace of an inflatable sex doll over a real person I guess.

In the end I just grabbed my Gamecube and went through Resident Evil 4 once more to see a 'spectacle' game done right.

[MX7]

I always love it when somebody here slates a game that *isn't* a shmup with negatives that could be leveled at pretty much every single shmup ever. "The gameplay is repetitive". Welcome to videogames!

Repetitive shmups are boring, too. Welcome to videogames.

And there's the entire problem with this argument: you're conflating 'repetitive' with 'boring'. The two aren't necessarily the same thing.

Do you enjoy the thing you're repeating? If not, then of course it's boring. If it's an interesting shmup, you don't sit there and think 'wow, this is repetitive', even if you complete the same action over and over. 'Repetition' is an inherently value added term, innut.

[cools]

I finished it. Co-op was fun.

Came with the Xbox I bought at the time, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with it

[kernow]

I finished it. Co-op was fun.

Came with the Xbox I bought at the time, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with it

ohh you dark horse

[cools]

This was before my huge disillusionment with modern games In fact it probably contributed to it.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Do you enjoy the thing you're repeating? If not, then of course it's boring. If it's an interesting shmup, you don't sit there and think 'wow, this is repetitive', even if you complete the same action over and over. 'Repetition' is an inherently value added term, innut.

Well, yes. That's what I'm saying I can think of plenty of games that I genuinely would describe as repetitive, but which I enjoy, at least partly, *because* of the repetition. Shmups - even the very best of them - are all about memorisation through repetition. You play a section, you die, you replay that section with the new knowledge. You die. You repeat. If enemy sprites were appearing at random moments and in random positions throughout the entire game, it'd be shit, because you'd never make any progress.

The same applies to racing games - you learn a course through repeated play. And the longevity in racers often comes from time trial modes, which are nothing but repetition. Same as any score attack game.

The question is whether or not there's any inherent entertainment value in the activity that you're being asked to repeat. If there is, then it's not a problem. If there isn't, then that's when the issue becomes one of boredom.

[evil_ash_xero]

I rented it, and have been putting some time into it. I don't think this is for me. I don't really like Western games, as a lot of people here may know. It's OK, it's just not my thing. It is quite repetitive. You just go into a spot, duck and fire. And then you go on again, and do the same. It has the problems that I have with first person shooters.

I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not up my alley. I'll try and finish it though, before I return it.

I have a feeling Vanquish will be more up my alley.

"what do I look like, a fucking botanist?"

[Acid King]

I rented it, and have been putting some time into it. I don't think this is for me. I don't really like Western games, as a lot of people here may know. It's OK, it's just not my thing. It is quite repetitive. You just go into a spot, duck and fire. And then you go on again, and do the same. It has the problems that I have with first person shooters.

I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not up my alley. I'll try and finish it though, before I return it.

I have a feeling Vanquish will be more up my alley.

"what do I look like, a fucking botanist?"

Turn up the difficulty and play Horde.

[Rob]

I don't really like Western games,

I like quality action games.

Japanese games will usually "reveal themselves" if you crank up the difficulty, but you need to play online for western games like this. In fact, you'll never get it if you don't play online. Enemies in campaigns are retarded - they'll just keep popping their heads up in the same spot until you take care of them and the pace will be as slow as you make it. When they exit cover they will walk in a line towards you.

The campaigns are for the spectacle, a little training and that's about it. They don't bring out the best in the game mechanics. If you have cover in the campaign you're basically invincible since the AI isn't that aggressive. Online - people move around a lot, are harder to hit and will hit with enough damage to make regenerating health a relief when you can get it (rather than a tedious constant).

[monkeyman]

Both games are worth a play through on co-op, though i feel campaign wise the second game didn't really add anything interesting to the mix. Though it did add hoard mode (but again that's co-op).

Never really got into the vs multiplayer modes, had some good games with friends when it first came out - in fact i'd say the ott kills really make it a scream to play with friends - but never held my attention with strangers.

As a single player experience, I feel the first game made more of an impact, and the 2nd was entirely missable.

[Damocles]

Probably not what you're after, but if what you're looking for is a 3rd-person shooter with a cover mechanic try Stranglehold. It doesn't have regenerating health and is quite good. Most of the Tequila Bombs are pointless, but eh. You can also get it for something like $3 on Ebay.

Online is dead, however.

[Strider77]

gears and ketsui have to much grey in them... I hate them