f13.net

So, who else is picking this up? I need to get my chainsaw on with some people on XBL this week. I imagine my copy won't be in until Thursday, but this is the first game that's really got me interested in getting online.

Useless post: the adverts are really pushing us to get a 360.  Yeah!  I said "us"!  Squee!

I want it really badly. However, it's a month before Christmas and so I'm out of luck/money.

Ill be grabbing my preorder today after work. I am pretty excited.

My buddy is some kind of game seller. Either way, he's willing to take my Enchanted Arms in exchange for Gears. I am happy. Hopefully I get it tonight cause I have the day off tomorrow.

Im considering trading in Splinter Cell: DA, and putting it towards Gears, and then buying Splinter Cell for my PC. I am having a really hard time controlling Sammy boy with the Xbox controller.

Picking this up with my wireless guitar and such in a bit here. I'm stokez0r0ed.

I read somewhere that the Reactor wireless guitar doesn't work with GH2.  Can't remember where, it's been a slow day at work.

Edit: I'm a nub.

I'm buying the Red Octane Wireless. Anyway, /derail.

Reviews are starting to trickle out, and they are all very good so far. With IGN calling it "The Killer App" for Xbox 360.

Well obviously.  It's very well-marketed.  How many other 360 games have you seen advertised on TV in the middle of the day?  It has to be Jesus on toast.

ummmmmmmmm toast.

Go buy Gears of War. Buy it NOW!

Oops I bought toast.

Fuck.

This is the first 360 game I really want to play.

I just wonder if the post-launch 360s are really improved in reliability, though. I've known a lot of people with them where the box got the "red eye of death" pretty quickly.

Get the extended warranty. Then no worries. Or buy from Costco.

(http://www.thursdaynext.com/images/toastlisa.jpg)

umm, toast.

http://www.thursdaynext.com/toast.html

First impressions:

Not good: Story and telling of said story. I remember watching video of the Locust emerging for the first time, where is this? (not to say it's not coming later). It'd be nice to start the game with, you know, a little back story. The dialogoue is badbadbad, but I'm actually ok with this. I look at this game like it were a old school action flick. It's like "Commando" with underground monsters and machine guns instead of Bennett.

Close range combat is... difficult. Yeah, it's all about the stop and pop, but when you are forced into close range, I found it really hard to aim properly. That's more of a thumbstick issue though. When I instigate close range fights though... see the GOOD part.

Emergent holes. Too much like random spawn points. You come to room, clear from north to south, last Locust dies OH HAY AN EMERGENT HOLE AT THE FRONT OF THE ROOM. Turn back around and clear room from south to north. Over used imo. I like the fact that if I enter a room, there's Locust in it and the seem almost as surprised to see me as I'm supposed to be to see them. Don't add cheap spawn points.

On a rail. Yeah yeah yeah, what did I expect? Not much suprise for what'll happen next when I know that if I take out a heavy gunner, an emergent hole will IMMEDIATELY appear right in front of said gun to enure that I have to use to defend.

Healing your comrades is a waste of time so far. I've got my ass shot off as I try to heal one of the 3 NPCs that are "helping" me since they all got their asses shot off. If I ignore them they don't die (that I've noticed) and once I clear the area of Locust they immediately jump up like nothing was wrong.

Can't skip cinematics that I've noticed. Frustrating when you die a couple of times and have to sit through the same cinematic each time because it occured right after the checkpoint save.

The GOOD - Holy Hell this game is fun. I got about 3-4 hours of gaming in and it was damn hard to put down. Gunfights are fast and frantic (not furious). Flanking manouvers actually work as the Locust don't see to automatically know where you are at all times (Like GRAW). You can get in behind them as your squad pins them down and open up on them.

Graphics and sound are amazing. This game demands to be played in High Def with a decent Dolby Surround system. Even though (so far) there's a lot of grey tones, it all looks unbelievably good. One of my favorite graphic effects is the heat blur from the muzzle of your gun as you reload. Speaking of reloading, I really like the reload "mini-game" It's there as a risk/reward, but you don't have to do it everytime you're reloading. Nice little addition.

Chainsaw deaths will NEVER get old. It took me awhile to get the chainsaw down, but now that I have, I can't get enough of it. Not game breaking though, the leading cause of my death so far is trying to chainsaw something and getting plugged as I run up to them.

Didn't jump online yet, but should do that this weekend.

So far so good. No, it's not Robot Jesus and I'm not even sure if it's worth the 9.6/9.4 scores it got, but it IS a ton of fun, looks and sounds great. We'll see if I get my money's worth out of it, but I can easily see me replaying this game a few times.

Few things.

You know you can toss a granade in the emergance hole and it will close right? Also, how do I use the chainsaw? And what is this reload minigame you are talking about?

Maybe I should RTFM.

Yeah, my aim with grenades is... lacking.

Hold 'B' to rev up the chainsaw. Just make sure you're close to a Locust and it'll do the rest automatically.

Reload mini game, not really a mini game but I don't have a better way to explain it. Watch the bar under your ammo counter, when you tap reload once, a vertical line starts passing from left to right. Tap reload again when the vertical line is in the dense white area and you get a fast reload, if you happen to hit it when its hovering over the bright portion of the line, you reload at a faster rate and get like a 10% damage bonus to your bullets for a short time. If you try an active reload, make sure you hit it right because if you don't you jam your gun and it'll cost you a few seconds.

It took me a little bit to get into the pace of the game and get used to the controls (several times I did a jumping roll when just trying to gain cover) - but once I slowed down and got used to the way things worked the gameplay really started growing on me. As someone mentioned close combat felt awkward at first, but I'm getting better with the chainsaw, and even better -  the shotgun is awesome for close quarters encounters.

I found it most enjoyable to take it slow - actually walking slowly, taking in the environments, being cautious. The game rewards a more deliberate, thought out playstyle and that's a welcome change from just running and gunning. For me it really adds to the immersion (had several flashbacks to Aliens' colonial marines) and really adds to the tension ... creeping through ruins, everything quiet, not knowing when that next sudden firefight will erupt. The graphics are outstanding and really shine on my 50" HDTV.

Haven't checked out multiplayer yet since I need to reactivate my Live subscription, but I think it will be worth it for this game.

What the hell is the trick to the chainsaw? Every time I get close and they rush me I can never seem to hit them with it.

The two ways I get the chainsaw to work properly are either:

Sneak up behind them (duh)
Or fire a couple bullets into them so they stagger, then gut them. That seems to work most times for me unless they have some back-up that can shoot me as I stand there. I typically only chainsaw the last remaining couple of Locust to avoid that though.

Press A and B together to skip cutscenes.

Does GoW have a manual?

No, they used the manual budget to pay David Fincher to make a commercial.

What is that song from the commercial?  I heard it a few times in other things (CSI:Miami?).  I pretty sure its old but it sounds very modern.

EDIT: interesting... Mad World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_World_(song))

"Mad World", by Gary Jules from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. 

edit:  Corrected the name.