11/9/07 Gears of War (PC)

[Azazel]

One of a number of newly released games for the PC I'm inteeresed in. So starting a topic in here.


Thoughts anyone? I read some reviews that said it was overall good, but very very consolized still in terms of control options (space bar locked to doing 2 things and not remappable) and online play.

[murdoc]

Don't see this one doing really well on the PC side of things. It's a GREAT console title though and I'm sorta peeved that the extra content won't make an appearance on the 360. I have a lot of  for this game, but wouldn't consider getting it for the PC.

[Morfiend]

Don't see this one doing really well on the PC side of things. It's a GREAT console title though and I'm sorta peeved that the extra content won't make an appearance on the 360. I have a lot of  for this game, but wouldn't consider getting it for the PC.

I feel the same way. I think it will be to easy on the PC. It was seriously pure luv on Xbox though. One of my all time favorite console shooters. GREAT coop also.

[AngryGumball]

I saw it at the store, and while I never played it on the console, being as I do not own or have access to a xbox360(Mass Effect may change that for me)....

I never got to play Gears or War or experience it. Insert sad face. I wanted to play it.

Howeva....its $49.99.    Fuck that. Thank you earlier poster telling me how its very consolized, my fear is realized.

$29.99 and I would have given it consideration. Being antsy for new flashies new game even if I do not finish it. Its new want to have type of consideration. The longer I wait the less I care.

[Trippy]

It is still consolized but the controls are fine and you can remap all the controls if you want including the Run/Cover action which is bound to the spacebar by default (and there's no reason to change it unless your prefer the arrow keys to WASD but then you'll screw up a bunch of other commands). I feel sorry for those that had to play it with the controller since mouse look works as you would expect on a PC shooter (not surprising since Epic is a PC shooter company first and foremost).

Single-player is quite fun though somewhat short (not nearly as short as CoD 4, though). I'm playing it through again on the next level of difficulty just because. Story is stupid but the voice acting is very good. Player profiles are incredibly confusing, poorly explained, and the UI for them is all messed up. Haven't tried multi-player yet.

It also comes with the GoW version of Unreal Editor which is really cool.

[AngryGumball]

(not surprising since Epic is a PC shooter company first and foremost).

How long do you hold that as an agrgument, isn't there a point where that changes, it may have been true at one point is it still true?

I start my rant on UT3 below...

If they were a true PC gaming company wouldn't they understand that Gamespy is not helpful to PC games. That the reputation of Gamespy hurts the game for some fans, and by seeing the Beta Demo logging in Thur Gamespy isn't a fast or smooth process. While it may be simple its simply another hurdle that needs to be gotten out of the way from the pure game. While it may still be a business decision to use them, it shows Epic going away (in my opinion) true PC gaming support.

Doesn't their lack of communication about what they are changing for the Online browser annoy you. Having Mark Rein simply say the first day the Beta Demo was released that he and Epic know the browser is messed up and they are changing it but then not following up those statements with official reports on what is being changed.

That online browser is starting to be a game breaker for me.

[schild]

Your argument for Epic not being a PC FPS company is a terrible failure. Gamespy is used to save cost.

If you want handholding through the development process on waiting to see when the online browser will get changed, you've been following official mmog forums too much. Outside of MMOGs, developers don't do that shit. If they say stuff will change, it'll change. If it doesn't, they get guff for years and that's a big pain in the ass to developers.

I do love the idea of something that isn't even part of a game being a game breaker though.

Man, that title screen is a game breaker for me.

Fuck man, I'm pissed I beat this game, those credits blew goat balls.

[murdoc]

It is still consolized but the controls are fine and you can remap all the controls if you want including the Run/Cover action which is bound to the spacebar by default (and there's no reason to change it unless your prefer the arrow keys to WASD but then you'll screw up a bunch of other commands). I feel sorry for those that had to play it with the controller since mouse look works as you would expect on a PC shooter (not surprising since Epic is a PC shooter company first and foremost).

Single-player is quite fun though somewhat short (not nearly as short as CoD 4, though). I'm playing it through again on the next level of difficulty just because. Story is stupid but the voice acting is very good. Player profiles are incredibly confusing, poorly explained, and the UI for them is all messed up. Haven't tried multi-player yet.

It also comes with the GoW version of Unreal Editor which is really cool.

Story wasn't very good, but I'd really like to play the level before the train station so I know why the Hell I'm suddenly chasing a train.

GoW Unreal Editor is all kinds of awesome, didn't know they were including that.

[NiX]

AngryGumball has been pissing on a lot of games without merit. It's superfuntastic!

[Azazel]

ok.. I'm predominantly a PC gamer. especially 1st person, 3rd person, strategy, MMO.

But I like consoles for Party games, Gee-tar games, Driving/Racing games, Fighting games. I'll likely be getting a 360 just after Christmas.


Assuming GoW is a game I will play.. PC or 360? I'm really in two minds. Well, 3 minds when you also count not bothering to buy it at all.

[Yegolev]

AngryGumball has been pissing on a lot of games without merit. It's superfuntastic!

This is F13 so naturally I support AngryGumball's halfbaked rants with a

[Morfiend]

Stole this from Gamespy.com review. God damn but Microsoft is smart with these Achievements.

One interesting note about Gears: it's the first Live for Windows-enabled title to support both Windows XP and Vista (previously, Vista was required). Among other things, this means the game supports a full compliment of Achievements, which will tie into your existing Xbox Live account if you already have one.

[Sky]

Hey, this just in - anything Vista-only is a bad idea!

Also, I agree with the testy gumball's first post about the price, if not the rest of the barely-coherent griping. $50 for a console port fps with a short single-player and multiplayer I'll never touch? No thanks. I'm interested but probably won't get around to buying it until it hits the bin.

[Trippy]

I fucking hate checkpoint systems.

[rk47]

It wasn't bad. But I think I burned myself out at the broken bridge. Not sure why. It could be the lack of new weapons and the magnetic ass Marcus is blessed with, the dude should be spiderman, he sticks to most surface. But overall, I'm getting a much better fun experience than Bioshock, although play variety is starting to feel lacking.

[geldonyetich2]

GOW (PC) > BioShock?

Now I'm curious.

[Bunk]

Gears of War has some cool mechanics in the use of cover and also handles multiplayer quite well. I however gave up on it on the first Blind Brute Monster Guy. Picture an entire level that consisted of running away from a monster that insta-kills you on contact. Your only way through the level is to time things so that you jump away just before the monster hits you, so that the monster crashes through the door.

Then do it again on the second door... I'm not sure, there may have been a third door. If you did get hit at any point - Whoo boy! back to the check point to start over from the beginning! Fun, fun, fun!

Yea, I know everyone else in the world got by that stage and I just suck at the game - but it was a fun breaker for me, and that's enough to make me stop putting the disc back in the machine.

[rk47]

If you like COD more than Doom with a slight loot, exploration & upgrade purchase system then you will definitely like GoW more than Bioshock. The exploration was well done in Bioshock, not the shooter part tho, so overall I'm not really impressed.

[Morfiend]

GoW was meant to be played on a controller. I honestly couldnt imagine playing it with a mouse. I think it would seem to easy and change the way the game flows. As in, you cant aim so well with a controller, so the flow of the game was pop out, fix aim, cover, pop out, shoot, cover. I could imagine having to use cover much less with a mouse, making the game seem more simplistic.

[Trippy]

I need help on the level where you first find the Torque Bow and need to clear the Refinery before you plant the you know what. This is on Hardcore difficulty. The problem I'm having is that the TB is a one shot kill at this difficulty which means the slightest mistake and I have to start over again (which takes forever since you start so far back and have to wade through the fucking speeches every fucking time and half the fucking time your teammates don't follow properly so you have to reload *again*) and the TB shots are far harder to "avoid" than the Boomers. Did I mention I fucking hate checkpoint systems? I can usually do okay for a while patiently sniping from around the edges (I have the Sniper Rifle) but that's not enough to clear out all of them and once I try and move in I get killed from somewhere. Any tips, the cheesier the better, would be appreciated. And did I mention I fucking hate checkpoint systems?

Edit: NM I finally manage to get past that point by going on the "wrong" side first which has fewer TB shooters.

[Trippy]

GoW was meant to be played on a controller. I honestly couldnt imagine playing it with a mouse. I think it would seem to easy and change the way the game flows. As in, you cant aim so well with a controller, so the flow of the game was pop out, fix aim, cover, pop out, shoot, cover. I could imagine having to use cover much less with a mouse, making the game seem more simplistic.

Well I'm not playing it with the controller but you still have to use cover and you don't have a crosshair when not "aiming" just like on the Xbox 360 version so you still have to do the "aim", correct aim, pop down, aim, shoot ritual.

[Sky]

GoW was meant to be played on a controller. I honestly couldnt imagine playing it with a mouse. I think it would seem to easy and change the way the game flows. As in, you cant aim so well with a controller, so the flow of the game was pop out, fix aim, cover, pop out, shoot, cover. I could imagine having to use cover much less with a mouse, making the game seem more simplistic.

So...use a controller? The 360 one, even.

Bioshock = Doom? That's rich.

[rk47]

Well more on the atmosphere level. it's basically a scare fest that cease to become scary after the 2nd half.
I personally felt annoyed more than anything after blowing away the 50th freak. But yeah Doom's kinda different altogether, but I don't have anything else to compare Bioshock to. It's just a quirky game that obviously has some replay value, but I'm just not compelled to replay it for some reason.

[HRose]

GOW (PC) > BioShock?

Now I'm curious.

If you want extremely polished and fun firefights GoW is far, far better than Bioshock.

Bioshock is an atmospheric game with some funny tricks for the gameplay, but as a shooter is far from excellence. GoW instead is "simply" a shooter and nothing else. Polished to the extreme like only a console game can be. Feels like a shooter that Blizzard would make, nothing really innovative but viscerally fun and very sleek.

The cover mechanic influences HEAVILY the gameplay to the point that GoW feels different from all other shooters. It's also the only game to actually delivers this sort of realism that someone else explained on another forum:

Fire without movement is useless. Movement without (cover) fire is suicide. That's a standard maxim from the infantry, and GoW is the first major title I've played that implements it in an enjoyable manner.

So, GoW is excellence made shooter. Viscerally fun, but without any depth or even ambition to be more than that. Other shooters like STALKER or Bioshock try to move in new directions. GoW is a very simple game, but nothing comes close to the excellence of the shooting part. Sound effects, animations, controls, 'dancing' from cover to cover. Mayhem.

It's all about that cover trick. But it's a trick that can then be used in so many ways. Blind shooting, aimed shooting, desperate runs. Once you master the controls it's a bliss.

It's a game that does just one thing. But does it very well. You don't find firefights akin GoW in any other shooter.

[Morfiend]

...nothing really innovative but viscerally fun and very sleek.
...
The cover mechanic influences HEAVILY the gameplay to the point that GoW feels different from all other shooters.

I would call that innovative. Their use of cover made the game play different than any other shooter I have ever played. After playing it, I felt that all other shooters where lessened.

[HRose]

...nothing really innovative but viscerally fun and very sleek.
...
The cover mechanic influences HEAVILY the gameplay to the point that GoW feels different from all other shooters.

I would call that innovative. Their use of cover made the game play different than any other shooter I have ever played. After playing it, I felt that all other shooters where lessened.

It's not innovative, just better designed.

GoW is surely not the first game to use cover mechanics.

[Morfiend]

I guess its just semantics, but I would say doing some thing to make the game feel different to every other shooter, would be innovative.

[Trippy]

The use of cover in 3D shooters has been around since, uh, Battlezone? And there have been other games that have emphasized the importance of cover and keeping your head down like the Rainbow 6 series. "Blind fire" was in Kill Switch so that wasn't new to GoW either. Even the "magnetic ass" mechanic, as rk47 called it, wasn't totally unique as some stealth games had something similar where you could press your back up against the wall and such, though the distance from which you could attach yourself in GoW is unique, I think.

What is unique is the way Epic put all those things together and added an AI which knew how to use them as well which made the total gameplay experience something that hadn't been seen before.

[rk47]

I seem to remember having AI that abuse the fuck out of cover in Godfather. A GTA-genre set in the movie's world.
The AI really abused it to the extent of blind-shooting me while knocking tables down to act as a cover. I tried playing run and gun style but learned pretty quick if I don't use the cover mechanics, I'm pretty much fucked.

[Mortriden]

I seem to remember having AI that abuse the fuck out of cover in Godfather. A GTA-genre set in the movie's world.
The AI really abused it to the extent of blind-shooting me while knocking tables down to act as a cover. I tried playing run and gun style but learned pretty quick if I don't use the cover mechanics, I'm pretty much fucked.

Just choke them.  In the early sections you can choke the shit out of all of the one slash and two slash guys for higher XP and low vendetta.  Plus, most of them just use their fists on you unless you pull a weapon first.  This doesn't work so well when you are taking down a warehouse or Hub. 

[Murgos]

I haven't played a lot of squad based shooters but I thought the team AI in GoW was really good.  They took cover, shot at things and generally stayed out of the way.  Sure *most* of the killing was still up to the player but your squaddies were actually mildly beneficial overall.

[bhodi]

OK, beat this game just now. How it's on some people's top 20 games of all time list is beyond me.

Yes, the cover mechanic is nice. I'm sure it's got great multiplayer. The story wasn't even HALF-baked, and though the acting was good (I'm looking at you, whoever voiced Cole Train), it simply could not redeem this mediocre shooter on rails. There were 5 monster types the entire game. If you've seen one "ruined city" you've seen them all. The "kill you in on hit" monsters with the torque bow were bullshit. I switched down to normal difficulty from hardcore after trying to deal with those assholes, at the same point trippy had to switch.

I'm pretty sure the hammer of dawn was more spectacular on the xbox version, it seemed kind of lame visually on the PC.. and I remember it being real cool on the xbox. Not sure why. The game also came very close to giving me motion sickness, and I don't EVER get nauseous playing FPS games.

The end boss is impossible unless you carry the torque bow, and it's hidden in the shadows back at the start. If I have to go to gamefaqs to figure out how to beat a boss, you've failed.

I don't want my money back, but this game is average at best.

[Mazakiel]

Cole Train was voiced by the guy who was Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.