THE COLE TRAIN IS BACK BABY!! WOOOO!! (A Gears of War 3 Thread)

[Arcanum]

So Gears 3. Never thought I'd be the one making this thread. Basically, thanks to the horrendous multiplayer in Gears 2 I traded in the game about a month or two after I got it, and swore of Gears of War forever. And then the Gears 3 beta happened and my brother gave me an invite code and I was honestly impressed by pretty much everything in the beta.

So now here we are, just picked up the game at Best Buy's midnight release and played it for a solid two and a half hours. The game is pretty great so far, if a bit obsessed with enemies running into your face and exploding (seriously, fuck the Lambent). The cover system is much more fluid compared to the previous games, and they've even added some color other than brown and gray (gasp!).

I also tried the game's new "Beast Mode" (albeit on my own since nobody was playing it online yet, since everyone was either playing the campaign or multiplayer) and it was pretty fun, though I'm curious to see if it will scale with multiple players since playing on my own was rather easy until about round 9 (out of 12 I believe) where they started to actively dodge my Berserker's charges and smash attacks.

Anyway is anyone else going to grab this game?

[synkr0nized]

I really enjoyed the retarded and sophomoric ride with the team through the first two. I will definitely be following them in the third.

I rarely played multiplayer unless it was with friends, so I am not really concerned with how that aspect of the game fares. Beast mode is really fun, though.

[EVILNess]

I went to the Gears 3 midnight release.

To get my pre-order of Persona 2 Innocent Sin early.

Is that bad?

[synkr0nized]

just takin' care of your interests

[Kim]

I went to the Gears 3 midnight release.

To get my pre-order of Persona 2 Innocent Sin early.

Is that bad?

~BROS~

Cliffy B apparently says you shouldn't be reviewing this if you liked Final Fantasy Tactics, which I find incredibly amusing because I could have easily obtained a review copy if I hadn't opted to spend more time with my family. On the one hand, it would have been funny to hear about how I shouldn't have reviewed it. On the other hand, now I can just not play it.

Glad to hear you guys are liking it though. Pretty solid franchise with a major impact on the genre.

[Melfice]

I'm hearing this fourth-hand, but I understand the writing (or at least the story) is absolute shit.
I understand quite a lot of people are probably not going to buy this for the story (links to Cliffy B saying FFT fans shouldn't review this?), but still...

In any case, I'm getting my Space Marine on with... well, Space Marine, but I wish you Gearheads (is that something they call Gears fans? Whatever...) all a good time.

[Kim]

I'm hearing this fourth-hand, but I understand the writing (or at least the story) is absolute shit.

I heard the writer say he doesn't like reading books, so that certainly doesn't bode well, not that Gears has ever been well-written, but maybe this one is especially bad?

Do you pay much attention to reviews?
Oh yeah, between every interview I’m on my iPad like an addict. Sometimes I don’t really care what people say, and sometimes I care too much. When it comes to reviews I want to make sure everbody loves and enjoys it. And I want to make sure the right person is reviewing it, if you’re a Final Fantasy Tactics guy, you probably shouldn’t be reviewing Gears of War.

Is the exact quote. Here is the source. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/video-game-news/8774203/Gears-of-War-3-interview-Cliff-Bleszinski.html)

[Azisien]

I see his point now that it's in context.

Played the first two acts myself in co-op. It was pretty fun times. They mix up the encounters pretty well in this one, except for the odd annoying damage-soak monster (looking at you, Brumaks).

Hysterical laughter all around for the Cole remeniscing, tackling a bunch of enemies, and touchdown celebrating planting a bomb. Best part of the Gears of War franchise.

Anybody else find the game kind of sexist? I swear every comment out of or towards women is about shopping or reproducing or nagging or whatever other cliche seems convenient. Baird just seems to hate Sam, but the writers/animators/whatever manage to miss the "playfully because we're bros" mark for me. I know, Gears of War, but it did stick out for me much, much more in my brief play time.

[Magus]

I can't really see his point in context, though? I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy Tactics and, say, Max Payne 2. Max Payne 2 is a sweet sweet 3rd-person-shooter game with, hey lookit--a phenomenal story, writing, and acting! It's almost like just because it's about space marines (well, not in space, but you get my point) wouldn't excuse its terrible writing.

ALSO if it's a really good shooter I'll forgive a bad story, or lack of. I have no problem with the phenomenal Return to Castle Wolfenstein which pretty much lacked a plot.

Thus this entire argument that Final Fantasy Tactics fans shouldn't review Gears of War 3 makes little sense.

[Kim]

His point is mainly that Gears of War is a third person shooter made for third person shooter fans, and while the game isn't made to exclude fans of other genres, he doesn't expect they'll really appreciate it the same way. However, his way of conveying this is poorly delivered, in part because he misses the point of reviews. In addition to looking at his series within a vacuum when it comes to reviews of Gears games, Cliffy B doesn't really get that reviews of a game should come from different viewpoints to better allow consumers of different viewpoints to gauge whether or not they would like the game.

All in all, it's an understandable, albeit misguided, sentiment that is delivered fairly idiotically.

[Krylo]

Anybody else find the game kind of sexist?
I guess in the books/comics/whatever it is Gears canon that all fertile women are in forced breeding camps.

So, uh, yeah, not just you. And not just the game. Kind of the entire backstory/universe.
I can't really see his point in context, though? I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy Tactics and, say, Max Payne 2. Max Payne 2 is a sweet sweet 3rd-person-shooter game with, hey lookit--a phenomenal story, writing, and acting! It's almost like just because it's about space marines (well, not in space, but you get my point) wouldn't excuse its terrible writing.

ALSO if it's a really good shooter I'll forgive a bad story, or lack of. I have no problem with the phenomenal Return to Castle Wolfenstein which pretty much lacked a plot.

Thus this entire argument that Final Fantasy Tactics fans shouldn't review Gears of War 3 makes little sense.
Most people don't like every type of game, and most of the time a reviewer who is big on the whole 'give me all the complicated systems and slow turn based strategy with political intrigue at every turn' thing that FFT (or the Tactics Ogre games) delivers aren't going to be huge fast paced shooter with stories that exist mostly as a backdrop for shooting the shit out of things fans, so you wouldn't want them reviewing it.

Same as you wouldn't want someone who skips every cutscene and all the dialogue they can and prefers fast paced action games reviewing a Final Fantasy game.

Well, not if you wanted the games to review well/fairly, anyway.

Edit: Ninja'd on second half here. Whaaaatever.

[Magus]

Well, perhaps I was unaware that third-person-shooters are this special genre that just appeal to some people, like that's all they play, man. Gotta have that sweet over-the-shoulder-reticle-aimin' action, know what I'm sayin'?

I dunno. I guess it's because I enjoy most genres...like if the guy behind Madden '12 had said that I would probably have agreed completely (although in some ways those are kind of like RPGs, now that I'm thinkin' about it). But most game reviewers play multiple genres and more likely than not would have played the first two if they were reviewing this one, so...I dunno. Perhaps he has zero idea of how game journalism works, as you say, which is to not always provide a perspective of someone who is already a fan of his works.

EDIT: Well to cover what Krylo said I'm probably not a big player of only like two genres so maybe I'm the exception rather than the rule. I thought most people playing games were playing lots of different types of games but I guess I had the wrong idea. Like seriously the only genres I'm not a huge player off is sports and RTS (and I play RTS, I'm just not good at it. I like Starcraft, I just suck).

[Mr.Bookworm]

I heard the writer say he doesn't like reading books, so that certainly doesn't bode well, not that Gears has ever been well-written, but maybe this one is especially bad?

She. Karen Traviss wrote the 3rd one.

I mean given that just means it is guaranteed to be horrible on at least one level, but whadda gonna do?

[Azisien]

I guess in the books/comics/whatever it is Gears canon that all fertile women are in forced breeding camps.

So, uh, yeah, not just you. And not just the game. Kind of the entire backstory/universe.

[Plinkett voice] I don't give a shit about no books or comics or toys or any of that shit![/Plinkett voice]

Even if that's true, I suppose my point is that the sexism, inherent or not, really seems to come out when I played this one. Maybe I just didn't notice it in Gears 1 or 2, though. It just seemed like it arrived with female playables.

I can't really see his point in context, though? I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy Tactics and, say, Max Payne 2. Max Payne 2 is a sweet sweet 3rd-person-shooter game with, hey lookit--a phenomenal story, writing, and acting! It's almost like just because it's about space marines (well, not in space, but you get my point) wouldn't excuse its terrible writing.

Basically what Liz and Krylo said. Yeah, some people have huge genres of games they like, but way more often than not it's more segregated.

I think his point is, maybe not even "misguided" as Liz said, but just phrased poorly. It was an interview, I doubt he had that line specifically prepared. Reading what he said, I know he immediately means that Gears of War 3 isn't going to revolutionize anything, and it's not bringing something new to the table that will, say, cause hardcore SRPG fans to start clamoring for copies. It's a game for shooter fans. It makes perfect sense. Hell, I've wanted to say this for every game where I've ever written a review.

Final point being, maybe you like almost every genre Magus, but then his comment isn't even directed to you.

[Magus]

Yeah I get what he's saying now.

All I'm saying now is that if Cliff wants to make game called Gears of War Tactics for his next game I'm all for it.

[Marc v4.0]

All I'm saying now is that if Cliff wants to make game called Gears of War Tactics for his next game I'm all for it.

Oooooooo

[Kerensky287]

Mute the video on the left. (http://youtubedoubler.com/1Kck)

I'd play it.

EDIT: On-topic, I'm playing Gears of War 1 for the first time now. It's a lot of fun, but the AI is absolute shit. I'm assuming they fix that in the later games.

Also, I keep hearing people talking about a Gears of War "storyline," and I don't know what they're talking about. I always just sort of assumed that Gears was one of those games about gameplay, like Pac Man or the first few Metroids. I have watched every single cutscene and when my Dad asked me what I was fighting I could not give him an answer.

"They're guys," I said. "Guys that don't have names when I hover over them. That means that they have to be shot at."

I think they're called Locusts? Or Grubs, or Wretches or something? But they don't look very insect-like, and that confuses me.

EDIT 2: My favorite teammate is Baird. I think that his name is Baird because he is the only squad member with a Beard.

EDIT 3: I don't like Dom very much. I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be the team Nice Guy, but the only reason I feel that way is because his AI seems to play him as a pacifist.

[Arcanum]

EDIT: On-topic, I'm playing Gears of War 1 for the first time now. It's a lot of fun, but the AI is absolute shit. I'm assuming they fix that in the later games.

Hahahaha. Ok yeah they improve the enemy AI a bit, but your teammates? Oh my god they are dumb. I don't remember if they revive you in Gears 2 (been a while since I played it), but in Gears 3 they easily get stuck in a melee battle against a single locust. And I mean all three of them, trying to melee one or two locusts, and failing miserably, and refusing to revive me because they are too busy being retarded.

Story.

Here is a summary of the Gears of War story (minor spoilers for all 3 games (relevant (http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/09/21))). Ahem. Locust emerge, humans nuke their cities with satellite lasers, humans deploy a "Light Mass Bomb" and kill all the Locust, the locust survive, humans go underground to kill more Locust, say hi to the queen, flood their last city and kill all the Locust, Locust survive, humans go find Marcus' father, kill all Lambent and Locust (for reals this time).

It's not really groundbreaking stuff.


Anyway, as for actual Gears 3 stuff, there seemed to be a lot of on-rails sequences. I know Gears has used these before, but there seemed to be more of them than usual. They were neat, that's for sure, but I'm not really a fan of on-rails stuff.

Also fuck the final boss fight (though this is mostly because I was playing on Hardcore). Because when the beetle (I think it was called a Tempest?) starts attacking the tower for the second time I think, and you have those flying tickers shooting at you from all kinds of stupid angles, and you have an endless swarm of Locust climbing up behind you while you try to shoot the beetle (because yes if you leave it for a while it will kill Marcus's dad) it's impossible to not get downed several times over. And your teammates are completely ass-backwards-retarded at times when it comes to reviving you.

Also Beast Mode is the best thing ever, even though it takes me 5+ minutes of searching to find a game, though I don't know if that's because there's only ~7000 people on Beast Mode at a given time, or because my NAT is stuck on moderate thanks to my router being unable to properly deal with two 360's linked up to it.

[Marc v4.0]

Mute the video on the left. (http://youtubedoubler.com/1Kck)

I'd play it.

EDIT: On-topic, I'm playing Gears of War 1 for the first time now. It's a lot of fun, but the AI is absolute shit. I'm assuming they fix that in the later games.

Also, I keep hearing people talking about a Gears of War "storyline," and I don't know what they're talking about. I always just sort of assumed that Gears was one of those games about gameplay, like Pac Man or the first few Metroids. I have watched every single cutscene and when my Dad asked me what I was fighting I could not give him an answer.

"They're guys," I said. "Guys that don't have names when I hover over them. That means that they have to be shot at."

I think they're called Locusts? Or Grubs, or Wretches or something? But they don't look very insect-like, and that confuses me.

EDIT 2: My favorite teammate is Baird. I think that his name is Baird because he is the only squad member with a Beard.

EDIT 3: I don't like Dom very much. I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be the team Nice Guy, but the only reason I feel that way is because his AI seems to play him as a pacifist.

Basically they, because Gears doesn't take place on Earth so they aren't us, found some nifty fuel source underground and decided to dig deeper and find more, but it turns out a hostile race of ugly fuckers was living further down and neither race had any clue as to the existance of each other so that went over really well.

Also Baird is a whiny douchehammer who can't go 3 feet without complaining like a 13 year old girl.

[Arcanum]

Basically they, because Gears doesn't take place on Earth so they aren't us, found some nifty fuel source underground and decided to dig deeper and find more, but it turns out a hostile race of ugly fuckers was living further down and neither race had any clue as to the existance of each other so that went over really well.

Except the fuel is ALLLIIIIIIIVVVVEEE.

Also Baird is a whiny douchehammer who can't go 3 feet without complaining like a 13 year old girl.

You know, I hated Baird in the first two games, but I didn't find him as intolerable in the third. Maybe it's because you don't spend as much time with him. Or maybe because he swapped out whining for sarcastic remarks. Whatever it was, I don't want to chainsaw his guts out anymore.

[Kerensky287]

I like Baird because he reminds me of Carlos from Magic School Bus.

Also? Beard.

And frankly your squad isn't exactly a fantastic source of brilliant characters. You've got Anti-Hero Badass Fenix, Nice Guy Dom, COUWWWW TRAIN BAYBEH, and Bitchy Whiny Baird.

I like him because bad stuff happens to him.

[Ecks]

I remember the achievement you got for freeing him in 2.

Free Baird

[synkr0nized]

Come on. Baird is easily the funniest of the group. With him around, you're never wanting for some sass or sarcasm, and even all of his "whining" was sarcastic. How is that not awesome?
2 made Dom terrible. Like, I get that they thought they were going for some "family man" tragic moment, but it's Gears. So it was melodramatic and a little out of place*. lolololDom. I can't quit you [until I get that achievement over with].



* kind of like all the Anya/Fenix in the second one. THEY ARE DEEPLY IN LOVE, EVERYONE!!



e: but who cares? I am chainsawing through guys/guts and organs/couches/doors/my teammates and blowing everything up.