twmac

For Taurus, I pelted him with Firebombs and kept my distance. About 11 firebombs will kill him. As for the lift that comes down from the Undead Parish to the firelink shrine

I clicked on the link... That review was unreadable. Not just because of the use of words but the formatting and punctuation was pretty offensive too.

Fixed, you git.

Pretty much agree with that, as X360 owner I was happy to see they released the sequel on both consoles as that is the exact vibe I am getting. And then a fucking dragon set me on fire.

The worst part? I was coming here to link that the Dark Souls website actually quoted that header in their English website. http://www.preparetodie.com/en/ Doesn't Keza McDonald work for IGN now? What a waste of talent.

Picked up my special edition this morning, cannot wait to get home!

This game is excellent fun in small doses. I played it for a bit too long and the lack of substance to the game wears a little thin. Still for 20 minutes of mindless explosions it is awesome.

I played the game for 14 hours last night and finished it. The game degrades near the end to a series of linear corridor fighting adn is a lot less grand for it but it never stops being fun. Two co-writers on the blog I contribute wrote about it and most of it is pretty accurate to how I felt about it: http://www.arcadianrhythms.com/2011/09/dead-island-review-spann/ http://www.arcadianrhythms.com/2011/09/dead-island-review-two/ Had loads more emergent game play moments, but am too tired to write them down right now. Neeed sleeeeeep

You'd be surprised one shotting everything will get you with 8-15 shots a level. I did switch out occasionally but not enough for me to be going 'when do I get my sniper back?'. At those points I usually resort to the Hammershot and use that at long range with a decent active reload it still pops heads. I really liked that the ammo crates only supplied basic ammo, it makes you appreciate how precious your shots really are, that is definitely a step in the right direction where sometimes I would get lazy. As for the Love/hate thing with the new Horde mode, I am content with the new additions, there are just moments where I am literally yelling at the screen 'FUCK YOU, how the fuck am I supposed to kill those guys?'. With a well coordinated team though, the thing purrs. The idle killing in Gears 2, that made contextual sense, you are being chased by something inside the belly of a beast or a building is collapsing. In Gears 3 there have been 2 moments where it literally kills you without any proper context for why, you'll be holding your own against a huge number of enemies and then the game will get tired and gib you. I do not remember any blatant infinite spawns but the one that got me straight away was me and my team mate held them off forever as there is unlimited ammo with the game shouting at us to what we were supposed to do. We couldn't quite figure it out so kept on killing the waves. Then I left him to it, wandered around for a bit then spotted the trigger, shot it and felt a little disappointed.

Funnily enough that is exactly how I played both Gears 2 and 3, that is generally how I play any game with a good sniper rifle in it. I will agree that Gears 3 has forced my hand a couple of times but I already have 'snipe guy doing roadie run award' about 20 odd times as they tend to rush me and get popped in the head again. Yeah those two moments were utterly flash in the pan, disappeared before I even noticed they were there and, it might be because I was only playing this in 2 player Co-Op so the invincible AI teammate added no tension to the scenario. I am not saying that at all, just that there are no scenarios that stick in my mind that did it didn't kill me if I so much as idled for bit, or present me with infinitely spawning enemies nor have a bit with a guy literally telling me 'I can't do that right now' as the game was waiting for my Co-Op teammate to catch up. I played Gears 2 on both Normal and Hardcore and I loved how difficult those on-rails sections were, it justified them being there as you could and would die, unlike similar sections in Gears 3. @JonCole All of those moments you mentioned were over before I could remember them, again, it was a case of me lining up a few shots and then moving on. The first bit you mentioned was especially dull for me as that was just more of what I normally do but with all of the challenge removed. Also, I am not talking about the actual cutscenes, I am talking about all the sections where you just walk along not really doing anything. I think they are supposed to be setting a mood but for me, having never really cared about the mood of Gears, they just play out like dull cutscenes with minimal interactivity. Anyway, these comments have definitely been food for thought and don't worry Sno it has been nice to debate these points especially as I think we are both struggling to see each other's perspective (for once). It also strikes me that I might just be playing the game wrong (just using the sniper rifle all the time). Is it bad that I love/hate what they did with Horde mode? EDIT: Also, again, please don't take this the wrong way. Overall I am enjoying the campaign a good deal and I can't wait to finish it. However, I am just not enjoying it as much as Gears 2.

Sorry, that is me getting confused with Chapter and Act 3. I am past most of Act 3 and have found it more clositered than 2. You nailed every part of the game where the game deviated from its arena battles. I'll not defend the panzer dragoon section but the bits in the tank and Brumak were great as, you know, you were drivng it unlike all the moments in Gears 3 so far where you are strapped into the rollercoaster with not even the slightest illusion of freedom. I liked Gears of War 2 from the opening in the hospital where one of you can up while the other can go down (or not at all if they so choose), Gears 2 was full of moments with great chances to breathe. The armoured centipede that you use for mobile cover was inspired. So far in Gears 3 I have witnessed a protracted tour through a boat, followed by a forced battle that had some nice verticality that was instantly stymied by a section ripped off from Lost Planet 2 but without the arena feel of LP2 so, although very diverting there was this niggling feeling like I didn't really need to be there for the game to complete this section for me. This was followed by another protracted walk through a town where Cole is being weird. Followed by a marginally fun multi tier fight that is immediately turned into yet another drawn out interactive cutscene briefly followed by a quick time event dressed up as something else. Then some fun bits that turns into a heavily scripted set piece (oh really, no matter how many times I head shot those guys they are just going to infinitely respawn until I trigger a cutscene?). Then a scene in which you can pretty much sit in a jeep and watch the spectacle (you couldn't do that in gears 2's two rail shooter sections) and not really shoot. This is followed by yet another protracted walk through a village where I am prompted to press X quite a bit but with no real danger. Then a little bit of fighting and then some gary john jules's instrumental version of Mad World. There are fun bits in there (I don't want to mention them for fear of spoilers), and I have deliberately picked out the worst parts of Gears of War 3 to point out my distaste in these CODified sections. It makes it sound like I am hating Gears of War 3 so far, I am not. I just find that its scripted set pieces, although more impressive to look at, are far less interactive than previous instalments. I haven't had any moments like carrying the bomb where it required proper Co-Op for player 1 and 2 to carry it, nor have I had any moments where the game took its limited verbs and did something interesting with them, like sneaking through the installation's security. Everytime I have arrived at an arena fight it has either been over far too quickly or it is deliberately scripted so that you really aren't doing anything but drawing a dot on a locust and waiting for the game to tell you to move, SEGA help you if you so much as dawdle too, as the game will more often than not kill you. Anyway, sorry if this comes off as a little blunt but you asked me to clarify myself and I felt that Gears 2 was my favourite campaign so far. Gears of War 3 does do some really good work with the settings, the pallette, and when it does give you some freedom it sings. However its lows have been the worst of the series as they exemplify the COD style of all boom with no bite.

Interesting. Maybe the game opens up after Chapter 3? I am feeling pretty awkward about the game at the moment. I think it does some really interesting things in the beginning but soon becomes a funnel into set piece after set-piece. I also disagree completely, one of the things that impressed me so much about Gears 2 was that, after the tunnels of Gears of War 1 they managed to introduce a lot of arena battles with a lot of opportunity for creativity. Gears 3 has, so far gone in the opposite direction. The set pieces are stunning but a few of them feel a great deal more linear than Gears' 2 (the second had some turret sequences but at least it felt like you could die and that you really did need to kill those guys). Not saying that I am not enjoying Gears 3 but I am struggling a lot as I do not like a lot of moments in here where I am constantly being shoved (Half Life 2 style) somewhere else even if I want to or not and the game producing moments where I can't kill something or can't go somewhere until the game says I can is really annoying.

I could be around to play this on Saturday afternoon Eastern time and probably some of Tuesday afternoon too. If you guys fix a time I will be there. Sunday and Monday evenings are being dedicated to Campaign playthrough.

Sorry for derailing the thread a little. I am actually really excited about getting on some games of Gears 3 (I have had 4 different people at work ask me whether I have picked it up yet). If anyone sets a specific day of the week I would be keen on trying some of the Co-Op modes. There is a bar near where I live that has free Wi-Fi and allows you to hook your console up to a Hi def TV. I live in Montreal so I don't know how that works for everyone else.

Well, I am 19 hours into a playthrough and I get the feeling that I will moving into the third act soon. The City is very interesting from level design perpective as there is much more verticality to it. There is more avoiding zombie crowds as the City is densely populated and the closer quarters makes it harder to keep your distance. Guns are more prevalent but not over-powered nor abundant enough for you to not end up still using melee quite a bit. The zombie types have really mixed up and you have to listen out for their distinct growls to get an idea of what you will be coming up against (the suicider one makes me cringe). Had another great random moment whereby my teammate and I lured a bunch of Walkers to us while we stood on a balcony, he took his time getting out a Deo-Bomb and we laughed a the stupid undead. I turned around only to see a Ram (a strait-jacketed Hannibal Lector Zombie) behind us. It knocked me off of the balcony just as my friend threw the bomb. I managed to scramble to my feet before it went off and circled around to get up the stairs to help my stricken compatriot. I fought through two of the faster infected and went into my Fury mode just as he had thrown his last blade at the Ram and saved his arse from a pounding. Awesome fun. That said quite a few of the current missions are extremely linear 'instances' and those are a lot less fun the stuff that stays in the open world.

I hope it has improved, as this guy wrote about it in a way that made me hopeful: http://tom-jubert.blogspot.com/2011/05/driver-san-francisco-previews-abound.html

Working minimum wage for most of my life means that everyone got paid shit money. However, I do know that it gets bad as soon as you go into middle management where the difference between wages can differ by a couple of thousand dollars, at least. There is an anti-discrmination law in this province but there are several 'get out' clauses in it which allow for individuals to 'negociate' their pay at a certain level. So yeah, that certainly sucks.

Not really the place for it, but I find it weird how accustomed we have become to this scenario. Personally I have had one X360 die on me (after using it for 4 years) but if I was on my 6th or 7th I would have stopped buying the things. Sorry, that was completely off topic.

Are you playing this on X360, PS3 or PC?

There are new moves to learn and new infected to apply them to. Some of the bigger zombies have to be ganged up on (use one guy to distract the Thug while the other uses the Fury attack to destroy him). Depending on which character you are using and what wepaons you are carrying your moves change contextually (blunt weapons bounce off of enemies blades dig in for a simple example). Also, just the simple joy of exploring the Island is there to let you find weird little nooks and crannies, the Far Cry 2 feel of really being there as you wander cautiously through abandoned beach locations and run down towns is perfect, it is pretty much what I wanted Left 4 Dead to be, albeit with less guns.

Yeah, MP is the way to go. However, I know two people who only played on their own and they said that Act 2 is an absolute pain but it is very much worth it. It has been hilarious to watch three writers on AR (myself including) jockeying to be the first to write about this. I lost out so that is why I am here singing the game's praises. I have another system link session tonight. Cannot, wait, any, longer.

Was coming here to post about the same thing. It was a great article (just ignore most of the comments thread) and it wasn't so much an eye opener for me, I work in the games industry I see how bad it is almost every day. What it did for me was re-examine a lot of my early writing which walks a very thin line between misogyny and nihilism. The aim with the writing was for the latter but the pieces picked apart by commenters has made me rethink how I would, in future, word the same articles to avoid misinterpretation for the former. Only warning I would give to anyoen reading it, make sure you aren't at work and you aren't hung over, the post is too long to read in a lunch break and too heavy for a fragile mind.

Well a friend and I planned to do a 14 hour marathon through the opening levels, but due to a lot of miscoordination it turned into a 9 hour one (he had the patch, I didn't so we had to go and find somewhere I could rig my X360 up to the internet so I could get it). So much fun so far. The combat continues to be varied as you progress, the skill tree feels like there is just so much exploration for different variations of character builds. There are also some genuinely terrifying moments, even when you know you are just going to respawn. Not sure how much has been said about the sound design but it deserves a lot of praise as the infected all sound unnerving. Most importantly about 3 hours in I had my first 'and then the grenade rolled down the hill' moment. We had stumbled in to a small cabana area where a large thug zombie had been lurking. It immediately went for me so my team mate sidled round him and threw knives in its head (he is playing as the throwing character). I rushed it and broke one its arms before it threw me to the ground. I don't know where he got it but my buddy found a canister and threw it at the Thug causing it stumble. I went to throw my club and locked onto the canister. There was a genuine moment of 'Oh shit, I just fuck- holy shit - Awesome' as the club flew past the thug and connected to the cannister and it blew up taking the zombie with it. At later point I watched my friend throw 4 machetes at another thug, then run up to it, pull a machete out of its head and then decapitate it with the same weapon. Later we tried the cannister trick again but this time I accidentally got caught in the blast and got to watch 6 infected writhe in fiery death before being placed back on the map. I haven't got to the second area yet but I feel I am close. I was going with Catherine as GOTY, I didn't expect this game to be so strong.

Ah right. So I am, at least, allowed to continue to dislike it?

This all I see when I hear that commentary: And it makes me sad for the gaming commentary, I mean we might as well be chavs or jocks