Gears of War

[toblix]

This game looks good, but the giant men are ridiculous. Also, the weird and unpredictable switching from bro style ("shit yeah bro more ammo nice!") to touchy-feely ("remember the honor of our fallen comrades") feels awkward.

As I said, the game looks really good. I don't know/remember how old it is, and how it looks/looked compared to other games, but it looks really solid even by today's standards.

One problem I'm having is discerning my bros from the enemy. Everyone are grey, huge men with guns, and I've more than once been killed by someone I thought to be my friend.

Also, this game is pretty hard. I guess I shouldn't be complaining, having chosen "hardcore" as my difficulty, but for some reason I assumed it was the normal setting, and the other one said something about "casual" which felt embarrassing.

[Roderick]

I played it earlier this year for the first time and what struck me was how unexpectedly varied and fun everything was. I was expecting a pretty dumb shooter, but the singleplayer has really good things on offer. The multiplayer is, in itself, grotesque amounts of chainsawing pleasure.

[elmuerte]

Are you talking about the first one?

I played that one, on PC. I liked it a lot, really want the others on on PC too.

Anyway, I didn't think the first one was hard. There was just one part that was meat circus. It was the part where you had to dodge a huge alien that ran through walls and stuff. You had to trick it to run through a locked door. That took me a lot of tries. The rest of the game was of average difficulty. Even the final boss fight was ok for me.

[Sno]

As I said, the game looks really good. I don't know/remember how old it is, and how it looks/looked compared to other games, but it looks really solid even by today's standards.

Game came out in 2006, let that sink in for a second.

Also, this game is pretty hard. I guess I shouldn't be complaining, having chosen "hardcore" as my difficulty, but for some reason I assumed it was the normal setting, and the other one said something about "casual" which felt embarrassing.

In Gears 2 or 3, hardcore would more or less be the way to play, but the first game was considerably more difficult than the sequels. Even so, it's by no means an outrageously challenging game.

[toblix]

I get it, I suck. Anyway, another thing I've noticed is that the chainsaw close-up attack never actually works when an enemy says "fuck it" and jumps over my cover. Since I always panic, I can't say exactly what I do, but I'm pretty sure it involves holding down B and hitting fire. I've never actually succeeded at fending off such an attack, though, as my guy does nothing and is then beaten to death. Is there a special technique to it other than holding B and hitting fire?

[Sno]

I get it, I suck.

That's not what i was trying to say, Gears 1 is an actually reasonably difficult game.

Anyway, another thing I've noticed is that the chainsaw close-up attack never actually works when an enemy says "fuck it" and jumps over my cover. Since I always panic, I can't say exactly what I do, but I'm pretty sure it involves holding down B and hitting fire. I've never actually succeeded at fending off such an attack, though, as my guy does nothing and is then beaten to death. Is there a special technique to it other than holding B and hitting fire?

To chainsaw somebody, just hold down the B button and run at them. It will trigger automatically when you're close enough. If they shoot/melee you, it puts you into a temporary stagger that prevents the chainsaw from doing its thing. So as a general rule, the chainsaw is for catching people off guard. It's easy to defend against, and the AI knows how.

[Gwardinen]

Yeah, you don't even need to press fire. However, it is not an instant attack, it takes a second or do after beginning to hold down B for you to actually be in the state that the game recognises as "able to chainsaw dudes". So if you get shot or hit in that timespan you're probably boned. As Sno said, its primary use is for catching people off guard or for charging at them from an angle or at a time during which they can't do much damage to you. If they're already within melee distance, doing a standard melee with a shotgun or just shooting them as you back off is probably a better bet.

The trouble with identifying friend from foe and foe from scenery was definitely a concern in the first game. It got a little better in the second and significantly better in the third, particularly due to how you can now hold down LB and it'll colour shift enemies and allies a bit while leeching the colour from the environment.

[toblix]

That's not what i was trying to say, Gears 1 is an actually reasonably difficult game.

No, that wasn't directed at you, but at elmuerte's reply (and not in a serious tone, I should probably add).

Thanks for the tips on chainsawing. That'll spare me some frustration down the line, I'm sure.

[toblix]

Just (or to some degree) like Rodi I've been quite surprised at how fun this is. So far it has been just a shooter, but the shooting feels good (in the game sense, not in the crazy sense) and I love how most firefights end up with all my teammates incapacitated, and me hunkering down behind a concrete slab, exchanging short bursts across the battlefield with one or two remaining baddies.

The first boss, the berserker, was luckily quite easy and forgiving. The first time it killed me I prepared to reload at the beginning of the level, but even in boss fights the checkpoints are, apparently, all over the place.

[Patters]

Just (or to some degree) like Rodi I've been quite surprised at how fun this is. So far it has been just a shooter, but the shooting feels good (in the game sense, not in the crazy sense) and I love how most firefights end up with all my teammates incapacitated, and me hunkering down behind a concrete slab, exchanging short bursts across the battlefield with one or two remaining baddies.

The first boss, the berserker, was luckily quite easy and forgiving. The first time it killed me I prepared to reload at the beginning of the level, but even in boss fights the checkpoints are, apparently, all over the place.

There's a reason Gears sells so well and this is it. Epic has their shit together with this, they know exactly what they want to make, and they have made it incredibly. I'm not picking up 3 until it is significantly discounted (half price or so), but I'm really looking forward to it.

[toblix]

Finished act 2. Still very good. I set out trying to get all the cog tags, but as is always the case I always manage to miss a handful even though I walk everywhere and break everything.

[toblix]

Finished it the other day. Really impressed overall – the pacing and variety of fights was great, and the weapons felt really good. There were a few spots where the checkpoints were placed before some drawn-out section followed by a hard part, which lead to some frustration, but not enough to make me quit forever, as it turns out. The boss fights were great, except for the last one which I could only win by managing to get the guy stuck on a corner (video games). I wish I'd played these as they came out, so I'd get more of a breather between games.

One question: I kept using the gun that the enemies used – it fired three rounds in a burst. It felt like it did more damage than the chainsaw gun, but thinking back, it might've been imagining it. Have I been?

[Patters]

Finished it the other day. Really impressed overall – the pacing and variety of fights was great, and the weapons felt really good. There were a few spots where the checkpoints were placed before some drawn-out section followed by a hard part, which lead to some frustration, but not enough to make me quit forever, as it turns out. The boss fights were great, except for the last one which I could only win by managing to get the guy stuck on a corner (video games). I wish I'd played these as they came out, so I'd get more of a breather between games.

One question: I kept using the gun that the enemies used – it fired three rounds in a burst. It felt like it did more damage than the chainsaw gun, but thinking back, it might've been imagining it. Have I been?

The Hammerburst is more accurate than the lancer.

[Sno]

The Lancer is generally regarded as being extremely underpowered in the first game, while the Hammerburst has been nerfed for each subsequent game.