This past week I’ve spent most of my time playing through Gears of War 2. I didn’t really enjoy the first Gears of War too much and had to force myself to beat it, but I enjoyed Gears of Wars 2′s campaign a great deal more. It’s clearly bigger and better as Epic claimed. I appreciated that there was a great deal of variety in the game, and the pacing was excellent. It didn’t have the depth of storyline that Epic was trying to sell (i.e.: “going to rival BioShock!”), but I had fun from beginning to end. After beating it on Normal, I jumped right back into Insane mode and just dusted that a couple of days ago. It was a little bit tough, but I didn’t think it was tougher than the first, as General Raam on Insane solo was probably the toughest boss I’ve ever fought this console generation. I guess coming off of Call of Duty: World at War’s Veteran mode also made this seem like a slight downgrade in difficulty too. There were no infinite enemy respawns here, so just taking your time works.
I also dabbled a bit in the offline multiplayer modes with bots, and while it was slightly entertaining, I can’t help but feel that the multiplayer in the Gears of War series doesn’t flow well due to the mechanics of the game. Gears of War is more about taking cover, popping and shooting, but that’s just not how human players end up playing each other. From what I’ve read so far, it seems that people online just run around shotgunning and chainsawing each other. I tried to play some online, but never got a chance to play due to the horrible design of the matchmaking system. I waited about 5 minutes and said forget it. Some people say they wait 25-45 minutes and still can’t get into a game! I’ll try playing online again some this weekend so I can get a review out for it next week.
Horde mode is pretty fun though and like Call of Duty: World at War’s zombie mode, probably one of the more enjoyable modes of Gears of War 2. While I was only able to play with one buddy Tuesday night, we made it to Wave 10 before deciding to call it quits that night. It was pretty crazy – by Wave 10 we were being attacked by Theron Guards, Bloodmounts, Boomers, and Kantuses (or Kanti?). I think the Horde mode fits in better as a multiplayer for Gears of War 2 since you can focus on taking cover while engaging waves of enemies. And it’s in the true spirit of teamplay like the campaign emphasizes.
I was remarking that I think what makes this type of mode so enjoyable is that it keeps the core gameplay design that made the classics so successful. Gears of War 2′s Horde Mode (and Call of Duty: World at War’s Zombie mode) seem to be this generation’s Space Invaders. Here we were, defending a location and taking cover against wave after wave of attacking enemies. Now to get a modern day realization of other classics like Pac-Man. Oh wait, wouldn’t that be Beautiful Katamari?
With Left 4 Dead on sale on Monday, a few of my other friends ordered the game and I ordered a copy for my brother as well. We gave it a spin last night and I took him through the Death Toll campaign on Normal so he could get used to the game. I think it was a bad idea, as we got through it pretty easily so I’m afraid that the lack of challenge may have put him off a bit. I forgot that he tends to like challenge more than me, and with us dropping Tanks with only a few shotgun blows, he was probably wondering where the fun was to the game. Next time I’ll have to turn it up a notch to Advanced and see if he starts squirming!
I began Fallout 3 as well last night, and I actually got a little bit overwhelmed. Most games I’ll just pop right in and start playing with no problems. But with all of the stats and permanent character upgrades, I have to really sit and plan how I want to make my character in Fallout 3. And with my plan to get the Achievements all in one run, I have to plan even more due to the landscape changing based on how I play through the game, causing certain Achievements to no longer be available. In short, there’s a lot I have to keep track of to play this game in an optimal way without coming across any spoilers. Guess I’ll crank out my spreadsheet today and start figuring out what Perks I want to level so I won’t have to decide on the spot…
