Free Gaming – Gears of War 1 and 2
If your new to my Free Gaming articles they are basically just randomized thoughts of a game that i either loved or left an impression on in one way or another. I have been playing Gears of War 1 and 2′s single player story campaign. I have also been playing the competitive multiplayer for both games. Its no secret Gears of War 3 releases tomorrow and this article is just a reminder of that. Gears of War is the series that made cover based third person shooters popular this gen.
I have played Killswitch and in which people say was the first videogame to implement a real cover system into a third person game. That maybe true. But it didn’t make the game addicting or fun like Gears of War have (imo). Gears of War not only brought along cover shooting it also brought along the Broman presentation. Broman games are nothing new either. Contra was a Broman game and that released back in “87″ i believe.
For the newer more younger gamers out there Gears of War made an impact on young boys who owned an Xbox 2360 and wished they had huge guns for arms and held one with a chainsaw. Some people hate Gears of War. Its cheesy, its gory and its corny. And those are the exact reasons i love it along with its lore, world, characters, gameplay and sound design. Gears of War isn’t for everybody i really do understand that and also respect that. I would just say to those people simply don’t buy the game tomorrow.
Thinking about both games in the series they were very different. Gears of War at the time was unknown. The 360 really didn’t have a solid foundation of unique quality exclusive games at the time. That was until Gears of War came along. With its amazing graphics back in 2006 people were just in awe of Gears of War. When i think about it, in 2006 Gears of War was the best looking game at the time. I can’t think of a PC game that looked better than Gaers of War. It was early into the gen and Epic made their presence felt and heard across all systems.
After playing the single player campaign of Gears of War again i have a few thoughts. The music in Gears of War was better than in the second game. The intimate atmosphere and simple story of setting off the Lightmass Bomb was intimate in nature. Your just fighting with a group of guys together trying to set off a bomb. In some ways i did enjoy the single player campaign of the first game more than the second. And at other times i enjoyed the single player campaign in Gears of War 2 more. There are still people at this moment who are hosting single player campaign online co-op sessions in Gears of War.
Much to my surprise there are people still playing the competitive multiplater as well. Let me tell you guys the lag is stil OMG BAD worthy along with host’s perks. I don’t know why people still play the competitive multiplayer in Gears of War still. Maybe for achievements? The lag was just bad. I am sure you all know what i’m writing about if you played the first Gears online competitively. It hasn’t changed and rightfully so i guess. I seen give or take ten lobbies at any given moment over the past few days. Playing the beta of Gears of War 3 and playing the older Gears of War multiplayer is a night and day difference and i give Epic Games much props for the progress they made.
As i alluded to earlier i went through Gears of War 2 as well. Going from Gears of War to Gears of War 2 it really was about “bigger badder and more badass”. You had a single player campaign that was much broader in scope and scale. Bigger boss fights. More characters and more diverse scenery. More on rail sequences. More weapons and epic set pieces. On the multiplayer side you had Horde mode. Many gamers made it seem like Gears of War 2′s single player story campaign was bad. How was it bad? I really enjoyed it. Most gamers were probably thinking or wanting it to be more intimate like in the first game. Gears of War 2′s story campaign had just as many memorable moments in it than the first game.
From a visual perspective the Unreal Engine 3.5 added improved lighting that was clearly evident when going through the tunnel with Dizzy at Land’s Down early in the game. I also caught something in Gears of War 2 that i never caught before. Jace Stratton the new playable character in Gears of War 3 was in Gears of War 2. After Marcus and Dom’s pods drilled through the Hollow early in the campaign they spoke.
After Anya chatted with Marcus Jace Stratton started to talk to Marcus. I know i just wasn’t paying attention before. Stuff like that plays into Gears of War lore. There are books detailing and chronicling Gears of War from every angle. There is a lore make no mistake. The story runs deep. Maybe not in the videogame necessarily. Speaking of Gears of War 2′s story it was simply fail for Dom to act the way he did from start to finish about Maria. It was forced and corny. Ok done with that lol.
The most disappointing multiplayer launch i have ever experience belongs to Gears of War 2. If you bought it launch day and tried to play a competitive multiplayer match then you know. It was horrible. Taking hours to find a group of 5 people to play a match with was crazy in a bad way. With the butter smooth beta and dedicated servers i have no doubt Gears of War 3′s online multiplayer won’t have the same fate.
Am i pumped for Gears of War 3? What do you think? After playing the first 2 games i have a feeling Epic Games has saved the best for last and will wrap up the trilogy in fashion. Thanks for reading.
