It may technically be the best campaign Epic has put together for Gears of War, but I have to say each campaign has let me progressively less satisfied.
I remember playing through the original GOW like 5 times, and loving it every time. I can't imagine playing this campaign again in the near future.
In fact, I kind of want to go back and play through Gears 1.
Question: I was playing horde online with some friends yesterday with a buddy on the couch on a guest account. When the connection was lost due to my router mucking up, the game was ended and my guest account buddy lost all his progress/levels. Can progress be saved for a guest account? Or do you need two Xbox Live enabled accounts on one Xbox to keep progress while playing splitscreen online?
Played the campaign in a 4 man party(we played too much mp) and the pacing is kinda shitty in the first act, we where bored at chapter 4(forced ourselves to play a chapter more). Still want to complete it, but the campaign has issue's. Even on Hardcore there is no challenge at all, the action gets broken up all the time for cutscene's. "The tricks" used to hide loading really aren't that well hidden.
I clearly haven't completed the campaign yet, so it's far from a final judgment. Just some initial impressions.
Hey guys, maybe you can help me out. I can't decide if I should try and do something about my statue. It bothers me that the lancer doesn't fit right, and that there are some quality control issues with the panting. I tried to contact Triforce, and they said talk to MS or Gamestop. Don't want to be a bitch about it, but I paid $150 (EE), so it should be right, right? I will try and get some pics up today.
Dear guys ´n´ gals from Epic,
thank you for this fantastic game.
Now, I´m probably one of the very few who couldn´t care less about the MP part, playing the Gears series solely for its campaign and story.
And yes, you did make me shed a tear, brothers to the end indeed.
Now, please make sure that the campaign addons that are said to be planned keep up in quality. You created such a great setting and universe, that I hope will get expanded upon, as I see so many ways to further tell the story from different points of view.
I´m watching anxiously what You will come up with,
Yours truly
Playing Horde atm and I swear I was convinced I wouldn't like the new fortification system and that playing with randoms would be even worse than in Gears 2... but oddly enough all people I've played with take their fortifications very seriously. Pleasantly surprised.
Boss waves are some genuinely crazy shit. I love the new Horde.
In the lobby before you start to Search for games, hit the select button, it will allow you to make your matches join-able to the public, the way it was in Gears 2 social, it's off by default (I have no idea why).
BTW, Horde 2.0 is the best co-op experience I've had on console. Once the boss waves roll around after wave 10, it gets INTENSE. Love it. Now I have to just figure how to host public matches, so I can change the difficulty...
Finished the game on hardcore. I had way more fun killing locust than lambent. The last boss is a bitch, and its horribly designed. The problem that i had with this game, was the the story was so simple, that EPIC somehow managed to make the game longer that it should had been. Thus, most parts drag and are boring. Act 3, 4, and the first chapters of 5 are the highlights for me. The campaign had way more EPIC/memorable moments than GoW1/GoW2 combined, but i felt that this game was trying so hard. The graphics are probably the best on the xbox, and its probably the best gears of war game overall, but i prefer 1 > 2 > 3 in campaign. It feels more like a mindless action game, than an adventure game which i felt 1 and 2 had more in the mix.
Got to play one single casual team deathmatch before bed. For my first game of trying to figure things out, didnt feel I did too bad (5 kills, 6 downs, 2 deaths). Lancer felt improved in my experience, actually had success with it. Had great success getting my flank on. My only beef with previous installments was that it was a roll around into someone and shotgun/grenade sticky fest. Had a blast in my very little experience though, but quickly knew that there was no "a little more", if I kept playing it would have been a LOT more and I had work early this morning.
Definitely going to dive more into it tonight. C'mon GAF, 6 EST.... whose down?
Just got to Act 5 with a friend of mine, been playing co-op together exclusively (we did the same for Gears 2). So far I'm honestly underwhelmed with the campaign. The stakes felt MUCH higher in Gears 2 from the get-go, and the pacing of the story was much better.
In fact right at the moment the title "Gears of War 3" faded onto the screen after (opening scene spoiler)
Marcus' opening dream sequence
I was a little disappointed. The extremely intense "title reveal" opening to Gears 2 destroyed the title reveal of Gears 3 with that massive zoom out from Dom in the helicopter showing the Cog military convoy moving out to assault the Locust head on. I kind of feel that that perfectly exemplifies my problems with Gears 3 as a whole, at this point of the game.
There doesn't ever seem to be much weight to what we are doing. That, and the flow just feels off compared to Gears 2. Half the time it feels like we are doing a random task like finding fuel to proceed; the other half it feels like we are watching cut-scenes of segments that would be much better to actually play out in gameplay. *Big spoiler*
Dom's sacrifice was the highlight of the game for me so far, but I couldn't help but think of how awesome it would have been if that was actually gameplay instead of a cut-scene.
Also, the musical score is a big downgrade IMO, really hampering the feel of the game when compared to Gears 2.
Aside from those arbitrary gripes I have, the game is still great. The environments and lighting is MUCH improved. The boss battles are intense and satisfying. And the combat is as fun as ever, and much more varied. The gameplay itself is definitely an improvement overall but story-wise at this point in the game I'm left semi-disappointed. I'm hoping for a grand finale in Act 5 because, as of now this just hasn't really felt like too much has happened in the story.
We'll likely complete Act 5 by the end of tomorrow night, and then I'll update my impressions after.
Agree with pretty much all of this. I completed the campaign last night and pretty much all of the big set pieces in Gears 2 felt better and much more important e.g. the vehicle battles against the Brumak, drilling and fighting them underground etc. There was a much bigger sense of the whole "brothers to the end" thing in that than Gears 3. As an ending to the trilogy, it was a bit disappointing.
Wasn't a fan of the Lambent either, they just seemed like a poorer, slightly less annoying version of the Flood.
I must say that I'm mightily impressed with the 3D in this game. The resolution takes a noticable hit but the frame rate stays solid throughout so far. I cranked the depth meter all the way up and I'm loving it so far. Easily my favorite game in 3D so far.
I worried that the hammerburst might fall under autofire pad users, I like how it can fire as fast as you can manage the trigger but there should be some kind of speed cap, right?
So Gears 2.... The vehicles, namely. Don't do that. Don't. Don't put that shit in. Especially not when it's one climax on top of another. Moderation. I'm at the start of Act 5, I just want to finish this shit already so I can move on to the new game. The Gears 2 campaign is way too long.
Yep Gears 2's was so boring - a lot of "epic" fillers like the vehicles sections, the reavers on-rails shitty segment and the brumak ride...add to that the mediocre level design and the slow and clunky gameplay and you have a game that was highly overrated (and still is by some).
I'm at Act 2 in Gears 3 and the game already destroys the turd that Gears 2 was - with the level design being the best in any Gears game, the increased speed/pace on the character movement, the new weapons (I just love the retro lancer) and the great enemy variety really help making some very exciting and tense action/shooting scenarios.
Also it looks MUCH nicer...which was unexpected at least for me - the SP looks absolutely amazing, the amount of particle effects/aphas on screen and the new excellent lighting plus the improved texture quality while maintaining a perfectly playable frame-rate even at the most crowded situations makes this game a beast visual-wise and a new tech benchmark for 360.
Gears 2 expansion? more like the true sequel that we waited for since 2006.
I worried that the hammerburst might fall under autofire pad users, I like how it can fire as fast as you can manage the trigger but there should be some kind of speed cap, right?
There is, and it is in fact lower than the one in Gears 2. You could fire the Hammy and Snub pistol way faster in Gears 2 than in Gears 3, cap is VERY noticeable.
I am absolutely loving the campaign even more so than I loved REACH's campaign, which is saying a lot becaused I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED REACH'S campaign. Please note I am not comparing the 2 completely different games, just the affection I feel for each of their respective campaigns.
I've barely touched multiplayer and/or HORDE but I can already tell you one thing I really wish they would have added and that's a theater mode ala REACH/HALO 3. What's really dissappointing though is in the least they should have kept the screen shot ability that was in GEARS 2. I actually used it quite a bit.
I don't have a huge problem with the sawn-off shotgun in multiplayer. I think it gives new players a good chance to compete in close range and provides a new challenge for veterans, forcing them to approach sawn-off players a little more conservatively.
Ok, I remember what happened now. I accidentally deleted all of my saves from my profile a little while ago so I guess the beta save went with it. So am I fucked or is there something to fix this?
Finished the game on hardcore alone today in one sitting,
took me about 10 hours
. Damn good game, I kinda felt like it was little too long, much longer than I thought, there so many moments I kept thinking ok, almost over...only to be followed by more chapters. But I also think with me being so tired, I was just ready for it to be over lol. But anyways, great game, best Gears yet in my opinion. Gameplay was alot more varied than I imagined it would be, kept things kind of interesting for the most part, just towards the end,
the constant wave of enemies just kind of dragged on to me,
probably why I felt it was too long. Heh, but those are my thoughts, i'm probably going to tackle Insane with some friends later.
Added spoiler tags, not too sure what cover up, but for the extremely sensitive out there lol.
I was finally able to play the first part yesterday (first level on the boat).
damn this game looks great, but i have a question:
I know i'm only at the very beginning, but on hardcore, the game seems very easy.. Is that just in the beginning? And, but i'm sure this will be way better later on, i don't feel it yet..
The characters seem very small and the guns don't have a real feel to them. Sometimes i'm even wondering whether i'm shooting nor not.. (maybe weird question: is the rumble in the dual shock controller better than in the 360 controller?)
Anyway, i'm sure the game will be great. But i was a little surprised by this.
I do think the game looks absolutely marvelous. People whining about the Unreal engine should just blame artists, and not the engine.
Can't wait to see what the other levels bring me. And i'm sure the difficulty wll only get more steep later on.
Ninja_Hawk said:
Gameplay was alot more varied than I imagined it would be, .
Yesterday morning I was on fire. Last night was terrible. Team work was total ass. I hate having to carry a team, get MVP and still lose to SOS/ rifle scrubs It's so infuriating.
Today better be different. My teammates better work together and pull their damn weight and know what the hell they're doing.
People who perpetually fuck shit and and know there stuff...hit me up.
I've only played through Chapter 1 so far, but I'm not a big fan of the music. They seem to have muted the main Gears theme even more...
Also, the whole "FLIP THE SWITCH SO WE CAN MOVE TO POINT B" routine is getting a little tiresome.
Good storytelling so far in this game. I like the somber/desperate/bombastic tone in the first chapter. This is what Halo Reach should've been more like, IMO.
Nice to see the a brighter color palatte. Feels like they got some "Bulletstorm" in my Gears game.
Anyone try co-op from the beginning? I'm curious to know how they handle the solitary story sections (such as the very beginning of the game).
Also, what's up with the dirt cheap packaging for the standard edition? This is a big game yet you get a flimsy case, a two page "manual", and some stickers. It's one of the cheapest looking packages I've ever seen. Reminds me why I tend to buy games on PS3. As a collector, I appreciate solid packaging quite a bit. I knew that some companies were doing this, but I'm surprised Microsoft would publish something in this condition.
Have to agree. From an artistic point of view, the soundtrack was the biggest disappointment in the game for me. It's just... boring and repetitive, and the more fast-paced music sounds dreadfully generic to me. The fact that they even reused some Gears 2 tracks doesn't help their case either.
If only they had brought back Kevin Riepl... if only.
