Comments (0)
Gears of War was indisputably the break-through hit the Xbox 360 platform needed when it was released in November 2006. It featured some of the most amazing visuals ever seen in a console game, while also backing up its pretty look with a satisfying (if short) campaign, great gameplay mechanics, and a visceral multiplayer experience.
After the cliffhanger ending in Gears of War, nerds in every sweaty corner of the Internet were foaming at the mouth for its inevitable sequel. After it came to fruition at Microsoft’s keynote from the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), we at TalkXbox, in our infinite wisdom, asked ourselves exactly what we would like to see in a Gears of War 2.
Art Green: There are three main pieces I’d like to see implemented in Gears of War 2. The first being four player co-op play over Xbox Live. Halo had to make up two characters that didn’t mean jack squat in the overall scope of the story—hell, even the game itself. However, in Gears of War, you have the four rough and tumble dudes of Delta Squad to control and no one gets stuck playing N’tho ‘Sraom or Usze ‘Taham ever, ever again. (If you didn’t know, and you really shouldn’t, those are the names of the 3rd and 4th, respectively, playable characters in Halo 3 co-op.)
Secondly, if they can’t get rid of the host advantage that plagued the original game I’m going to, well, continue to bitch. For the uninitiated, the player who was hosting matches would be at an advantage because they would have the lowest latency/ping, giving them the upper hand in almost all shotgun battles. For me personally, this problem resulted in thrown controllers, cursing and tucking myself in the fetal position crying on many occasions. You don’t really want to hurt me, do you Epic?
Lastly, and most importantly—chainsaw duels. After the GDC trailer featured Marcus Fenix and a random Locust baddie dueling with the chainsaw, I immediately became excited in all the right places. (Settle down, ladies) If two people were to try and to connect chainsaws at the same time, maybe it could trigger some sort of button-mashing mini-game for a couple of seconds, and the one with the best button-tapping ability gets to celebrate by giving his Lancer a tour of his enemy’s gut. I’m not sure how all that would work in a multiplayer environment, but I do know one thing: chainsaw + in guts = thumbs up from yours truly.
William “Slunks” Boso: Gears of War 2? You mean we’re on the second installment already? While everyone’s probably blabbing about single-player, I think I’ll touch up on the true multiplayer aspect of the game. Sure, co-op at the time was ingenious, but there were only so many times I could guide my friend through the dark via spotlight and “accidentally” pull it away to make a kryll sandwich out of him. So what are some focuses I’d personally love to see?
Assault. Sure, an imported game mode from Unreal Tournament may come off rather bland, but I think Gears of War 2 would work insanely well with this mode. Delta Squad must fend off a horde of Locust in the last standing district of Sera. Eventually, the Locust team can reach the Alamo of it all and blow the building to smithereens through an activation of some over-sized futuristic tank. Scenarios such as this would be a refreshing break from your standard Team Deathmatch, and hell, even fun! We also need a reason past fun to bother with Player Matches. If you remember the last time well enough, you can practically relive the pain of not unlocking achievements for playing with your friends. Ranked matches are fun, but when there’s no way to play with your buddies across the world for the e-pride that is Gamerscore, where’s the motivation after blowing each other’s heads off for the hundredth time?
Last but not least, don’t subtract the weapons. Adding is great, and we all love more high-tech gadgetry. But the satisfying set of weapons was great, so let’s not replace all of them with new ones. Sure, the Lancer was underpowered and then overpowered, the Boomshot had a wonky area of effect, and the Longshot was a little too easy to play with, but when everything clicked together, it was sweet, bloody harmony.
Now if Epic can successfully pull off Lancer chainsaw dueling, we’re up to our necks in a swimming pool of good times. But please, let’s not have Cole rapping to the credits again.
AJ: What I would like to see from Gears of War 2 is what lead designer Cliffy B promised when he was on stage at GDC. More badass? Sign me up. How about instead of a curb-stomp, you can have an option where you rip the enemy’s head off and throw it back at his decapitated body– that’s more awesome. The short trailer shown at GDC also made it seem like the chainsaw would have multiple ways to be used. Chainsaw dueling, cutting a guy from the waist and working your way up, or just cutting through a guy the old fashioned way that was shown in the first Gears. Instead of having one way to chainsaw a guy, have several, with the final effect randomized. Epic was pretty good at giving us really badass ways to dispose of our enemies, and even all the characters looked and acted like people you wouldn’t want to mess with. I have full faith in Epic’s team when it comes to making their game even better than the first.
However, what I do not want to see in Gears of War 2 is anything from Act 3. Exploding wretches, mine cart sequences, slow pacing with lots of dialogue, wandering around for long periods of time, shockingly simplistic boss fights, enemies that have one-hit-kill weapons, an environment lacking cover, and finally splitting up the co-op experience so if either player dies they have to restart from the nearest checkpoint. God, just listing these annoyances makes me want to scream in anger. Luckily most of these problems didn’t plague the rest of the first game, but who developed this satanic level and thought it would provide any entertainment value whatsoever?!
As long as Epic remembers that games are meant to be fun and not a quick way to lose your sanity from its difficulty, Gears of War 2 should be one of the better games this year.
Justin McBride: In Gears of War 2, there are a number of things I’d love to see implemented. The list is rather long, but I’ll condense it into three main points. First off, find a way to fix the damn glitches without breaking the game! Gears of War launched strong and was a joy to play online but there were a number of common glitches and exploits. When it came time to actually fix these glitches with a series of updates, things fell apart. An apt comparison can be made to the Hydra of Greek Mythology, by fixing one glitch, two more popped up in its place.
I’m a big fan of multiplayer shooters, and Gears of War was a good one (at least for a while) but soon, the three (eventually four) multiplayer modes began to wear thin, especially considering three of the modes were simple variations of the same “kill the guys that don’t look like you” theme. Annex was an interesting and fun concept which broke away from that theme, so more modes along those lines would be welcomed with open arms. Get creative!
The final thing on my Gears of War 2 wish list is a more cohesive storyline. Gears of War’s narrative was billed during development to be a sort of Hollywood-killer, a cinematic event of epic (pardon the pun) proportions. Instead, what we got was cliché-ridden, short and riddled with plot holes. Who is Dom looking for? Where is Marcus’s father? How did you escape from the Brumak? How in the hell did the Berserker and General RAAM get on the train? All questions left unanswered in the game that could’ve been worked out with just a little more effort.
Alright Epic, round 2 is coming up. You put up a strong fight in the first, but now it’s time to deliver the knockout punch. Get to it!
What would you like to see in Gears of War 2? Let us know in the comment section below, or visit our forums!
Editor’s note: According to Variety’s Ben Fritz, Epic has confirmed that chainsaw duels will be a part of Gears of War 2.
