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Gears of War 1, six years later
NaturalNarcissist
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
By a weird set of circumstances I decided to play the original Gears of War this week. I've been without a 360 for the last few years and I was rejoiced when a friend left the country and gave me his old system.
So I'm about to slot Gears of War 3 in my gamefly queue when I realize I don't remember a DAMN thing about the original two games.
A few hours later, I've replayed Gears of War 1. And... wow. Talk about a game that dazzled us with technology to obscure rather humdrum design. That graphical design holds up amazingly well (the entire factory sequence midway still makes my HDTV weep with joy), but the rest? Oy.
1) I could not, for the life of me, figure out a comfortable aiming scheme. Screwing with sensitivity, inversion... nothing improved the feeling that some auto-aim would be greatly appreciated. I don't know how many times I died because my aiming cursor was just a smidge off one way or another.
2) Funny how later games in the series were criticized for piss easy difficulty. I could barely scrape through the second level on Hardcore here- the aiming scheme absolutely wrecked me from beginning to end. Once an enemy leapt out of cover I had little choice but to hunker down and wait for him to plant his feet again.
3) I forgot that all of the "Dom is useless" jokes actually had a point - multiple times in the campaign I had to bulldoze through a fleet of enemies while Dom got stuck running in circles near the checkpoint. This one isn't an entirely fair criticism; I can't recall a single game from around this time that had reliably good companion AI.
4) I completely forgot how the game falls apart in its last hour. That final general RAAM boss fight might be the antithesis of good game design - arbitrary one hit kills (I gather that the lights are supposed to protect you from Kryl, but damned if that wasn't finicky), luck based victory (if RAAM decides to get near your position good luck on escaping the sticky cover system), a bald faced exposure of companion AI (did they even program Dom to do ANYTHING strategic in the final battle?)... I am just baffled that any designer from the 3d era honestly sat down and said "Why yes, this is what we want our players to remember us by."
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What other games have you replayed and been mightily disappointed in how they play, now removed from their contemporaries?
So I'm about to slot Gears of War 3 in my gamefly queue when I realize I don't remember a DAMN thing about the original two games.
A few hours later, I've replayed Gears of War 1. And... wow. Talk about a game that dazzled us with technology to obscure rather humdrum design. That graphical design holds up amazingly well (the entire factory sequence midway still makes my HDTV weep with joy), but the rest? Oy.
1) I could not, for the life of me, figure out a comfortable aiming scheme. Screwing with sensitivity, inversion... nothing improved the feeling that some auto-aim would be greatly appreciated. I don't know how many times I died because my aiming cursor was just a smidge off one way or another.
2) Funny how later games in the series were criticized for piss easy difficulty. I could barely scrape through the second level on Hardcore here- the aiming scheme absolutely wrecked me from beginning to end. Once an enemy leapt out of cover I had little choice but to hunker down and wait for him to plant his feet again.
3) I forgot that all of the "Dom is useless" jokes actually had a point - multiple times in the campaign I had to bulldoze through a fleet of enemies while Dom got stuck running in circles near the checkpoint. This one isn't an entirely fair criticism; I can't recall a single game from around this time that had reliably good companion AI.
4) I completely forgot how the game falls apart in its last hour. That final general RAAM boss fight might be the antithesis of good game design - arbitrary one hit kills (I gather that the lights are supposed to protect you from Kryl, but damned if that wasn't finicky), luck based victory (if RAAM decides to get near your position good luck on escaping the sticky cover system), a bald faced exposure of companion AI (did they even program Dom to do ANYTHING strategic in the final battle?)... I am just baffled that any designer from the 3d era honestly sat down and said "Why yes, this is what we want our players to remember us by."
---
What other games have you replayed and been mightily disappointed in how they play, now removed from their contemporaries?
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1) Rented Gears of War 2 and boy howdy does it FEEL better. Weapon and enemy variety is all well and good, but the aiming feels less "drunk guy with a BB gun" than before.
2) Playing the newest Tomb Raider really showcases how far cover systems have come in a few years. I know some people will always prefer the deliberate hulking nature of Gears of war, but its also great to play a game with a working but unobstrusive cover mechanic.