Introductions and Gears of War franchise talk
- Posted by: Marcus
Hey there, kiddies. I've posted two blogs thus far, and before I get into my subject for today, I'd just like to point out that I'm not the only member of The Cynic's Corner. The other two brains behind this little project are Clarity and Raziel. Clarity is a student at the University of Paris Island, and Raziel is a cool dude from Australia. I hope you look forward to hearing from these two in the future, due to Raziel's love for Anime and Game Reviews, and Clarity's MMA know-how and similar game love.
Anyway, I want to talk today about Gears of War, which is probably more than obvious due to the image to the left.
Gears, for me, came out of left field. It was the video game equivalent of the quasi-famous "throw-back" scene from the movie Rookie of the Year. When this game came out, and a friend brought it over on release day, I was utterly shocked by everything that was in the game. The first thing that hit me, first and foremost, was that the game was not only wearing an M rating, but really embraced the rating and used it as an accurate branding of the content. It was dark, gritty, down to earth, violent, and made no bones about it. In the time of the Halo's and Call of Duty's, an M rating seemed like a joke on a killer app. Not so with Gears.
Aside from that, I found myself being sucked into the campaign's co-op mode, not so much because of how good the action was, how cool the weapons were, or how different the combat was. I was absolutely loving how teamwork was so integral to the experience. In every fight, I found myself relying on my friend that I was playing with completely and utterly. It was so different from anything I had played in so long, that I could not believe that those mechanics made it into a killer app.
Multiplayer shocked me in the same method. Every single mode was Team Deathmatch, but with a different twist (this is before Annex was added). I loved the simplicity, and I loved how Epic was essentially shouting at the gamers, "THIS GAME IS ABOUT TEAMWORK!"
You see, this is what Epic gets right and Bungie and Infinity Ward don't. Call of Duty and Halo are about these nameless, faceless, undeveloped characters of soldiers walking out against glorified cannon fodder and slaughtering them wholesale. It's like Colonel Sanders against an army of chickens. Gears of War, though it has its figurehead, makes you realize from the get-go that you are by no way, shape, or form a one man army. It's you and your squad against an enemy that is highly trained, willing to kill, and willing to fight so they don't die. Completely different ballgame.
Anywho, when it came time for the sequel, I found myself enjoying the game just as much, but here is where I started to see some kinks in the armor when it comes to this series, bringing me to what I want to call the Gripe section. Essentially, Gears of War 2 is still an excellent game. It's probably the best of what I call the Big 3 of XBL online play (the other two being Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3). It's quality is bar none superior, but the problem is that though it is great, the game could be mind-blowing if done right.
So, I've decided to organize these into what Epic can fix, and what they can't fix.
[UNFIXABLE]
- The Remaining Networking Problems -
Let's face it. You can't fix the problems of people bridging connections or lag switching. It's unavoidable. Those things are easy to make, but they're also easy for the XBL staff to pick out and ban people. Gears fans, please stop blaming Epic for this. For some odd reason, these pricks gravitate toward Gears, and Epic can't do anything about it. On that note, Epic should never apologize for the actions of these jerks who do this. They're not responsible. If people want to act like little kids, then they have that ability, but they'll learn the lesson that there are repercussions.
- The Cheaters -
This is the big thing that Epic cannot solve. Sturgeon's Law applies to people too. 90% of them are crappy human beings, and most of them have decided that XBL is a great place to be, which sucks for those of us who are sporting people who like a fair game, and don't mind losing provided the playing field was level. These morons will always exist, but keep in mind that at the end of the day how people on the outside looking in view fair fighters against cheap douche bags.
[FIXABLE]
- The Game Setup -
Gears of War's online and campaign setup is far too cookie cutter for such a great game. Gears multiplayer doesn't need matchmaking, and it doesn't need to take rank into account. I say set up the Multiplayer like Call of Duty. Keep the ranks there simply as a badge of honor, and then just throw a bunch of guys in it and let them throw down. Another idea would be to have an option of setting up your own room, or using Matchmaking. Merging the two games' multiplayer styles for the next installment wouldn't be a bad idea. Single player wise, every single moment of the campaign needs to be just as good as the opening. The first game had this down, but it was too short. Gears 2 has the length and pacing of the campaign right, but Skorge was a puss, and the final boss was lackluster. There was nothing that compared to the fight with RAAM.
- The Storyline -
Gears of War 2 has one of the most heart-wrenching moments in a video game that I've seen in a long while, and had really solid dialogue for what dialogue there was. Truth be told, Epic really knows how to nail soldier to soldier interactions, add tidbits of humor in dark situations, and give a real feeling of pressure and confusion. The only problem here is that there are still far too many blanks to be filled. To put it simply, we know Marcus, and we know Dom. Give us a little on Baird, a little on Cole, then explain the Locust, and the game's universe will be wholly fleshed out. Though I'm excited about what's next for the story, and jazzed about the next book, there's so much room for failure.
- Books for Storytelling -
Though I know I just said that I'm jazzed about the next book, I really don't want Gears to fall into the same slump that Halo did, relying on third party media to tell backstory so you don't have to try as hard with your narrative. Gears should not allow itself to go and get itself into that funk when it comes to the story. Use books to tell history, side stories, and other fun extra stuff. Don't use them to try and fill in the blanks, because we all know that half the base audience won't read the books, no matter how good they are.
At the end of the day, I could actually come up with other things I'd like to see the series do different, but those don't come from the idea of fixing something. Gears of War, as a franchise, is incredibly solid in its format and what it tries to accomplish, and all I wanted to do is simply point out the flaws, not ask for a reinvention of the formula. Gears of War is a fantastic franchise, and will probably continue to do things that Infinity Ward can't do, and Bungie will blatantly rip off.
Wait, what's this about Bungie ripping off of Epic, Marcus?
That's coming soon, kiddies...............
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