Not perfect, but pretty friggin' good!

I know that I’m probably not the first or even 100th person to write up a review of GoW on the site today, but instead of having to respond to the various threads, pm, im and chat invites I’ve had about it, I thought it would be just easier to write it up here.

I had seen nothing but glowing reviews for the game leading up to its release yesterday (if you were lucky enough to get it yesterday), so I was anxious to get my hands on it.  I decided not read any reviews yet today on the site so as not to color my own opinion. Most of the reviews I had seen up until yesterday were quite positive some even gave the game a perfect score.

Perfection may be overstating it a bit.

I jumped on last night and almost immediately received an invite for co-op action from Stryker927. I joined his game, seamlessly I should add, and began from what seemed to be the beginning of the story. He said he had just started so I don’t think I missed anything. The first impression I got was “Holy Cow! Look at the graphics on this!” The scenery, character models and lighting is all top notch. We spent a couple of minutes in a slow part of the level to get acquainted with the controls and then it was off for mass destruction. The controls are pretty simple to figure out, just a little difficult to get used to. Taking cover is critical to the game and sometimes getting in and out of it the way you intend doesn’t seem to work quite right. I’m positive that’s b/c I am still getting used to the controls and as the night wore on it became a bit more natural.

After about 20 minutes or so in co-op we started getting invites to play some MP and decided to go give that a try. Here is where some of the complaints come into effect. Jumping into a room is no problem. Choosing your character and team is no problem. Being the host of the room does have some problems though. The host can boot people from the lobby but that’s about the extent of control he has. The host cannot change game types or maps without closing down the lobby and starting a new one. That is the main gripe I have with the game so far. Fortunately it’s probably one that could be repaired with a patch. As far as the rest of the MP experience goes, I experienced zero lag and was blown away by the pace of the game.

As I said before taking cover is critical to being successful in the game. You only have 1 life per round (we played first to 3 matches) and that leads to a more cautious approach to what is usually a run-n-gun genre. It also leads to what can at times be a frightening experience. There were times I would be crouched behind a half wall trying to spot my enemy, who was also cowering behind a wall, peeking up over the edge every so often only to have my head literally explode of my shoulders from sniper fire from across the way. Worse yet, I might be looking one way while some one sneaked around my flank and tore into me with a chainsaw. I literally jumped in my seat more than once last night. Once you’re dead you have the option of watching your team mates from their perspective, you can cycle through the remaining members, or watch the action from overhead cams. In the “death lobby” you get the opportunity to “politely” share your tales of glory and dismemberment with the other players who’ve met their makers so far that round, both on your team and the enemy team. In game you can only hear your own teammates. Once dead the remaining members of your team can’t hear you, though that wasn’t stopping everyone from shouting instructions at them anyway. :)

I only played about 4-5 hours worth last night so I’m sure some of my opinions may change over the next few days. I had a few other minor complaints. When you shoot into the water, the water doesn’t react. Some people were able to send out invites to a MP match while a couple were not able to (glitch I assume). A compass would have been handy to have in co-op. “The enemy is to the right!” isn’t really useful unless I’m right behind my teammate. A couple more MP game types would be nice. However, the graphics were definitely “next-gen”, the online was smooth and lag free, the sound was great, the maps were built perfectly for 4 v 4 matches, the guns so far seem pretty well balanced, and most importantly, everyone I played with last night was having a great time. You could actually hear the smiles on their faces. So while I wouldn’t give the game a perfect 10 just yet I will say it deserves an 8.9 .