Thanks for the review. Jealous as hell that you have it already. I can not wait to play this game. I'm really pleased to hear about the improvements in the multi-player.
You do a fine job throughout the review of highlighting differences from GoW2, however, I found it difficult to appreciate your review following the introduction.
Initially, you laid out your history with the franchise, calling out GoW2 for having intangible problems that lead to players quitting and a fractured community. It's essential to wrestle with and define those issues that drove yourself and other players away. Not taking that time undermines your credibility when you praise the game. Afterall, initial critical reception of that game by the entire industry was even higher than the first game, so what really happened and why is this time any different?
In that regard, this review feels like a missed opportunity to speak directly to concerns of the fractured 2o2p audience.
For me those issues were:
-Clusterfuck of a launch, multiplayer was broken
-Shotgun didn't work like gears 1
-two piecing became the worst dickish way to play the game
-lots and lots of glitches
-an idea gone wrong... smoke bomb stunning
-and later after a few TU's they introduced flinching if you ran with a lancer giving you no melee option
-Host advantage though not any worse than G1
I'm sure there are others but those are the ones that stick in my mind.
I agree with Transient. It's hard to take the review (and the detractors) seriously. I used to play Halo and don't anymore because I am not very good at it. Think about that next time you consider why you walked away from Gears. Every game has its problems.
Thanks for the feedback and even the critiques. Please keep in mind that this is a review of Gears of War 3 and NOT Gears of War 2. I think it is important to keep this in mind when reading my article. What would have been the point in bogging down what is already a pretty lengthy piece with a laundry list of what I thought was wrong with the second installment in the series? True, all new games have bugs and issues. That is the nature of modern development cycles and the current reliance on DLC and patches. However, to claim that there was no wide-spread dissatification with the Gears 2 is simply disingenous in my oppinion. Just go back and look at the Epic forums to see the frequency of complaint posts vs other topics following the release of the second game. Now more to the point, check the stats on how many players were still actively playing this game 18 months after it's release. Bottom line is that player retention in for Gears 2 fell from Gears 1. Now with that said, I am very happy to hear that many of you loved the game and continue to play it ravenously right up until the release of Gears 3 on the 20th. However, this was not the case on my end. And hudsmack, to infer that I stopped playing Gears 2 because I lack the skill to do so is simple trolling. I have always been a mediocure player when it comes to any of the Halo games, but that never kept me from playing them long after their release. Bottom line, I liked Gears 2 but did not love it. I LOVE Gears 3. A review is an oppinion piece and my review reflects my oppion, primarily on the improvements that I see in Gears of War 3. With that said, I hope everyone enjoys the game as much as I have so far when it releases publically next week.
Great review waterborn.You addressed some major improvements over gow2 that were real game killers. Hopefully the game refelcts your feelings handson and that the servers will be capable of the capacity of 100,000 gamers at launch or more. High hopes here dude. Higher hopes for mp 2o2p games like the good old days.
Btw; Waterborn was a very competent GoW player, for those who were concerned. lol
Excellent write up although my response is still GRRR and it will continue to be GRRR until I get my copy. Thanks for posting this and for posting a renewed hope in this franchise. I was one of the many disenchanted fans from Gears 2... Like everyone else that is coming back to Gears, I have high hopes and your write up shows a light at the end of the tunnel.
Waterborn, you say that the review was for Gears 3 and not Gears 2, your right, that is why several people including myself believe your intro was not necessarily. Obviously at some point you would bring up Gears 2 and compared 3 to 2, everyone usually does that when it comes to reviews, but your personal history with Gears part could have been left out.
Its almost as if you are trying to prove something or get something across to certain people.
Not trolling, Waterborn, and it wasn't even necessarily directed at you since you claim to play the game "ravenously". When the beta came out, there were scores of people in the forums bitching about connections because they were getting outplayed. That is simply not the case. You can't walk away from a game for a year or more and expect come back and beat hardcore players. The same people that complained about problems with Gears 2 will find new, different problems with Gears 3.
JOK5STER, I respect where you are coming from. However, I felt that my experience with Gears 2 was relevant, if for no other reason to illustrate that this review was not written from a "fanboy" perspective. The only people that I was trying to reach out to were fans of the Gears universe. Based on the response that I have been getting to this review via Twitter, I am not alone in my ultimate disappointment with Gears 2.
Hudsmack, I do agree with you that there is a certain group of people who will complain about Gears 3 regardless of its quality. Hell, go over to Epic and read all the threads regarding the retro lancer and saw-offed shotty tweaks by players who have not even touched the full retail game yet. To you point about skill, I don't play games with the sole purpose of becoming someone who can beat "hardcore" players (whatever that means these days). I play games to have fun, blow off some steam and hang out online with my friends. As stated earlier in my reference to Halo, I can thoroughly enjoy a game while getting my ass handed to me by better players. Sure, I like to win a round or two here and there, but obsessing about my K/D ratio is just not my thing.
That's a good point Waterborn - I play games to have fun and to blow off some steam as well. When a game becomes frustrating because of something in it, whether it be a glitch or an asshat being, well, an asshat, I put the game down and do something else. It isn't just about winning a game - it's about having fun. Some of the best times I've had online weren't exactly winning - they were going down in a ball of flames with your friends. Heck, just last night on Dead Island, there were a few of us in a jeep that rolled off a cliff - the driver jumped out while a couple of us were falling to our deaths laughing the whole way down! It was by now means a display of mad skillz but it was fun.
two questions Waterborn, #1 can the retro blind-fire kick be wrestled with?
#2 what do you mean that the sawn-off power has been reigned in from the beta, are you just referring to the downing being taken out, or is their more?
MTPathy, to be honest, I am not big on blind firing in Gears games, so I can't really speak to the first question. However, I will try to check into that for you tonight.
With regard to my comments on the sawed-off shotty, it feels like both the spread and distance of effectiveness have been reduced a bit. I remember countless times in the beta when all someone had to do was be facing me within about 10 feet with the S-O and I would go down, pure spray and pray stuff. But now, I feel like it takes a bit more skill for someone to take me down with that gun. Personally, I prefer the gnasher, so I haven't played much with the sawed-off in my mits so far.
Submitted by CiaranORian on Fri, 09/16/2011 - 08:40
Thanks for the review I really enjoyed it. I never got into Gears 1 or 2 MP due to the floods of Timmie. I loved the SP though and will be buying this for the same reason.
Thanks for the review Waterborn. I play a game for fun and enjoyment of the people I play with. I suck to the max at most of the games I play and definitely do not give a shit if someone is better. I only t care if at the end of the night if I had fun. I agree that I had Fun at 1 and not so much on 2. I can only hope that 3 can bring the hours of entertainment as you suggest.
Nice review/ I know we all played countless hours of 1 and have a unique perspective on 2 and 3. Ignore all those DV guys, they're just trying to show how much they know since they are the "gears gods" of GoW2. I really hope I can play 3 without everybody telling me I'm doing ti wrong
Bama - Not knowing you, I"m a DV member & A not a god! But will say that gears is my bread and Butter thats what I play,, Thats what DV plays! Unlike those other CLANS! ( We are a GEARS CLAN )
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