by Ravi Sinha
The hype has died down. The critics have answered. Copies sold have numbered in the millions. Has Gears of War 2 lived up to the expectations of its fans? Not an easy question to answer. After all, for every moment of the original Gears faithfully carried over, the needling feeling of some thing more creeps in. For every successful Horde match completed, there are Matchmaking sessions so painful, that they could give reality TV producers new ideas.
Yes, we liked it and yes, we’d like to answer the door but we’re still too busy playing it, however, if Epic wants Gears of War 3 to be remembered for the blockbuster finale of finales, which justifies its publicity as well; it would do well to heed the following.
Fix the Story
Sorry Cliff, but whatever your writer was on (or wasn’t) didn’t exactly get the creative juices flowing. Marcus and his band seem to be playing “Where in the World is Carman Sandiego?” with all the flitting back and forth. So many edgy scenarios were possible. And no, we don’t mean the euthanization of Dom’s wife (the love angle itself was poorly handled) but the high-jacking of a Locust Brumak as Marcus and Dom ride into the sunset. All would have been forgiven if Adam Fenix had said, “Not another Grand Theft Auto” but noooo…
Colours Are Pretty
There’s no shame in grays, browns and combinations of the same. But please, please, add a dash of colour to Gears of War 3. Yes, the world has been ravaged by the Locust, but surely more varied levels, like the opening mountain level from Gears 2, are possible? The gritty feel has served the series well for two installments, but to represent the exact same art direction a third time around is unforgivable. Blizzard improved Diablo’s look with the third game. Tell me it didn’t look better (”Hey, so that’s what my character looks like!”)
Change it Up
The Cover System or “The Golden Rule” is great. It was recycled from Gears 1 with little to no change but
that’s okay. Who doesn’t love dual chain-sawing a Locust? Gears of War 2 was the height of that mountain - it’s time to scale another. Add a secondary attack system, wherein you can modify your attack roster to include hidden Shivs, grenades shoved into a Locust’s mouth and the offending body thrown into a crowd and so on. Allow more customization of the weapons. And when you discard a weapon, the next time you pick it up, your upgrades will still be there. Another thing: Blind firing is useless. Replace it with - say - the ability to throw environmental objects at your enemy. If that Locust is coming for you with a shotgun, what would be better: Blind firing as he closes in to eviscerate you or heaving some dirt into his eyes?
Bring ‘Em Back
Long story short: It’s not a bad idea to allow the game to automatically find opponents for me through Matchmaking. But I’d still like the option of having one player acting as the host of the game. At least when the former fails, I can still fall back on the latter. Also, Quake had it as did Half-Life and Unreal Tournament. And it’s still the most solid gameplay type created. So, isn’t it time to up the ante? Isn’t it time we had a GeOW Team Fortress? Throw in some modding tools. Sit back and watch.
15 Responses to “How to Make Gears 3 Better than Gears 2”
The story in GOW2 was good, but could have been deeper. But it was much better than GOW1.
Leave the art direction/graphics out of it, graphics is WAY better than GOW1.
Blindfiring is fine, that’s the whole purpose of what makes GOW gameplay system so great that other developers had copied from. It’s all about flanking! Ofcourse when you’re flanking, you need blind firing.
You cant keep using the same group of players otherwise you will get boosters, it was or ranked/player matches, i prefers Gears 2, as ranked was always empty and it was pointless playing player matches with no goal, with the over the shoulder view I still cant figure out why there is no character customization, bits and bobs like this and weapon mods adds to the personal touches to a sometimes stale appearance,
This article is stupid.
The story wasnt anything like final fantasy but for an action game it was damn good.
Saying blindfiring is useless was the dumbest thing ive ever heard. I VERY rarely aim with the shotgun and when fighting bloodmounts i dont aim with my lancet.
Gears 3 needs only a few things
Great story ending
few new weapons
few more enemies
thats it
throw dirt in their eyes?! wtf?! seriously, if gears 3 needs improvements over its predecessor(s) it isn’t by implementing “environmental objects”. Simple solution: when in doubt, body count…all they need to do is throw waves upon waves of enemies- not like five or six at a time, but fleets. I’m talking hundreds of enemies on screen simultaneously where it’s just you, your lancer, your buddy, and his lancer- no vehicles, just keep the bodies coming.
Are you in drugs? It was a good story, with the death of Tai, Maria and Carmine. It takes you deeper into the world of the Locust. You have there battle with the Lambent. It sets up 3 well with the foreshadowing of Clay Carmine. Who is the Queen? What is the deal with Adam Fenix? And are Skorge and Dizzy dead?
As for color, it had lots more color than Gears 1. But remember most of the game is underground on an almost completely destroyed planet. How much color should there be?
If you start changing the game mechanics features too much because of what other games have, then is this really Gears 2 or does it become something else. I think they know what they are doing just fine.
Gears 1 had one thing over 2 and thats the distance between battles even while your skipping in the halls of what I would think, would be your most guarded building. You meet the resistance of your local convenience stores thief deterent system.
If we all learned something from Devil May Cry 2, it’s that you don’t try to make a longer game by having the player run/walk for a really long time, in the hopes of making the game longer.
in short it needs
less adventure, more action.
not as tight rooms - if flanking is the point of the game
gears fortress - good idea
5 player story co-op
24 player gun battles
Also, don’t be ending the story with “Marcus, I am your Mother” or some other Star Wars alternate “Dom is your brother”. Answering the volumes of questions you’ve already set up will be fine, how does the queen know marcus’s father, how did marcus get pegged for treson, why is there really a battle going on in middle earth and no one has a ring. Last and utmost if there is going to be Lambert running around at least have a move for the squad to perform called the romper room….
To say Gears 2 needs more color is pretty dumb. When you first Grindlift underground that is a pretty amazing sight (and let me point out again “Underground” because how much color is down there honestly?) But any who Gears 2 is better in a lot of ways, but there is, of course like all games, are areas that need improvement. I don’t think 5-player story would do Gears good just like Cliffy says you start to get people in the game that runs ahead triggering cutscenes which sorta ruins it for other players, and if you want to play the with friends well they did make Horde and they made the parties larger which I find better/more exciting. But either way I will still play it for years to come.
how can you honestly say ” Who doesn’t love dual chain-sawing a Locust?” that has got to be the main reason why i have reverted back to gears 1, cliffy says gears 2 is to be different so noobs can also enjoy, this is the problem no shotgun fests the gears 1 thrived on now its just noob-saw duels all round, also geas is a stop and pop , unlike halo and cod4 +5 being run and guns, gears 2 with all its re-spawn games makes this now a run and gun which all hard-core gears fans (likew myself ) will agree has totally spoiled it, thanx cliffy for gears 2, but i am totally reverting to an all out slug gnasher fest on gears 1,
why didnt you just keep the multiplayer the same ….. campaighn was awsome though ..
does any one agree…..
disagree and you are officially a noob that probably just did the campaighn on gears 1 and did it on easy boooooooooooo..
HA HA. Dirt in eyes!?!?! Wtf is that crap! Let me ask you this question, which is better? Shooting a guy with a shotgun shell who can take 3 or 4 of em, or throwing freakin dirt in his eyes?!!? The locust aren’t retarded like you are. If you take the time to throw dirt in their eyes, they’ll blow ur flippin face in! I agree with PREDATOR. Gears 2 is filled with a bunch of retarded sawing nooblets. I may get back to gears 1. Story line was great man! much more detailed than Gears 1.
In gears 1 it was just; emergence hole, blow it up, next hole. Stupid. I wasn’t catching the point, but this one was like a Cinematic Adventure!! I could not stop playing campaign, i was anxious to see what happend! Ya, lame ending, but, they’re just setting up for another one (millions of dollars more). They copied Halo with the online layout and matchmaking though. And the ranking system is retarded anyways!!!
Overall, this game was great for campaign, had AWESOME graphics (more color!??! Wtf man?? Did u happen to see the massive backgrounds of the levels outside???). DECENT online play. So for online, i’ll prolly get back to gears 1, but if i wanna go on a video gaming cinematic adventure, ill play gears 2. GO EPIC!! U BETTER CHANGE THIS ONLINE CRAP IN GEARS 3!!!!
—Cain— Gamertag- TwistedCain13 (just like that)
to improve gears of war 3 they should have new characters,new weapons,and grenades
to make gow 3 better than gow 2 they need to improve the graphics a little not saying that gow2 has shit graphics. they need a good ending, new characters,new weapons, new grenades.
There are aslot of things that could make gears 3 better, but you’re all wrong. Why would Epic give you the best when number 3 won’t be their last?
Let me explain: so far we’ve seen our “kenny” of the series die twice. The carmine brothers will all dies in GOW, but will it be one at a time?
Let me remind you, there are four carmine brothers, and two have died so far, do the math yourself. So we possibly will be looking at 4 gears episodes.
But as for improvements, i think they should fix the damned chainsaw. I appologize to those who don’t have enough skill to fire a shotgun, but I believe it’s TOO good and easy to use. I’ve come up with a concept: rapidly tap B in order to rev your chainsaw, and hold it once it’s revved. If, by chance your chainsaw is lowered, you’ll have to try and rev it again. This way, it adds more skill to the mix.
Another thing, change the lancer up! There were so many different types of bayonets for the lancers, why is it that marcus hasn’t found any underground? That, indeed may be better, even in online play. That way, people won’t rely so much on the chainsaw.
By now you all realize my arguments are mainly with online play, so in that fashion, FIX THE DAMN LANCER BULLETS! I swear, it’s like running into a wall when being shot by the lancer, at any angle. How the hell would any rifle be that powerful, it’s called physics.
Finally to the mastermind creation of the gears universe, the cover system. FIX IT. Why would you even need a cover system, if when you’re in cover it doesn’t work? Don’t know what i mean? Have you ever been blown up through a wall? or shot through a wall?
Speaking of being blown up, fix the smoke grenades and tagging grenades. you should already know what i mean.
gears3 needs more fighting.like you can save captured men from cog but you have to fight before you save them.it also needs more blood and gore.but other than that gears2 is the best one
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