Why did I hate Gears of War?

[zainali]

did you use the chainsaw yet?

 

[Jeff7]

Chainsaw is cool. Even more amusing - chainsaw a Wretch that's hopping by. If you time it right, you'll chainsaw the thing to pieces, even though it's several feet to the side of you.
It works both ways though. If one of the Locust Drones starts to chainsaw me, I dive backward, only to be blown to pieces by it anyway. Long-range chainsaws FTL.

Originally posted by: darkeneddays
I've had the game for a month and can't seem to make myself play beyond the search for the resonator. It's a gorgeous game (even though my sdtv doesn't do it justice) but for the life of me I can't get use to aiming with my thumb. Also, I'm use to "peppering" my targets in shooters (short bursts over a few seconds). In this game it feels like I have to lay a constant amount of fire on a target for it to drop. In multiplayer the "peppering" method will get you served fast, so I've learned. Guess I'm use to PC-FPS and the ol' lifebar...

The amount of fire something can take depends on where you hit it. Hit it where there's no armor, and it goes down quicker. Sniper rifle rounds to the head are far more effective than elsewhere on the body.
The Torque Bow is the most fun though. It's a good way to kill a Boomer in one shot. Shoot, hear the enemy growl when the explosive hits them, and wait for the boom.
I only wish it had a scope on it - I'd never use the sniper rifle again.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
It's got a few bugs too. Some notable ones:
- Beserkers can get stuck on doorways and debris. Then they just stand there, and won't follow you, which is required to destroy them.
- Enemies may stand down if you're ducking and a teammate is wounded. They just kind of stand there, even if you point your gun around the corner and shoot at them.
- Your own guys can pin you down in a small room. I went into a small room for some ammo, and one of the AI guys stood in to guard the door. Then he wouldn't move, and there wasn't enough room for me to get by. Shooting him, grenading him, or pistol whipping him didn't do anything. He just stood there. I had to reload the checkpoint and do the mission again.
- Clipping issues with slanted objects such as trees. If a tree is leaning, it seems to have a vertical hit box - try to shoot in the narrow angle between it and the ground, and you hit an invisible wall.
- Nearly useless AI soldiers, supposedly there to help you out. They'll either stand there idly at precisely the wrong time, or else charge in to suicidally dangerous places.
- The classic use of cramped or dark spaces to create the illusion of a true challenge.


Seems about par for the course though as far as computer games go. An occasionally stupid AI, and hit box issues.
I do sort of like its system of letting you hide behind things and then shoot. Too often though I seem to have a tough time getting it to "unlock" from the walls.

It's good to hear that after a year of development the Xbox 360 still can't release a good game... :disgust:

 

[Reckoner]

Ehh GoW wasn't anything special

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
It's good to hear that after a year of development the Xbox 360 still can't release a good game... :disgust:

It's playable though. I find many of these bugs in any FPS I've played. Computer AI's always have problems. They just can't adapt. Homeworld 2 is a fine example - the AI will sometimes mount impressive attacks, easily capable of demolishing my mothership and fleet. What do I do? Send a single 3-ship Scout squadron off to attack their command ship. As soon as the scouts open fire, the entire enemy fleet turns around to head back to deal with this problem, which is in fact not a threat at all. The AI will also never mount huge attacks after the first part of the game. Once they get battlecruisers, they send them one or two at a time, with inadequate escorts. There may be a computer-controlled fleet of 10 cruisers, but they just sit back idle while their friends are blasted to pieces.

First person shooters have their own sets of issues. Scripted behaviors can make for some fun exploits, or can open up other bugs. For instance, in some older games, you could spend a lot of time and find your way into a room by a route other than the one the game designers intended. Do this, and you will find the enemies standing by idly. They may simply do nothing as they're killed, or they might be impossible to kill, with their hit points not yet defined by the game engine, which thinks that they're not even a part of the game yet, as their script hasn't been initialized.
Or body actions. I saw a great one today in Gears of War. One of my guys was doing some crazy dance by himself. What I think happened was, he may have been down already, or he was too close to a column, when a Locust Drone tried to chainsaw him. Something went wrong, and he was doing the crazy flailing action, but not being attacked. So he just stayed there, going all crazy, until I finished the mission. That snapped him out of it.
Physics problems are also amusing. A sniper rifle fell from a downed drone on a bridge, and it landed on top of a dumpster. Apparently there wasn't any physics behavior programmed in for this dumpster, because the rifle just suddenly stopped falling about a half foot above it, wobbling as though balanced on a pinhead. It finally ceased motion, and was hanging there in midair.


These kinds of problems don't just plague Gears of War. They seem to be a problem in quite a number of FPS games.

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: n yusef

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
Gears of War sucks. Gameplay is fine its just the story telling that sucks and the dialogue sucks too. Not a lot of wow moments. Hideo Kojima should make a FPS

It's quite obvious you didn't play through the entire game.

I liked GoW myself, but I don't understand why someone would play through a game they don't enjoy. If the beginning isn't any good (in the opinion of the player), who cares about the middle and end?

Oh I played through the whole thing. The dialoge at the end made me cry T__T; I knew this craptastic game wouldn't pick up. FPS are so shallow

 

[Sluggo]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

- Your own guys can pin you down in a small room. I went into a small room for some ammo, and one of the AI guys stood in to guard the door. Then he wouldn't move, and there wasn't enough room for me to get by. Shooting him, grenading him, or pistol whipping him didn't do anything. He just stood there. I had to reload the checkpoint and do the mission again.
- Nearly useless AI soldiers, supposedly there to help you out. They'll either stand there idly at precisely the wrong time, or else charge in to suicidally dangerous places.

Some of these issues made me want to throw my computer in the street playing HL2. Get 4-6 guys in close quarters and nobody will move, I hated that.