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Ogre Knight's Gears of War (360)
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| [March 6, 2008 03:41:07 AM]
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Gameplay:
There is no greater feeling then chainsawing a Locust with the Lancer. Okay let me start over. Upon the start of the second mission you meet up with your commander, anger is revealed, he hates you, etc. Then you get your new standard gun. An Assault Rifle called the Lancer. Nothing really special about it, its your standard Sci-fi Laser Automatic Rifle... except it's got a chainsaw bayonet!
Let me Repeat that: A CHAINSAW BAYONET!
while the game still retained its original difficulty, killing me at least 20 times while I attempted to adjust for the learning curve the pure joy of cutting the Aliens in half made this game worth playing. One thing that got to me was the levels length, with the first level taking 45 minutes if that, and the second level still seemingly far from complete. The only thing that is noticeably is one of my troops has had the necessity to be replaced due to sniper fire and I got a satellite beam called the Hammer of Dawn to shoot huge six-legged alien radio jammers called "Seeders." On the outside it appears to be nothing more then a xenocide, on the inside its nothing more then pure glee.
Summary:
What seems innovative about the game is the sheer amount of violence, and speed of fighting involved in each area. At the difficulty I'm playing the gap between 3rd-person and 1st-person shooting must be crossed in several circumstances, the run command upon holding A is a unique aspect that adds to the necessary speed and as far as I know is unheard of. Also the reloading mechanic has a timing system, which for the first time is player controlled and makes a difference. The design does have a feel of "playing it safe" in testing what gamers want, however the sheer amount of violence and (from what I hear) good multi-player make this game focused around a specific type of gamer. The level design, though spaced well seems like a large jump, with too much happening in some levels and too few happening in others. The challenges and layout is completely different even while crossing a single level, but the background similarity occasionally gives off a repetitive feel. The game creates conflict via narrative and xenophobia, the enemy seemingly has no reason to attack you at this point and the only thing I really know about the character is he is somehow a soldier directly out of prison who hates these things. Not very moving, but a reason none-the-less. The game keeps the player interested by providing constantly challenging enemies, changing up the allies, and giving the player a generous reward system...Also the chainsaws. The game keeps players on a very linear path with a couple side paths which can be used to adjust tactics. Despite this they give the background a lush , large feel in most cases, making the world appear larger then it actually is. one thing that is a unique challenge to any player is the AI seems to do things differently on every play through. From attempting to snipe to charging you to walking somewhere they shouldn't be when you try to flank them they always appears to be moving differently each time I die. The tone of the game-world is created by this, and really everything about the game. From the cover art tot eh title screen tot eh first few minutes of game-play it gives the feel of a Army 3rd person shooter, with some serious Sci-fi influence. This tone made it so that I couldn't help but feel like I was one of the Sardaukar from the famous DUNE novels. This created a masculine "Manly man" bad-ass tone within the game, and the game seemed to keep this tone by re-enforcing it at every point, from shootouts and violent dialog to killing off characters who don't fulfill the archetype this game preserves it's tone. The gmae does require a teamwork to meet it's objectives, or a hatred towards your enemies, so yes through either conversation, working together, or shooting each other's face off social relations are formed. One thing I would definitely improve upon is the levels length, it felt like an endless burden and I'm still not done! Another possible course of action would be to simply space out the levels differently, and perhaps give a level complete objective at earlier points. This game gave very few ideas for our game, other then some dialog, and perhaps sound FX. The emergent game-play comes from enemy spawn and tactics, while there is a set enemy number, the player can drastically reduce this depending on their actions, making the amount of enemies you face in any circumstance a constant unknown. The games reward structure gave me an overabundance of ammo to hold off a small army, and a hard choice from a variety of weapons, still these rewards didn't really decrease the difficulty and always made me happy, I would call this system a slight success. The cut-scenes were the one thing that made me understand exactly why the protagonist and his allies were doing what they were doing, so far each one has been very important, though occasionally badly worded. The narrative is above-average at best, still I hear the multi-player is the best part, and I can only hope that I get a chance to play that soon.
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| [March 6, 2008 02:59:22 AM]
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Summary:
A 3rd-person shooter in which you play as a prisoner/soldier/traitor Marcos and fight in the "War of the Locusts." While the story doesn't explain anything in the beginning even the initial levels are difficult, then again that might be because I cranked it up to the highest difficulty on the first play through.
Gameplay:
The game Gears of War takes a pretty fast-paced look at the world of 3rd-person shooters. Requiring quick movements, above-average shooting, and the ability to accept the fact that the main character knows everything about the plot already. The game seems like an improvement upon Unreal Tournament, which is nice considering how it is also designed by Cliff Bleszinski. So far the enemies seemed difficult and accurate, and I have already died at least four times due to two enemies getting headshots simultaneously. The action is intense, and leaves you yelling at the opponents in a fairly xenophobic fashion, especially when you die. The cut-scenes are all very thrilling, however the voice acting might need some work as the tone of voice seems off in select scenes. While having the audience as per usual I actually managed to make them silent cussing at the screen after dying. Stupid Xenos.
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Ogre Knight's Gears of War (360)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 6 March, 2008
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