Are the Gears of War games any good?

The Dutch Ghost

The Dutch Ghost

Grouchy old man of NMA
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Hello all,

A long time ago in a bored mood I decided to buy an Xbox 360 in order to play the Halo games, but since I played the last one (Halo 4) the thing has been gathering dust. (I tried selling it but the amounts offered for it are ridiculously low, even when I expect to loose on it)

So I have been looking into some new games for it, especially sci-fi-ish shooters as those are rather rare on the moment on the PC.
I have been thinking of getting the Gears of War games for it, while there are many positive reviews for the series on various game sites I trust people on this forum more than game journalists whose understanding of games and sincerity I question.

What do you think of the games?
I know the stereotypes surrounding it (Space Marines with tree trunks for arms and no necks) but is the gameplay any good?
 
Played the first one, since it was out on pc. Didn't get past the final boss, never finished it. It's fun on co-op, and I bet one could spend many an evening playing the games with one's friends on the couch.

I find the gameplay to be acceptable. Certainly better than call of duty. But this isn't exactly intriguing stuff.

The game I would personally get if I bought a 360 is Red Dead Redemption.
 
Hi Akratus,

I understand but I am not really into cowboys and such, I really prefer science fiction.
I understand that Gears of War is sort of 'bottom of the barrel' but I have already played the better games; Half Life series (including Black Mesa), Jedi Knight games, Elite Force, DSN The Fallen, Deus Ex games, System Shock 2, Wolfenstein games (waiting for the review on the new one), Fallout New Vegas (okay bad to classify this one as a FPS), FEAR plus expansions. the Resistance series, Halo, Borderlands (couldn't stand it any more when I played Blands 2)
I think I have had them all.
 
I don't think Gears of War is that bad. I've played the first one only, and it was a decent shooter. Sure, it had the idiotic auto-heal implemented like 99% of modern shooters do, but the level design is solid, gameplay is fluid and dynamic, boss fights challenging but interesting, and the story, while far from brilliant, was captivating enough for me to go on.
What struck me as the best point, however, was the visuals of some levels. Simply put, beautiful. The game is essentially post-apoc, and the design of some of the urban environments was quite pleasing to my eye - though you might hate some of the color filters used.

To sum it up, I do recommend it for several entertaining afternoons. If you can get it cheap, like a used copy (if that's possible on 360 at all), do it.
I haven't played other games since they're 360 exclusive.
 
Akratus said:
One of it's strongest points is indeed the baroque, gothic world design.
Click to expand...

(I really need to learn the "style classification")

But yes, that's the strong point. Contrasted with the typical post-apoc rust n' ruin, and Marines vs Monsters, it's visually amazing, at least at moments.
 
Hello Atomkilla

Thanks for your response, I am currently looking into a deal of all three games (not Judgment, but another seller is selling that one cheap) for 12,50 Euros, that is why I wondered if they would at least be entertaining.
As I mentioned I have pretty much gone through the gems already; the good FPS ones and the titles that are a mix of FPS and other game genres, and it doesn't look like there will be any decent sci fi FPS or PA FPS in the foreseeable future on the PC :(
There are some very interesting fan projects in the work such as the Dark Pastime for Jedi Academy, and Operation Black Mesa and Guard Duty for Half Life 2 but it will be a long time before those get finished, if they ever get finished at all that is.

And yes, the game does look visual wise very nice, especially the ruined cities. Before I played the Resistance games I mistook the screenshots and videos of Fall of Man being from Gears of War because of the same color filters (Grey and Brown color palettes)

What do you think; is 12,50 Euro ($17,12) for GoW 1, 2, and 3 reasonable?

If anyone else here has any other good sci fi FPS recommendations, please tell as I am really interested in hearing titles I have ignored or forgotten that are fun to play.
 
Does EDF 2017 count as sci fi? You get to fire nukes at things 5 feet away. :wiggle:

I quite liked the Gears games, played the first 3 with my bro and they were fun. The first one is very clunky compared to the later ones though which made it hard to replay. They really refined the art style in the later ones which makes it a shame so many of the levels were at night time or murky. I did actually find the final boss of the first game very easy but my brother managed to one shot chainsaw him within about 10 seconds of the fight starting while his attention was focused on me.

The story is ... loud. I think by the third one they sort of figured out no one was taking it seriously as it had some very funny jokes, the second tried way to hard with the drama which only really worked with one character. It's just a shame the two main characters are the least interesting thing about it, which is probably why the third one focused more on the others, heck I think C. Carmine got more characterisation than Dom in it.

Anyway punchy, fun weapons (the revolver almost reaches Doom levels of nice gunnage) and nice map design and variety make them fun games to play. Yea it has the cover mechanic but it was one of the earlier ones to implement and makes it work unlike so many other games, it's smooth and you actually stick to the right things as well being easy to dive away from or leap over. Multiplayer was fun as well but I guess that's gone a bit quiet now. Still bots are quite good to go up against, they actually try flanking and teamwork.

I would say that's pretty good price for the 3. Can't think of that many good sci fi games on the 360, Halo and Gears dominated that area. Maybe Vanquish and Binary Domain though you can get them on PC.
 
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Hello Alphadrop,

Sci Fi FPS games on the PC are always welcome as that is my preferred gaming platform, I am now mostly looking into the console's assortment of games as I went through most of the known PC ones of the genres I like.

And yeah the storyline isn't that much to write about, I brought up Halo and Resistance up earlier and that seems to be a fair comparison. (Though I rate Resistance higher as I like the alternative 1950s setting). Mostly 'the world is going to end and we all depend on your stuff' though I actually found a few cutscenes very touching (ones that did not have anything to fdo with blowing up stuff), one of the characters found his girlfriend or sister in an enemy work camp and she was barely human looking anymore, a very wretched thing that was basically worn away, totally oblivious anymore to stimulus from the outside.
And then this character tried to get to her, get any kind of recognition but basically she was already gone, just the lights were still on so to speak.

And in another cutscene one of the characters visits the old sports stadium where he used to play before the war, suddenly being pulled back to his better days, remembering what it felt like and how much his audience loved him and cheered for him.
Perhaps it was kind of cheap but I could understand such a moment, a memory in which you want to live in on forever.
 
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12,50 Euro for 3 games?
Sure, I'd take it. If you really have nothing else to play, I'd say it's a bargain. I've never tried multiplayer, personally, but I've read it's quite good - so if those copies have multiplayer enabled (again, I'm not sure how does the whole thing with 360 work), you should go for it.
 
Hi Atomkilla,

Don't really care about the mutliplayer, Single Player guy all the way.
Well I do have some other games on my backlist but sadly no FPS game and once in a while between the adventures and RPGs you also want to play something different, know what I mean?

I would honestly love to see some new Sci-Fi FPS ones as the genre seems almost dead (more focus these days on modern war settings).
It is probably save to assume that Half Life 3 will not be coming out any time soon, and when it does it is sort off passé, four years ago it would have been very welcome but I find that Valve has been lingering around with it to long.
 
Tried to play it ages ago, but it just felt like hack and slash kind of experience where you mow down hordes after hordes of enemies. Plus i have no idea how someone can play a fps with a joystick, it's just a stupid idea.
 
Hello AskWazzup,

Yeah that is my concern about the games, that it will get 'samey' rather quick after a while and making finishing the game a shore.
 
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