Re-equipping My Lancer

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 4:04 pm in General Gaming · Comments

Gears of War. Who could argue that those three words have become synonymous with Xbox 360? It’s ‘our’ exclusive, the one that truly demonstrated what the 360 was capable of, and it certainly deserved the praise both critics and gamers alike showered it with. Like many others, I let myself get caught up in the hype and put my pre-order down for the game’s release in 2006, and while it has become a game I never publicly fault, it’s one that no one ever hears me talk about.

Although I appreciated the game for what it was, and even now I find it difficult to fault the gameplay, I never fell in love with the game like many others did. There were only a couple of reasons why, but I think the main reason was simply a case of characters; big, beefy, over-emasculated, meatheads. Although I enjoyed my playthrough and the occasional dabbling of MultiPlayer (though I failed to master the ‘shotgun and roll’ tactic that success seemed to hinge on), I gave the sequel a miss because the characters pissed me off so much.

Okay, so Cole was pretty awesome. There aren’t many fine details I recall about the characters, but I did enjoy Cole’s quips. And Carmine. You never really know much about him, but I know I like him. However, I just found it difficult to relate to any of the characters, especially physically.

I know, I know, it’s lame, right? I don’t exactly relate to Lara Croft with my modest B cup (and that’s probably wishful thinking), yet I love Tomb Raider mainly because of her. I don’t particularly relate to a 16 year old boy who, despite his age, hasn’t appeared to have hit puberty, yet I still love Blue Dragon. You get my point. It’s pretty illogical, yet it’s just the way it always has been.

Over the weekend, though, I found myself talking about Gears of War with some friends. Instead of thinking about Marcus Fenix, his irritating bandana, and how I don’t want to be him or that I’d never even sleep with him, I felt a fondness towards the game I had forgotten about; the late nights spent fending off the locust, admiring the detail and beauty of the decayed surroundings, enjoying a cover system that just worked. That, coupled with Gears of War 3’s E3 showing, has got me returning to the series in the form of Gears of War 2.

I hope it’s easier to over-look the ME MAN, ME MAKE FIRE AND PEE ON FIRE connotations that the Gears of War characters carry, but I have heard the story is a bit of a tear-jerker. Maybe Epic were trying to appeal to women a little more?

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6 Responses to “Re-equipping My Lancer”

Arnold Sideways

# June 15th, 2010 at 5:03 pm

I totally agree with what you say about the characters, but it doesn’t stop Gears 2 being one of the best games I’ve played on the 360. If you liked the first, then you should love this, because it’s a definite step up in scale. I thought the multiplayer was pretty awful but the single player campaign and horde make it a classic. The set pieces are genuinely jaw-dropping. It’s also a decent challenge too, Insane mode is very hard but not impossible. To be honest, with the amount of action piling up round you I don’t think you’ll worry too much about how charismatic Marcus and Dom are, it’s just huge fun blasting the shit out of everything.

Nathan Dailo

# June 15th, 2010 at 6:09 pm

Man, I gotta catch you sometime on XBL for some Horde :)

Matt Brett

# June 15th, 2010 at 7:02 pm

I’m glad you’re going to give GOW2 a shot, after all this time. You will still hate the characters, but likely less this time around. They show a more human side, despite their beefiness, and there are some good emotional struggles.

Deanna and I would be down for some Horde action as well. Although catching the two of us online might be tricky, given the time difference between ourselves and you.

Christoffer Radsby

# June 16th, 2010 at 9:05 am

Yeah, give GOW2 a shot with a friend it’s great fun. I agree that they should appeal to women a bit more. I’ve seen some 3d-artists creating female characters for the game and I would definitely want to see some female player characters in the game.

Like you say fending of locust is awesome, it’s pretty much everything I want out of a third-person action game. Varied environments, awesome weapons & graphics with more than decent gameplay.

Dave

# June 16th, 2010 at 9:06 am

I’ll admit I got caught up in the emotion at one of the scenes in GOW2 and I really enjoyed the whole campaign, but I hardly touched MP despite the fact I put hour after hour into the original MP. Horde mode is really good fun though.

Jupiter105

# June 17th, 2010 at 5:50 pm

GOW is one of the games I missed from playing on my ps3 solely for years.. It is another game in a pile of old xbox titles I must visit, alas it really doesnt appeal to me at all.. am i wrong? or is it just not worth playing through? :S

seeing as so many comments here like GOW2, Is it worth playing through one before two? I always seem to want to play the old ones first incase i miss any story..

I hope you like GOW2 ash

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