General Gaming So is Gears of War just... bad?

[ShreddieMercury]

I've never played the Gears games, but since they are on Game Pass and I was looking for some digital junk food I thought I'd give them a try.  About an hour into the first game and... everything about it kind of sucks?  The music is really bad, the portentous dialogue and excuse for a story is abysmal, and the shooting is not really satisfying in any way.  Do the later games get better or is this it really?

[XxEvil AshxX]

Yeah they get better, but Gears is Gears. If you don't like the gameplay, it doesn't change much.

 

That said, you're on crack. Gears is awesome. 

 

Also keep in mind you're playing a 15 yr old game. Gameplay that seems cliche now was tight back then.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Gears of War is my "guilty pleasure" gaming franchise.  I fully acknowledge that it represents the absolutely most mindless aspects of gaming, but my God, I ADORE it for that!

[Mr.Vic20]

You just need a torque bow son! 

[Brick]

The first few games never came to PC did they? I always felt like trying them. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Game is 15 years old and was very innovative and fun at the time. Either you dig the formula or you don't but it's not objectively "bad". 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

19 minutes ago, Brick said:

The first few games never came to PC did they? I always felt like trying them. 

 

The first game did, but not 2, 3, and Judgment.

[Bacon]

I loved Gears of War. And if anything, I like each Gears less than the first one. I haven't played Gears 5 and doubt I play Gears 6+ Like, I own a Gears graphic novel, multiple Gears comic books, 3 or 4 Gears of War Novels, various kinds of Gears Swag, I owned a Gears of War 1 Lancer that I sold, and I owned every CE. Lost interest in Gears as the devs kept casualizing the series. Like, it felt like Halo all over again. Gears 4 just felt like what happened with Halo Reach - 5. Just like Halo, it should have ended at 3

[stepee]

Gears 5 is the most fun one.

[skillzdadirecta]

18 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I loved Gears of War. And if anything, I like each Gears less than the first one. I haven't played Gears 5 and doubt I play Gears 6+ Like, I own a Gears graphic novel, multiple Gears comic books, 3 or 4 Gears of War Novels, various kinds of Gears Swag, I owned a Gears of War 1 Lancer that I sold, and I owned every CE. Lost interest in Gears as the devs kept casualizing the series. Like, it felt like Halo all over again. Gears 4 just felt like what happened with Halo Reach - 5. Just like Halo, it should have ended at 3

I'm so confused by this post... Halo Reach is is arguably one of the best if not THE best Halo. Definitely top 3. And Gears 4 was the best Gears I've played since the second one I think and I heard five is even better.

[ShreddieMercury]

I'm totally fine with dated games, but I thought that what I played of it looked and felt pretty bad, even for 2006.  I will keep playing because most people really do seem to enjoy it. 

[stepee]

Honestly try just jumping into 5 and see how you like that, might feel tighter to you.

[Bacon]

I didn't like Reach. 3 was the best by far. Reach was the first step into the CoD version of Halo. Halo 4 is just CoD with MC. And lol Gears 2 being better. maybe the SP, but the MP was a total shit show for a long time. It had major lag issues, and movement speed was far slower than Gears 1. Gears 2 also introduced stopping power. Gears 2 MP was so fucked that I eventually just kept playing Gears 1 MP until my friends told me the Gears 2 MP got fixed. MP was the main attraction for me. Specifically Execution. Gears 4 locked that behind ranked mode and made TDM the default mode. Gears 3 introduced TDM, the first major step of casualization. 

 

BTW, I am really talking about the MP here, same with Halo. The SP is totally irrelevant in regard to my post. tho Halo 3 is still the best halo overall. MP and SP. Like, out of the Bungie Halo games, the only game I like less than Reach is Halo 2. Halo 3 > ODST > Halo 1 > Halo Reach > Halo 2. About ODST. I really liked the SP. I get that really it should be at the end of the list, but I'd say ODST had my favorite campaign. 

 

And I mean, I really like the SP of Gears, enough to by the books and shit. But if Gears never had MP, I doubt I would have gotten any past the first. But even then, I literally could not care less about the story in Gears 4. The only reason I got the game was that I got it for free, and then the only reason I played it was because I Spartacus was JD. I did not like the story at all. Bungie > 343 and Epic Games > The Coalition. Same shit happened and both got worse in exactly the same ways. I have no trust in game series that started third party(or is it second party) and then come the 8th gen were made my studios owned by MS/Xbox. Not really the same thing, but I thought The Outer Worlds was shit and look who became a studio owned be MS just in time... 

[ShreddieMercury]

Having just replayed several Halo campaigns, I hold Reach in higher esteem now than I did when it was released.  I would rank the campaigns: Halo 3 > Reach > CE.

[skillzdadirecta]

6 minutes ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

I'm totally fine with dated games, but I thought that what I played of it looked and felt pretty bad, even for 2006.  I will keep playing because most people really do seem to enjoy it. 

HUH? I rerember Gears being heralded as one of the best looking games for its's time when it came out... and that type of cover based gameplay hadn't really been done at that point yet. So there really wasn't much to compare it to from that standpoint.

 

1 minute ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

Having just replayed several Halo campaigns, I hold Reach in higher esteem now than I did when it was released.  I would rank the campaigns: Halo 3 > Reach > CE.

Prett much my rankings too... folowed by ODST and then everything else. 2 would be last or close to last fighting with 4. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I tried the first when it was new, but it just wasn't for me.

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

HUH? I rerember Gears being heralded as one of the best looking games for its's time when it came out... and that type of cover based gameplay hadn't really been done at that point yet. So there really wasn't much to compare it to from that standpoint.

 

Yeahhhhh, that is a TAKE lol. Gears was like THE next gen game. It was like the equivalent of what we are waiting for this gen of its generation, the look at what this system can do game. It was HYPED for its graphics. Damn.

 

Edit: To be clear I’m talking just graphically but it was pretty damn fresh with the cover mechanic when it first dropped.

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, stepee said:

 

Yeahhhhh, that is a TAKE lol. Gears was like THE next gen game. It was like the equivalent of what we are waiting for this gen of its generation, the look at what this system can do game. It was HYPED for its graphics. Damn.

RIGHT???? Gears one was a graphical benchmark for several years when it came out 

[stepee]

5 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

RIGHT????

 

What’s really crazy is he might be playing the Ultimate Edition, the xbox one remaster, and thinking it looks dated for 2006!

 

Friends had just ended two years ago in 2006!

[skillzdadirecta]

Just now, stepee said:

 

What’s really crazy is he might be playing the Ultimate Edition, the xbox one remaster, and thinking it looks dated for 2006!

What games was HE playing in 2006? What the hell did I miss???

[stepee]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

What games was HE playing in 2006? What the hell did I miss???

 

pussy

[ort]

I really loved Gears back when it came out. It was the best looking console game I had ever seen at the time.

 

I really liked the cover mechanic and the online multiplayer, with it's 4 v 4 and no respawns really appealed to me. You really had to communicate and work as a team to succeed. It was a lot of fun.

 

The later games both got better and worse at the same time. They tightened things up, but also added too much extra stuff. Gears 2 was the last one I really put a lot of time into. The formula has been copied a lot since it came out, but when it was released, it was a breath of fresh air...

 

That said, not ever game is going to appeal to everyone. If you're not feeling it a couple of hours in, I doubt anything is coming that will change that opinion.

 

And yes, the story is absolutely atrocious and so is the dialog. It was always really bad.

[Moa]

2 hours ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

portentous 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The Gears of War series is essentially the gaming equivalent of The Fast & The Furious franchise:  you either recognize the sheer ridiculousness of the entire damned thing and roll with it, or you don't.

[ShreddieMercury]

Hmm.  I'm not playing the remaster, just the regular back-compat version on Game Pass.  It might just be that it doesn't look good on modern displays. 

[Keyser_Soze]

I've never enjoyed the series and I played them when they were new so chances are you'll probably not enjoy the game.

[Keyser_Soze]

45 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

What games was HE playing in 2006? What the hell did I miss???

 

He didn't play Mass Effect or Gears. Maybe he just never had a 360

[JPDunks4]

Gears of War Ultimate is on Game Pass.  If you're early enough maybe worth switching to it as it has additional content.  

 

Gears at the time was the cream of the crop in terms of graphics.  It was the first real system seller on Xbox 360 if I remember correctly, it got me to buy a 360.  It dropped around the same time as Rainbow Six Vegas, another co-op shooter.  I bought the 360 for that reason, after owning just a Wii at the time.  

 

Gears also was much more enjoyable playing co-op.  They were built with co-op in mind, I've played all of them co-op so don't even really know how they feel as a single player experience.

 

For me personally, I think the original is my favorite.  It felt darker and a bit more grounded than the others.  The others went bigger and more outrageous which was good in a lot of ways, but the sense of dread and mystery in that first game helped me enjoy the first a lot.  I still have to play 5.

 

*The biggest complaint about it was the color palette being way too grey.  That's gotten better with the more recent games.

 

 

[ShreddieMercury]

8 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

Gears of War Ultimate is on Game Pass.  If you're early enough maybe worth switching to it as it has additional content.  

 

Gears at the time was the cream of the crop in terms of graphics.  It was the first real system seller on Xbox 360 if I remember correctly, it got me to buy a 360.  It dropped around the same time as Rainbow Six Vegas, another co-op shooter.  I bought the 360 for that reason, after owning just a Wii at the time.  

 

Gears also was much more enjoyable playing co-op.  They were built with co-op in mind, I've played all of them co-op so don't even really know how they feel as a single player experience.

 

For me personally, I think the original is my favorite.  It felt darker and a bit more grounded than the others.  The others went bigger and more outrageous which was good in a lot of ways, but the sense of dread and mystery in that first game helped me enjoy the first a lot.  I still have to play 5.

 

*The biggest complaint about it was the color palette being way too grey.  That's gotten better with the more recent games.

 

 

 

Didn't realize the Ultimate edition was on Game Pass too.  I'll download that, thank you!

 

31 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

He didn't play Mass Effect or Gears. Maybe he just never had a 360

 

I did have a 360 but yeah, I just missed these.  I had some friends who were really into Gears of War 2 but never got to play it with them.

[Keyser_Soze]

12 minutes ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

Didn't realize the Ultimate edition was on Game Pass too.  I'll download that, thank you!

 

As a rule of thumb, If it's a Microsoft first party game it should be on game pass.

[Dre801]

I liked Gears 1-3, and even Judgement (ducks), didn't like Gears 4, and have been reluctant to try Gears 5.

[heydude93]

Anyone who thinks the Gears devs were unaware of the goofiness of the premise and dialogue are not giving them credit.  Is it high satire of 80's action bro movies, no, it definitely unironically leans into a lot of those tropes, but its definitely aware of them too. The guns have chainsaw bayonnetes for christtsakes.  There are some aspects that don't hold up, sure, but I love Gears, especially Ultimate Edition. It has memorable worldbuilding and creature design, the campy monster movie thrills of Resident Evil, some fun banter between characters, and arguably the sleakest cover-based mechanics in a third person shooter to this day.  If I had an xbox I'd still be playing it.

[ort]

I 100% knew exactly what they were going for with the tone of the dialog and story... and I still think it's bad. The story is an incomprehensible sloppy disjointed mess. Even as parody, the dialog is super cringey.

 

I say this as someone who loves the game. I also don't really want to argue about it. Agree to disagree.

 

I kinda enjoy it on a certain level, but mostly I'm always just so confused how these mega budget games end up so poorly written.

[heydude93]

23 minutes ago, ort said:

I 100% knew exactly what they were going for with the tone of the dialog and story... and I still think it's bad. The story is an incomprehensible sloppy disjointed mess. Even as parody, the dialog is super cringey.

 

I say this as someone who loves the game. I also don't really want to argue about it. Agree to disagree.

 

Well they certainly weren't going for good dialogue like the writers of Portal might be, that's for sure, but aside from some things that don't hold up well I'm confused that anyone would think they didn't hit their mark most of the time.  Are there things that were of the time and don't hold up? Sure, but there are triple-A games NOW that arguably have worse dialogue and writing, so I usually cut the original Gears some slack. 

 

That said the stories in the new games are much better, though they feel a bit more like modern blockbusters than the campy ridiculousness B-movie creature feature/action film vibe of the original.  In any case, I think saying it's incomprehensible and totally cringey is a bit much considering how many games better fit that description, but to each their own.

[Paperclyp]

I like Gears, think it's good for what it is, but in my mind is like the pinnacle of the Sony vs MS console wars where every exclusive game was hailed as like one of the greatest games ever made. 

 

I could see how coming to them at this stage of the game feels extremely underwhelming.