The Left 4 Dead demo was recently released on XBL and I got a chance to play the online component. An infection has transformed the city's population into raving hordes of zombies. It's up to you and 3 other survivors (AI driven or played by others) to fight your way out of the city. Some of it sounds like you've played it already in Resident Evil a few times before. Only this time, it's an FPS and these zombies aren't some sluggish pushovers you've fought again and again.
After joining a quickmatch lobby I was shortly joined by 3 other players and the game booted up, a quick loading screen showing me the campaign level and the players adorning a mock-movie poster. After loading up, we're on a building rooftop and after stocking up on ammunition and healthpacks, we head down into the infested apartment building. The zombies just stood around for a second though, seemingly unaware of our existence. After seeing the flash of our lights though, they spring into action and we're immediately swarmed. Racing down the stairs and putting zombie after zombie down, we break out into an alley that leads to the abandoned streets outside. Bumping into cars sets off the alarms though, attracting another massive horde to engage us. We fled into a nearby building which leads down to a safehouse where we restock on supplies before the game loads up the next act of the demo.
After the loading screen which showed us our stats in the previous level, we're now leaving the safehouse to gain access to an underground subway system. Here, we hear the moaning and crying of a distant woman. Only, we're getting closer and closer to it. Here we meet the witch, a special type of zombie that, once startled, will chase you down with an alarming speed. One of our guys is downed, and we're left to defend against another horde of zombie, accompanied by two other new types of zombies, the hunter and the boomer. The hunter quickly jumps atop your character, unleashing a quick flurry of brutal attacks until someone is able to shoot him off of you. The boomer spits vomit out at you, blurring your vision and effectively drawing all nearby zombies to you. Despite the odds, we're able to put them all down and help our downed friend up before he bleeds to death. However, just when we think that was it and we are granted a moment's reprieve, a huge tongue whips out and drags away one of our teammates. This zombie is called the smoker, and there is little you can do but be dragged away helplessly when he gets his tongue around you. Unable to act quick enough, our teammate was lost to us. We continue our trek through the broken down subway cars and come across a locked closet. Opening it up, we find another survivor locked inside and eager to help us escape. (This is sort of like respawning in the world of Left 4 Dead) Back at full capacity, we head out of the subway system into a huge room with an automatic door that, once opened would lead us to the next safe house. This is no simple task though, as we are soon greeted once again by another horde of zombies as soon as we hit the button to raise the door up, and this time they're lead by a muscular, super zombie dubbed the Tank. Flailing his huge arms through friend and foe alike, this zombie is not only fast but strong, and could send you flying against a wall with a single swing of his arms! Dodging zombies and the Tank together is nearly impossible, but we somehow make it through and the door is opened before us. We flee the remaining zombies and into the final safehouse of the demo.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Gears of War 2
So, I just finished up Gears of War 2 recently and I have to say it's not an entirely huge improvement over the first one. That's not really too bad though, since the first one was such a stellar game. Tweaks to some of Gears 1's shortcomings are improved here, and while some additions are downright awesome (Horde, I'm looking at you) there are others that are a bit questionable.
We'll start with the campaign. Two player co-op returns, unfortunately for those of you who were hoping for a chance to go four-player. Here, you'll find that shortly after the curtains fell on the first Gears, the Locusts have retaliated in full force despite the heavy blow dealt them by the Lightmass Bomb. The Kryll have all been annihilated along with many of the horde's numbers. The war has taken it's toll on both sides, and now human and locust alike are desparate to end the war as quickly as possible. The locust's tactic? Bringing down entire cities one after the other, and after much success they're now coming straight for humankind's last bastion: Jacinto. This is where you resume your role as Marcus Fenix, gritty and foul-mouthed leader of Delta Squad, and where the game starts. Despite the first game's seemingly hollow storyline and often criticized script, bringing along respected talent Joshua Ortega, who has tenure in the comic book industry (with such superheroes as Spider-Man and Batman) has shown a huge improvement in the overall narrative. There are a few tear-jerking moments here, and a nice twist for those patient enough to wait out the credits (a la Metal Gear Solid). My only hope is that there's a prequel story somewhere that goes into depth about Marcus' mysterious father and the oft-mentioned Pendulum Wars.
Now, for the gameplay. You'll not see a huge improvement here, much of the same (the old adage "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" can be applied here) . New guns shake things up a little bit, though some of them (Gorgon, Flamethrower, etc) are a bit side-lined by your mainstay's reliability and ammo-availability. They're flashy additions, but nothing I'd miss if they weren't there. Although there's nothing quite as satisfying as finding your mortars bombarding helpless locusts and the sounds of the bombs and bits flying apart. It truly speaks Gears.
Online! Here's where Gears of War was somewhat faulted (though criticism seems polarized, you love it or hate it). You'll now find a huge amount of new content, ranging from 5 on 5 warzone/execution to the newly dubbed "Submission" mode, where you must down a living target and drag him(a.k.a. the meatflag) to a ring (a la annex) for the win. It's basically a saddistic game of Capture the Flag. Horde mode is by far the biggest and best of the new game modes, pitting 5 player controlled Gears vs. wave after wave of Locusts. There are 50 in all, so be prepared for a marathon of locust-slaying mayhem, assuming your team is up for the challenge. I won't lie, this is pretty difficult without teamwork, and those lone rangers out there will find themselves in a heap of trouble should they decide to stick to their "charge in and shoot" tactics. Gone are the lobbies of old; replaced with a Call of Duty 4/Halo 3-esqued party match-up. I have to be honest though, while it's better than having to wait for 8 players to jump into a room before the host starts the game, there are often times where I'll be sitting in a playlist waiting for other players to spawn. I don't know if this is due to network issues, or people just not playing those particular playlists. And since you can't drop in and out of matches already in session, you might find yourself waiting for a match to start for a bit longer than you expected. So, I don't think it's much of an improvement over the last entry, but somewhat streamlined nonetheless. You now have to vote for which map you play on, which can be kind of lame since a lot of people love playing Gridlock so you hardly get to see another map if that one happens to pop up. This is good or bad depending on which you prefer. Speaking of Gridlock, for those of you who are just renting this game, unfortunately you won't be able to play any of the 5 "Flashback" maps (Subway, Mansion, Gridlock, Tyro Station, and Canals) unless you purchase the game and download the pack via the code included with the game. And you'll find a lot of people seem to prefer these maps over the new ones. As for the tweaks to gameplay mentioned before, here there are numerous that will either please you or make you WISH you were playing Gear 1. Firstly, the old days of charging up and going at it with shotguns are long gone. There's just an odd recoil to the shotgun now and it seems to do a little bit less dmg than before. Also, your lancer now has "stopping power" to it, so if you're charging someone and they're putting lancer fire on you, you'll run very very slowly, almost guaranteeing yourself downed. The random chainsaw vs. chainsaw bs from before is gone, now with a "press B as fast as possible" minigame when two chainsaw-baring opponents collide. It's over real fast and one winner emerges, albeit blood-soaked. Or, someone could just come up and shotgun you while you're in the middle of it, which is usually the case. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? Gone are the days when curb-stomping and chainsawing left you in God-mode for a few seconds. So choose wisely if you want to show off those awesome new executions (11 in all!).
Now, for the achievements. I like achievements. If it's a multiplatform game, I'm definitely coming for the xbox version for the achievements. Now, this time around, the achievements are WAY easier to get. There's no more "get 100 of these" achievements, and in one play-through you could rack up about 500 gamerpoints. Add another 150 if you play through again on Insane. The rest are from collectibles in the game, and your standard "win these types of games" and "get a few kills with this weapon" achievements. There are only a couple that stand out as difficult in my opinion, and those are the "Hoard the Horde" achievement (where you must win all 50 waves of Horde) and the "Seriously 2.0," where this time around you need 100,000 kills. It's not too bad though, seeing as how kills from any game mode count towards this achievement (yes, even campaign).
All in all, Gears of War 2 is an outstanding game. It's lived up to being bigger, better, and more badass. It's shortcomings are few, it's hype well-deserved, and every bit worth the $60, despite seeming almost like a Gears 1.5 at times. But that's not a bad thing at all, because Gears 1 was so amazing anyways. The campaign is an action-packed ride from start to finish and will leave you wanting more and the online component is so diverse that it may very well tide you over until Epic throws us a Gears of War 3. Hopefully with 100% more Carmine :)
We'll start with the campaign. Two player co-op returns, unfortunately for those of you who were hoping for a chance to go four-player. Here, you'll find that shortly after the curtains fell on the first Gears, the Locusts have retaliated in full force despite the heavy blow dealt them by the Lightmass Bomb. The Kryll have all been annihilated along with many of the horde's numbers. The war has taken it's toll on both sides, and now human and locust alike are desparate to end the war as quickly as possible. The locust's tactic? Bringing down entire cities one after the other, and after much success they're now coming straight for humankind's last bastion: Jacinto. This is where you resume your role as Marcus Fenix, gritty and foul-mouthed leader of Delta Squad, and where the game starts. Despite the first game's seemingly hollow storyline and often criticized script, bringing along respected talent Joshua Ortega, who has tenure in the comic book industry (with such superheroes as Spider-Man and Batman) has shown a huge improvement in the overall narrative. There are a few tear-jerking moments here, and a nice twist for those patient enough to wait out the credits (a la Metal Gear Solid). My only hope is that there's a prequel story somewhere that goes into depth about Marcus' mysterious father and the oft-mentioned Pendulum Wars.
Now, for the gameplay. You'll not see a huge improvement here, much of the same (the old adage "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" can be applied here) . New guns shake things up a little bit, though some of them (Gorgon, Flamethrower, etc) are a bit side-lined by your mainstay's reliability and ammo-availability. They're flashy additions, but nothing I'd miss if they weren't there. Although there's nothing quite as satisfying as finding your mortars bombarding helpless locusts and the sounds of the bombs and bits flying apart. It truly speaks Gears.
Online! Here's where Gears of War was somewhat faulted (though criticism seems polarized, you love it or hate it). You'll now find a huge amount of new content, ranging from 5 on 5 warzone/execution to the newly dubbed "Submission" mode, where you must down a living target and drag him(a.k.a. the meatflag) to a ring (a la annex) for the win. It's basically a saddistic game of Capture the Flag. Horde mode is by far the biggest and best of the new game modes, pitting 5 player controlled Gears vs. wave after wave of Locusts. There are 50 in all, so be prepared for a marathon of locust-slaying mayhem, assuming your team is up for the challenge. I won't lie, this is pretty difficult without teamwork, and those lone rangers out there will find themselves in a heap of trouble should they decide to stick to their "charge in and shoot" tactics. Gone are the lobbies of old; replaced with a Call of Duty 4/Halo 3-esqued party match-up. I have to be honest though, while it's better than having to wait for 8 players to jump into a room before the host starts the game, there are often times where I'll be sitting in a playlist waiting for other players to spawn. I don't know if this is due to network issues, or people just not playing those particular playlists. And since you can't drop in and out of matches already in session, you might find yourself waiting for a match to start for a bit longer than you expected. So, I don't think it's much of an improvement over the last entry, but somewhat streamlined nonetheless. You now have to vote for which map you play on, which can be kind of lame since a lot of people love playing Gridlock so you hardly get to see another map if that one happens to pop up. This is good or bad depending on which you prefer. Speaking of Gridlock, for those of you who are just renting this game, unfortunately you won't be able to play any of the 5 "Flashback" maps (Subway, Mansion, Gridlock, Tyro Station, and Canals) unless you purchase the game and download the pack via the code included with the game. And you'll find a lot of people seem to prefer these maps over the new ones. As for the tweaks to gameplay mentioned before, here there are numerous that will either please you or make you WISH you were playing Gear 1. Firstly, the old days of charging up and going at it with shotguns are long gone. There's just an odd recoil to the shotgun now and it seems to do a little bit less dmg than before. Also, your lancer now has "stopping power" to it, so if you're charging someone and they're putting lancer fire on you, you'll run very very slowly, almost guaranteeing yourself downed. The random chainsaw vs. chainsaw bs from before is gone, now with a "press B as fast as possible" minigame when two chainsaw-baring opponents collide. It's over real fast and one winner emerges, albeit blood-soaked. Or, someone could just come up and shotgun you while you're in the middle of it, which is usually the case. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? Gone are the days when curb-stomping and chainsawing left you in God-mode for a few seconds. So choose wisely if you want to show off those awesome new executions (11 in all!).
Now, for the achievements. I like achievements. If it's a multiplatform game, I'm definitely coming for the xbox version for the achievements. Now, this time around, the achievements are WAY easier to get. There's no more "get 100 of these" achievements, and in one play-through you could rack up about 500 gamerpoints. Add another 150 if you play through again on Insane. The rest are from collectibles in the game, and your standard "win these types of games" and "get a few kills with this weapon" achievements. There are only a couple that stand out as difficult in my opinion, and those are the "Hoard the Horde" achievement (where you must win all 50 waves of Horde) and the "Seriously 2.0," where this time around you need 100,000 kills. It's not too bad though, seeing as how kills from any game mode count towards this achievement (yes, even campaign).
All in all, Gears of War 2 is an outstanding game. It's lived up to being bigger, better, and more badass. It's shortcomings are few, it's hype well-deserved, and every bit worth the $60, despite seeming almost like a Gears 1.5 at times. But that's not a bad thing at all, because Gears 1 was so amazing anyways. The campaign is an action-packed ride from start to finish and will leave you wanting more and the online component is so diverse that it may very well tide you over until Epic throws us a Gears of War 3. Hopefully with 100% more Carmine :)
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