Gears of War Gold - For REAL

[Shayne]

3 words for Mr. Alain Tascan: "Need" "For" "Speed".  Lack of innovation?  Wow.

[Mr. Analog]

The guy sort of makes a point, people are gushing over it now but I'm sure in six months the game will be a fond memory for most gamers. From what I've been told there's no story, the action is chase based (like Siphon Filter, MGS or Tomb Raider) and that so far the real attraction is the bot AI and the graphics.

[Thorin]

3 words for Mr. Alain Tascan: "Need" "For" "Speed".  Lack of innovation?  Wow.

Hah!  When I first saw the title "Need For Speed: Carbon", I thought the poster actually meant that it was a carbon copy of previous games...   Only later did I realize that was the *actual title*.

I'll say this about the NFS franchise, though: some of the NFS releases have had interesting twists...  NFS3 was the first with a "Be The Cop" mode and play against other computers (but you had to know their IP addresses).  NFS4 had an online play option with a way of discovering other players without knowing their IP addresses.  NFS5 was all Porsche and nothing else, with a timeline mode where you start out in the 50s and as you win races the years advance and newer Porsches become available (this is probably my favourite NFS release).  NFS7 introduced both riding around in a city looking for races and the concept that you need to impress the other racers; oh, and it added drifting and dragging to the mix.  NFS9 added the concept of building a team of racers and having them race with you - you could have a fellow with you who blocks your competitors so you can win, or a fellow who lets you draft, etc.  I haven't played NFS9, so I don't know how well this works.

All of the things I listed above were not revolutionary, but they were evolutionary.  Need For Speed: Carbon is a lot different than Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit was.  But hey, it's still basically a racing game.

In that light, Gears of War is an evolution of the squad-based tactics shooter, from what you guys have posted.  It's more realistic, it has a new twist (cover), it has interesting AI (they try to flank you), etc.

[Shayne]

I will be the first to admit that GoW isn't that innovative.  Its very World of Warcraft like in that they took a lot of features and ideas of other games, wrapped them up into a fantastic package that doesn't really fail on anything.

The story is weak, but the story has been weak in almost every game accept for RPGs, GoW is all about gameplay, and honestly, its game play is just about the best I have EVER played.  Its extremely engaging.

NFS is very evolutionary.  They do the bare minimum in feature increases from version to version.  Underground 1 to Underground 2 was very minimum, Most Wanted added in some cop chases to the Underground game play, and carbon pretty much added nothing accept for a "Canyon" game type and slider controls (similar to character creation) to the cars.

I just don't see how EA can talk about being Innovative.

[Mr. Analog]

Hearing about the fun factor is good, more games need to be fun

[Melbosa]

Gears of War is the evolution of Tactical FPS (without you actually controlling the squads actions).  Innovative? Well that depends on how you view the meaning of innovative. If your looking for a completely new approach to FPS, then no Gears of War isn't that type of innovation.  But was World of Warcraft innovative in the MMO market in the same I just explained?  No.  But WoW is considered innovative in the sense that it took a pre-existing style of play to the next level.  Gears of War is this.  It takes the Tactical FPS style of singular play (or co-op) to great heights.  What I mean by singular play is that this isn't a Battlefield style game, nor a team/squad based style FPS.

So in my eyes, GoW is innovative.  They took the previous ideas and innovations, simplified them, improved game mechanics and reaction, advanced the AI, and took cover based level design to the next step.  And then there is the Graphics, which are the most noticeable of all the advancements.  This is innovation in my eyes, just as new concepts are also considered innovation.

As for the story, I actually like the story line so far.  It's enough to keep me wondering about Fenix's background, and what the hell is driving the war between Humans and what ever you would call what your fighting.  Brings me back to the first Halo, where the story is really vague at first.  Hopefully it follows up with a decent story once I get through more of the game, but right now I don't think its at all a bad start.

[Melbosa]

Hearing about the fun factor is good, more games need to be fun

And this is what really appeals to me about GoW.  When it really comes down to it, it has all the fancy additions, evolution and graphics, but it is also FUN AS HELL!

[Thorin]

Right.  I think we all sort of agree here   As for Alain Tascan, well, he's just complaining that people like a game put out by another company.

Now, Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting, that'll be a revolutionary game thanks to a revolutionary controller...  But just because it's a revolutionary game or a new concept doesn't mean that it'll score high on somewhere like MetaCritic.

[Mr. Analog]

I think WoW was less "innovative" and more "well executed" than it's competitors (it didn't add anything new, but it did do those things far better than most).

As for GoW, again, from what I've read (so I'm probably wrong) the single player is more like Call of Duty, just with a chase perspective and that you really need to keep your squad with you to give you covering fire and to save your ass (etc). Again just better execution of standard run n' gun FPS.

[Shayne]

Call of Duty has better scripting for events that happen while playing, CoD is all about its scripting to make the world feel alive.  GoW makes the world feel alive by its second-to-none graphics engine, excellent enemy AI and fantastic bot AI.

[TheDruid]

I like the odd timbits of DNF humor thrown in. Gives the game attitude, especially when i fail to execute a reload and my gun jams for a few critical seconds. You?re character says "Ah - @%&#", which is exactly the way im feeling at that moment *and saying out loud myself*

Great execution, Just like WoW, really fun to play. If your going to jump into the genera start here!

[Cova]

I think GoW is quite innovative.  I don't know what they innovated, but something changed from previous shooters, cause unlike most of the ones on the market, this one is fun.  It is one of VERY few shooters out there where you could believe you are actually there.  Not because of excellent graphics or good AI or good scripted events, but because the world behaves properly.  I think most importantly, this is the first game I've ever seen where people (and locusts) move around on the battlefield (room you're currently in) in a realistic way, moving from cover to cover.  The system they built, not just for taking cover (been done), but moving between cover, out of cover, etc. is totally new and really defines the game.  I would call it a cross between a classic FPS and a tactical shooter, and not give it the 'tactical shooter' label that applies to games like ghost-recon, which in my experience is a much much slower game.

And as for EA - they're just trying to shoot-down their competitors, since they can't beat them in game quality.  NFS has been the game used as an example in this thread so far to show lack of innovation, but the majority of non-innovation from EA is their sports games.  They are virtually the same year after year, they just slightly alter the stats behind the players depending how well a team/player did that year.  And to make sure that no-one else actually innovates anything new, they've got exclusive agreements with most professional leagues.

[Shayne]

I was going to use Sports as an innovation front, but they sorta have to worry for the Sports to innovate before they can innovate.

[Cova]

I was going to use Sports as an innovation front, but they sorta have to worry for the Sports to innovate before they can innovate.

Why?  We don't wait for real wars to innovate before we can make better FPS's - in fact the next innovation coming to warfare is unmanned stuff, and I'd rather not see that make it to video-games, I still want to control my own character.

[Shayne]

Uh.  So make up sports?