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Gears of War 4


DANGERMAN
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to make a serious post. I haven't played it yet, but based on what I've seen it looks significantly better than the e3 video. I thought parts of that looked terrible considering it's a "next gen" game, now it actually looks like something from this generation

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Played the opening  and up to Act 1 - 3 before work, and like what I played. Reminds me of Binary Domain at the moment. Playing on Hardcore solo and seems OK difficulty wise, but will drop it down if things get tricky. 

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Played the first hour or so, did the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Act 1 in co-op with a random (yay for matchmaking!)

 

It honestly blew my tits off to be honest, it assaulted my senses, delighted my eyes and blew my ears off, I found myself going 'whoa' a hell of a lot, some of the physics, particle effects and attention to detail are just on another level, it looks INSANE at 1440p/60fps, words can't describe how incredible it is, it honestly blew my tits off what can I say and that's definitely something I didn't expect.

 

It runs like a dream as well, you can tell the PC version was lovingly made and had a significant amount of time spent on it, the customisation options for graphics in the options menu are incredibly detailed too, it even tells you how much certain things like shadow quality, ambient occlusion etc. will effect your CPU, GPU and VRAM, incredibly impressive, not seen that a whole lot of times before I tell you.

 

So yeah, will carry on where I left off later today hopefully, potentially got someone to play through the rest of the game with from another forum so things are looking up, got Matchmaking too if it doesn't work out, gotta love co-op!

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Played about 2 hours more of the campaign in co-op yesterday, got up to Act 2 Chapter 2.

 

Have to say I'm not quite as enamoured with it today as I I was in my initial thoughts above, I like the added colour to some of the environs (reminded me of Kyrat from Farcry 4 or Horizon: Zero Dawn a touch at times), it's a nice change and shows the beauty of the game off nicely but other things haven't quite clicked with me.

 

My main bug bear so far though has been the enemies, they're just so incredibly dull, at first I was like 'Oh, this is different, robots eh...' cool! And I like what they're doing with them in terms of the story, they're coming at it from an angle I definitely didn't think they'd take.

 

I thought they were just an easy enemy before you face the spawn later on or whatever but they went on all the way through Act 1 and definitely outstayed their welcome for me, I'm hoping in Act 2 I get to fight the Swarm proper, they seem much more satisfying enemies to fight from what I've seen.

 

Also didn't really enjoy the Horde mode bit at the end of Act 1, it was literally just Horde mode, not a fan of that at all (I don't mind Zombies in CoD but that's slightly different) so hope it doesn't pop up many more times in the Campaign.

 

After we were done with the Campaign for the night I headed into Multiplayer on my own to try it out, tried to find a game of Execution (my favourite mode from years back) but couldn't after 6 minutes of waiting so just clicked the social quickplay option and got put into a game of King of the Hill, it was fun and I definitely enjoyed playing it after all these years, I wasn't very good (and people playing with Keyboard & Mouse with Sniper rifles on PC are just lethal) but I enjoyed it a lot, it was a close game, almost won but my internet kicked me out near the end so couldn't finish it off.

 

So yeah, more tomorrow I guess, I'm more impressed with it than I thought I'd be and it seems The Coalition have nailed the feel of Gears much better than 343 did with Halo which always felt a bit off for me, this just feels like Epic made it really, impressive stuff. Let's just hope The Coalition didn't make 343's mistake with the enemies...

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7 hours ago, Blakey said:

My main bug bear so far though has been the enemies, they're just so incredibly dull, at first I was like 'Oh, this is different, robots eh...' cool! And I like what they're doing with them in terms of the story, they're coming at it from an angle I definitely didn't think they'd take.

 

Also didn't really enjoy the Horde mode bit at the end of Act 1, it was literally just Horde mode, not a fan of that at all (I don't mind Zombies in CoD but that's slightly different) so hope it doesn't pop up many more times in the Campaign.

 

 

Pretty much what I was going to come on and say. I do hate those deebee's, they are a dull enemy. I know every game throws the same type of enemies at you but those Gardians and Kestrels take a while to kill and I groaned when they popped up each time.

 

Also yea, fuck that Horde mode in the campaign.

 

I keep waiting for the campaign to blow me away but so far the Prologue has been the most exciting part. I thought the Mule section at the end of Act 2 was the set piece i was waiting for but it was simplistic and a little dull.

 

I'm not finidng it difficult on Harcore but i've been blown up by frag grenages or rockets more times thatn I care to admit, each time the checkpoint has been much further back than I expected. Maybe that's part of my beef with the enemies - I've had to replay a couple of sections a few times after some deaths I thought were cheap, adding some possible unecessary repetition.

 

The story is good though, looking forward to how events will pan out and it looks lovely. I'm just waiting for it to fire a rocket up my ass.

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It's my own fault for reading the books, anvil gate book 4 was after gears 3? So the locusts are dead but the lambert still alive, and man kind was in limited numbers plus very little resources.

 

 

Yep, Anya what happened? How did the lambert finally get beat to get the 25years peace? Where did the resource come to build cities and Debees? How did Marcus get back to Anyas family home and grow tomatoes? I could go on...one more as my memory is crap did baird hack the disk he had in the last book?? or is it explained in the slab? need to read that one still.

 

Might of got it wrong, anvil gate book is before gears 3, need to re-read it.

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Played another 2 hours yesterday evening in co-op.

 

Started off where I left it on Wednesday in Act 2, Chapter 2 nd I'm pleased to say the good times are BACK! The Deebees did indeed continue throughout Act 2 as @Nag warned me about, but Act 2 is so short and they didn't seem to come at you in waves as much so didn't really bother me, had a lot of fun with Act 2, particularly the Mule section at the end, it was pretty on the rails so I definitely get where @illdog's coming from, but I still enjoyed it, it was a spectacle and on different bikes in co-op it was quite a thrill ride and a nice change of pace.

 

Act 3 though, wow, it's just absolutely bloody amazing. It's like playing through Gears 1 again in lots of ways, its got that heavy atmosphere that the original had in places and ditches the dude-bro quips (well not all of them) for a more suspenseful, slightly unnerving vibe. You always feel like you're being watched and chased by something and the enemies origins and anatomy are genuinely mysterious and it draws you in further and further, you want to learn more and know how deep the rabbit hole goes, definitely agree with @Nag that is has an Aliens vibe, so well crafted that act it's unreal, perfection for a Gears game, The Coalition have absolutely nailed it, just hope the rest of the game continues in the same vein.

 

After fighting Deebees for the first 2 acts the Locust-like enemies, The Swarm, are a breath of fresh-air, the AI is so good and so intelligent that you always feel like you've got to stay on your toes, the Juvie's movements just epitomise this, you try to shoot them and they actively dodge out the way of your shotgun bullets and dance round you, they're so difficult to hit, just makes such a difference going up against meaningful organic enemies that are so incredibly satisfying to shoot. The others are more similar to the Locust enemy types of past Gears games, but they feel more dangerous some how, I love that you have to plug Emergence holes with a grenade like in Gears 1 as well, can't remember doing this in 2 or 3, but my memory is rather atrocious.

 

Only minor complaint was a rather frustrating section in Act 3, Chapter 3 where you have to defend your position against a wave of Swarm. It's great the first few times, being on the machine gun, slaughtering them all as they come up the hill but after 10+ attempts it gets real old real fast, especially as the checkpoint was right back at the start of the onslaught, me and my co-op buddy died so many times I was shouting at the screen in frustration, hopefully not many more moments like this or I'll have to put the difficulty down to Normal.


More tomorrow! (maybe).

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I'm on Act V now and having a brilliant time. Playing on Normal to enjoy the story, as it was verging on the tougher side solo on Hardcore. The lighting in this game is nothing short of superb, it looks lovely. The Coalition has really captured the feel of how a Gears game should be, Acts III and IV were excellent. 

 

I've never enjoyed Gears multiplayer, though, so once I've finished the campaign it will be traded in. 

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Played another 2 hours in co-op yesterday, 7 hours total.

 

Now up to Act 4: Chapter 2, so making some decent headway now, seems longer than most Gears games, I swear Gears 1 and 2 were only 3 Act's long but my memory is abysmal so I'm probably wrong.

 

But yeah, the rest of Act 3 was decent, I wasn't as bowled over with it as I was on Thursday but it was compelling and entertaining enough, reminded me so much of Gears 1 descending into the unknown, not knowing what you're going to find, have to say though that the

explanation of The Swarm was a bit weak really, a few lines of dialogue and you'd miss it really, the whole mystery that had kept me compelled through the early stages of the game just given a few lines of explanation, 'oh yeah, they go into a cocoon like insects and regenerate/evolve' could've been handled a little better I thought

this slight disappointment was balanced with the awesomeness of the mini-boss fights against the Snatchers, much like the Swarm overall they're such intelligent enemies with such great AI that you feel genuinely challenged when you're up against them, constantly got to be thinking on your feet and praying if you get snatched that your teammates will shoot you out.

 

There was another Horde mode moment in the Lift down into the depths too which I rolled my eyes at a bit, I did actually end up enjoying it quite a bit more than the first time in the Outsider village though, the enemies made a huge difference, with the Swarm feeling genuinely intelligent and dangerous, it also helped that you got a little room to defend so could just shoot anything that came inside and position turrets in the doorway.

 

Just one more thing to note, the Torque Bow can be super cheap, there was a sequence at the end of Act 3 where enemies had Torque bows and me and my co-op buddy constantly got cheap-shotted by enemies wielding them, got a bit annoying after a while, still, only a minor complaint.

 

More tomorrow maybe.

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Played another 2 hours yesterday, 9 total. 

 

Carried on where I left off from Act 4: Chapter 2 with a friend, Act 4 has been pretty great too I have to say, still in the Gears mould but anything with the Windflare involved automatically makes things more interesting, the environs have been a bit more generic maybe, grey factory's/power stations etc. but that's Gears really so it's not a complaint. 

 

Unfortunately my friend had connection issues after a while so I played through the rest of Act 4 without him from about Chapter 4 on, so went into matchmaking with some randoms and made my way through, there was a set piece that was in the E3 presentation last year, really cool the first time but got incredibly frustrating as I ran out of ammo completely and the other guy I was matched with didn't have a clue what to do with a bit of machinery, which meant I was just sitting there waiting for him to reload the checkpoint for a while, not that fun, but not the games fault really, think they possibly could've explained it better though as it was a little confusing.

 

Got through this bit though and pushed through to the end, this guy was playing on Normal and it was noticeably less challenging, not quite as bat-shit crazy with the difficulty spikes as Hardcore that's for sure, but there's a boss battle

Spoiler

against a crystallised Brumak who's being controlled by a Scion

at the end of Act 4 and it was bloody amazing and bloody difficult at the same time really, would've been impossible on Hardcore/Insane I'd imagine as on Normal it was bloody difficult, the scale of it and all the actions involved in taking it down were awesome though, but yeah we failed a few times, enjoyed it anyway, never felt frustrated by it but it did feel a bit backs-to-the-wall in this particular fight, even in Normal.

 

Called it a day as soon as I got to Act 5: Chapter 1, will allow my friend some time to catch up before we 'finish the fight' later today or Monday/Tuesday etc. 

 

Has been a hell of a ride, and has definitely reignited my love for the series and made me realise why I loved Gears up to 3 all those years ago.

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I just finished the campaign on Harcore. I honestly didnt know I had finished it until the credits rolled, there are less chapters in Act 5 so it caught me by surprise.

 

I know it's a fucking great big boss but it was really easy

 

I liked the campaign as a whole but I wasnt blown away by it. It was very samey, the enemies that take a while to kill (Snatchers, Pouncers) were always unwelcome as I found them dull. I know Nag mentioned above if you get Torque Bow tagged  you deserve to die but I got caught by a ton of cheap shots, once I letterally poked my head up and I got hit straight away.

 

The checkpoints are terrible, The Coallition always make you do some boring stuff before you get to that bit that killed you as the fights start with a few waves of easy enemies before chucking a couple of hard enemies at you, like those fucking cunts with the dropshots who killed me about 20 times in a row near the end, every one cheap as fuck.

 

I did like the new characters, especially JD and Kait, Del's shitty sense of humour not so much but the "Paper Paper Paper" bit made me laugh out loud.

 

Also, had to research what the end meant online. I can see a lot of people just sitting there during the credits thinking "What the fuck did that mean?". Now I know, it's cool, but it's not obvious unless you have soaked in every bit of story the game chucks at you.

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Finished this yesterday, took me about 10 hours to clock the campaign.

 

I really enjoyed it for the most part and it definitely reinvigorated my love for the series after being completely turned off it by Gears 3. It starts off bombastically in a Prologue involving some of the last scenes of Gears 3 and one of the first scenes of Gears 1, after this though things slow down somewhat and it seems to ease you into the game and the dynamics of the new characters involved by pitting you against the 'DeeBees' for the first 2 acts, getting you reacquainted with the controls and introducing you to the new enemies. This was fine for a while as I just considered it an introduction and these were like training bots before you get to fighting this game's version of the Locust, The Swarm, but they went on one Act too long in my opinion, they should've finished at Act 2 and left it there but I can see why they needed the introduction of the Swarm to be organic and feel natural rather than forcing them upon you.

 

So yeah it starts slow and colourful, it almost doesn't feel like Gears at times and something more akin to Horizon Zero Dawn or Killzone: Shadow Fall but then it starts its decent into madness, and into Hell really in typical Gears fashion and is all the better for it, there's even a Chapter called 'Lift to Hell' which pretty much sums up the Journey, it's reminiscent of Alien and also mirrors Gears 1 in a lot of ways. What I didn't expect the most though, was the story to be so good and compelling, I actually liked all the characters this time around, Del and James 'JD' are typical jug-heads in lots of ways but I very much enjoyed their banter as you go through the game, especially JD teasing Del about his Rock Paper Scissor skills, they felt like brothers in the military sense, have a great rapport with one another and above all else are believable well-rounded characters, Kait is a fantastic character too, again, incredibly well rounded and believable. You're incredibly compelled to learn what these new enemies are as you dive deeper and deeper into the Hive, the explanation is somewhat anti-climatic though and after this the game doesn't quite hit the same highs as it did previously, you return to the surface in a typically bombastic fashion and take down a huge boss in a bombastic fashion, it does feel a bit rushed though at times, particularly the ending.

 

I must also mention that I don't really appreciate getting Horde mode thrust upon me in the Campaign, many like Horde mode and that's fine, but I felt like it was a bit of a crutch for The Coalition to turn to if they didn't know how to wrap up a particular Act or Chapter, I did enjoy the 'Lift from Hell' Horde moment though as it was particularly backs-to-the-wall and it was satisfying defending such a small room from attack with an array of turrets and barriers.

 

A special mention must also go to the games graphics and how good a job The Coalition have done with the PC version, it looks absolutely incredible, runs like a dream and has more graphical options than you can shake a frag grenade at, it's incredibly impressive, even the Multiplayer maps retain the level of detail and shine to them that the Campaign does and it's very impressive, Scorpio buyers are in for a treat in Christmas 2017 I think.

 

I've not touched Horde mode yet, but Multiplayer seems excellent from the 1-2 hours I've played too, unfortunately it's quite difficult to get a full room of people in the PC version and I've spent a lot of time playing with and against bots, but the maps seem great and the times I have played against Humans it has been incredibly compelling, suspenseful and gritty like Gears of old.

 

The most impressive achievement The Coalition have nailed though is easily the feel of Gears, it feels just like you remember it, looks better than you remember and runs like a dream, it's a very competent stupidly enjoyable debut for the studio and I can't wait to see what Gears 5 looks like in a few years time. 

 

8/10

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