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Gears of War 2 Might Suck

by Steve Wysowski April 21st 2008 9:19 PM CDT7 Comments

Before you jump on my ass over this column's title, please know that the author of this column is a rabid Gears of War junkie. I've spent countless hours on the original Gears, and I still play the original game quite often. I played the game so intensely at one point, that I even got invited to a handful of MLG tournaments (yes, I'm bragging) and had some high spots on the game's online rankings. As you could have imagined, the announcement of Gears of War 2 initially had me absorbed with hype, but as the months have passed, I've become more and more skeptical of the upcoming mega shooter. Whether it's Epic's attitude towards the game, or the fact that a two-year development time frame renders expectations for a mind-blowing experience rather unrealistic. From my point of view, there are a lot of things to be worried about as far as Gears of War 2 is concerned.

When a developer uses one word repeatedly to describe one of their upcoming titles, your entitled to assume that they aren't too sure themselves where the game is going to end up. That's nothing to truly panic about, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings trilogy as he went along. But when that word a developer is using to describe a game is as vague as "badass", you might want to start worrying. Mix that with a release date that is merely eight months away and you can expect there are some major uncertainties inside Epic's development rooms.

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If you look at every interview that comes from either Cliffy B, Mark Rein, or any of the numerous Epic representatives that have been questioned, you'll see the "BA" word make an appearance somewhere. Gears of War 2 is suppose to be this epic, gory, dark, dramatized, horrifying, surreal, mind-blowing, awe-worthy, story driven experience; yet the only word you can think of to describe it is "badass"? We all know Epic's staff has some horrid vocabulary, but using badass as the ultimate adjective for your most revered project has me a bit worried.

Gears of War got a lot of heat in 2006 for its stereotypical characters and its unfulfilling storyline (deservingly so, mind you), and while Epic is promising a new, more dramatic plot to come out of Gears of War 2; can you really trust them? There is a lot of depth in the Gears of War universe, but it is going to be especially difficult to flesh that out with Epic's writing staff (who believes every line of dialogue needs an F-bomb to be logical).

Now, to Epic's part, they have revamped their writing core with some talented comic book writers, but in reality, what does that say? Comics are hard to translate into epic storylines that a game like Gears of War 2 requires; just ask Eric Bana. While I'm praying that maybe Epic has found a few diamonds in the rough, people shouldn't be expecting that (neither should Epic). This is definitely one area of Gears of War 2 that I'm particularly more skeptical about than others, as I just can't realistically see the change people are demanding.

One of the biggest things the original Gears of War had going for it was that even though the game may have been mistake ridden, it's graphical appeal was so awe inspiring that you could easily look over it. But now two years have gone by, and quite a few games have surpassed Gears in terms of visual and audio presentation. So, unless we see some major upgrades made to Gears of War 2's visuals (Unreal Engine 3's update looks impressive, but nothing shocking) we aren't going to be blown away. This means, such bugs involving the game's cover system, weapon attachments, and the rather unexplained active reload system will tick you off even more than they did first time. Also, if such things as host power and an uninspired Versus mode persist, the multiplayer experience will be rendered as unplayable in my mind.

You must also take into account that Epic, while a great developer, is rather slow. Unreal Tournament 3 took them nearly three years to complete and with numerous delays, and supposably, Gears of War took them even longer. However, while Epic has usually been able to delay games that haven't been fully tweaked and debugged, they can't do that with Gears of War 2. The entire gaming world (including Microsoft's highest CEOs) has their eyes set on Gears of War 2's November release, so that rules out any possible delays. With this mix of pressure and a dauntingly close release date, Epic will definitely be rushing towards the end of their development campaign. Maybe Epic can pull a rabbit out of the hat again, but you can't be certain.

Many gamers are expecting dozens of changes to be made in Gears of War 2, but what we all want the most is a fully revamped multiplayer. This is what I too, am desiring the most, and can very well be the game's "make or break" factor. While the core gameplay of Gears of War was some incredible fun (it is still one my most joyous experiences I've had on my Xbox 360), you could easily tell that is wasn't too inspired.


The leaderboards were experience based, resulting with losers reaching the top of the rankings rather than the most skilled, host power was at some points unbearable, and the matchmaking abilities were sub par all around. There is a lot of room for improvement here, and there is little doubt Microsoft wants Epic to copy the Halo 3 formula (saved films and the forge couldn't have been more of hit). While it all sounds good on paper, and will be absolutely fantastic if fully realized, can Epic create console online magic the same way Bungie did?

History points to no as the answer; they can't. Gears of War's multiplayer was pretty mediocre in terms of presentation, and Epic's more recent outing with the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 was nothing to bow to either. Epic has the talent to make such a turnaround necessary with Gears of War 2, but with only a year and half of development, and so many other areas to pay attention to as well, they may not have the time to pull it off.

In the end, time is Epic's largest adversary, and the clock is reaching midnight. Gears of War 2 is approaching; like a slow, steady tidal wave ready to sweep the gaming world this November. I pray my paranoia is just that, needless paranoia, I truly do. But the fact is, Microsoft and Epic have a huge challenge in Gears of War 2, and the magic they captured with the original Gears of War might run out with it's sequel. We'll all find out this November, won't we?