| It’s
been a while since a Microsoft Game Studios title has been as
hotly anticipated as Gears of War. In fact, it’s safe
to say that only the mighty Halo franchise has matched the hype
surrounding the upcoming third-person shooter from Epic Games.
Much has been made of the intense single-player campaign,
but things have been hush-hush on the multiplayer front...until
today. Behind closed doors at Microsoft’s booth, team-based
deathmatches were unveiled as the first multiplayer aspect
of Gears of War. This may only be scratching the surface,
but at least we were able to take back with us some initial
impressions that shows how Gears is much more than a single-player
experience.
Our matches consisted of four-on-four
team DM in a ransacked section of the planet Sera. It appears
as if some of the Delta Company characters found in the single-player
game will be playable for multiplayer combat. As part of the
COG (Coalition of Ordered Governments) forces, the character
I was automatically given was none other than Dom –
the close friend of main hero Marcus Fenix. Versus multiplayer
pits the COG against that of the Locust Horde – yep,
you can play as the evil race that threatens the planet in
the single-player campaign.
The controls are fairly common for
shooters, including character movement being mapped to the
left analog stick, while aim/look controls are handled on
the right stick. The right stick is also clickable to enable
the zoom of the sniper rifle. Weapons, like the Lancer Rifle
(with handy-handy chainsaw attachment), shotgun, and bolo
grenades can be easily selected via the D-pad. The Right trigger
causes your character to unleash a hail storm of bullets,
and the right bumper reloads the currently armed weapon. A
unique mechanic that Epic has implemented is a faster reload
sequence, if you time the second press of the bumper correctly.
Do so and you not only are in a better situation with a fully
stocked weapon, but the initial batch of ammo will also have
heightened killing power.
Even though Gears of War is played
completely from a third-person perspective, pulling the left
trigger moves the camera to a close, over the shoulder targeting
mode. Blind firing and popping at enemies in a hasty manner
is all well and good, but most ranged killing threats will
come from using over the shoulder targeting.
The grenade aiming arc is easy to use
and has quite a range. It seemed as though only smoke grenades
were enabled in our demo, but that didn’t stop us from
polluting the area with think clouds. When in the midst of
a smoke cloud, you are blind, but the targeting reticule will
still glow red if an enemy happens to come in range.
The A button is a catch-all action
ability that is used for fancy moves like diving away from
a heated skirmish, moving into cover, SWAT turns, and more.
Holding the button down also puts Marcus into a crouched sprint,
with the camera pulling in tight along his side. Taking cover
takes a little while to get used to, only because of its extensive
use. This means it is imperative to move from place to place
while staying protected or risk getting your dome popped off.
It felt like our character would some times inadvertently
move away from his covered position, but this could simply
have been from being a n00b.
The favorite action of the demo was
the melee combat of the Lancer Rifle’s chainsaw. You
could tell that the various press types in the room were simply
maneuvering throughout the environments, just to get a chance
to rip through a foe with the chainsaw (executed by holding
the B button).
After taking so much damage, your character
will become incapacitated for a short time before finally
biting the big one. In that time, a teammate can make an attempt
to revive a fallen comrade. There’s a definite risk/reward
factor, especially since in this particular game mode, there
were no respawns. A savvy opponent will put the finishing
touches on a downed foe, by pumping a few more rounds into
them, or using a crushing stomp.
The design of the map was tailored to team deathmatch, consisting
of an arc that leads both teams from their spawn to a combat
point, right in the dead center. The architecture of the buildings
fall right in line with the “fallen from grace”
look that Gears of War has displayed throughout its development.
The landscape was staggered to include plenty of staircases
and high ground levels, which many gamers immediately tried
to capture. Those maneuvering through the archways aren’t
always at a disadvantage, because Epic has implemented plenty
of objects for cover.
Much like the single-player campaign,
it seems that lone rangers won’t get too far in the
multiplayer portion of Gears; at least in the Versus mode.
Those teams that stick together, live together – simple
as that. Bounding and maneuvering tactics should play a vital
role in the team-based multiplayer modes.
The Outlook
Epic Games is showing
that it can handle the pressure of being the touted as the
killer app for the Xbox 360. We’ve seen that the single-player
campaign is already headed in the right direction and now
the multiplayer is following suit. The camera takes some getting
used to, but does track the action for the most part. The
visuals are nothing short of staggering and we hope to learn
more in regards to other types of multiplayer game modes in
the near future.
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By: Rob Semsey
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