Gears of War Comments by Kristan Reed

Great review. Microsoft wanted this game to be hyped up to hell no matter how good/bad it was so it'll sell. It's a legitimate business strategy. I understand as well that a lot of internet sites and magazines were also to blame for the hype, but that could only have been because MS and Epic only fed them the information they wanted to hear. This is a strategy that all good salesmen use to great effect, show the customer only the good things and speak highly of the product non-stop and most customers get sucked in and will truly believe that they must buy it as they desperately need it, only to find out the next day that what they have bought is useless.
They succeeded and every Yank fell for it (and looks like a few naive European as well...) leading to massive sales.

Don't get me wrong, it looks a terrific game and looks great fun to play and I'll definitely be buying it when it comes out. But it was hyped up by MS and Epic as if it was the best thing ever, but from what I saw in videos and read in various previews while it looked great, it never looked like a groundbreaker or that it did things better than other action games that have come before it. There was nothing I noticed that confirmed it was above other First/Third Person games of the same ilk. For example, it got MUCH more hype than R6: Vegas, but never really looked like it did anything better than Ubisoft's game. Both look about equal in the quality/playability/excitement from the previewer stakes according all the videos and previews, but still one was placed higher than the other by the gaming community who hadn't played either. That was purely because of the hype placed on it by Microsoft.

But like these people that buy a toaster from a salesman even though they've already got one, they'll subconsiously force themselves to believe the hype in order to avoid disappointment. Nobody likes disappointment after all, especially if it's something you've been waiting for for well over a year.

EDIT - Just like to add. I seriously think the main reason everyone was excited about it is the whole "Kick Ass Marines killing scary monsters" thing as well that really does appeal to the majority of the game playing public (me as well admittedly. I loved Aliens.). If this game hadn't used that premise, then it would have been the same great game, but would have recieved nowhere near the same amount of love from people who hadn't even played it.

I'm suprised EG found away from PS3 to even review this game.
In any case, I seriously can't believe anyone will base their opinion on buying a game from an EG review. EG is good for news but thats about it.

/pre-orders GOW.
/Awaits comments thread on resistance fall of man review...

"Doom 3 is over two years old. Higher expectations?"

So where were his higher expectations for Doom 3 coming out god knows how many years after Doom/Quake? All it got was a new graphics engine with the same old gameplay and OMG 9/10!

"Thread lives up to expectations."

nah, it's too short and doesn't do enough to push things forward yet. I didn't read comments 1 through 101 yet, though

I almost exclusively (well, some game blogs and the occasional copy of Edge included) base my purchases on Eurogamer reviews. Haven't failed me yet.

>"The Bodybuilder: lol, that's such an apt nickname for someone who is offended by their comments on "alpha males"! =D"

Yeah, I know.
But even me, with my awesome alpha-manliness ;-) can play j-rpgs and be okay with the character deisgn (in fact, I rarely even think about it).
But EG really seem to hate, so much so that it's thier main grip about the game.

ANd someone made a good about about the comment of doom 3 to GOW.

SomaticSense lol!

If I was the one reviewing JRPGs I'd almost certainly make note of iffy character design if I saw it. It's been mentioned in every review I've ever done when it's been worth commenting on.

As a personal preference, 10-12 hours is enough for me, just played through halo 2 (on easy, just to see the story) and thought that went on a bit too long.

I am totally in agreement on the macho bullshit character, saw a gameplay vid and when the main character says SWEET in a stupidly deep voice upon picking up some ammo I thought 'that's annoying' and it was the first time I'd heard it. They should have a look at some REAL soldiers and model a character on them, you don't have to be built like a brick shit house to be hard as nails.

Great review BTW, looking forward to THP8 more tho.

See this is why Eurogamer are probably the best at reviewing games on the entire internet. They don't buy into hype and graphics alone, the game needs to have that certain 'thing' to get a superb review, and it's pretty obvious to me that Gears of War isn't ground-breaking in gameplay terms.

I laugh my head off at all those daft Americans making out that Gears of War is like the second coming (e.g. IGN... Hell, even Gamespot who seem to be overrating most 360 games these days), but with Eurogamer you can get a genuine review on a game, no matter how much hype it has.

(Just a shame that they got it oh-so terribly wrong with Oblivion)

@NemesisEnforcer - a 9 is underscoring? Since when? Since it's on the 360 every game doesn't have to be a ten to make it right. >_>

Any Wolf nipples left?

I don't understand, some of you are citing gamerankings. Take a look at 1up's 10/10 review of this game. It's shite, poorly written and comes across as the rantings of someone who's just finished his time with the game as though he had a rather satisying orgasm. You'd take the crap more seriously than a well written, seemingly well thought out Eurogamer review? Makes no sense to me, at least reviews here have a sense of honesty from the reviewer. Far too many people pay attention to the final arbitrary score out of 10 and comparing that to other sites thn they should though.

can't wait to see the ps3 reviews. most looking forward to the Resistance: Fall of Man review.

Yep, Oblivion was not a 10. But that only became apparent after 10-20 hours of gameplay. Which to be fair is good value.

I don't care what Eurogamer give it, I know I'll love this game. Plus 8/10 is great. I never though this would be better than Halo, its just another Ace up Microsofts sleeve and another great reason to be glad I brought a 360.

So any word on whether this is region free or not?

Wonga you can't be serious. This game is 6Gig. Are you saying if it was 15 hours and filled a DVD9 it would be OK ?

Cliffy B has said many times he's more into creating 'short and intense' experiences rather than 'long and repetitive' and 10 hours to play through a quality shooters' singleplayer is perfect, and then you've got insane difficulty, and multiplayer of course...

That score is surprising...

So according to EG, Gears of War which everyone else is claiming to be a system seller and a true next-gen game isn't even as good as Splinter Cell: Double Agent, a game they gave 9/10 to despite it's last-gen engine and level design?

/confused

Crofto - lol

have you played it?
Then get your tongue out of the collective EG ass.

Yes Mr Brown it's region free - confirmation can be found at that sky xbox place.

@Crofto - EG have given some 360 games higher scores the Gamespot. Take Splinter Cell for instance.

I don't understand people's infatuation with comparing scores! It's an insanely hyped game that got fantastic reviews everywhere mostly because it looks the biz, it doesn't actually look like it reinvents the wheels and deserves 10s. And an 8 is a fine score! Fans of the genre can purchase without reservations. Seriously, what is the big deal? Opinions differ.

I just want to say congrats on a great, well-argumented review Kristan.

/wishes numeric scores would be thrown out the window

I've not actually got high expectations of this game, but then I thought the same about Halo

kill.switch with orbital lasers? nice

Well 8/10 is a great score oh I can't wait now to get my hands on it.

games are tremendous or terrible. there is no middle ground like 'very good'.

The Splinter Cell 4 score of 9 is confusing.

Why?

Well last game I bought off an EG review was Sensible world of soccer which was 9, what a disgrace. They seemed to based on the fact that it was cheap. To buy a game on EG would not make sense. Gears has got great score from pretty much everywhere, to say that Gears is not a great game based on EG review would be foolish. Isn't EG review written by ex News round kids ? ;). Either way, get Gears and play it for yourself, ignore the fanboys from both sides.

But 8 is a good score. I fully expected a 10, but 8 means it's a fantastic game.

"Thread lives up to expectations."

Nearly. Nobody has compared anyone to Hitler yet.

"Crofto" See this is why Eurogamer are probably the best at reviewing games on the entire internet. They don't buy into hype and graphics alone, the game needs to have that certain 'thing' to get a superb review, and it's pretty obvious to me that Gears of War isn't ground-breaking in gameplay terms.

I laugh my head off at all those daft Americans making out that Gears of War is like the second coming (e.g. IGN... Hell, even Gamespot who seem to be overrating most 360 games these days), but with Eurogamer you can get a genuine review on a game, no matter how much hype it has.

(Just a shame that they got it oh-so terribly wrong with Oblivion)

I guess thats why Gamespot, IGN smokes this site in popularity then. So many members just MUST be suckers to trust those higher review scores.

Ahhh now this is a proper review. Not like the wierd inacurate preview of Resistance. This game is as short as I said it would be (no suprise there!) and offers nothing new. Get 30 quid back on the trade in so I'll buy this next week and take it back the week after, then buy phantasy star universe.

Only regret is that Epic will break even with this easy.

"Nearly. Nobody has compared anyone to Hitler yet."

OMG, EG is teh Hitla!!!!11!1

Popularity != Quality

Fair enough Wonga, took me nearly 6 weeks to complete RE4, so I'm probably much older than you ;) Gears will probably take me a few weeks !

I think of Dead Rising when I see a games' length being a factor in reviews - it may only be 6 real hours from start to finish but that didn't stop me playing through 7 times so far :)

*edit* you deleted ! I'm not tripping :\

BartonFink
07-Nov-06 18:11:13
"8/10 from EG - good enough for me. The score seems at odds with everybody else but it's only one opinion. And something has to be very special indeed to score a 9 or 10 around here."

======================

Like Doom, which EG gave a 9? Yep, I guess the salesman at the store will say, well if you want a very high rated FPS for the 360 you might try DOOM. It got a 9. OR you could try this other game called Gears of War, but it only got an 8, so I'd recommned DOOM. Much better. LOL.

EG is just plain weird when it comes to reviews. If you read the text and then try to predict the score you'd say 9, but he gave it an 8. He also said, he'll "adjust" when he plays multiplayer. The other sites have been playing multiplayer on Live's PartnerNet.

EG reviews are often outliers (that's a statisical term meaning far outside the bounds considered normal).

JackB: Not really if you compare it to other quality reviewers like Edge or GamesTM. But if you must compare it to the absolute dreg of gamespot/ign.

Can't wait for my pre-order to arrive. I reckon this will probably be a 9 for me (particularly as I though SC:DA was definitely worth it's 9). I am all for short, intense gameplay experiences (like SC:DA and seemingly GoW) if they're incredibly polished. If it looks good, plays really well and is an all round solid experience, then it can justify being 10-12 hours of gameplay. If it's got a great multiplayer on top of it (as it seems with SC:DA and GoW - I don't know, I don't have my internet connection yet) then that just adds to the value.

Now can we have the Rainbow 6 review please! :D

who wouldn't wanna get stuck in a game whereby you hide behind a wall and shoot over and ooover again...hide and shoot.....hide and shoot......oooh it will get repetitive after 30 minutes no doubt

Game sounds great to me, I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I had a 360.

The 360 zealots with console post-purchase anxiety are really getting boring now though.

Did'nt eurogamer say they'll review the multiplayer part next week and then update the score for me 8/10 on eurogamer is a great score but next week it could get a 9 so I'm really excited by this game now and can't wait to get it and then theres the gamecentral score still to come the only other place whos reviews I trust.

>"and Halo got an 8!"

But was it ever mentioned as a problem?
And what about SC:DA. Roughly the same tim, yet not problems. Or MGS 3.

>"Well think about how many gameplay hours and levels Resistance will have, And you get the picture. It's not something Xbox 360 is going to be able to compete with due to DVD9. So let's make an issue out of it. 360 devs are going to have to focus on quality and innovative ways to fill the short hours with worthy entertainment."

/puts on ignore.

wow sajtion, you really haven't been listening have you?

The Splinter Cell 4 score of 9 is confusing.

NO! Its utterly stupid, ok its a million miles better than the last game. But its not a 9.

"Well think about how many gameplay hours and levels Resistance will have, And you get the picture. It's not something Xbox 360 is going to be able to compete with due to DVD9. So let's make an issue out of it. 360 devs are going to have to focus on quality and innovative ways to fill the short hours with worthy entertainment."

Haha yes! Because Oblivion, Morrowind, GTA:SA all needed Super-Duper Blu-Ray to store their enormous worlds!


Oh.

I had to make a profile here after seeing your review.
Any respect you had with me as a site is now gone forever and i wonder how much money sony payed to lower your score or if they didnt there is seriously something wrong with you people here because gears realy isnt a game for 8.

It definitely is! Love the fact it was faster paced than previous iterations, but kept the core gameplay as tense and exciting as before. Love the fact it wasn't as easy as the previous games (in as much as there's no longer just LOADS of darkness everywhere), loved the decisions, the JBA missions really shook things up. It felt fresh and new but was still a game from a great series.