Sep 23, 2006 05:29 AM
468
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 6:12 AM
Mon Mar 22
18 posts in the last 24 hours
So what's been happening with Gears of War since E3. I had a chance to sit in on a demonstration with technical artist and level designer Alan Willard — the man you need to thank for the beautifully gruesome gore splats that will rejoice blood lusters the world over — and what I saw was just a confirmation of everything that's been said up until now: this is probably the nicest looking 360 game yet, and I want it now.
The demo went through the opening level, as the storyline is introduced — all in game-engine, but of pre-rendered quality. Then it's into the action, where the cover system is where it's all at. The cool thing is that all dives and jumping for cover is done with just the A button. And use that button you will, as running straight into enemies is pretty much guaranteed death. There is no life system — it's done Call of Duty style with indications when you start taking extreme damage.
One cool feature is the active reload, which sort of turns reloading into something you can try and master, which will give you an advantage in the game. If you press at the right time, you can get a faster reload time, and hit it just right, your bullets gets stronger (for damage). The targeting system for thrown items — read: grenades — is also quite slick and nice, indicating exactly where it will fall in an arc of collapsible squares. And the blood. Oh yeah, the blood. You'll be getting tons of it, splattering on the screen as if trying to leak out of the TV screen.
As far as any downloadable content, they aren't ready to make any announcements, but they do realize the importance of XBL, and so it's just a matter of time before something does get decided on. The game was not playable on the floor, with a Microsoft exec indicating it would be playable at X06. Why no play at TGS now if it will be playable in a few days at the other show? Seems like dealing with Japan standards was the problem, in terms of blood and gore, which they didn't really have time to deal with.
The game's shipping time remains as scheduled on November 12. For all you Japanese gamers hoping to play the game on launch, the US version will not be region-free, so cross your fingers for a quick Asian release.
Contact information for this author is not available.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
Start a new discussion