Topic: Why Gears of War sucks

[KnowsNothing]

A.I.

Also the controls, but mostly the AI of the team members.  They are dumb as posts.  They often block doorways and refuse to move.  Their path finding is worse than Oblivion's.  They don't care about their own lives, and often run out into the open and die in the most inconvenient places.  I run out to save them, risking my own life, only to find them charging the enemy once more.  This is a game about COVER.  That was the whole thing with this game, this WASN'T just another run and gun game, where you rush the enemy firing everything you've got.  The game was hyped for it's tactical element.  WHY OH WHY, then, do your team mates run into the open?!  That's just laziness by Epic's part.

Furthermore, I'm at a certain point in the game where it would be a bad thing to go into shadows.  My team mate doesn't seem to care, he runs- no, actually, he walks- straight into the shade, and dies.  I can't really save him either, since I would die as well.  The game was nice enough to automatically revive him in the shade (most of the time...), but often he will immediately die again because he's not smart enough to move out of the shade.  One particular time he hid behind a pillar in the shade and didn't want to give up his cover.  So he would die, get back up, get back under the cover of the pillar, die, wash, rinse, repeat, DAMMIT.  ENDLESS LOOP OF STUPIDITY.

The game's production values seem SO HIGH.  The graphics are gorgeous (especially on the new TV ), and the sounds are LOUD (which means they're epic).  The controls work well for the most part (except for running and turning and covering and chainsawing).  But the AI ruins it.  RUINS, I SAY.

Co-op is fun though....too bad no one want s to play with me

[couchmonkey]

This seems to be a problem with a lot of friendly A.I. in games.  But given what the game's about, yeah, that would suck.

[hudsonhawk]

Huh.

While the AI never really wowed me, it certainly never hurt my enjoyment of the game.  Occassionally (especially on the "shadows" level you referred to) my teammates would put themselves in a stupid position, but if you called a regroup (with the left bumper) he'd come back to you.

I will say, the game is much much better on the higher difficulty levels.  I'm on my second time through, this time playing it on hardcore, and having less margin for error makes it tons more fun.

[Artimus]

This game would've averaged in the 80s at best if it wasn't so attractive. Guaranteed.

[Ian Sane]

I find it very interesting that they're able to make decent enemy AI in games but not friendly AI.  Is it really that different?  They'll have enemies ducking behind sh!t and using tactics.  But the buddy is always so dumb it seems almost comical.

My beef is wrestling games where the AI is unaware how a tag team match works.  Like the ideas of tagging your partner when you're in trouble or cutting off the ring to focus on one guy.  And then there was No Mercy where the computer never climbed the ladder in a ladder match EVER thus making it impossible to lose.  So the match just went on and on forever because the AI refused to beat you.  It would make sure to try to stop you from winning but it would never try to win itself.

[Sir_Stabbalot]

Let me put it this way: When was the last time you had a smart AI on your side in ANY game?

[hudsonhawk]

Quote
Originally posted by: Sir_Stabbalot
Let me put it this way: When was the last time you had a smart AI on your side in ANY game?

Agreed, wasn't Half-Life 2: Episode 1 considered the first game to actually do it well?

I will say though that so far the AI seems better in Rainbow Six: Vegas, though that may have more to do with you having a greater degree of control over them (the AI has less of a need to guess what to do next; it will just stay put unless you tell it overwise).

[KDR_11k]

Friendly AI might be hard to do because it doesn't have access to the player's "AI state" and as such can't coordinate actions well enough. Additionally it may be limited by the number of actors involved (player + one AI drone don't make an army). And of course you see the AI agent for the whole duration while enemies aren't visible to you most of the time so you wouldn't know if one got stuck on a chair three rooms away. Enemies can be aware of the map layout but friendlies shouldn't e.g. split to flank an enemy since the player may not know what that friendly is doing and mistake it for a pathing error.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I agree the AI is terrible, but that is not the only problem I had with the game. It felt repetitive with little variety in level design, especially the areas where you fight guys. It is quite obvious when you are going to be shooting stuff for the most part, in that it is usually an area with lots of overly obvious cover instead of enemies being in unexpected areas (except for the throw away, one shot enemies).  All the game is, is yet another mindless shooter masked with controls that focus on taking cover.

[Khushrenada]

Quote
Originally posted by: Sir_Stabbalot
Let me put it this way: When was the last time you had a smart AI on your side in ANY game?

The one game I was really impressed with friendly A.I. was Battalion Wars. I loved my troops. I could just switch them to auto and they would handle situations expertly. Of course, there were times when that doesn't work but on the whole, I thought the A.I. was great.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Battalion Wars gets my vote.

[WuTangTurtle]

Fallout - The dog, and Ian character can handle their own pretty well.

LoL, what was that like 10 years ago!

[oohhboy]

The dog does not handle too well. It usually gets wasted by friendly fire. Ian later in the game gets turned into green boney slime or red paint. If their stats had kepted up they would have done pretty well but them mutants just rip them a new one everytime.

[Smoke39]

Quote
Originally posted by: hudsonhawk

Quote
Originally posted by: Sir_Stabbalot
Let me put it this way: When was the last time you had a smart AI on your side in ANY game?

Agreed, wasn't Half-Life 2: Episode 1 considered the first game to actually do it well?

I think that was more Alyx being able to take enough of a beating that you didn't need to babysit her combined with some good scripted sequences than groundbreaking AI.

[Nephilim]

Im sure if you hired Jeff Orkin, team AI could be right for your game

[Spak-Spang]

Quote
Originally posted by: Khushrenada

Quote
Originally posted by: Sir_Stabbalot
Let me put it this way: When was the last time you had a smart AI on your side in ANY game?

The one game I was really impressed with friendly A.I. was Battalion Wars. I loved my troops. I could just switch them to auto and they would handle situations expertly. Of course, there were times when that doesn't work but on the whole, I thought the A.I. was great.

Thanks a lot for making me regret even more not owning this game.  I am now waiting for the BWii  I hope that it is as good or better than the original.

[RiskyChris]

I just picked up a 360 a few days ago with GoW.  This game is amazing.  A console shooter that isn't so dominated by twitch gameplay!

[Amodaus1]

It is very twitch in multiplayer, unless you have a team that is coordinated, considering the shotgun in that game is insta-death at a certain range, and has a very wide blast radius

Who ever said gears sucks is dead on. It is another shooter. I was lured by comparisions to resident evil 4, which is on of my favorite games for this past generation, so much so that i replayed it quite a bit. It is really nothing like RE4, so as you can imagine i was crushed, then i was raging pissed.

Its halo, repackaged with a roll and a cover system, right down to the regening health. They couldn't even give you kits or something with multiplayer, its hunt for your guns by playing the map halo style, and you use positive renforcement to revive fallen teammmates. COME'ON DOM IT'S ONLY A FLESH WOUND! Bitch'in, really...  

My final synopsis:

If a game is selling like crazy and is not:

1) made by nintendo
2) called the sims: insert expansion name
3) GTA
4) WOW

Then odds are its a SHOOTER, because that seems to be what casual gamers like. Seriously, no long winded story, or complicated controls, or great technical gameplay (on the competitve side). Just jump in and shoot sh*t. Easy to jump into, and easy to jump out of. I think thats the real route of casual gaming, unless the wii can change things. I've become bitter with FPS's after battle filed 2142, so i can't stand gears at all. Cheers to those who can, but i still say, at least in the U.S., that FPS have become the common man's game.


Edit: Due to Darc's comment, i corrected the FPS and replaced it with shooter, same gameplay different polygon count, shooter term will encompase it all  

[IceCold]

Don't forget Madden.

[bustin98]

For some reason I have been sucking at the online play, but the single and co-op modes are a nice offering of something different when I have had enough of Zelda for one day.

[Darc Requiem]

Quote
Originally posted by: Amodaus1
It is very twitch in multiplayer, unless you have a team that is coordinated, considering the shotgun in that game is insta-death at a certain range, and has a very wide blast radius

Who ever said gears sucks is dead on. It is another shooter. I was lured by comparisions to resident evil 4, which is on of my favorite games for this past generation, so much so that i replayed it quite a bit. It is really nothing like RE4, so as you can imagine i was crushed, then i was raging pissed.

Its halo, repackaged with a roll and a cover system, right down to the regening health. They couldn't even give you kits or something with multiplayer, its hunt for your guns by playing the map halo style, and you use positive renforcement to revive fallen teammmates. COME'ON DOM IT'S ONLY A FLESH WOUND! Bitch'in, really...  

My final synopsis:

If a game is selling like crazy and is not:

1) made by nintendo
2) called the sims: insert expansion name
3) GTA
4) WOW

Then odds are its an FPS, because that seems to be what casual gamers like. Seriously, no long winded story, or complicated controls, or great technical gameplay (on the competitve side). Just jump in and shoot sh*t. Easy to jump into, and easy to jump out of. I think thats the real route of casual gaming, unless the wii can change things. I've become bitter with FPS's after battle filed 2142, so i can't stand gears at all. Cheers to those who can, but i still say, at least in the U.S., that FPS have become the common man's game.

Problem is Gears of War isn't an FPS.

[Kairon]

It's a TPS.

The same genre as Jet Force Gemini?

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

[Amodaus1]

Quote
Originally posted by: IceCold
Don't forget Madden.

Damn did i miss the biggest one of them all.

And to the smart one who said its not an FPS, i said it's halo repackaged alittle different, and you best believe it plays like an FPS, if you don't think so then you might as well go graze in the field with the other sheep who don't know better

It's a TPS, like jet force, but devoid completely of any platforming, power-ups, side quests, you know anything to add to a game other then basically shooting, which defines a shooter, although they display more polygons of you character then just his gun and hand, don't be fooled into thinking its anything else then a repackaged FPS

Now if you excuse me, i'm going to go look at the BLOOD from my CHAINSAW, yeah awesome, greatest use of the chainsaw EVER. Bitchin'.
 

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

There was a depressed man who gathered his family for a meeting.  He then proceeded to decapitate himself with his chainsaw in front of them.

[Darc Requiem]

Quote
Originally posted by: Amodaus1

Quote
Originally posted by: IceCold
Don't forget Madden.

Damn did i miss the biggest one of them all.

And to the smart one who said its not an FPS, i said it's halo repackaged alittle different, and you best believe it plays like an FPS, if you don't think so then you might as well go graze in the field with the other sheep who don't know better

It's a TPS, like jet force, but devoid completely of any platforming, power-ups, side quests, you know anything to add to a game other then basically shooting, which defines a shooter, although they display more polygons of you character then just his gun and hand, don't be fooled into thinking its anything else then a repackaged FPS

Now if you excuse me, i'm going to go look at the BLOOD from my CHAINSAW, yeah awesome, greatest use of the chainsaw EVER. Bitchin'.

So in other words you were wrong but instead of admitting it, you resort to name calling. It doesn't matter what Gears of War plays like it is still a TPS. Its a shooter with a Third Person perspective. That makes it an TPS. That has nothing to do with the games play style. Just because you don't like how a gameplays doesn't change its genre.