Monday, February 5, 2007

Gears of War - Multiplayer gameplay example

I am still working on my Gears of War review. However, in the meantime, I thought it would be interesting to post a gameplay example just to give you an idea of what the game is like. The following example is taken from a multiplayer deathmatch session and is one of the rare occasions where I did quite well (normally when I go online - I get completely pwned).

Anyway, I joined a game of Execution online. Execution basically means that in order to get a kill, you have to shoot the guy until he goes down (either that or gib the guy using explosives or a shotgun at close range). Then you have to get close and curb stomp him (basically, kick his head in!!). Otherwise, the guy will get up again. Also, his teammates can revive him while he is down. This tends to make combat much more up close and personal!

In the game I was playing in, they had set the revive time at 5 seconds (I believe the host can choose from between 5 - 60 seconds). This basically allowed them to play rambo style as the revival can be quite quick (you can also speed up your revival time by mashing on the "A" button). When I first joined, the game was already underway. My group was losing 2-0 in terms of rounds (first to 6 rounds wins the game).

The tactics for singleplayer and multiplayer are very different and I got completely pwned in the first game - kept on getting killed before I could do anything. Obviously, no kills although I managed to get 1 down and 2 revivals - hence some points! Anyway, I knew this would happen so I took the opportunity to watch how they played every time I died (which was quite often).

Luckily our team had 1 player who was okay and I was able to learn a lot from watching him. So we finish the first game and start the second game (after evening out the teams a bit). Things are starting to improve and I manage to help out a lot more - even getting some kills! We start off quite well but then one of the guys on the opposite team decides he has had enough of losing and picks up the sniper rifle (lets call him snipey). A shot to the head with a sniper rifle is an instant kill and the guy was good with the sniper rifle. Basically, he was headshooting people left, right and centre (the game tells you who kills who so I knew he was getting lots of headshots) and they managed to catch up to 5-4 (we are still leading).

So, we start the tenth game. Tenth game starts as normal with Snipey grabbing the sniper rifle and headshooting people. It comes down to me being the final guy on our team. The map we were on basically has 2 bridges which are really good sniper spots.

I was close to one bridge when I saw the notification that my last teammate got headshot. I quickly checked the bridge but no sniper so I figured he must be on the other bridge. I start running towards the other bridge and sure enough, I see him on the bridge and he is aiming at me. I had already been headshot by him a couple of times even though I was in cover (I guess my head was poking out!) so I knew not to hide. Instead I kept running and tried to guess when he would shoot. I guessed perfectly.

I managed to dive just before he fired and he missed! Huzzah! This allows me to get onto the bridge without being sniped. At this point, we start running towards each other (playing chicken with guns) and he is trying to shoot me while I run in with my chainsaw (getting hit while you are revving the chainsaw means you lower it and have to rev it up again). Luckily he missed and I managed to chainsaw him (that animation never gets old!). Raarrrggghhh!!!

At this point, I was thinking "Yay, we won". However, at the end of the chainsaw, the game didn't end and at this point, I realised they had another guy. I guessed he would be behind me as I couldn't see him onscreen (I figured he would be trying to sneak up behind me during the chainsaw animation) so I quickly jumped backwards. Sure enough, he was behind me (luckily not directly otherwise he would have chainsawed me - I'm guessing he was quite far away originally) and I ended up jumping behind him. At this close range, I whip out my shotgun and we start circling each other - me trying to shoot him and him trying to melee me (he was also holding a sniper rifle).

Dammit! He got me first with a lucky shot (git shot me with a sniper rifle at close range - luckily not to the head)! I'm now on my knees and I start to frantically hammer away at the "A" button trying to getup. Luckily for me, I don't think he expected to hit me with a sniper rifle at point blank range so at the time he shot me, he was backing away. Although he started to come forward, I was able to get up in time before he could curb stomp me. So I'm back up and I start backing away as well (to give myself a chance to heal) while trying to aim my shotgun at him.

Crap! He shot me again - before I could even fire. I'm back on my knees and hammering away on the "A" button while I can see him running in to curb stomp me. He runs right up to me and is standing right next to me. In about 0.1 second, he is going to curb stomp me and I will die a horrible death!

Hooray for button mashing!! I manage to get up just before he curb stomps me. Point blank range with a shotgun. >:)

Gibbed the f$&ker!!That won the game - 6-4 to us! :D

Awesome!

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