Gears of War Preview
Part II: The Multiplayer Experience
The Anticipation
There was a lot of anticipation of Gears of War going into E3 2006. There were unofficial rumors going around that the game was going to be playable on the show floor. So I walked into E3 2006 with expectations to play the game the majority of the show. I figured I was lucky this year having a “Early Access E3 Media Badge” that would get us into the show earlier than the masses.
So for the opening day of the show, Gears of War was to be my main focus. As the day started all we found was that our “early access” was a sham for another article. We got in and found no sign of Gears of War on the show floor. Disappointment and worry set in. Our dream of playing the game was crushed, but only temporarily.
After some asking around, we found out that there was going to be a video of the game shown in the game theater. I covered the theater demo by CliffyB in the previous article, but one thing that Cliff told us was that there was a multiplayer demo of the game going on behind closed doors.
View of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 BoothGetting Into The RoomIt was now our goal to get in there to play as soon as we could. We got penciled in for the end of the day, around 4:30pm, so now had the rest of the day to walk around until then. As we waited for our appointment, none other than Robin Williams walked hastily out of the booth. Knowing his love of FPS games, I bet he was up there playing Gears of War. I tried speaking to him, but he was a man on a mission and ran right past me.Not to long after this, a Microsoft public relations representative called us for our appointment. After clearing up some confusion of why we were there and that we only were interested in Gears of War at that time, we got put on a wait for another fifteen minutes or so as they squeezed our group into the Gears of War demo group.
As we walked into the room, we saw two large circular tables circled by 8 chairs. On the table; in front of each chair sat a LCD TV and an Xbox 360 with the Gears of War faceplate on it, along with a large ear covering headphones. Our group moved over to the far table, and took our seats. As we sat down, we found a Gears of War faceplate on each seat waiting for us. Because our group was so large, not everyone has an Xbox 360 so they didn’t want the faceplate, so we are giving away two of our faceplates to our readers here. More on that at a later time.
The Gears of War Demo Room 
The Gears of War Demo RoomBefore we were thrown into the multiplayer game itself, one of the Epic Games staff members walked us through the basics of movements on a single player build of the game on a LCD screen above us. Below that LCD screen was a table with three Xbox 360 machines lined up.
Single Player Demo MachinesLearning the Controls
The control of the game is something that the design team obviously spent a lot of time refining over time. They tried to make use of less buttons on the controller to make game play less complicated, and instead make some functions context sensitive. They also gave each of us a laminated sheet of the control setup at each station to help us out.
The ControlsThe main button to be used in the game is the “All Move Button” which by default is the A button. This button will allow your character to take cover, climb/jump over obstacles, SWAT turn, evade fire, and is even used for the “Roadie-Run.” The current function of the button depends on where you are and what your character is doing at the time. An indicator at the bottom of the screen shows the button’s current functionality.
The Locust doing the Roadie RunOne new element that I can see being a big element of strategy in multiplayer is the Active Reload feature. In Gears of War you can’t just simply empty you gun clips over and over without being penalized. You need to reamin conscious of your gun clip reserve, because it’ll benefit you in a firefight. Basically when the ammo indicator begins to flash that it is low, you will want to hit reload. Doing so will reward you with increased damage; however, if you reload before the flashing indicator, the gun will jam and take longer to reload leaving you open and vulnerable to attack. When I first started playing, this was something I forgot to be conscious of while playing, and thusly got my gun jammed up quite a few times.
The Squad Status ScreenBecause this game is about cover and not a run-and-gun type, the game has two firing modes, regular and targeting mode. This control scheme very similar to the Call of Duty series of games where you can fire normally but benefit greatly by going into mode where you are aiming with the gun for a more precise shot. The targeting mode for Gears of War is the “Left Trigger (LT)” button.
The Pause Menu with Invert SelectionThe other new invention for this game genre is the use of a “Point of Interest” button; in this case it’s the “Y” button. When you are going about in the game and pass some key element that you may want to focus on, the “Eye” icon with a picture of the “Y” button will appear at the bottom of the screen to indicate that there is something you should look at. If you hit the button the camera will change to that object or cut scene. This way, if you are in the middle of a firefight, you aren’t forced into a cut scene unwanted. Although this feature is really not used in multiplayer often I felt it was important to include it with the rest.Another feature to set Gears of War apart from the other “shooter” style games out there, is the limitation of guns your character can carry. You basically can carry a gun on your back, then you have the gun in your hands and your grenades on your belt. You change your weapon using the Directional “D” Pad along with the on-screen overlay to pick the weapon you want to switch to. In this demo you started with your rifle with chainsaw attachment and your shotgun on your back along with a few bolo grenades.There are only two more features really to go over. First off, the fun ways to kill your enemies. One way is the Melee/Chainsaw button, “B.” This button can either be used for a quick hit by tapping B or if you hold B it will start up the chainsaw and cut through your possible victims. Don’t expect to be sneaking up on anyone with the chainsaw running though unless they are deaf. It is quite loud but it is worth it because to kill someone this way is quite fun.
The other fun way to finish someone off has to do with the life system of the multiplayer game. When you are first killed by gunfire in Gears of War, your body will lie semi-lifeless on the ground crying for a Medic. But if you happen to be close to an enemy crying for a medic, you can take a page from the movie American History X and curb stomp the hapless soul at your feet with the press of the ‘Use’ button, ”X”. This results in their screen filling with red and both of you hearing a satisfying crunching sound. A bit violent? Maybe, but it caused all of us at play to erupt in cheers because of how fun and gratifying it is.
A Locust About To Get Curb Stomped
[...] Continue on to Part II of the Gears of War Preview. [...]
Where’s the whole video of the session? I have a fifteen-second clip, but I need the whole thing… so bad.
Sadly we don’t have any video of this. They were not allowing video, so we only have screenshots taken with our camera.
Yeah I’d like to know about the chainsaw myself. Is there going to be any other cool melee style kills?:???:
I LOVE GEARS OF WAR! its awsome, and i think its going to b one of the greatest games of all time, and i am not dissing halo 3, but i think gears will b better but i’ll get both
Ya i can’;t wait for this game it’s gonna ROCK… whats sad is we still haven’t seen any indoor fights … i saw a screenshot in OXM with them rittling through a couch … i can only imagine how wicked those parts of the game are gonna be… and the laser platform is gonna be awesome i sooooooo can’t wait to get a look and my hands on with it.
Thanks for this great preview guys! I was wondering if you could like put something up that we can ask questions because believe me, we have lots
zack: you can chainsaw someone from any direction. Sneaking up behind is hard unless they aren’t paying attention to their surroundings because the chainsaw is not quiet.
Rexx: I’m not 100% sure myself, I’ll keep in mind to find out.
Kokos: You can ask questions here in the comments or better yet you can ask them at our new Realm Media Network forums, http://forums.realmmedia.com, where we have a Gears of War sections setup just for those purposes.
thnx man, ive been curious about that for months and i’ve been in the official forums discussing this with every1 but we wern’t sure
hey patrick, i was wondering wen u chainsaw them from the back or the side what kind of animation is it, like different from when you chainsaw them from the front
This seriously is THE GAME that’s gonna take over 360 owners lives!!! I can see it now…..people getting fired from their jobs, getting divorce’s, losing hours and hours of sleep..etc! Gears of War is gonna be nutz! Can’t wait for this game, and thnx for the cool article write up and pics!
Thank you….
Angelo likes your blog…
Billabong…
Billabong…
Charlie Brown…
Charlie Brown Says Thank You….
we need a new gears of war the first one is a big hit so i cant wait for the next 1:evil::shock::smile::mrgreen::sad::mad::eek:
123 if u lik gears of war and want a second 1:twisted:
hit 123 if u lik gears of war