Gears of War is the Xbox 360's killer app and is carrying the 360 into 2007. Gears of War has been praised for its graphics, its innovative gameplay, and its visceral artstyle, but everyone soon started to find some small problems. The multiplayer seemed rushed and bugs were plentiful, but everyone has played on. The Xbox community has been vocal with their complaints and suggestions as to what needs to be fixed and has been a patient group. We've waited a long time, but we still don't have answers. So, let's delve into what the problems are, what can be done to correct them, and who needs to make fixes as we look into a Gears of War multiplayer hangover.
The first issue that surfaced soon after release was when fans attacked the multiplayer setup and questioned why it wasn't the same as our golden boy, Halo 2. Epic's response was that they utilized Microsoft's TrueSkill matchmaking system and that they couldn't take advantage of the party system under Microsoft's rules. Yes, it's fact that the TrueSkill system doesn't allow friends in ranked games, but why choose such a system when Gears is a team oriented game? The lobby system was Epic's answer to cheaters rigging games and boosting scores, but stacking teams still occurs. You can't send friend invites to ranked games, but one can easily workaround this "security feature". Have a friend create a room, join said room, and you'll be playing with them in no time. Why on Earth would Epic push the team mentality of co-op over Live and co-op style combat yet purposely force us to battle out multiplayer style with complete strangers? No game planning, no community aspect, no team element ... just killing without friends. We don't get it.
The second problem that arose was how unbalanced the weapons are in multiplayer. Three weapons that have faced the most scrutiny have been the Boomshot, Gnasher and grenades. The Boomshot is a devastating weapon when it works as planned, but you have to hit the intended target dead-on with no room for error. There is absolutely no splash damage or magnetism and it lacks the "startle" effect when it detonates (similar to when grenades detonate nearby an enemy, temporarily stunning them). The developers probably knew if they made the Boomshot too powerful it would be the only go-to weapon, but why is it so damn weak? Heck, it only carries two rounds! The Gnasher has also received some heat due to dreaded host lag. Similar to Halo 2, when the host is wielding a Gnasher watch out, because that split second of lag makes your shots less than effective against theirs. Finally, the grenade tags in Gears are very unbalanced. Gears lends itself to hiding, firing, and taking cover and the grenade tag is too easily pulled off. Nothing is more annoying than an enemy going all rambo-style and tagging you from a good five feet away. The magnetism of the weapon is so great that continuous sticks can be accomplished within seconds. And then there's the suicide radius when you're the grenade sticker. Sometimes you can stand next to your victim when they blow to bits and come out alive. Other times you stick and run around some crates, stand fifteen feet away, and still be blown to bits. Simply put, multiplayer fans just want balanced weapons.
A third problem involves those annoying little bugs. We understand that Gears's multiplayer was implemented late in the development cycle, so we accept some bugs ... but there are a lot of them. Everything from missing features like changing options in the lobby system, to not being able to hear teammates. Sometimes people will be able to get out of maps, other times players will be stuck in one position after a failed attempt at a chainsaw kill, and other instances where players fall through geometry or float in the air. Bugs, bugs, bugs ... just squash them and we'll smile with joy.
Finally, one last problem that is the most easily remedied of all, communication. Numerous fans have tried to get in contact with Epic, the press, and even us, but still no answers have emerged. It seems that Epic is taking all of our feedback into account, but refuses to discuss what changes will be implemented and when. Will multiplayer issues like the ones discussed above be fixed? Will display issues with the VGA cable be corrected in a timely manner? Will we be getting new maps sometime soon? The lips at Epic have been sealed and to this day remain tightly closed. A few weeks ago when news broke of a possible patch to be released on Christmas Eve Epic's Mark Rein told the fans and media not to spread such rumors. Instead he advised everyone to contact him before publishing such things. We tried Mark, we've tried to get in touch with you, but you haven't answered. If we may compare, Bungie has always been open with what they're doing, always kept the dialog open with their fans, and have openly discussed changes. Maybe Bungie has been so open with their fans that we sometimes expect all great studios to act the same. No matter, please inform us. Your fans just want to know what the hell is going on behind the scenes.
This post may have came across as a Gears of War or Epic bashing, but that is far from what is really intended. Yes we're annoyed, yes, we're getting impatient, and yes, we're being overly forceful ... but it's because we care. When fans love a game they want it to be the best it can be. We're behind you Epic, we love Gears and accept its minor faults, but we want you to tell us what's happening so we don't feel ignored. You should be honored that your fans have complained so much about minor issues, because it only shows that we're obsessed with the game. Epic, you have the power to make the multiplayer shine.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-29-2006 @ 6:07PM
Franky Digital said...
I don't think Gears has been praised about it's innovation - by anyone. Besides that, good read. I like editorial-style writing on these blogs; wish there was more of it.
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12-29-2006 @ 6:14PM
MrIntencity said...
I've been reading this blog regularly for about a month and I'd just like to say that this is the most honorable, straightforward, no-gimmicks post I've seen so far.
It should be titled "An Open Letter to Epic c/o Mark Rein"... someone get AP and Reuters on the Line.
kudos
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12-29-2006 @ 6:16PM
HalfEvilHomer said...
To be completly honest, i found the gears of war multiplayer to be very dull and boring, as well as the storyline. The only thing the game has to me is its looks
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12-29-2006 @ 6:37PM
Derka said...
This is all true, although there is so much more wrong with it.
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12-29-2006 @ 6:41PM
smak from irvine said...
You guys making the above comments are pretty much all gay. Gears is one of the best mulitplayer experiences you can have in the shooter genre, and its gameplay has been been praised as being innovative, by multiple sources. I've never played a game that has played exactly like gears, and it is invigorating to see and feel the difference it brings to the shooter genre. It is the perfect combination of action and cover gameplay - a mix that is rarely seen, and Gears does it the best.
As far as the gripes from the article, i agree the boomer needs splash damage, or at least "shock" damage to nearby opponents. The grenade stickies have never bothered me, i think thats a fun part of gameplay - don't let the opponent get too close to you! Causes for some frantic situations that are exciting and chaotic. I've never had so much fun laughing and screeming at my TV when two guys are running around trying to shotgun each other while others are trying to stick them - nothing beats that!
What needs to be fixed is this:
12 people multiplayer
fix the stupid bug where the last guy to join can't talk to the rest of the group.
Edit the game and map cycles from the lobby
add 4 new maps and 4 new gameplay modes, including capture the flag, and some form of time-based gamplay that allows re-spawns.
Do this, and a timeless classic is born.
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12-29-2006 @ 6:46PM
Ted said...
I'm with #3, I stopped playing multiplayer after two weeks whereas played Halo2 multiplayer for over a year. Multiplayer gears just wasnt fun, so I'll never got those multiplayer achievements.
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12-29-2006 @ 6:51PM
GhostDoggy said...
If they would at least increase the co-op player limit to four I'd actually wipe the dust off my copy. I do not care if they have to increase the difficulty. I just want to be able to play co-op on Live with more than one of my friends.
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12-29-2006 @ 6:52PM
Imadogg said...
"5. You guys making the above comments are pretty much all gay."
Haha wtf
Great post Dustin, I love Gears of War and put up with all the downsides of it because of how fun it is, but it would be really, really helpful if they could get everything fixed. Maps/modes/weapons can wait, just fix the bugs first.
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12-29-2006 @ 6:56PM
Deano said...
It was clear from day one that multiplayer was the weak link. To be honest I don't think there's enough game there to be patched. On the other hand Halo 2 out of the box was a sublime Live experience that only needed tweaking (BTW it beggars belief that Microsoft haven't incorporated the party system into the platform so that all developers can use it).
I have just sold Gears and so this won't matter to me. After a great start with single-player the game just started to get a little repetitive and dull. While the graphics are nice, although I found the design to be bland, there was plenty of evidence of glitches and rough edges.
Instead I have been hooked on the best 360 shooter this year - F.E.A.R. Of course it's "only" a PC port which seems to be the reason why it's being overlooked.
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12-29-2006 @ 7:11PM
ic0n7 said...
well tbh its a grate game i am playign it now and yes it has problems i play with a gow clan some times and find it a pain to get on and playing and then once we do all get in the same match people on the other side leave because there is no clan vs clan sytem when we play we play as a team so we will beat most people that dont as the game is very team basted what we need is things like this fixed
i think epic will not fix most of the stuff in gow for a long time if ever
i think they will leave it all for gow2 or 3
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12-29-2006 @ 7:52PM
PeteL said...
At #10: Wrong. Epic already acknowledged that the main focus was on singleplayer and now they are working to enhance the multiplayer. A download/patch/content will be coming soon.
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12-29-2006 @ 8:02PM
Evan Geesman said...
The thing we should be the most angry about is the fact they let it out the door with all these issues. Now some are forgiveable mind you, but not being able to play with your friends...WTF? Halo 2 comes out and its endlessly ripped off by other developers, and hey, if it makes games better, I'm all for it. But why not use Halo 2 as a diagram for how console matchmaking should be done? Developers need to stop worrying about deadlines and start worrying about what theyre game is, a piece of art. Would all of you be OK if you were watching a movie and the camera was out of focus, or the plot had holes in it, and the studio came along and fixed it 3 months later. NO, and we fucking pay 60 dollars for these games....
Evan
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12-29-2006 @ 8:04PM
thw said...
Isnt the picture for this topic from Prey?
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12-29-2006 @ 8:19PM
BlessedBullet said...
I'm surprised no one has complained about bullet lag being present in the game.
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12-29-2006 @ 8:21PM
Nick said...
To everyone saying, "Add some sort of spawn system" You're all retarded.
Gears was meant to be a cover game. When you add respawns, no one's afraid to die. Everyone just runs around with no thought of strategy or teamwork. I'd imagine it would boil down to either chainsaw melee matches or Let's-see-who-can-stick-people-the-most-with-grenades matches.
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12-29-2006 @ 8:44PM
rami dino said...
there is some big issue that you have forgotten poster, when people leaves in rank games nobody are there to fill thier places, and ok if its the only way ok then put some penalties on the one who leaves before ending example like loosing 500 points, so nobody will leave then, something else i'd love to add .... EPIC HEAR ME EPIC IT'S UNFAIR THAT ONLY WHEN YOU PLAY MORE AND YOU GET MORE POINTS THEN YOU'LL HAVE A HIGHER RANK WE'LL THATS A F***** UP SYSTEM because i have a life i have a job, freinds, girlfreind, dog .... etc, and i cant play gears of wars day and night like a guy who doesnt have anything in life just to play gears of war 18hours a day and he got top rankings because of the amount of points he got, and if i faced that guy i would beat him all the rounds and i got no rank????????????!!!!!!!!! why just because that guy played more , and i the one who defeated him got nothing ,,,,, WELL EPIC YOU SHOULD THIK TWICE ABOUT YOUR RANKING METHOD, YES I DO LOVE THE GAME , and yes i started to hate gears from its ignorance.
my gamertag is
rami dino
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12-29-2006 @ 9:01PM
Ryan said...
It seems like quite a few of the problems we are having are minor and should be able to be fixed pretty easily. If they do fix some of these problems, it would make the multiplayer go from really good to great.
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12-29-2006 @ 9:33PM
8dot3 said...
I wish they would at least announce what the heck they are working on. I don't get why they have to keep it a secret, especially if it might be balancing of weapons and a party system which would get players to stick it out and wait for the update.
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12-29-2006 @ 10:13PM
Raskawa said...
Guys,
GoW may not be for all and it's MP is a completely different game than Halo2 MP. I was quickly bored with Halo2 MP, where I love Gears teamwork and squad based elements - as well as the unique weapons and cover / teammate down elements.
It's a great innovative MP game in it's infancy - it is innovative because no other game that plays like it combines the same balance of game characteristics like it does. The article does it justice.. so if you like Halo2 better than GoW MP, great - don't bash it because you didn't dig it, and I won't bash Halo2 MP because I didn't dig it. The haters sound like a bunch of PS2 fanboys anyway.
360 + Halo 2 & GoW ftw!
-Rask
P.S. Please Epic address the issues in the article, or as the author suggests just give us some information.
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12-29-2006 @ 10:52PM
Dr Who said...
I like the boomshot the way it is. You have to be dead on. Grenade stick, you just have to back up and shoot. The game does have bugs that needs to be fixed but those two make the game balanced imo. Gears is the most fun i've had in years online.
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