I want to be excited for Gears of War 3. I really do; the Gears of War franchise and I been through a lot together. With Gears of War, I found love, passion, excitement… but I lost it all when Gears of War 2 came along. The original delivered heart-pounding, anxiety-filled, close-quarters duels, which made every shotgun blast and active reload count. The battles in multiplayer were brutally intense, unapologetic and in your face. This all changed with the Gears of War 2 multiplayer and it broke my heart. We had a great thing going, Gears… why did you have to go and change on me? Why did you make the shotgun virtually useless and slow down the characters? The flame that the original Gears and I shared has died, but a spark of hope remains for Gears of War 3 and I hope that come September 20, that spark is enough to ignite a new love.
I fell hard for Gears of War back in 2006, a time that upon reflection was much simpler and full of wonder and excitement. Getting to know the Gears multiplayer during that time was so exhilarating. The Gears multiplayer was great because it was fast-paced; it pitted players in close-encounter situations that upped adrenaline levels. I began to play with my friend Ryan regularly (and by regularly, I mean obsessively) and as we got better at Gears, we became the best of friends. We both understood that our friendship would always be overshadowed by our relationship to Gears of War, but that was okay with us. Eventually I got a girlfriend, and even she had to come to terms with the fact that if I were playing Gears of War while she was in the room, Gears would be the one getting my undivided attention. She’s been there for me since 2009, but in all fairness, Gears was there first.
November 2008 came along, and I eagerly anticipated Gears of War 2 , expecting the game to take our relationship to the next level. That didn’t happen, though. Gears 2 took the multiplayer in a new direction, but unfortunately it did so by taking a step backwards. Rather than keeping the intense, close range shoot-outs that separated Gears of War from other 3rd person shooters, Gears 2 stripped the shotgun of its effectiveness and gave increased power to long-range weapons such as the Lancer and Hammerburst. This greatly decreased the stimulating close-quarters gameplay that fueled my addiction to the first game. Gears changed, but I remained the same.
The strategic element of the Gears series wasn’t the only thing that changed. Gears 2 launched with a plethora of online problems. Many people could not get into matchmaking games, and those that did were met with extreme lag. Not to mention the fact that the characters were slowed down, which slowed down the action, which slowed down my yearning to play. Epic Games kept attempting to correct the connectivity and lag issues with various title updates, but even after six patches, Gears 2 still suffers from lag issues. The promise of better gameplay came with every title update, but each update failed to deliver. After frustration with the changes to game mechanics, combined with connectivity issues, I was forced to leave Gears of War 2… alone… on the shelf. One man can only take so much hurt.
Gears of War 3 has turned me into a conflicted man. On some days, I’m very excited to see what Gears of War 3 has in store for me; maybe Gears and I can rekindle what we once had. But on other days, every fiber of my being tells me to treat Gears 3 with extreme caution. My brain tells me, “Keep your guard up,” but how can anything reach your heart that way? Cliffy B and the gang at Epic Games have promised better matchmaking, returned the roadie run to its original speed, and offered a powerful sawed-off shotgun to the next chapter of the franchise. Hopefully the shotguns prove to be as effective in this game as they were in the first.
Epic Games has a lot of pressure on their shoulders with Gears 3. After all, I am just one of the many gamers disappointed with the second game’s multiplayer. Bleszinski has gone on record about the Gears 2 multiplayer, explaining, “We knew the memory of Gears 2 online is a bad one.” When the game’s director acknowledges the multiplayer as “bad,” that is saying something. I really hope that Epic Games takes into account all of the criticism corrects it for the multiplayer in Gears of War 3. If the game can return to its roots, delivering faster paced gameplay focused on close quarters combat, I might just have to take another shot at love.
