Gears of War 2 Was a Broken Mess, Will Gears of War 3 be?

One of the main problems with Gears is that is actually a very fun and satisfying multiplayer experience when the gears turn smoothly. That doesn't happen too often though. So will Gears of War 3 be another broken game at launch? Lets take a look at a few things.

The original Gears of War and Gears 2 both shared some of the same glitches. Gears 1 and Gears 2 both suffered from inexcusable Lag. Neither Gears 1 nor Gears 2 had a multiplayer beta test. Both games are a playground for cheaters. Neither game had dedicated servers. Both games had very noticeable and unfair Host advantage. Both games had weapons that were either overpowered or underpowered. Oh and did I mention Lag?

[Blaze929]

was? it still is...

They better do a multiplayer beta for Gears 3. Learn from Bungie Epic!

[Lifendz]

I get the fact that devs ability to patch console games has been a double edged sword. It works in our favor because before the proliferation of the internet, a broker game was forever a broken game. It works against us (gamers) because now devs are more prone to release a broken game in order to meet a deadline and simply plan to patch it later.

But why is it that a major game like Gears 2 has, by and large, stayed broken? And it's not just Gears 2 because Modern Warfare 2 is suffering from glitches as well. But back to Epic, assuming they fix all the online issues for Gears 3, don't they owe it to everyone that purchased Gears 2 to first fix the remaining glitches in that version?

[boodybandit]

YES! Unless Epic has a new engine that has yet to be unveiled for Gears 3 it will DEFINITELY have a lot of issues. I have no faith in Epic any more. I don't understand how Cliffy B. can go on Fallon and be excited and confident in a title that was as broken as Gears of War 2 and announce the sequel like this is amazing news.

Cliffy why don't you and your team fix what is broken in the previous versions of your brain child before bringing out another broken game? Oh, because the sheep will purchase any garbage as long as it's marketed and hyped through the roof? Of course.

Gamers that purchase broken products and reward companies like Epic and Infinity Ward adding to this lunacy by purchasing DLC for their broken games? Ruin it for everyone. Lettin them get away with this crap is why the industry is going down the toilet and why we are being nickel and dimed to death. Well I'm not. I rarely ever purchase DLC and I wont be a beta tester for GeOW3 if there is no beta. If they don't have a beta of the game before it's released I will definitely take a wait and see approach on Gears 3.

[hamoor]

FIX THE DAMN THING!!!!

[HolyOrangeCows]

They need to rework the coding so that the game handles lag differently and up the servers. Otherwise, I'm going to pass because the competitive multiplayer is the only part I give a crap about in the Gears of War games.

Oh, and bring back freaking split-screen for competitive online modes.

[TheXgamerLive]

it had a few issues but was patched and it's a hella great experience now. broken mess? Hmmm, who would say that i wonder.

[-Alpha]

I find it pathetic that they handled it so poorly. You are right Blaze, Bungie truly is the gold standard this gen and you'd think that people who pay for on Online service like LIVE would be assured of what matters most: online gaming going as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

It makes you really lose trust in the developer. They admitted to the mistake, so if Gears 3 is not exceptional then they are shooting themselves in the foot.

I am anticipating Gears 3 mostly for split screen play but I didn't know online split screen was taken out.

[tehReaper]

Xgamer, its better than it was but not completely fixed. This is coming from a Gears fan that plays both all the time. Check my achievements.

[i3eyond the Circle]

I'd put my long loading and fixed patches for GEars of War 2 over Modern Warfare2 anyday.

Gears of War 2 guys....just listen....get a squad of 4...then play...it makes stuff much better.

For the solo guy GEars of War 2 might suck but if you get a static group of buds it runs like butter and is damn fun and unique.

What game out there is like Gears of War2? Just popped it in today and was relieved due to the different gameplay style.

[Fanb0y]

Gears 2 was a mess at launch.

And guess what? The majority of gamers don't give a sh*t if the game will be patched two weeks later. Their attention span is probably about a day. If multiplayer issues are not fixed VERY EARLY ON from launch, many many gamers will trade in the game.

Shame. Gears 2 was number 4 or 5 on XBL for a long long time. It could have been higher up on the rankings.

[WildArmed]

The MP was, but the game was great.
i hated the MP anyways, it just didnt click for me.
I love the Gears franchise for it's co-op (Horde or Story co-op)

And I can expect Epic to have a great follow up on those aspects (for i dont care about MP)

[DARK WITNESS]

@ boodybandit

totally agree man.. which is why I have stopped buying any and every game like I use too.

It may seem like whats the point and all that, but bottom line a lot of this crap has come about because we gamers have put up with it.

[mythamp]

Ms forced epic to launch this title, I am confident it will be a half baked game only for milking purpose and retention of xbox owners moving to the ps3.

It wont live up to the hype, but it would keep the botnets here at n4g real busy till release :)

[Dylantalon1]

the question people should ask is was gears 1 broken? was gears 2 broken? and that should tell you about gears 3. ive been a gears fan since the beginning and ive played with majority of the gliches and lag issues. gears 1 was broken online but i dealt with it like others did because we thought patches would help which they didnt. gears 2 was and is utter rubbish online so i know gears 3 will suffer from lag and glitches.

[swiftshot93]

Gears 1 had a lot of problems online, but they werent nearly as bad as Gears 2.

[DARK WITNESS]

In my humble opinion, as a 360 fan and Gears of war 1 fan who absolutely hates the living daylights out of Gears 2, I would put it this way;

Gears 1 had a "few" issues to start with. They patched it, then patched it again.... Then patched it AGAIN ! and with every patch the game got more broken. I use to think it was just the fact that it was being played online - until I went to the XL lan tournament. The same rubbish you got going on online was happening over Lan, And I remember everything thinking it was impossible. That's when I realized the problem was not really peoples connections but the actual network code.

I stopped playing Gears 1 after that and I had been playing it for a solid year and a half or so by then.

Then Gears 2 was on the way, I am sure I remember Epic saying they were going to fix all this sort of stuff and it had been reworked.

I played the multiplayer about 4 or 5 times and never went back to it. The rest of my clan have all gone back to playing Gears 1.

Do I think Gears 3 will be better, in one word; NO.

As someone said above, unless it runs on a new engine with new network code ( or even just new network code ) I don't think it will be any better.

I know everyone is crying for a Beta but I just have a feeling we are not going to see one. I could be wrong who knows.

I have to honestly say I really don't care about gears anymore. I did love the first one, but I can't say the same for the second and have no faith in the 3rd.

[Venatus-Deus]

If they sold 5 million each for the first two games and got a Meta rating of +90 for both and was in to top 5 most played LIVE games then where would the motivation be for ERIC to change.

Gears 3 will achieve exacting then same in all three areas.

If review sites had dropped the final score for GeoW2 by a point because of those problems then the game would still sell 5m, however you can be damn sure they will fix it for the 3rd installment.

[DARK WITNESS]

@Venatus-Deus

totally agree and thats prob the biggest problem this gen.

no matter what we say about the game being broken or crap or whatever...

in the end millions will buy it and as long as they do, the dev's have no reason to believe our points are valid.

just look at MW2.

But the flip side to that is, I want to play a quality game because I know I will enjoy it. I don't enjoy games when they are full of bugs and glitches, and I don't know how anyone can enjoy a competitive game when there is no consistency in the game. So in the end I end up not buying the games. ya maybe it's just me, but I wont lower my standards and force myself to try and enjoy a game just because millions of others do and the dev's are happy with that.

I will just move on, which is what I did with gears 2 and why I have little interest in gears 3.

[SKUD]

It will never be prefect. EVER.

[CountDracula]

It just felt like an expansion pack to GOW 1.

[DelbertGrady]

Gears 2 was practically unplayable. Probably the worst online experience this gen.

[FantasyStar]

I thought Gears 2 did many things right. But the only part is the netcode in multiplayer. Other than that, I've had a blast. I can already name some of the stuff I love.

8-10 hour campaign (on Normal)
Campaign Co-op (+ replay)
Split-screen Co-op (FullHD, No-Black Bars)
Impressive Visuals
Impressive Gameplay
Impressive Audio
LAN-Support in all MP modes
Bot-Support in all MP modes
Split-screen Online Support
HORDE MODE (that set the standard for all Console Wave Defense Modes)

Seriously, other than that one flaw with MP Netcode, Gears 2 is practically perfect. Just fix the netcode and glitches and you might possibly have a GotY on our hands. I'm not a fanboy of Epic, but I know a good game when I see it and am proud to have supported Epic Games. They never forget about us folks who prefer the offline, couch co-op experience and they're the last people to short-change us when it comes to charging $60. They make sure it's worth it. A lesson that most publishers/devs have a problem following.

Hell, I still play Gears 2 when my friends come over. A perfect party game because of LAN-Support and Split-screen across LAN. How much better does it get? Fix the Lag in Gears 3 and everybody else "BETTAR STAND CLEAR!!!"

[-Alpha]

I LOVE split screen online gaming, it's something I don't see enough of.

But MP online is the biggest component and it seemingly was poorly handled. There is no excuse for poor networking when games like BC2 and MAG can do it. Gears is a 5 on 5 game, right? It succeeded off of Gears 1, it came from Epic, and surely it had MS support. Yet they couldn't manage online networking ever?

It's inexcusable. They apologize for it after Gears 3 gets announced as if its supposed to assure anybody. We'll have to wait and see. The fact that they admitted the mistake means that they pretty much have to have a stellar online component if they don't want to chainsaw themselves in the face.

[electricshadow]

We can only dream...

[MSpence516]

It probably will be broken and I will still play the hell out of it. With both 1 and 2 I had far more good times than I had bad ones.

[tehReaper]

They need to bite the bullet and add dedicated servers. A beta would also be nice.

[mauleriscool]

being a pc gamer, I'd love dedicated servers on gears3. But for epic games or microsoft to build a dedicated server network that can support the entire globe, I don't see that happening. Even if they cheap their way into it, some players would still be at a disadvantage since the servers would be WAY too far.

Basically, allowing a person in the game to host it(peer hosting) does everything they need for 10 player matches and for free I might add.

if the game was pushing 24-32 players, then it would require dedicated servers like bad company or blur.

[CobraKai]

If there is one thing I hope they improve, it was the horribly compressed FMV video. When it was realtime, it was great, but when they cut to the FMV, it was nowhere near as nice.

[darksied]

The mess of Gears 2 is what is making me wait on the 3rd. I'll check out the reviews, and if in a few weeks there's no major outcries from the online players, I'll give it a try. To be honest, I'm tired of wasting time and money on games that are just flat out broken. I enjoyed Gears 2 for a few weeks, but it was tough love, and after a while (when it became obvious they were not going to fix it) I let it go. Hopefully they learn their lesson.

[NeloAnjelo]

"Gamers that purchase broken products and reward companies like Epic and Infinity Ward adding to this lunacy by purchasing DLC for their broken games? Ruin it for everyone. Lettin them get away with this crap is why the industry is going down the toilet and why we are being nickel and dimed to death..."

Dude I agree completely!. Well Said. Glad that someone else is saying this and not scared of disagrees. I feel its the publishers that are more to blame, rather than the developers. Look at MW2, my god man. And the Gears shot gun thing just got ridiculous... roll shoot, roll shoot.

Anyways. I'm out.

[AliTheBrit19]

Cliff seems genuinely gutted at the glitches/bugs in Gears 2, hopefully it will make him insure this game comes out solid.

[justGAMES]

No way 'm buying gears 3 everyone had high expectations for gears 2 but they pulled a really big joke on everyone: Knock down from smoke 'nades, 10 minutes to get a match going, killed their best weapon the shotgun, dumb the game down for others. All my friends sold the game within 3 weeks of its release but played gears 1 for almost 2 years straight

[Dylantalon1]

sometimes i wonder if people know that they dpnt have to play online with lag and glitches. i play gears 1 and people will glitch out of the map without others knowing on the opposing team. the lag in gears 1 and gears 2 is very bad so i would never concider getting gears 3. uncharted 2 has a similar style of gameplay as gears but it doesnt lag or suffer from any serious issues and that game has very good graphics. i dont understand the sheep that makes excuses for gears 1 or gears 2 when they both are rubbish online. in gears 1 you cant kill people at certain times if they are in a killing animation and you cant kill anyone if a team members dead body is laying between opposing players. the gears series has a lot of issues and i know that gears 3 will suffer more of the same.

[MathiasT-s]

F***ing clustered with bias, Gears Of War 2 was NOT a broken mess. Not even CLOSE, trust me ...I've played broken games before. Besides, 94 on metacritic says otherwise. I hate this braindead site, bye N4G. ( psst, the door already hit me on the way in )