A world-exclusive preview in the pages of X360 Magazine has revealed the very first info on the new gameplay mechanics and features added to the versus multiplayer mode of Gears of War 2.
Epic Games’ motto continues to be “Bigger, Better and More Badass” with the addition of new weapons, maps, game types, features and characters. To begin with, the maximum amount of players per team has been increased to 5, so the sequel to Gears of War still maintains the intimacy of the series while now allowing up to 10 players to play this mode.
Finish Him!
The downed mechanic returns in Gears of War 2, but this time, executions have been vastly improved and expanded, with all action buttons on the Xbox 360 controller now firing up a beautiful coup de grace.
As in Gears 1, pressing the X button will perform a curb stomp, but now the rest of the buttons offer even more sadistic ways to finish your enemies. The B button will perform a weapon-specific execution and X360 Magazine witnessed how a sniper rifle turned into a deadly golf club that smashes heads to smithereens.
More humiliating than a curb stomp will be the punch-to-death finishing move that the Y button fires up, which can be seen in this sequence from the recent Assault demo:
As in campaign mode, the A button will give you the chance to grab your downed opponent and use it as a meat shield (since the term human shield won’t apply when grabbing a Locust). The hijacked body will tear apart as it receives incoming hits. The player that has been grabbed instantly goes back into the spawn queue, which leads us to the new gameplay mechanics found in the different game types.
New and Updated Game Types
Assassination (renamed Guardian) has been altered so now everyone respawns until the teams’ leaders (whose positions will appear on the opponent team’s HUD) are killed; once leaders are dead, the match will end when the rest of the team is dead. A new game type shown to X360 Magazine called “Wingman” will split players into teams of two, with each couple featuring the same character twice. A typical Wingman match will have people seeing double, as there will be a team of two Marcus Fenixs fighting a team of two Dominic Santiagos or Cold Trains. This visual technique will make very easy to distinguish your teammate and opponent team.
Meatflag
Perhaps the coolest new game type is “meatflag,” a reimagined capture the flag in which, as its name suggests, has the flag replaced by a meat shield. The twist of “meatflag” is that the flag will be an AI-controlled character found in the center of a map, who will confront with whoever comes near. The goal of both teams will be to take this living flag down and transform it onto a meat shield to take it to the ring of light flashing on the team’s camp. Another hilarious twist of this game type is that the meat shield won’t decay with the opponent’s attack as in campaign mode. Instead, this will cause the meat shield to be at liberty again, thus becoming an instant menace to the player who was carrying him around. Furthermore, this meat shield character will have his own place in the leaderboard.
New and Improved Weapons
As you would expect, there is new weaponry in Gears of War 2, but even more important is the fact that weapons’ gameplay mechanics have been improved. In versus multiplayer, weapons now cycle, so the basic set will spawn in the same place, while special weapons will spawn randomly. This will dissuade those players that love to camp near a longshot sniper rifle or the boomshot. Speaking of exploiters, as Cliff already anticipated, there are many optimizations that will finally put an end to those cheap techniques abused in the first game. All weapons now have a stopping power that will impede adversaries to run towards you, so the shotgun trick will no longer be a practice. In addition to its stopping power, now weapons will also destroy covers other than the Mansion sofas.
Another indirect improvement to weapons is the fact that they are no longer seen when staying behind cover, as characters now stay farther from the corner edges, keeping weapons hidden. This little but important tweak will give a hard time to snipers.
Among the improved weapons stands out the Hammerburst, which will fire as fast as you can fan the right trigger, but the faster you tap it, the more recoil. Grenades can now be stuck anywhere, from enemies as in the first game, to floors, ceilings and walls. A look at the Unreal Engine 3 demo from GDC 2008 gives you a good idea of the consequences of attaching grenades to these surfaces.
Smoke grenades are back, but this time they produce a stun effect that ragdolls everyone within its blast range.
Speaking of smoke grenades, there’s a new variant that has poison gas, which produces a cloud of smoke that kills any one that breathes it. When stuck onto enemies, they will die slowly and if they get too close to their team mates, they will also injure them.
The preview also revealed a new gun called the Medusa, a big metal shield that can be used as a portable cover and the Scorcher, a flamethrower that impressed X360 Magazine with its realistic fire simulation.
Badass Characters
This article has also revealed new characters. X360 Magazine was impressed by how Dizzy resembled Chuck Norris and they also show for the first time how Tai Kaliso looks like in the game. With his aboriginal tattoos, this badass character reminds you the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands and would certainly dispute the Coolest Guy in Sera title to Marcus Fenix.
The article also revealed new Locust Drones with helmets that make the Haze and Halo 3 multiplayer armors look outdated.
There are many more new features and items revealed in this article, such as the ability to take screenshots. If you live in the old continent, we encourage you to grab this issue. North American Gearheads should wait for EGM to feature a similar preview next month.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
GOW 2 Versus Multiplayer Mode
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Frank O'Connor Leaves Bungie
The latest weekly Bungie Update has revealed that Frank O'Connor is leaving the studio to continue working on the Halo franchise at Microsoft:
I am off to work more closely with Microsoft on the Halo franchise, so I shan’t be too far away, but I wanted to take this last chance, appropriately enough in a Weekly Update, to tell you a very fond thanks.
It was very hard for me to make the decision to move on, but one thing that made it just a bit easier, was seeing the amazing work that’s coming down the pipe. I was busy working on a story for one of our next games, an experience that is destined to surprise, amaze and entertain like nothing we’ve ever made before. That game has an amazing team invested in it, and one that will be tasked with building the Next Big Thing. You should see what they’ve already achieved, you truly should.
Greenpeace Finds Hazardous Substances in Consoles
Did you know that your Xbox 360 may interfere with your sexual development? In its new report called “Playing Dirty”, Greenpeace detected the use of hazardous chemicals and materials in all new video game systems. From the report:
The game consoles all contained high levels of bromine - used in circuit boards and plastic casings. Brominated flame retardants do not break down easily and build up in the environment. Long-term exposure can lead to impaired learning and memory functions. They can also interfere with thyroid and oestrogen hormone systems and exposure in the womb has been linked to behavioural problems.
Components of the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation3 also contained high levels of phthalates, one of which – DEHP – is known to interfere with sexual development in mammals: including humans and, especially, males.
TimeShift Gets Free Map Pack
Atari has released five brand new maps for the Timeshift multiplayer mode. This Map Pack contains 5 maps all of which support One-on-One, Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch. For TimeShift's new multiplayer modes, Akasen Blues, SmokeStack Lightning, and Jump, Jive an' Wail all support King of Time, while Dust My Broom supports Meltdown Madness. If Capture the Flag is your game of choice, there are two new maps to support it as well, Dust My Broom, and Beware, Brother, Beware!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
2Old 2Pwn Party in San Antonio
San Antonio
July 5th, 2008
Help send Ken off in style and Pwn in Person!
The date is set, and the beer is chilling!
Friday, July 4th - Sea World anyone?
Saturday, July 5th - 10am to 2pm Party at Cary's Place in Spring Branch, TX.
Late Afternoon head to Dave and Buster's for Public Pwnage!
Sound off like you have a pair!!! Write in the comments section if you are coming!
More details to follow, we just wanted to get the word out so everyone can start making plans.
See you there!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Gas Prices Suck
Okay. So I was putting off going to a gas station, hoping the prices would go down a little. No such luck. I remember when prices spiked about 2-3 years ago and some stations in Plano ran out of gas. Around that time I thought hitting 50 bucks was outrageous. I had about 3 gallons of gas left in my tank. But I always put 93 octane in my car. So it's always more expensive to fill up my car. Now it was about $3.82 a gallon for 93 octane.
Anyway, just thought I'd snap some pix to show how much gas is in Frisco, TX. How're prices elsewhere???
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Tactical Shooter Showdown: COD4 vs. R6V2
I spend more time than I should with my Xbox 360. Well, since mine decided to RROD, I figure I have some time to work on my writing skills (I will neglect the the two book reviews and upcoming research paper for the time being). One thing I enjoy is listening to the endless online debate as to the superiority of one game over another. There is nothing better than hearing a 14 year old say that Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is more "tactical" than Call of Duty 4, Modern Combat.
Well, the definition of tactical is "Of, relating to, used in, or involving military or naval operations that are smaller, closer to base, and of less long-term significance than strategic operations." Okay, perhaps tactical is the wrong word. I'll use my own word here: tacti-cool. Tacti-cool is the ability pretty much anything to convey a certain sense of military cool-ness, whether believable or not.
First up, Call of Duty 4. (Click for more)
Friday, April 25, 2008
Last Night Before I Pack It Up.
For those of you that don't know I will be heading to a new career and a new home in Sin City. I will be moving on the 8th and will spend much of the next week packing. The first thing that will get packed up is the 360. Friday Night will be my last night to play, unfortunately I will not be home until 12 AM CST. If any of you are playing COD4 Friday night do me a favor..........WAIT UP!!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Def Leppard Releases Brand New Single for Guitar Hero III
Def Leppard Releases Brand New Single for Guitar Hero III
The rock band Def Leppard releases their new single "Nine Lives" in a three-song pack for the game Guitar Hero III, five days before the song appears on their latest album.
College Hoops 2K8 NCAA Virtual Final Four
Xbox.com provides all the hot gaming news from the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Battle Terrorists with the Rainbow Six Devs
To celebrate the big release of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the Rainbow Six team from Ubisoft will be on Xbox LIVE to challenge the community.
Play Call of Duty 4 with Jens Pulver
Three-time UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver will play Call of Duty 4 with Xbox LIVE members on April 18, 2008.
Drillbit Taylor and Bully: Scholarship Edition Sweepstakes
Register your gamertag or download the Drillbit Taylor Gamer Picture for your chance to win. We've got more than 200 prizes to give away, including a 50-inch plasma HDTV.
Bad Company Beta Report
We brave EA's Battlefield: Bad Company beta to tell you what's new, what's improved and what's changed in EA's and developer DICE's vaunted Battlefield franchise.
Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack Play & Win Sweepstakes
Grab the new Legendary Map Pack for Halo 3, then jump online and play in a multiplayer match April 25-27 to enter for a chance to win some great Halo 3 merchandise.
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Play & Win Sweepstakes
We've got a special sweepstakes to celebrate the release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Register your gamertag and play online for your chance to win an Xbox 360 console or other prizes.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Take the Field with the MLB 2K8 Devs
Take the Field with the MLB 2K8 Devs
As part of the Major League Baseball 2K8 Opening Day festivities, we've got a special event that gives you the chance to play against the developers of the game from 2K Sports.
Halo 3 Championship Tournament
Here's your chance to participate in one of the biggest gaming competitions of the year! The Halo 3 Championship Tournament on Xbox LIVE lets you compete against some of the top Halo 3 players in the country.
