Fears of War 3!

The title I came up with myself! I thought I was being creative, but in retrospect, it sounds stupid. Too late to change it now.

As the title suggests, this post is about my fears regarding Gears 3 and the hype surrounding it. Also I guess I'll summarize all the things about multiplayer that we know just to make myself cream my pants even more. (I really cannot wait any longer; fuck you Microsoft for delaying the game).

A lot of games released these days are victims of hype. We all know this and all gamers have been guilty of being sucked into hype before. It's something with the industry and it won't be going away. But, unfortunately, hype has caused some developers to tarnish and ultimately destroy great franchises. This practice will continue throughout the future existence of video games, but has become more prevalent as gaming has turned into a massive industry.

I can't say Gears 3 will follow this same path but the way the games have sold and the expectations placed on the third one - I can say some will be disappointed. In an interview, CliffyB has said people have guessed the ending to the series on the Epic forums... and now I know there are so many scenarios Epic can come up with, I am hoping that the ending isn't predictable. The story is one place where Epic cannot, under any circumstances, fail its very dedicated fanbase - Gears is one of the only shooters I care about the story.

The multiplayer is getting the biggest revamp, though, and for the better - going the way of Halo: Reach. And making the mode consequently more interesting and more fun to play. The additions of challenges, commendations and certain executions as rewards for using a weapon enough I think will encourage players to use more variety and tactics in the way they play, and not just use the god that is the shotgun. I have played Gears 2's multiplayer on occasion and the abundance of shotgun use is mind-numbing; it makes the mode monotonous and there unplayable. But in its sequel there is a saving grace - dedicated servers (fucking finally, SERIOUSLY) - so Mexicans won't be lagging me while I saw them. >:D

So let's have a drink and hope the game is good. I'll see you guys on Sera late 2011.