Llyranor

Got the game today. Finished chapter 2. Not sure how long it took me, but it wasn't too too long. No trial and error stuff so far. You look around, assess your environment, try to locate your goal, and think up the best way to go there. It's pretty intuitive. I'm really liking the core gameplay. The rush you get as you're being chased by baddies with guns and running at full momentum is pretty stirring. I've been mainly going the obvious conventional paths the game throws at your. The beauty of the game is how it has many shortcuts you can take and be a lot more efficient. I've played the first time trial, and the mode is a lot of fun. This will have a lot of lasting value for me. I think, ultimately, people just wanting to go through the game once will find the game too short or something. For those more interested in learning the levels, finding shortcuts, trying to shave a split-second here and there, it's looking to be a good investment. The demo gives a good idea of how the main game feels, at least the early parts.

We could do expert with a good team of 4. The problem is really our counterparts, and Nick setting off alarms and shooting the Witch all the time. Moron. I finished the first level on expert in one go with randoms. Then I got disconnected on the second run! We should also do more crouching maneuvers, not only for better accuracy, but also to allow the back row more room to maneuver their shots.

I wouldn't touch Gears singleplayer. I'm still in Act 2, but the co-op campaign is pretty great (a bit easy on hardcore, maybe?). Very nice environments, and numerous color palettes! Horde mode is arguably the best thing to happen to co-op gaming, though. 5p co-op, including online splitscreen, and waves upon waves of incrementally more difficult enemies. Every 10 waves, enemies get a stat boost (eg. double hp, double accuracy). The pacing and increase in difficulty is well-done, and having to fend off multiple enemy attacks from all fronts, retreating when needed, setting up defenses via proximity grenades or planting shields, etc. is all so very frantic. Not to mention that every map supports it.

The only thing I care about in Res2 is the 8p co-op.

Hey Nick, do you know which game has lowered the bar for co-op? Do you? Guess what doesn't have guesting.

Morrowind.

You should try the demo before writing off the game. (is the PC one out yet?) This is the first I've heard of excessive trial-error during the platforming. Could be true, or could just be that the reviewer sucks at platforming. There was none of that in the demo, but it was pretty easy there, so who knows. Hopefully that's not how the game is designed. Rather than being very strict re: jumping, they should be more flexible. Player 'skill' should allow for the player being faster and more efficient in doing a particular run, rather than being a jump or die approach, which would be pretty frustrating if you couldn't make it. That's the appeal of the time trials - going through the same courses in an attempt to improve oneself through the gameplay, finding shortcuts, cutting off seconds from the time. Done right, could be pretty rewarding. I'm expecting it so based on the demo.

Gears1 was my GOTY 2006 and completely justified with the 360 purchase for me. Gears2 has far FAR exceeded all my expectations. I'm not too far into the campaign (ending Act 2), but it's been very nice (and gorgeous - I think this may be the prettiest next-gen game I've seen). One downside is that it seems a tad easy on hardcore. Hopefully insane will be a good challenge. Haven't touched PvP, and don't even know if I'll ever be bothered to. Wingman does seem like an interesting mode, though. The real highlight of the game has been Horde Mode. This has arguably provided some of best (if not *the* best) co-op experience I've ever had. Given how much importance I attribute to co-op play (a top priority for me), this pleases me greatly. Even on hardcore, our team has only made it to wave 27 so far (it really depends on the map as well, it seems - though we've only played a few). It's very hectic, as you get overwhelmed by large numbers of enemies from every direction. Defending different flanks, going for ammo runs, falling back and bringing our mobile defenses with us (shields, proximity grenades), finding good defensive positions. It's all so very awesome. I also appreciate how every map really dictates different tactics, given the defensive properties of the terrain. With this mode, I'll definitely be supporting any map pack Epic gives us. In any other given year, this would have *easily* been my GOTY. However, given how fantastic the Left4Dead demo was, I'll give that game a good spin first before I make any decision (if any). This may be my favorite co-op game ever. By extension, possibly my favorite game ever. It may be the new game shine talking, but Epic really went above and beyond what I expected of them. /hyperbole

Maaan, Horde. Haha, with Gears2 and L4D being as awesome as they are, CoD5 is completely out of the horizon until sometime next year.

Man, Horde is so good. Nice session, Kyle.

It's always been a full price buy for us.

Spotted the type, Krooks. But yeah, you're right. Horde might very well be the best multiplayer mode ever. We'll see what L4D delivers. We made to wave 20, Bok! We didn't survive it, but we made it there.

Actually, Nick and me are going to mess around with the L4D demo for a bit. Get on the box a little while later and we could Horde.

Nick should be back within an hour, apparently.

Half-Life doesn't matter because it has co-op. Left 4 Dead fixes that glaring problem.

You apply at the same site.

Well, the trick was still working yesterday. Snatched an extra code there.

The last wave is wave 50. 50. 5 0

AI is nice. Basically, regular zombies just run and mob you. Boss zombies do a pretty good job of ambushing you when your team is spread out a bit, or when you're busy. The AI director is nice. Keeps you on edge, you never know when the next swarm is coming.

Hey Bok, we made it to wave 10!!!

Horde mode is okay, I guess. Had a nice session with Bok and Nick and his sisters.

Nope. Enjoy playing the PC version with Gabs, though!

Do it! The demo's awesome.

Yeah, I made the mistake of making my first L4D match a quick-game, so it launched me in a normal diff session. Was fun, but I was never in any real danger (zombies could surround and hit you for probably 15-20 secs without much damage), and we easily finished the demo (2 levels). There's an advanced difficulty above that, which I haven't tried, since I skipped directly into expert. Now THAT was the zombie apocalypse. Whenever we got swarmed, it ended up with half the team down or dying, and we were constantly dragging ourselves at extremely low health. Scavenging for scarce items was fun! Pistols are actually unlimited ammo, which is too bad. But I guess it makes sense gameplay-wise, since not having any actual ammo would make the game a bit pointless for that player then (since getting new ammo stacks is very rare). The zombie bosses were a real pain, too. Made it to the first safehouse. Haven't made it to the second yet! I'm not sure about advanced difficulty, but I think expert will be how we play it. <3 online splitscreen. Randoms I played with were all good team players. Added a few.

Er, yeah, we're going to love L4D on Expert.