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Nothing makes us happier than killing hapless creatures in the goriest, most horribly twisted way possible, which is exactly what Gears of War allowed us to do, and the sequel is all set to deliver come November 7, 2008. Apart from the standard 2-player co-op and the usual (and some new) multiplayer offerings, Gears of War 2 will include a brand new co-op-kinda mode called Horde, which, in a Last Man Standing gametype, will pit players against never-ending Locust hordes in an all-out battle for survival.
In the meantime, check out the new box art and all the sick, new creatures in the game including the Shield and Gun Boomers, the Butcher, the Grinder, the Mauler and the Tickers.
MEDIA GALLERY
Ask any Xbox 360 fanboy what he wants for Christmas and you’ll get just one answer - whether they’re over 18 or not - Gears of War 2. As if all the dirt, the satisfyingly sickening gore and all the endless multiplayer whoring and grenade tagging wasn’t enough, we’re now just months away from becoming “I-eat-nails-and-horse-steroids-for-breakfast” macho men who seem to be stuck at that age where boys discover the F-word and a propensity for random violence.
Even as Gears of War 2, Killzone 2, Resistance 2 and a hundred other shooters jostle for attention come E3 2008, Microsoft has released a whole truckload of painfully-blinding HDR-overload screenshots for fans of the game to drool over and get their testosterone levels high enough to dry hump the Xbox 360 until it RRoDs. And since we’re huge fans of the game ourselves (no matter how funny we find the characters and the story) we feel obliged to share our high-res screenshot and concept art booty with all you folks.
And for all you multiplayer fans who blew me into little chunks every time I signed on, have fun with the all new MP screenshots, as well as the Before / After screens of Gridlock. Me, I’ll just go pin up that luscious Maria Santiago screenshot above my bed. ROWR!
CAMPAIGN / CONCEPT ART SCREENSHOTS
MULTIPLAYER / GEARS 1 vs. 2 COMPARISONS
There’s nothing more annoying to a PC owner than having to wait for a game that millions of others are already enjoying. Used to waiting ages for games like GTA, Halo and Fable, it came as no surprise to the PC aficionados that they’d have to endure yet another interminable wait for Gears of War, the game that sold the Xbox 360, to get to their beloved platform of choice. And just about a year later, Gears of War finally arrives for the PC, and to make up for all the lost time, brings along enough candy and flowers to make sure you don’t ever remember being stood up on this grimy, bloody date.
Most of us that play Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) do so because we get our ya-yas blasting total strangers into a fiery oblivion with the Necris DarkWalker. Or in my case, trying to see how long I can survive without having some form of death befall my virtual character. (In case you’re wondering, not long) But for Holland native Frederiek van Gammeren (aka Frantic), the UT3 launch party at Omega Sektor turned out to be a night to remember.
After all, it’s not every day you create a Guinness World Record for racking up 131 kills in half an hour. The first official UT3 tournament in Europe saw Epic’s Mark Rein, game journalists and top ranked UT3 players get together for a massive fragfest, as Stuart Remnant walked away with a high end SCAN PC and Frantic took the record for the most number of kills in a 30-minute UT3 deathmatch. At the event, Mark Rein confirmed the November 23rd European release date for the game, which comes as a sore issue for Xbox 360 owners, considering Epic has already announced that the Xbox 360 version of the game will be delayed to 2008 due to issues with the mods.
Hit the jump for pictures of the event, as I go and try to best my personal best of fragging 4 enemies before splattering all over the place.
For the uninitiated, still no official confirmation on the release date for Epic Games’ PC revitalization of Gears of War (UPDATE: Scratch that, it’s November 6th). But for those still pondering how the controls will fair on the trusty ol’ keyboard and mouse, Joystiq’s Andrew Yoon has news for you! After getting his hands-on a build from the DigitalLife Convention in NY, it seems the “A button” - which is normally used for a variety of functions in the X360 version - won’t have any sort of equivalent to it.
Double tapping a directional button will trigger the appropriate animation, such as running, dodging and taking cover. For example, double tap W to jump forward. If a wall is in front of you, Marcus will cling to the wall and automatically take cover, as in the Xbox 360 version. Once in cover mode, spacebar will perform a context-sensitive action, as indicated by the icon on screen. It doesn’t have the same fluidity of a controller, but for WASD fans, this is a perfect solution, as nothing is lost in the translation. Heck, even the “look at cool stuff” button returns as well (this time, mapped to Q).
And if even this idea doesn’t appease skeptical newcomers, all that juicy extra content could more than make up for it. New missions in the single player campaign, new multiplayer maps, a bundled game editor… the works!
Patience, Iago. Patience.