Wow...Gears of War for XBox 360 has rekindled my hatred for videogames

Cafe Society
21

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
The REAL problem here is that you are trying to play an FPS on a CONSOLE.

I too got Gears of War for xmas, but I got it for the PC :slight_smile: Nothing beats playing an FPS on the PC with mouse and keyboard, certainly not a controller!

So if you like the game, except for the difficulty level and would still like to play it, I’d say you have two options: get it for PC (if you have a decent rig, you’re getting better graphics, 5 extra chapters of game play, new enemies, AND mouse and keybaord control), or get a mouse and keyboard mapper for the xbox.

They have comparison videos for the mapping adapter and it’s just sad seeing the control users get owned by the keyboard and mouse setup over and over again :slight_smile: It’s just a lot easier, and much more accurate than a controller.

So not only should the game become more manageable, you’d probably kick butt online! You’d probably even be able to beat all the 12 year old pros! :wink:

PS: I’m loving the game on the PC so far, love the whole tactical cover aspect of the game.
[/QUOTE]

Okay, okay, okay. I get it. Mouse and keyboard is good. The problem is that on a console, it’s just not possible. Can we finally move past this as a “I hate consoles because of the lack of mouse and keyboard”? I’m not just specifically talking about you, but the usual chorus of “mouse and keyboard!” gets old after a while. If it were a choice on a console, then yes. I just simply isn’t. Not only that, but the controller is damned fine and does a very good job. I’ve played with a keyboard and mouse before, and I’m a big fan of the controller.

22

Wait until you get to the last boss. He’ll make you sorry that you played that far.

23

[QUOTE=FinnAgain]
And, get this, he’s going to hide. All the time. All over the place. We won’t have a single part in the entire game where it won’t be absolutely required for him to hide behind something."

[/QUOTE]

Except that Metal Gear Solid managed to do this far better ten years ago.

Amen brother. Basically you are fighting a bunch of generic humanoid goons that could have been taken from Quake or Doom or any number of other similar games. Occassionally you see some giant Starship Troopers-esque giant insect lumbering around and you have a bunch of flying Pitch Black creatures that are afraid of the light. Oh and General RAAM, the Nemisis thing from Resident Evil called - he want’s his character back.

From the TV commercial with our hero about to be jumped by what looks like an actual giant locust humming Donnie Darko music, it looks like you’re basically fighting some kind of insect horde that has decimated the planet. In reality, you’re just fighting leftover monster models from other games and movies.

24

[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever]
Okay, okay, okay. I get it. Mouse and keyboard is good. The problem is that on a console, it’s just not possible. Can we finally move past this as a “I hate consoles because of the lack of mouse and keyboard”? I’m not just specifically talking about you, but the usual chorus of “mouse and keyboard!” gets old after a while. If it were a choice on a console, then yes. I just simply isn’t. Not only that, but the controller is damned fine and does a very good job. I’ve played with a keyboard and mouse before, and I’m a big fan of the controller.
[/QUOTE]

Seconded. Halo proved a controller could do a FPS and do it well. Besides, I pay $350 (the prices of a graphics card that’s outdated in 4 months) and get a console with better sound, better screen, better seating, and no driver issues.

As far as a PC looking better because it’s driving 1600x1400, I don’t see it, yeah, the pixels are smaller, and it’s moving geometrically more data around, but I’m playing a game not stopping and smelling the roses.

25

[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
Seconded. Halo proved a controller could do a FPS and do it well. Besides, I pay $350 (the prices of a graphics card that’s outdated in 4 months) and get a console with better sound, better screen, better seating, and no driver issues.

As far as a PC looking better because it’s driving 1600x1400, I don’t see it, yeah, the pixels are smaller, and it’s moving geometrically more data around, but I’m playing a game not stopping and smelling the roses.
[/QUOTE]

Not only that, but most people DON’T play on PC and most people, even ones that do play games on their PC, don’t have super-fun-nifty-happy graphics cards to play nifty games at their capability. As an extreme example, take Crysis.

This is about the part in the discussion where someone likens PC players to “power users” and generally insults the intelligence of console users.

26

  1. Did you read my post? It IS possible to have a mouse and keybaord setup on the xbox. They have mapping adapters. Sounds like a reasonable suggestion to me.

  2. Controller is not useless, obviously. the game plays fine with it. BUT it is no where near as accurate and quick as the mouse. It’s great the you like the controller, but the keyboard and mouse is simply the better setup. Especially for a case like the OP, where difficulty of the game is getting in the way of his enjoyment. This isn’t really a preference thing, at least no in terms of results. Take a look at comparison videos online, or read the comments of various FPS game designers who develop games for both platforms. The answer is always the same: mouse + keyboard beats controllers. Heck the UT3 devs had to slow down the action for the consoles because of the controllers, and were unable to do cross platform online gaming because the console players were getting owned :slight_smile:

  3. Improvements on graphics from console ports sometimes ARE just a matter of higher resolutions, but not usually, and not in the case of gears of war. The textures are sharper, the effects are more advanced, the frame rate is more consistent, and it’s runnign on an updated version of the unreal engine. All this = better graphics experience. Yes, it’s true that this will only be the case if you have a decent gaming rig which is why I mentioned this to the OP, just in case he does.

Please stop getting all offended.

27

Once you’ve spent 250% more, and gotten the drivers sorted, then yes, you’ll have a better experience, nailed down at your desk.

It have a fairly kick-butt laptop, it’ll play last years games rather well. I have a keyboard and mouse I can use with it.

I still prefer the console as the time I have available to me is short, and I’d rather spend it playing than figuring out why video drivers and a configuration that worked four months ago now no longer does.

But that’s irrelevant as this is a xbox360 thread, and you plomped in here talking PC. I’d suggest another thread.

28

[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
Once you’ve spent 250% more, and gotten the drivers sorted, then yes, you’ll have a better experience, nailed down at your desk.

It have a fairly kick-butt laptop, it’ll play last years games rather well. I have a keyboard and mouse I can use with it.

I still prefer the console as the time I have available to me is short, and I’d rather spend it playing than figuring out why video drivers and a configuration that worked four months ago now no longer does.

But that’s irrelevant as this is a xbox360 thread, and you plomped in here talking PC. I’d suggest another thread.
[/QUOTE]

I suggested the PC version of the game or a mouse and keyboard adapter to the OP as possible, VALID solutions to his troubles.

If you can’t handle that because you’ve got an XBOX up your ass, don’t bother me about it.

29

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
I suggested the PC version of the game or a mouse and keyboard adapter to the OP as possible, VALID solutions to his troubles.

If you can’t handle that because you’ve got an XBOX up your ass, don’t bother me about it.
[/QUOTE]

You said:

Read that in a vacuum and tell me it doesn’t sound smug.

It isn’t me that has something up somewhere. And if you read the complaints, only some of them have anything to do with the control scheme. AND, we’ve mentioned other games that have managed to get FPS’s right on a console. I’d suggest that, with a little practice, you too could enjoy using a console. And Save Money and Hassle Doing it! ™

Or we could all go back to card games. no frame rate issues there.

30

[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
You said:

Read that in a vacuum and tell me it doesn’t sound smug.

[/QUOTE]

Yes, well it wasn’t meant to be read in a vacuum. Moreover I wasn’t trying to sound smug, perhaps I should have added another smily face after the first sentence.

I understand a preference for a particular system or a particular input device. More power to you. I only pointed out what I believe might be a source of trouble for the OP, given his main complaints.

When I was called out on the mouse thing, I tried to clear things up by saying that the controller works just fine, but, as even the designers of the video game in question have mentioned: the game is easier with mouse and keyboard. Hence my mention of it in the first place since difficulty appears to be the main gist of the OP.

I’m not dissing consoles. Nor do I have a problem with console gaming. There is something to be said for the simplicity of poping in a game disc and playing. I loved my xbox 360 when I had it, and now that they’ve finally added divx support, I’ll probably pick one up along with Mass Effect.

I do like pointing out that PC gaming CAN be just (well, almost just) as simple, and it does have it’s perks, however, I wouldn’t just pop into a random thread to put down consoles and hype the PC (my tongue in cheek comments not withstanding). I truly felt that my mention of the PC version of the game was completely relevant, given the OP’s concerns and I in no way meant to insinuate that consoles suck, or that the OP should go spend money on a PC just to use a mouse and keyboard.

31

[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
Once you’ve spent 250% more, and gotten the drivers sorted, then yes, you’ll have a better experience, nailed down at your desk.

It have a fairly kick-butt laptop, it’ll play last years games rather well. I have a keyboard and mouse I can use with it.

I still prefer the console as the time I have available to me is short, and I’d rather spend it playing than figuring out why video drivers and a configuration that worked four months ago now no longer does.

But that’s irrelevant as this is a xbox360 thread, and you plomped in here talking PC. I’d suggest another thread.
[/QUOTE]

man you guys sure have driver issues a lot. not trying to be rude here or sound all superior but why does everyone (or a lot of people) bring up driver issues as this constant hassle? is it because you really cant figure out drivers or because you are to lazy to keep up to date? or what? yeah I have had to update drivers for a game now and then but easily 95% of the time that meant by drivers were out of date in the first place.

and for the record I agree with the fps on a console being a joke, yeah a ton of people love halo and a couple other games but halo is most of those people first experience with online play and voice chat. when a hell of a lot of gamers have been playing online with voice chat since the 90’s

the argument that the xbox is cheaper than a pc is one I have a hard time buying, sure its cheaper than a pc, but seriously who doesnt own a computer? and even more so who the hell doesnt own a computer but does own an xbox?

my pc built from scratch would probably run $1500-2000 but unlike an xbox, I can play games, work, listen to music, watch movies, edit videos, surf the Dope, and a coulple hundred other possibilities while the xbox just lets me play games. I am not knocking owning a console but I really dont think spending some extra cash for a nice pc is that big a difference than getting a crappy pc and an xbox.
if you have a lap top thats a different story, I cry when I game on my laptop.

32

Gears of War is an ok game. It’s not great, and definitely not even one of the best games that came out recently. FEAR and Rainbow Six Vegas do cover much better than Gears. Vegas probably does cover the best of any game I’ve ever played. I’d love to play a game that is like a combo between Rainbow Six and Halo. Good team combat, good use of cover, but still with the ability to take some serious hits and pummel your opponents head to head if you need to storm a room.

33

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
If you can’t handle that because you’ve got an XBOX up your ass, don’t bother me about it.
[/QUOTE]
I have to admit, I’m not sure whether this counts as a “personal insult” and hence a rules violation. Sometimes, it’s just hard to tell. So, I’m going to give benefit of the doubt and just suggest that you avoid personal insults in this forum in the future… and I’m not recording this in the Moderator’s Secret Record Book of Who’s Been Naughty or Nice.

34

[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven]
I have to admit, I’m not sure whether this counts as a “personal insult” and hence a rules violation. Sometimes, it’s just hard to tell. So, I’m going to give benefit of the doubt and just suggest that you avoid personal insults in this forum in the future… and I’m not recording this in the Moderator’s Secret Record Book of Who’s Been Naughty or Nice.
[/QUOTE]

Noted Dexter. It won’t happen again.

35

[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
I have never been able to play a FPS using anything but a mouse. I don’t know how anyone plays them with a console controller. A mouse has a direct one-to-one proportional movement. You move it slow, you turn slow, fast, you turn fast. Using a controller is always like driving a tank, straight, straight, turn, turn, straight etc. Oops, I’m dead. :smiley:
[/QUOTE]
Oddly enough, I found it much harder to use a mouse and/or keyboard for the longest time. I suspect it’s what you start with, and get used to.

36

[QUOTE=msmith537]
So I got an XBox 360 and Gears of War for Xmas and I’ve been playing it on my new 50" HDTV. Ok so far. Except now I remember why I haven’t played a console game since the original Playstation:

  • Most of the weapons are, in fact, useless. The sidearm pistol and chainsaw bayonett sound like a good idea as a last resort. Except for all their effectiveness, the pistol should only hold one round which the player fires into his own head.

  • I sure missed the tedium of going though an entire scene over and over again, hoping do do it exactly right so that I don’t accidently press X instead of A, get shot in the face and do the whole damn thing over a hundred times.

-Along those lines - my favorite is the monotony of hearing the same dorky lines over again as I go through the pick up amo / open door routine over and over again

-And of course, that random shot at the very end that I have no idea where it came from and makes me start all over

  • Going back a few scenes because I painted myself into a corner by picking up a 4-shot grenade launcher and couldn’t find a rifle was awesome.

-I like that you get to travel with a squad of dudes who’s sole purpose appears to be getting wounded so you are forced to break cover to rescue them.

-I hate that the in most games, the low level grunts take only a few shots to kill and I take a lot. It’s so much better when I have to empty three clips into someone’s face before they feel it.

  • Shooting monsters isn’t challenging enough. I hope there are some jump / run / dive / run / jump puzzles for me to solve.
    Maybe I’ll try XBox Live after I set up a network in my house…because THAT’S what I want to do.
    [/QUOTE]

Sounds like you don’t like it because you suck at it. I suck big time at FPS’s and I was able to beat that game. Found it rather easy.

37

[QUOTE=Cubsfan]
Sounds like you don’t like it because you suck at it. I suck big time at FPS’s and I was able to beat that game. Found it rather easy.
[/QUOTE]

Slapped the game back in last night and discovered more success after I discovered the left trigger allowed you to ‘mouse look’. Still didn’t keep me from getting my ass handed to me.

FWIW, between loaned and bought games I’ve used:

Gears of War- we’ve discussed this one
Dead Rising - kinda crummy. Rotten voice acting, slow to get going
Star Trek Legacy - mechanics are hard to pick up, I sure expected a 360 game to be prettier. Looks like an xbox title
FEAR - I haven’t thrown this one in yet…I’m hoping it’s good as it had a lot of positive press.
Halo 3 - great so far, but I’m not into new material yet (brother brought over Xbox and we played it for 3 or 4 hours awhile back.)
PGR4 - game play is improved over previous PGR’s, but the graphics are STUNNING. The Las Vegas area looks exactly like Las Vegas. I’ve been at the Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace in the last year and they’re exactly as I remember them.
Ultimate Alliance - not my bag.
Forza Motorsport 2- Favorite racer so far. I like simulation over arcade and Forza’s mechanically better than PGR, if not as pretty
BioShock (demo) - creepy, pretty, great story, I’ll be buying this one when the budget recovers

I’ll be getting Orange Box too, based on the buzz.

What surprised my (and I guess it shouldn’t) is how much ‘meh’ is out there. Like everything else, there’s a lot of pablum for each great game.

38

[QUOTE=Cubsfan]
Sounds like you don’t like it because you suck at it. I suck big time at FPS’s and I was able to beat that game. Found it rather easy.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah well I am playing it on Hardcore setting.

That doesn’t change the monotony of creeping through a burnt out brown and gray city shooting the same monsters over and over again.

39

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]

  1. Did you read my post? It IS possible to have a mouse and keybaord setup on the xbox. They have mapping adapters. Sounds like a reasonable suggestion to me.

  2. Controller is not useless, obviously. the game plays fine with it. BUT it is no where near as accurate and quick as the mouse. It’s great the you like the controller, but the keyboard and mouse is simply the better setup. Especially for a case like the OP, where difficulty of the game is getting in the way of his enjoyment. This isn’t really a preference thing, at least no in terms of results. Take a look at comparison videos online, or read the comments of various FPS game designers who develop games for both platforms. The answer is always the same: mouse + keyboard beats controllers. Heck the UT3 devs had to slow down the action for the consoles because of the controllers, and were unable to do cross platform online gaming because the console players were getting owned :slight_smile:

  3. Improvements on graphics from console ports sometimes ARE just a matter of higher resolutions, but not usually, and not in the case of gears of war. The textures are sharper, the effects are more advanced, the frame rate is more consistent, and it’s runnign on an updated version of the unreal engine. All this = better graphics experience. Yes, it’s true that this will only be the case if you have a decent gaming rig which is why I mentioned this to the OP, just in case he does.

Please stop getting all offended.
[/QUOTE]

I didn’t mean to come across as offended, but people aren’t going to get something to map the keyboard and mouse to their Xbox.

40

[QUOTE=mswas]
Gears of War is an ok game. It’s not great, and definitely not even one of the best games that came out recently. FEAR and Rainbow Six Vegas do cover much better than Gears. Vegas probably does cover the best of any game I’ve ever played. I’d love to play a game that is like a combo between Rainbow Six and Halo. Good team combat, good use of cover, but still with the ability to take some serious hits and pummel your opponents head to head if you need to storm a room.
[/QUOTE]

Call of Duty 4?