holabendez blog

Played a lot of sequels (more often than not second sequels), and generally with video games sequels turn out better than their predecessors. That was certainly the case for many of the first sequels to games that had their second sequels released in 2011, however for the most part those second sequels were unable to top their predecessors. Gears of War 3 was the notable exception where the game just got even better.

A great conclusion to the story, loads of great action set pieces, and hands down the best multiplayer experience I’ve ever had. Before I’m done with this game I suspect I will have played more of it than any other game on my consoles, it’s just that good.

Top 5 Games I played in 2011:
1. Gears of War 3
2. Saints Row: The Third
3. Uncharted 3
4. Killzone 3
5. Dead Space 2

Favourite game of 2010: Mass Effect 2

Always been a fan of the Gears of War series, and the third game ties up the trilogy brilliant. A polished, well refined game, with excellent graphics and tight gameplay. It also has immense replayability through all its online features. This is the first game where I’ve truly gotten into the online multiplayer side of things. I’m still playing the game to this day and I suspect I’ll be playing plenty more of it for weeks to come. A must have for any Xbox gamer, along with its predecessors.

I burned through Gears of War 2 in a short space of time, and was left wondering if the game was too short, or actually just right and all other games were too long.

When you consider that video games can cost over $100 I suppose you really want to be able to get your money’s worth. The problem I have is that often games feel like they’re being padded with repetitive gameplay in order to eek out a few extra hours from you.

Gears of War 2 is lean, you get through the campaign quickly and it feels satisfying without ever being close to tedious. The added advantage is that it has a rich multi-player element which means that once you’ve finished with the campaign (which was at best 8-10 hours) there’s still plenty more to play for.

Gears 2 is pretty much an upgrade of the original – it has all the things that made the first game great and has tried to build upon it. Larger scale battles, sharper graphics, and a few extra combat features. Haven’t touched the multiplayer yet, but the new Horde mode looks promising.

It seems there’s a solid focus on the multi-player aspect, which explains the short single player campaign, and in turn accounts for the majority of the achievements, which meant that after finishing the game I had barely made a dent in the available achievement points – oh well, I’ll just have to jump on Xbox Live and endure getting pWned by some obnoxious 10 year old kids from Nebraska.

Four stars.

Just finished Gears of War, and I can understand all the fuss. Beautiful graphics, fast, frenetic and fun gameplay –  what other game offers a machine gun with a chain saw bayonet?? Addicitive from start to finish. No wonder so many games are copying the “duck and cover” mechanics. This game rocks. The final boss battle was surprisinglyeasy, but that may have also been because I had a bit of help playing online co-op with my mate Jeff.

Four stars.