Speaking at the Montreal Games Summit, EA Montreal's Alain Tascan had some fighting words for Gears of War,"What is Gears of War? I mean Gears of War brings nothing in terms of innovation to the shooter... Like, zero."
He further laid on the smack sauce (smack sauce?) with this comment,
"I'm not talking about my tastes, I'm just saying, when you go to metacritic and you see a 96 for Gears of War, then you read the critics saying, 'Okay, storyline - there's none, gameplay is not innovative...' Then I say, why did they give this 96? They were blown away by the high quality of the graphics... Myself, I prefer something more creative,"
It's time for a rant. Read on for more.
Okay, without digging into the irony of an EA executive chiding a game for lack of innovation (hey guys, Burnout 5 is coming next year!), let's just look at his statement in a general way. Gears of War is, no doubt, a blast to play. Sure, the graphics are gorgeous -- the best out there -- the sound design is through the roof, and the game is filled with "oohs" and "ahs," but the gameplay is solid. The question is: is it innovative? I will chime in and say yes, with some caveats. There are many things that are not innovative about Gears of War. Cover is nothing new, nor is squad based gameplay. The weapons, with the exception of the chainsaw bayonet, are pretty standard -- yes, even the Hammer of Dawn isn't new. Those are the caveats, so what makes GOW innovative? The answer is simple, it makes a tactical shooter feel like it's not a tactical shooter. The game uses cover, but it never feels stale or slow like, say, Ghost Recon. I'm decidedly not a tactical shooter guy, and yet Gears snagged me. You could say that Gears is a tactical shooter for the action crowd. There are other innovative elements, too, such as the camera. Yes, it may be a graphical effect, but the "wartime reporter" camera is something that hasn't really been done before. It adds greatly to the immersive nature of Gears and it's actually something that makes the game "feel" next gen. In the end, Gears of War is a beautiful game, but claiming presentation as the only reason it has been well reviewed is asinine.
