See what's changed: Gears 2 Flashback Maps video
by Randy Nelson 
{ Nov 6th 2008 at 7:00PM }
The Flashback Map Pack should be just the ticket for those wanting to combine nostalgia with the game's various mechanics improvements. Our compadres at X3F have put together a video tour of the revamped maps, showing off changes such as the new iced-over Canals and expanded Tyro Station, from both in-game and new Battle Camera perspectives. Tomorrow can't come soon enough. See what's in store after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I'm Batman @ Nov 6th 2008 7:05PM
ahh memories
Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 6th 2008 7:08PM
Playing the game now (Thanks Amazon!) and I can confirm it is really really good. Not sure if I would say it's the best game of the year (for me anyway) but I would have no problem if it won GOTY. In all honesty it has exceeded my expectations thus far. Not a big multiplayer guy so the campaign is where the meat and potatoes are for me.
Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 6th 2008 7:23PM
hey, your not the real batman!
Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 6th 2008 7:24PM
damn it!
The Dark Wayne @ Nov 6th 2008 7:31PM
yeah I know, i tried to change my name and couldn't log in so I've had to try 3 new accounts none of which work past the first post. chances are this won't work either
The Dark Wayne @ Nov 6th 2008 7:32PM
well what do you know it did, except without the pic
: /
Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 6th 2008 7:49PM
I see a batman picture
The Dark Wayne @ Nov 6th 2008 8:02PM
well hallelujah
CLOUD9 @ Nov 6th 2008 7:25PM
I hope it's worth all the bullshit I'm going through to get it.
BIGGEN (LIVE-PSN: BIGGEN1103) @ Nov 6th 2008 8:09PM
bullshit? like what skipping out of work, saying that you have migraines, and just need some sleep? that sort of bullshit? i'm not doing that. i better employee than that ;D
Rollins @ Nov 6th 2008 7:30PM
That's one way to discourage buying the game used.
Quite a smart move.
Coldbrand @ Nov 6th 2008 7:51PM
Nostalgia? Gears of War just fucking came out.
The Dark Wayne @ Nov 6th 2008 8:07PM
in November 2006....
joemoemino @ Nov 6th 2008 7:49PM
Why wait 'til tomorrow? Go to 7/11!
TheE3Guy @ Nov 6th 2008 7:53PM
Just 5 more hours...
Huey2k2 @ Nov 6th 2008 8:11PM
So Canals was my favourite map back in the day when I played Gears nonstop, so I am wondering; When you walk on the ice where the water used to be do you slip around? Or is the ice merely cosmetic?
Because slipping around on the ice would be kinda cool.
Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 6th 2008 8:33PM
The multiplayer is kind of broken. They need to update the game because there are some issues - ones I have noticed others saying as well.
No more player match option
5 rounds max for multiplayer
characters move much slower
exploding smoke bombs are weak - everyone chucks their smoke bombs at the start of the match
forestofdeath @ Nov 6th 2008 8:42PM
wait WUT? O_O
so essentially, say goodbye to hour long multiplayer bouts?
xFenixKnightx @ Nov 6th 2008 8:54PM
Of course, you've always been a Gears MP hater anyway. Its all good. Im sure everyone else will love it :)
So whats your Gamertag Mcpoop?
Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 6th 2008 9:38PM
I'm not hating Fenix ... It's just needs some updates which I am sure it will get ... I know Gears is your favorite game E-V-A-R so you take it all personal but it's all good ... You'll see when you play it what I'm talking about ... Send me a message on PSN or at 8bitfix and I'll give you my XBL gamertag ... It's just going to take some getting used to is all ... And honestly I hated on Gears 1 campaign not the multiplayer. I just stopped playing the multiplayer after everyone started glitching and made it unplayable for me.
This one plays allot different than the first one so it takes some time adjusting to it. Everyone on there is playing with a downloaded copy (except me cuz I got lucky from amazon). I hope they reset the leaderboards because it's out of control how many people have massive amount of points thats not possible unless they had downloaded the game.
My initial thoughts/complaints/ positives
5 round max in ranked is lame.
No more public player match - only private player match or ranked public match.
Serious lag/server issues with the party system - Can take up to 10 minutes to load into a single game.
Characters move much slower than in the original.
Chainsaw seems to be the best weapon in most matches I have played in due to the extreme lag.
I guess there is no more host advantage because (from what I can see) there is no option to host a game.
The smoke grenade explosion effect (so far) has been used very cheaply.
Allot of people camp out and set the grenades as proximity mines - I call it bunkering up.
Active reload damage effect has been toned down - which is good. No more one hit downs with the sniper rifle on somebody's foot.
You can get killed while using the chainsaw now which is good.
Meat Flag (or whatever its called) is insane. The guy that's the meatflag (computer) is a bad ass with the shotgun. I would use the lancer at long range to down him.
King of the hill is also a good mode. The mortar shells are off the chain.
They have really toned down the damage and rate of fire of the shotgun. Shotgun whores will now be chainsaw whores. Trust me.
The game is good but it's not as polished as I would have expected. I think most of the problems (there are a fair share of issues - not perfect) can and will be fixed with game updates.
I really hope the people that downloaded the game and have been playing get their gamerscores wiped out or get perma-banned. Just about everyone was bragging about having pirated it. Retarded. Pisses me off. Isn't that why Cliffy said there would be no PC release? I bet you the amount of 360 copies pirated is higher than he would think. When you get the game go and look at the leader boards. You can tell people have been playing for weeks if not a few months.
Anyway ... I'm going to go at the campaign mode now ad see how the story is this time around.
Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 6th 2008 9:40PM
Not to mention just about everyone I played with (been playing for about 4 or 5 hours) was bitching about how bad it was compared to the first one. It's not just me hating there are allot of complaints about it.
wiredknight @ Nov 6th 2008 10:32PM
If it's so bad, why are they playing it, and why were they so anxious to play it that they had to download it days before the release?
Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 6th 2008 10:59PM
wiredknight
Never said it was awful. It just has some issues. I'm done with this discussion because it is going nowhere. Everyone thinks I am just hating to hate - which I'm honestly not doing. There is hardly ever a game that launches that is perfect. As I said I am sure that in time there will be tweaks made to make it play good. Maybe it's my connection (I have up to 15 MBPS BTW), maybe it's HEAVY server load or maybe it's all in my head. I'm done talking about it because everyone just wants to either argue or say I am not being truthful.
Maybe adding the 5th player is slowing it down. I don't know.
sk8monroe81 @ Nov 7th 2008 2:27PM
that sucks.. freakin cheaters..
its goes beyond wanting a free copy of the game at that point.
supposedly bungie posted before that they did a good job of banning cheaters and microsoft claims the same so hopefully this happens again.
(which means at least they have to buy a new console or new account)
xFenixKnightx @ Nov 8th 2008 1:15PM
"No more player match option
Does it really matter? There isnt one on COD4" either...
"5 rounds max for multiplayer"
FALSE!!!! 19rds max, have you even played around with the options?
"characters move much slower"
What game are you playing? False again...
"exploding smoke bombs are weak - everyone chucks
their smoke bombs at the start of the match"
Nope again. It doesn't really change the game too much either.
Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 8th 2008 3:11PM
fenix -
Like I said there will be people that will defend everything about certain games that they like no matter what the issues are. It's been well documented that the player speed has been reduced to make it less of a run and gun, player match obviously matters to me (there are other people than you in the world), exploding smoke bombs may not matter to you but like I said I find it being used very cheap and I guess I missed the option to change the rounds from 5 to 19.
It is possible to have a discussion without being a dick - Fenix.
jinn35 @ Nov 6th 2008 9:02PM
Speaking of Gears of War, has anbody saw this bad boy?
http://gear.ign.com/articles/927/927793p1.html
NegativeGhostrider @ Nov 7th 2008 1:48PM
That is most definitely not worth $950. At first I thought it was the Amazon Lancer that was $150 and I thought, "Wow, the detail on that is actually pretty decent" until I realized it was a completely different one. What a waste of money.
riggs @ Nov 6th 2008 9:20PM
man i love gamefly, its already on its way to me!
JangoGod @ Nov 6th 2008 10:23PM
I have not played Gears of war, so this will be brand new experience for me!
I hope I haven't missed anything...
Orionsaint @ Nov 6th 2008 10:31PM
It's dawn in Gridlock now. Pollution in the air. More rust. Crazy foliage everywhere. There's trees now in those giant pots going along the edge of the river. The bells back! I wonder if you can destroy it again.
No more nigh time stormy weather at the Mansion. It's broad daylight. Foliage everywhere even inside the mansion. Again trees fully grown at each post.
Subway no longer windy and stormy. more Bars at the entrance of the subway station. The map seems larger, but maybe that's just me.
Tyro Station it's now broad daylight. The Train animation seems smoother, but again maybe that's just me.
Canals is frozen!, and it's snowing.
pfemm @ Nov 7th 2008 11:15AM
I scored my copy yesterday afternoon. and luckily my buddy did too {thanks Amazon}
We played Hardcore Coop Campaign. F.U.N.
-though I'd rather play Insane cause the hardcore hasn't seemed all that "hard".. still super fun though.
Last night we played 4 players on Horde.
Holy.Crap. that was a good time. We just wanted to get through to 10 waves.
ridiculous. I can't even imagine what wave 30 is like. I swear we spent an hour on wave 10. probably would have done better without the hysterical laughter that good times bring. It's been a while since a game interested me enough to make me really forget about the time. I usually start to pass out around midnight. Narcosleepy.
johnson @ Nov 8th 2008 1:16AM
This one plays allot different than the first one so it takes some time adjusting to it. Everyone on there is playing with a downloaded copy (except me cuz I got lucky from amazon). I hope they reset the leaderboards because it's out of control how many people have massive amount of points thats not possible unless they had downloaded the game.Active reload damage effect has been toned down - which is good. No more one hit downs with the sniper rifle on somebody's foot.
====================================================
johnson
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serotoninzero @ Nov 7th 2008 3:16PM
I finished the campaign last night and can say in my opinion that it's a lot better than the first campaign, and I loved that campaign too. GoW isn't my favorite game but they really just took everything and made it better. We played on the second hardest difficulty since the hardest wasn't available. Since there are four difficulties this time, I'm not sure how it ranks up, but it definitely wasn't as hard as the hardest mode in GoW. The hardest here probably will be. Took us about 14 or 15 hours to play though. Great game, and so far Horde is such an awesome idea and I look forward to playing that a lot. Multiplayer seemed good so far but I only played a few matches so I can't really say anything about that.