Gears of War Roadie Run Retrospective

by Chad Lakkis on October 13, 2008 at 7:20 am

With the release of Gears 2 quickly approaching, I decided that it might be a good time for me to take a quick roadie run down Sera Lane — one that involves a three-hour “I refuse to accept no as an answer” road trip. Those who know me won’t be surprised, but looking back, even I wonder what the hell I was thinking.

When the first Gears was announced, I was probably one of the few people that hadn’t been aware of the game’s hype. Epic’s new IP was brought to my attention by a friend I had spent countless hours playing Call of Duty 2 with on Xbox LIVE.

He kept telling me about this “Mad World” commercial that I just had to see. I repeatedly brushed it off with responses like, “Yeah OK, let’s go play some more COD2.” Then one day while channel surfing, I stumbled on the commercial he had been harping about.

There haven’t been many gaming-related “oh shit” moments for me that took place prior to actually playing a game, but this commercial was certainly one of them. The Gears of War “Mad World” trailer combined a soothing melody with harsh visuals to create what I found to be a near-perfect balance of inner peace and outer chaos.

No less than ten minutes later, I was on YouTube replaying it over and over, and the next few weeks of XBL buddy chat consisted of me singing the Mad World theme song into the ears of my extremely patient online friends. The TV spot piqued my interest in the game, and it wasn’t long before I found myself reserving it at my local GameStop. Reservation? Check! Everything under control? Not so much.

I woke one morning (it was probably more like noon) to the sound of my cell phone alerting me of a new voicemail message. After playing the excited message from my friend, who had just got his copy, I realized that some GameStop locations were selling their pre-orders before others. A quick call to the one I had reserved my copy at opened my eyes to two things: 1) my GameStop had yet to get the games, and 2) GameStop reservations are not transferable to other locations.

My reservation was made at a location just outside of Boston, and while the location actually in Boston got the game, they wouldn’t honor the reservation I made at the other location. I was told, “Sorry, there’s no way you can play the game today.” Wrong answer.

I got on the horn and started calling every GameStop that I could find until I found one that was willing to help me out. That was the good news. The bad news was that it was about three hours away in Connecticut. So I gathered up some food and drink, hopped into my car, drove from Massachusetts to Connecticut, purchased the game, shared my story with a few Gears fans in-store, exchanged gamertags, got back in my car, and drove back with the following scene from Road Trip looping through my head.

Tell me not to play? I think not! After all of that, you would think I got home and played the hell out of the game, right? Wrong. I powered up my 360 and didn’t even make it through the intro tutorial before a sense of disappointment set in. It might have been the fact that I was exhausted, but I wasn’t really feeling the controls (which is funny looking back on it now), and so I powered my system down and didn’t play the game again for days.

Eventually, I got a call to take the game online and experience Gears multiplayer with some buddies. I never looked back. From that point forward, I became “Cole Train”, belting out “woot woot baby” after every kill. The controls, which where admittedly different, grew on me and became second nature. Anything that got in my way was greeted by a roadie run/diving roll combo, topped off with a shotgun blast to the face!

To put things into perspective, my friends and I spent an ungodly amount of time playing COD2 online, but even that paled in comparison to the amount of time we invested into Gears multiplayer. Innovative weapons like the Torque Bow, Hammer of Dawn, and Chainsaw Bayonet kept us coming back for more.

New maps were eventually released, and updates were made to fix some issues gamers ran into as gameplay evolved (i.e. sticky bomb abuse, roadie run exploits, etc.), but like any game, over time people moved on to newer titles.

Bethesda began their marketing campaign for FallOut 3, and I found myself comparing their initial commercial to the Gears “Mad World” TV spot, even going as far as asking readers which cinematic presentation they preferred. Around that same time, rumors began to circulate about a sequel to Gears (imagine that) and interests started to perk again. Nothing could be confirmed, and speculation set in that an announcement would be made at the upcoming Game Developers Conference.

It wasn’t long before I found myself in the front row of the Microsoft GDC Keynote, and as expected, the Gears sequel talk cut through the crowd like a chainsaw tearing open a Locust’s chest. I overheard a crew member for another site confirm that the game would be announced as he directed his camera man to “make sure he got the shot of Cliffy coming on stage at the end.” So, like any good blogger, I called the tip in to the home team and “Gears 2 Confirmed” hit the front page of our site.

Since then, a lot has happened. The dueling chainsaw feature we predicted from GDC was confirmed, and a slew of new features were revealed. Five-man team support, meat shields, revamped executions, new weapons, achievements, and an in-game achievement tracker have got the Gears community buzzing at an all time high.

With the original Gears of War “Mad World” trailer deemed an instant classic by many, including myself, Epic was tasked with introducing the world to Gears 2 with the same level of quality and cinematic flair. While different in its approach, the “Rendezvous with Death” trailer is both well-executed and multi-purposed as it prominently highlights one of the game’s new features: the meat shield.

In addition to the TV spot, Epic went all out with online and offline marketing as well. Unleashing splash page mystery images, developer diaries, and most recently sending various media outlets their own brand of giant decoder rings in the form of metal COG tags. With everything from Gears of War shoes, to books, to user-designed case mods, it’s obvious that Marcus and the boys are in high demand.

The game that was once referred to as “bigger, better, and more badass” by the lead designer himself may no longer be officially represented as such, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t be all of those things. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am extremely excited about the Gears of War 2 release and will make sure that I’m fully prepared to terminate Locust come November 7th. See you online beeshes!!!

Title: Gears of War 2
Publisher: Microsoft
Rating: Mature
Content: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
Platforms: Xbox 360

The gears of war continue to turn as Marcus Fenix and his squad of Cogs go back into action in the sequel to Microsoft and developer Epic Games’ blockbuster action title.

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Tags: cliffyb, Epic-Games, gears, Gears 2, Gears-of-War, Gears-of-War-2, Locust, Mad World, Rendezvous with Death

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Comments »

Sam Naylor
on October 13, 2008 12:07 pm

If I had a 360, I’d be there…
Chad Lakkis
on October 13, 2008 1:10 pm

Aw come on Sam — how am I supposed to saw you in half if you don’t have a 360??
Sam Naylor
on October 13, 2008 2:17 pm

Let’s just hope a PC version comes out!

By the way, great article.
PressStart
on October 13, 2008 5:21 pm

Got a 360 after right after the original Gears came out, and yet haven’t even tried it yet. Looks like I just might skip onto Gears 2!
The Whaler
on October 14, 2008 12:44 am

I like the box art for it. I was hoping they’d use the image from the mags as the art.

Gears didn’t really tickle my fancy honestly, I mean I’ll try anything once so I might give this one a try.
Dan
on October 19, 2008 1:25 am

Dude you are an idiot! Of course you wouldnt be able to pick up a preorder at another gamestop.. Duh u put money down on the game and each store has to account of its own income.. So lets say you put $20 down at one store and went to another store to pick up the game.. oh wait, they dont have your $20 because its on the game at another store! Can you imagine trying to close out over 4000 gamestops at the end of the night.. that would be alot of money to count in one night.. So ya dumbass makes sense that if u put money down on a game that you have to pick it up at the same location… Why do people lack sense!
Chad Lakkis
on October 19, 2008 1:53 am

Thanks for the kind words Dan :)

It is not unheard of for a chain to call up another location to help out a customer. My hope was that providing proof of a pre-order with their chain would convince a store manager to part with a copy if their location had extra. In the end I found one willing to do so.

P.S. You should probably go take your meds now.
Tim
on October 19, 2008 3:14 am

Gears of War will definately go down as one of this generations defying games, along with CoD4 and Peggle.
Bruce Almighty
on October 19, 2008 3:27 am

Great read. Thanks for sharing your story Chad.
MysteryM
on October 19, 2008 9:55 am

Played COD 2 to death, then went onto gears and now halo 3. We must have spent over 2 years playing COD 2, even with the crappy lobby system it was still a great game.

Roll on gears 2.
Chad Lakkis
on October 19, 2008 10:49 am

@MysterM,

Completely agree. COD2 was and still is a great game. I went right from COD2 to COD4. COD3 was a bit of a disappointment for me.
Dom
on October 19, 2008 12:31 pm

Actually, I worked at a GameStop in Rhode Island during the Gears of War launch. All the stores in RI didn’t receive the game on launch day due to a shipping error, except the store I worked for. Most people came from other stores in hope to pick the title up using their reservation from a different location and we had to turn them away due to lack of games. I know this extended outside of RI well into Mass — Seekonk didn’t receive their shipments either.

The problem was the lack of titles in the area. My store online received 75 copies and we had 65 preorders. We sold the 10 non-preordered copies in the first hour of getting shipment. All preorders had been processed shortly after. We had no copies left by 3PM that afternoon. It was one of the most horrifying game launches in New England.

Glad I don’t deal with GameStop anymore.
The Whaler
on October 19, 2008 11:21 pm

@Dan: I work at a game place myself and we hold games for people who DON’T put money down for a certain amount of time (let’s say 24 hours) they don’t pick it up that’s their loss. So YOU my good sir lack sense and respect for calling someone you don’t even know a dumbass and an idiot though the internet just so you can try and be all badass when. it just makes you look and sound like a hoe
So good day to you sir :]

Anyways….I have yet to play COD4 but I agree with Chad, 3 wasn’t as great as the others. I played Brothers in Arms but to me that game is just a COD ripoff (no offense to any Brothers in Arms fans). I just hope (if I end up playing Gears 2 ) it won’t be as short as the first.
castags
on October 20, 2008 4:59 am

Chad, I’m so sorry you had to drive to this lame @$$ state I live in. If this ever happens again i’ll gladly pick the game up for you and hand deliver it, just to get outta here. Or if you’re ever by Mohegan Sun drop by and i’ll show you Resistance 2. Much better game IMO.

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