First of all awesome event they put on in Toronto on August 21st
Waited in line for awhile out front, got checked for ID because it was a night club the event took place in, so i got a wrist band that said booze was a go for me
Went inside and got a swag bag that included three t-shirts (none of them that great), a free code for the Fabe 2 pub games, a Vualt/Pip Boy sticker, and some posters
Once inside a friend and I immediately sought after Gears of War 2; it was being showcased upstairs on 10 TVs that all had MP running and one screen that was demoing the SP footage that we all saw at E3
Cliff Bleszinski was there playing the game when i sat down and my friend and I got him to sign some Gears of War fanart that was being passed around at the event
The lobby system is smooth, it lists the gametypes in the top and you choose which one you want to play....we tried to set up a Horde game, but were quickly stopped by the guys running the booth
They told it wasn't 'ready' to be shown here
once the gametype is fired up (Note: we played Guardian and Wingman because they said they were the quickest games...i tried to play Submission but again they shot that down because they said it would take much longer to complete a game)
before the map starts you can switch your character; i saw Cole, Tai, Dizzy, Marcus, Baird, Carmine, and i think i remember seeing Hoffman - don't quote me on that one....saw the Locust Kantus, shirtless Locust wearing a helmet, and the other ones that were in the first game. You can also switch your starting weapon between the Lancer and Hammerburst2; i mostly used the HB2
HB2 is a solid gun...you can hold the RT down and it fires at a reasonable pace, but i did notice a much faster rate when i clicked the trigger repeatedly...i was trying to get headshots with it, but i don't think you can
i didn't get to play Day One though...but played Gridlock, River, Avalanche, and Security
Guardian works exactly like it was said and i played my first game on Gridlock 2.0....unfortunately i didn't see what weapon was in the towers for those wondering
right off the bat i noticed a much smoother game, the characters don't feel like they have as much weight to them and they do sway from side-to-side when you turn them while roadie running
i downed someone and shotgun meleed them (B button), it's a quick animation and pretty cool too; someone told me it was me and Cliff left on the map and he had just Boom'd my last teammate...i went upstairs and he was down too, so i caught a break, and performed the Y button execution, which was the Ultimate Fighting punches to end the match
next map i played was River, probably my favourite map of the day, on Guardian
ran out of spawn and grabbed frag grenades...i stuck one in the wall on the staircase, like what they did in the demoed gameplay, and picked up the Torque Bow at the top of the stairs
the TB is a much easier weapon to shoot from long distances now with the new aiming sight...i Torqued two guys in the opposite tower and my team finished off the rest
some people were tossing smokes all over the place, but as long as you avoid the initial blast, which isn't hard you won't be knocked down; think i ragdolled once though
i didn't chainsaw duel anyone, afterall i was using the HB2, but saw a few of them, pretty cool...this one guy won two in a row
i played Wingman next on Security and Avalanche
on Avalanche i spawned next to the Mortar and grabbed it...damn that thing was hard to aim...i kept shooting the blast over everyone; you plant it into the ground with the LT and then a gage moves up and down and you click the RT to fire it when it lines up with about the middle-line...depending on when it is stopped determines the distance; i asked Cliff how to use it, but still couldn't hit anything
my teammate had the Mulcher (on Security) and he shredded one of our enemies with it....pretty badass
the Avalanche never came down on our match because my teammate and i destroyed the opposition, but i did see while watching....it made the screen all cloudy, but i never saw where exactly it came down
i got to use the Gorgon, albeit breifly because i died shortly after grabbing it, solid rate of fire but i can't give much of an opinion on it due to limited use
never got my hands on poison nades, the Snipe, the Flamethrower, or the shield, but i saw people using all of them except the sniper rifle, in matches
the Flame killed one guy (looking very cool) and the poison nade made me sprint away...i think it was Cliff using the shield and he performed its execution on a guy; it basically crushes the guy's head with the bottom of the shield, coming down from above with considerable force
i tried wall bouncing, but it wasn't nearly as effective, although that might have just been due to system link...the character sort of turns off the wall now rather than 'bouncing' off it
i saw someone wall slide a weapon pickup, so that wasn't patched for those wondering
frags don't appear to bounce around as much and they kind of just hit the ground and stay there
meatshield is cool, i did it only once though because i kept curb stomping and using the punches...it doesn't seem overpowered in the least
the shotgun is much, much slower now, it's still decent to use, but will probably take some adjusting to be able to shoot effectively...i tried to 2-piece people, but it's almost non-existent now with no stun to the melee gone, people just seem to walk through it and the shot comes out so much slower that they have time to avoid the spread
i got a great view of stopping power when a player, using a Theron Guard, tried to run up on me...i Lancered him/her (whatever) right in the face and stopped them dead in their tracks; it is powerful...then i curb stomped them after yelling "STOPPING POWER!!"
i double chainsawed a bunch of people with a teammate, once both of us were facing the opponent and the other time i was on their front while he was sawing the back...pretty cool and obviously it gives the kill to the guy who initiated the original saw
crawling when down is a solid new feature too, although most people never seemed to get that far to avoid dying
the framerate ran smooth, there wasn't texture popping or rendering when the game booted up
Cliff confirmed the 100,000 kill achievement after i asked him about it and i talked to him after the show (i was the guy in the black football jersey - number 32 - in case Cliff reads this)
wish i could've played Horde, but i had a blast playing Gears 2 early and i can't wait for its release
(i played other games too, but that's not why you are reading this)
Thanks X08 and EPIC!!
My Canada X08 Impressions
Linear Mode
