Gears of War 2 Combustible Map Pack: Instantly Combusts $10!
This is going to be short and to the point. I’ve downloaded and played through a few rounds in each of the new maps in the downloadable Combustible Map Pack released today for Gears of War 2 and am prepared to make a recommendation.
Don’t dowload them. At least not yet. Here’s why.
Let me give you my perspective. The map pack is 800 MS Points. If the download were three bonus campaign chapters, I would give you a wholehearted recommendation. I enjoyed the brief but fun campaign. However, I really didn’t buy Gears 2 for the campaign. I bought Gears 2 to get online and hit some multiplayer.
The multiplayer system is still fatally flawed and I am sorely disappointed with Epic and Microsoft for releasing this map pack and charging for it before their anticipated patch hits after Christmas.
This map pack accentuates one of the basic, absolutely devastating fundamental flaws with the multiplayer. Since you can no longer choose gametypes or maps when you go into public play, Epic has once again fractured the core players into another segment. Just like the bonus Flashback map pack, rather than being able to play the additional maps in a rotation with the shipped maps or any combination there of, you now have YET ANOTHER selection on the multiplayer playlist. Yep, if you wanna play one of the new maps, you have to restrict yourself to matchmaking not only players that also have that map pack, but to players who have that map pack AND are also choosing to limit themselves to only those maps.
Epic acknowledges the slow matchmaking issues, ignorantly declares them “fixed” with a title update and server consolidation, then follows it just a week later with another way to segment the multiplayer population into even smaller pools of players to matchmake with.
Seriously, there are so many good things about Gears 2 it almost makes you want to scream to see that the things they screwed up, they did so completely as to make the game almost too painful to tolerate to try to play online. While glitches and bugs in the game play are things that usually I’m very patient about waiting for patches to fix, it just all adds up to absolutely the most bitter and foul taste I’ve had in my mouth in the 10 years I’ve been a loyal customer of Epic Games.
So here I am, the most stupid consumer in the history of gaming. I paid $70 for the Limited Edition Gears 2. Because of the Microsoft and Epic “thievery” –intentional or not—I had to go to eBay to purchase a code for the Flashback map pack for $8 because it’s not available to any profile on my Xbox but the one that the controller that hit “download” was signed into and Epic says it will not be released in the Xbox Marketplace, and now, I just spent another $10 in MS points to download three maps, one of which is simply another port from Gears 1 (and I’m guessing that my son on the same Xbox won’t be able to play on his profile).
I am really such a schmuck. Running tally: $88.00 on this game so far.
The three new maps. They’re fine. Nothing wrong with them. At least of the quality of what shipped with the game if not a little better, but if you want to play them, you’re going to matchmake even longer.
Don’t pay for these maps until we see if they’ve fixed this cataclysmically bad multiplayer system. It’s not worth it. If you want to play one round on all three maps publically you could be stuck for 2 hours between matchmaking and voting.
Don’t do it. Wait for the update, if Epic makes good, then you should feel okay to spend the dough.
Fix the game damnit.
If you haven’t read it:
My Gears 2 Multiplayer Bitch and Moan Article
Thanks for reading. Don’t be the idiot I am.
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Tags: Game Reviews, Gears of War, xbox, Xbox 360
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11 Responses to “Gears of War 2 Combustible Map Pack: Instantly Combusts $10!”
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December 16th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I would just wait until they become free, I suppose. Which will probably be like six months later.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Scuzz, I have to say, I really don’t understand it with the maps being limited to the profile. That really really bothers me. I mean, microtransactions bug the frak out of me already but that is crap too.
I’m not going to be the idiot you are though. =)
December 16th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I take the financial hit so you don’t have to. I haven’t tested the new map pack on a different profile, but the Flashback pack is definitely only available on one.
It was pretty ugly at the Epic forums last night, they locking thread after thread. Some deserved to be closed because they were nasty, but a lot were just complaining about what I am. After all the big promises that you’re working on fixing specifically issues with the game being discussed in the forums (though they don’t say which) all we’re given is 3 maps we have to pay for.
In my opinion, a horrendous PR move. They couldn’t hold the new map pack until the patch/title update comes to at least give the impression that it was their first concern?
Playing online has gotten terrible. Let me run it down:
Takes X minutes to connect to a match
a 5 on 5 match is paired
Gametype/Map vote happens
1 player drops as soon as vote is concluded because they didn’t like the results leaving it 5 on 4
1 more player drops from the team that loses the first round, 70% of the time, that’s the team outmanned by 1…genrally, now 5 on 3
2 more players drop from the team losing after the next couple of rounds and usually one from the winning team.
Players from the losing team begin dropping round after round so the loss doesn’t count in their ranked stats.
Most matches conclude the final round 4 on 1, 5 on 2…it’s utter insanity since there’s no “player” or “casual” matches anymore.
I’ve never seen a game this deeply flawed from an online play perspective.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Wow, that’s crazy. I realize now how much I took the GREAT UT community for granted. I had at least a dozen servers saved that I could just jump into at any time and people knew to switch teams. Now, you don’t even have that option!
I think it’s less of a problem for a game like Halo 3 because it’s so popular but other games just aren’t there yet on the consoles and probably never will be.
Oh, how I miss the days of UT on the PC =/
December 17th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
See, here’s what I don’t understand: Why do you keep playing? I’ve played maybe three online multiplayer matches (not counting Horde) and, like you, found it to be painful, slow, and not all that fun. So I stopped. Got my money’s worth out of the campaign, no reason to suffer through non-enjoyable, broken multiplayer. Plenty of other games out there. So again, why suffer through all this for a multiplayer experience you don’t seem to even enjoy?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
well unlike the “classic” console days, now that we have online service and hard drives on these fuckers, the games can be patched and changed. It’s very difficult these days for me to justify any game purchase of a shooter on a console if there’s no replay value via competition online. It’s just my assessment of how I judge the value of a game.
I really haven’t truly loved a online game experience like I did GOW1 since the original UT on PC. I would like to have some longterm replayability with GOW2. Playing through the campaign multiple times just doesn’t really seem fun. Horde is a blast, admittedly, but it’s not the same as playing AGAINST other people.
Ultimately, there is a “grander” goal. If gamers aren’t vocal about issues like these in games…there’s no incentive for it to change in the “next” big title to come along. I mean, the last thing I want is to have another developer or even Epic say “hell, GOW2 sold 3 million units with this system and no one complained.” Well, now I’m complaining.
My copy of GOW2 will see the inside of another GAMESTOP eventually if the next title update comes and goes with no real changes. But I’m in bed with EPIC for a lot cash over the years, so I’ll continue to criticise but still give them the benefit of the doubt until they destroy that trust.
The real answer is, that I’m still playing, but on a short lease. If I can get into a few matches with relative ease, I’ll tough it out for a while, but rather than that, I’m back playing through other games for the past week. I only took GOW2 back out of the case to justify wasting $10.00 on the expansion.
I just love TOO much. I’ll see my therapist about it.
December 20th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
ScuzzBuster, if you can’t justify any purchase of a shooter on a console if there’s no replay value via competition online, does that mean you never bought BioShock?
Contradictory to what you’ve said, I went over to my friend’s house for a sleep over the other night and I recovered my Xbox Live account onto his Xbox 360. I was bored and I wanted to play against some bots, and when I was selecting maps, I noticed that I could access the Flashback maps that he downloaded despite the fact that I did not redeem the code on my profile. He downloaded the Combustible map pack as well, and I could play that, too, even though I never bought it.
I don’t know why you couldn’t access the Flashback maps before; I mean, the Xbox Live account that your son downloaded the Flashback maps on is in the same hard drive that you play with your profile, right?
Eventually, I’m going to ask my friend to recover his account onto my hard drive so he can download the Combustible/Flashback maps and I’ll see if I can access them on my hard drive on my own profile.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
The flashback maps get my goat. I know others over at the Epic forums have had the same thing with it. There is a “but” in this. If my son and I are both signed in, I can still use them as long as the game is initiated or hosted using his profile. Still haven’t noticed the combustible pack because he hasn’t played alone, but for a $10.00 investment, he better be able to get to them.
Also, I’m actually going to post an article tonight or tomorrow where I note Bioshock as my notable single player FPS exception. I actually started that on PC last year and just picked up the XBOX version used to milk some gamerscore from it.
I also do have the PC version of GOW1, which I recently uninstalled to clear more hard drive for more torrents of Indonesian Cephalopod porn. I actually was overly optimistic about the PC version hoping that a really interesting MP community could develop around it, but it never transpired.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
So wait, you seriously only pick games depending on the multiplayer experience? A game doesn’t have to be replayable, a competent multiplayer feature, or both to be good; you’re missing out. I mean, BioShock was good, but it’s not like it’s the most replayable game ever.
“Torrents of Indonesian Cephalopod porn”?
I heard the community for the PC version of GOW is non-existent and there aren’t that many people playing it. Which seems like a shame considering how leet the mouse and keyboard would be for Gears of War, I would imagine it would be much better than the Xbox 360 version when it comes to competitive gameplay.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I just come from a different perspective. Communities don’t really develop the same way around single player games the way they do around multiplayer games. So the MP component is important when I drop 60 bones on a game. From a console perspective, when I see a shooter, the first thing I do is turn over the box and see if it has online play. Bioshock is a game I may have never picked up if it hadn’t come very highly touted by people I knew personally basically saying you “have” to give this game a chance.
For the most part though, when I’m done with the campaign in a single player game, I done with it. I don’t get tons of replay value from doing the same campaign over and over again. Games like the GTA series are a little different because the freeplay aspect is so compelling. GTA3 was a revolution in single player gaming.
The first “real” FPS games I ever picked up were -
TRIBES: virtually no single player element
Quake 3: virtually no single player element
Unreal Tournament: virtually no single player element
The fun of online multiplayer is to test your skills against other players. Communities that develop around games like these are tremendous subcultures that integrate playing the game in with the community aspect. Unlike a single player only experience where you play through the game and then go spend time on the forums.
I’m particularly tough on Gears 2 because I loved the first one immensely because of the tremendous MP replay value. No way I would spend hundreds of hours and month after month playing a game regularly if I wasn’t online playing with other players.
I hold Gears 2 to a high standard, but honestly, if I had to be fair (which I don’t) I got my original $70 investment out of the campaign, and horde. Both of those pieces are high quality. The real trick though is that if I’m going to leave a disk in my XBOX for months without ever taking it out, it’s going to be because I’m online with it.
Apart from the additional Campaign content, there was no redeeming value to GEARS PC other than finally getting to work it with a keyboard/mouse combo. Unfortunately, there weren’t very many people online to play against.
Gardens of hate like the Epic forums are really born from love initially. People feel betrayed when a game doesn’t turn out exactly how they wanted it. Ultimately, the MP experience with Gears 2 is so poor because of the interface. The aspects of the gameplay mechanics themselves are a matter of taste and preference, and honestly, even with no glitches and a great MP interface/matchmaking system, I would have to judge Gears 2 as not really being as fun as Gears 1. But I’m okay with that, because in the grand scheme of shooters (first or third) on consoles, Gears may be the gold standard, but Gears 2, with it’s flaws, is close even with the wonky mechanics and overabundance of chainsaw.
I’ve just been around so damned long now that I’ve seen this over and over and over. Every time a sequel to a popular game comes out, the community goes up in arms like you just raped their grandmothers –
saw it in:
UT2003
UT2004
UT3
Quake 4
Tribes 2
Battlefield Vietnam
The list goes on.
I am warming to a single player game lifestyle, and your earlier posts have made me consider reinstalling Gears PC.
Ultimately, there was period of time in the early 2000s where something very special was happening with online gaming. We had a clan of anywhere of 10-20 people and the online leagues/ladders we would join would be just teaming with life. The Unreal Tournament PC ladders had literally between 50 and 120 teams at any given time competing to move up spots on those ladders. We had organized tournaments, casual scrimmages…just really one of the coolest gaming experiences ever. It’s a serious deficiency in console online gaming nowadays.
Thanks for coming to the site, n00bie. I’m glad you get SOMETHING from the content. Keep reading, there’s certainly more that’s bound to piss you off posted every week. Also, it’s important to me to get perspectives from other gamers that see things in a totally different light than I do. You guys may convert me to rationality yet. I certainly will take any suggestions for improving my gaming experience you can offer.
December 27th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I’ve really enjoyed paying attention to your opinion as well, Scuzzmeister. I think a crucial part of intelligent discussion such as this is having an open mind and trying to learn from other peoples’ opinions and views. I have very strong opinions when it comes to gaming, but I’m always willing to learn more or understand different perspectives. It’s obvious I also intensely appreciate online gaming myself, but I’m merely stating that there’s plenty of fun to be had playing by yourself.
I have intense criticisms of franchises such as Gears of War, Halo, Call of Duty, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, etc. but that’s only because I enjoy them so, much like yourself. I enjoy how you eloquently put that the “Gardens of hate like the Epic forums are really born from love initially,” and how “the community goes up in arms like you just raped their grandmothers.” It’s always important for fans to criticize the product, so that the developers know what they’re doing wrong and what they can do to make it better.
By the way, you were right; my friend recovered his Xbox Live Account to my Xbox 360, and he downloaded the Flashback and Combustible map packs and they didn’t work on my profile. That’s epic fail from Epic Games.