Hoarding the Dead
Last weekend I got a chance to pick up Gears of War 2. I’m not that far into the single-player campaign, but thats not because it isn’t a solid improvement over the first (it is). The reason I haven’t dipped much into the single-player campaign is because I’ve fallen in love with Horde multi-player. Unlike most multi-player games where your opponents are always human (and frankly always better than I am), Hoard is a purely co-op multi-player experience. The idea is that you and four of your buddies are in basically arena and you have to hold your position for as long as possible. Simple, but deviously fantastic.
I’ve never felt this level of comradery with a group of total random stranger before. Usually, in team based games (like Team Fortress of the Battlefield series), even though there is a strong emphasis on “team” and working together. I’ve never felt like I really gave a damn if somebody else died. I mean I could be standing right next to a guy and he could take a bullet to the face, and I would think to myself, “Sucks to be him!” Mostly because I knew that 10 to 15 seconds from now he would respawn and it would be cool. No harm, no foul. Just as long as I didn’t die.
Horde is a completely different. The entire atmosphere reenforces the idea that the guy next to you is just as important as you. If one of your guys falls to the enemy, it just makes it that much harder for you to hold your position, and you have to cover more territory, making it even more difficult to stay alive. The thrill of running into a firefight, bullets flying around you, as you try to race against the Horde to get to your fallen teammate is intense.
Yes, intense is about the only word that I can use to describe it. I’m looking forward to getting a match going tonight with Ford, Declan, and Rashaan. It’ll be good times indeed.
Also this week, the Left 4 Dead demo went public (it hits the street mid-next week). Which is also a lot of fun. I will reserve final judgment of the game until after I’ve played the real deal. But so far, it’s going to be tough to edge out Gear of War 2 Hoard mode as the multi-player experience I’ve ever had.