Gears and a question about Borderlands

So I played a good bit of the original Gears recently because there's the ultimate version coming out, and because I can play the old one through backward compatibility and I thought it was a good way to test that feature (verdict: smooth as silk except for a few long cutscenes, which stalled out and weren't really watchable).

I realized most everything I liked about it came from playing it co-op. It's cliche and buggy, and often provides the illusion of choice. Many things seem amateurish by 2015 standards. It's weird going back and reading all the perfect scores it got. Metacritic gives it a 94. We've come a long way in nine years.

Just thought I'd mention it. I am buying the ultimate version, but that's mainly because my old gears co-op buddy wants to replay it with me. I'm sure that experience will be fun.

Now, about Tales from the Borderlands. Hearing some great things. Wasn't a fan a Borderlands--its schtick didn't appeal to me, the gameplay seemed just okay, and I just didn't get that far into it. If I don't know the universe would Tales appeal to me? Is it as great as I hear? Answers should be as spoiler-free as is reasonable.

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Now, about Tales from the Borderlands. Hearing some great things. Wasn't a fan a Borderlands--its schtick didn't appeal to me, the gameplay seemed just okay, and I just didn't get that far into it. If I don't know the universe would Tales appeal to me? Is it as great as I hear? Answers should be as spoiler-free as is reasonable.

As an adventure game fan, I can tell you that Telltale is on the low end of the middle of the road when it comes to game quality. Their Sam and Max seasons were good (not great), but the rest is subpar in my opinion. I'd imagine Tales from the Borderlands would be very similar.

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I never liked the gears series. As a Halo fan it always seemed to be a parody of Bungie's series. The marines acted like bad movie stereo types, made implausible decisions and their leaders where grotesquely incompetent. The plot veered greatly across the game modes as they incorporated anything to match the last Halo game, like Dom's wife, and his eventual meaningless sacrifice.

I played it, since my friends adored horde mode, but I never really got into it. The cover based system just isn't fun, all the enemies looked the like the same gray mutants, and the plot is just annoying. Which is a pity because the engine looked exceptionally capable and I could imagine all the things you could do to make the game fun and interesting, but GoW never really explored.

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I feel similarly. I really enjoyed the Horde mode, but the rest was kind of meh to me.

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I played Gears 1 when it was the free game with gold on 360 and holy crap was it boring and lame. I forced myself to slog through it for 3 hours because my friend kept calling to see how far I'd gotten. Just awful. I hear the later Gears games are better, but I'm not enthused at all after that joyless escape in the land of blasé.

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I got a review copy of Gears last week, and I'm shocked by how well it actually holds up. It's still silly in all the same ways we thought it was silly 9 years ago, but mechanically I think it plays beautifully. Level design is great, and as a 3rd person shooter its still one of the best out there.

I'd go as far as to say it is one of the best shooters currently available on the Xbox One :)

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I got a review copy of Gears last week, and I'm shocked by how well it actually holds up. It's still silly in all the same ways we thought it was silly 9 years ago, but mechanically I think it plays beautifully. Level design is great, and as a 3rd person shooter its still one of the best out there.

ONE of the best is the key word. Vanquish is actually the best. :-p

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I got a review copy of Gears last week, and I'm shocked by how well it actually holds up. It's still silly in all the same ways we thought it was silly 9 years ago, but mechanically I think it plays beautifully. Level design is great, and as a 3rd person shooter its still one of the best out there.

ONE of the best is the key word. Vanquish is actually the best. :-p

If by "actually the best" you mean "completely overrated" ;p

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So backward compatibility is now available for XB1? How does it work. I knew they were going to offer it, but I was unaware it was live and have no clue how to play the older games.

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Right now it is only available to Preview Program members, and the list of compatible games is still fairly short.

Basically, if you're in the preview program, you can go to your games library and find any 360 games that you own that are currently available to play through backwards compatibility. If you owned the 360 version digitally, your Xbox One will simply download it. If you owned a physical copy, you'll need to insert the disc and install it.

The gist of it is the Xbox One launches an app called "Xbox 360", which is a full system emulation, and then launches the backwards-compatible game within it. It is a thorough emulation; the game thinks it is being played on a 360, and Xbox Live thinks you are playing a 360. You have full access to the 360 dashboard, guide menu and everything.

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Dang, we gave many of our games to a friend and sold the others when we upgrades consoles :( Now I'm sad.

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Dang, we gave many of our games to a friend and sold the others when we upgrades consoles :( Now I'm sad.

I've been buying up my favorite titles when the digital versions go on sale (which they all do eventually). I also have bought a number of things I thought I might like but never bought (especially if they are really cheap).

I'm pretty thrilled by how they've implemented backwards compatibility. Now if only I didn't have Destiny to occupy all my game-playing time.

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Xbox 360 games are generally pretty cheap at used game stores these days, especially if the title is 6 months old or older. Check the Xbox One backwards compatibility list and if the game you want is on there, go pick it up for $5 from the local store. Boom.

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Getting great reviews so far. I just watched the trailer, and it looks pretty great except ... why does Snake aim with his patched eye?

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Getting great reviews so far. I just watched the trailer, and it looks pretty great except ... why does Snake aim with his patched eye?

That's an in joke in the series. Started with snake eater.

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Arent you playing as Big Boss during this? I think alot of people think that you are playing as Solid Snake. But from what I understand, its actually Big Boss.

HALP!

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It is the Big Boss character, but the trailers refer to him as "Punished Snake".

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It is the Big Boss character, but the trailers refer to him as "Punished Snake".

If I have no idea of what's the difference between Big Boss and Solid Snake, does it detract in any way my potential enjoyment of Phantom Pain?

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It is the Big Boss character, but the trailers refer to him as "Punished Snake".

If I have no idea of what's the difference between Big Boss and Solid Snake, does it detract in any way my potential enjoyment of Phantom Pain?

Yes. From MGS4 on the game does not permit your ignorance about the story at all. You will be confused.

You have The Boss which was a legendary soldier in WW2, who is the mentor of Big Boss, who is the "father" of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake is a perfect clone of Big Boss.

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Goddamn MGS...

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Borderlands plays meh. Tales from the Borderlands is very funny and very immature. If you didn't like how the game's universe was, you won't like Tales.

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Now, about Tales from the Borderlands. Hearing some great things. Wasn't a fan a Borderlands--its schtick didn't appeal to me, the gameplay seemed just okay, and I just didn't get that far into it. If I don't know the universe would Tales appeal to me? Is it as great as I hear? Answers should be as spoiler-free as is reasonable.

I really wish they had just redone the first Borderlands to make it feel like the second one. Because the second Borderlands is 10x better. I'm not exaggerating this. I replayed it recently, and I liked the first borderlands when it first came out. But after replaying it I forgot about how much better the second one is on every single aspect.

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I never even finished the first Borderlands. The shooting mechanics weren't all that fun and the story wasn't enough to keep me interested.

Borderlands 2 is one of the best shooters I've ever played, and it's only right behind Destiny as best co-op shared world whatever. It's not always online like Destiny, but it might as well have been; 90% of my time was spent playing with friends. It is an absolutely blast, and the writing is funny, the guns are awesome and super fun. The easter eggs are all great.

Overall, easily in my top 5 games.

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I never even finished the first Borderlands. The shooting mechanics weren't all that fun and the story wasn't enough to keep me interested.

Borderlands 2 is one of the best shooters I've ever played, and it's only right behind Destiny as best co-op shared world whatever. It's not always online like Destiny, but it might as well have been; 90% of my time was spent playing with friends. It is an absolutely blast, and the writing is funny, the guns are awesome and super fun. The easter eggs are all great.

Overall, easily in my top 5 games.

I might also add that it's even better when played on the XBox One. It's even smoother than it was before. The Pre-sequal is meh though. It's not bad... But it's just more of the same with a slightly less quality of game play.

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I actually think Tales is the best Borderlands so far. Odd that the removal of the shooting mechanics and loot actually improved the series (IMO). And I liked the previous titles.

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Nice article.

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/gears-war-grows-more-tragic-age/

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Gears and a question about Borderlands (Gaming)