Gaming
Gaming
The rise and fall of Gears of War
Once more popular than Call of Duty, Epic's shooter was quickly dropped from the eSports circuit.
Gears of War
© Microsoft
Epic's last minute multiplayer add-on to the original Gears of War would go on to inspire the birth of a competitive community which, like Halo, once eclipsed Call of Duty as a leading console eSports title. A fast-paced third-person shooter, Gears of War was incomparable to anything from the same genre and thrived thanks to its unique and simple gameplay, nurtured by fans to build something that the developer could never have foreseen.
Unfortunately, the series failed to build on its strengths and suffered a premature death in the eSports world. Its decline was partially a consequence of Epic's failure to address feedback from a competitive audience which, having lived and breathed Gears, understood the game's most entertaining qualities.
Instead, Epic opted to listen to a community between the hardcore and casual. These were gamers distressed by their own shortcomings against more skilled players and who demonised its most prominent weapon, the Gnasher shotgun. Three games later in the series and Gears of War has struggled to captivate the eSports audience. Its future now rests in the hands of Black Tusk Studios which has teased a new era for the franchise.
The rise of Gears of War
Gears of War
© Microsoft
Major League Gaming introduced Gears of War onto its Pro Circuit in 2007. This was a golden age for console eSports with at least four console games featuring at each of MLG‘s events throughout the year. Following the early fight for supremacy on this new pretender, teams such as vVv Vision, LGD Red, LGD Black and THE NSAN3Z pulled ahead of the pack.
Vision swept aside LGD Red 4-0 in the inaugural Pro Circuit tournament in Dallas with vVv Mr Puff's ability with the Gnasher shotgun appearing effortless. However, their reign was short-lived as LGD Black, deemed by many to be LGD's weakest team, triumphed at the subsequent MLG, leading the group to rebrand and become the game's most famous team in history: Infinity.
TH3 NSAN3Z, creatively standing for Noble Saints Avenge Non Believers, included a line-up of religious Gears superstars who began their rise at the same time as Infinity. Though Infinity consolidated their dominance by winning WCG Seattle 2007 and the MLG 2007 national championships in Las Vegas, the stage was set for a fierce rivalry with THE NSAN3Z over the following two years.
Across the Atlantic, MLG's broadcasted tournaments began to attract a European crowd and Matchbox XL, the UK's largest console event at the time, started hosting Gears of War tournaments alongside Halo 2, its flagship title. Unlike in the States, there was much less of a tussle for sovereignty in the scene.
Infused Gaming established authority at XL2 and qualified for the WCG finals in Seattle to eventually seal third place. vVv Focus, a European branch of vVv Vision, temporarily usurped them at XL3 before order was restored at XL4. Having joined international eSports powerhouse, Team Dignitas, the former Infused players would go on to win XL5, XL6 and, in 2008, set a console record for a European placement at a Major League Gaming event, having finished fourth at MLG Toronto.
To put that achievement into context, it took six years for this result to be bettered with TCM’s recent third place at MLG Anaheim being the best finish for a UK team in an MLG event. The European crusade at both WCG and MLG was curbed by none other than Infinity, with both performances having been galvanised by Atmosfear, the best player in the history of the series.
The Fall of Gears of War
Gears of War 2 national champions
© Microsoft
Following TH3 NSAN3Z revenge at the MLG 2008 national championships against Infinity, the community were looking forward to Gears of War 2, expecting Epic's sequel to supplant the original in every way and propel the game to even greater heights in the eSports community. Sadly, the sequel was a disaster for eSports, despite a record turnout of 114 teams at the first MLG event of 2009.
Gears of War 2 had glaring flaws not just in terms of glitches but, more importantly, the fundamental mechanics of the game that ruined the elegance and flowing play of its predecessor. The Gnasher was second best to an array of long-range weaponry that slowed the game's naturally fluid movement, resulting in teams deploying defensive tactics which made for a dull viewing experience.
Maps became shooting galleries with baron middle-grounds that granted few opportunities for individual players to shine like they did in Gears of War 1. GoW 2's failure to strike a balance between individual and teamplay reduced the depth of skills needed to form a great team. Epic's ideas for the sequel would be appropriate for tactical and realistic shooters, but they didn’t seem in keeping with Gears of War’s style.
Gears of War 2 was dropped from the MLG circuit after just a year and it failed to build any traction in Europe. It couldn’t be a worse time for the community to turn its back on the original as Call of Duty began its ascendance to become the second most prominent console eSports shooter before eventually claiming the throne from Halo.
GoW 3 slightly redeemed the series but it was too little too late and even direct acknowledgement of the eSports community by Epic resulted in nothing more than a couple of half-hearted features, including a Spectator mode that was merely an afterthought. As for Gears of War: Judgement, though many lament GoW 2 as the fatal blow, for eSports fans this was another example of a series that was desperately in need of an overhaul.
The future of Gears of War
Black Tusk Studios will shape the future of GoW
© Black Tusk Studios
Gears of War 4 needs to evolve the franchise, of course it does, but if the series is to return to the eSports scene, it needs to be an action-packed third-person shooter that focuses on the core of what made Gears great. Black Tusk shouldn’t attempt to emulate other successful multiplayer shooters.
As always, it is members of the casual audience that will eventually trickle down into the competitive scene and accessibility is everything in maintaining their interest beyond the short term. That does not mean cheap kills from grenades with a nuclear radius, inescapable sawn-off shotguns and pace-inhibiting stopping power from automatic weapons.
The eSports community want to see a return to close-quarter combat with medium-range support as a tactical supplement as opposed to a game changer. The Gnasher needs to return to its former glory, with a decent rate of fire and a proportionate level of damage relative to the distance between an opponent (there was no logic to this on GoW 2 and 3; sometimes a long-range hard-aim did more harm than when the Gnasher was practically touching an enemy).
Wall-bouncing helped to create the fluid rate of movement which was utilised by seasoned players to evade enemies during combat, but Gears of War 2 introduced 'cancel wall-bouncing' which made scuffles one-dimensional as they lacked the strafing aspect that balanced Gears 1 encounters so well. Maps should feature routes aimed at individuals who like to take the risks that make a difference while power-weapons should earn advantages without entirely overwhelming the opposing team.
Black Tusk Studios face a difficult task in appealing to a split demographic that has previously enjoyed conflicting aspects of the series. To unify everyone is likely to be impossible but it is important for the developer to listen to feedback while focusing on simplicity instead of trying to fill voids that never existed in the first place.
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