UPDATED: Dead Space Producer Slams Gears of War Script

[IrateDonnie]

I thought the single player story from Gears 1 was ok (sprung from prison/save the world). Gears 2 jumped the shark though with the Maria storyline. The third one was a "Bromance" story between Marcus & Dom. At least they improved on the multiplayer each time or the Gears games would be utter garbage.

 

[Something Amyss]

Okay, seriously. Gears of War had a script?

I figured they just put the voice actors in a booth and had a competition to see who could come up with the most trite clichés.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ah I thought gears was a parody so the badness is intentional.

I felt the same way about Ke$ha.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Cant think of any games with great stories, most game stories are a means to an end. The end being to give you a reason why your running around and killing people. At least its gotten a bit more deeper than "save princess". lol

 

[Awexsome]

Well Gears story wasn't one to take seriously. I think from the first cry of, "GIANT WORM!" they were set up pretty much for over the top stuff from a story standpoint.

Still the characters had that kind of chemistry that worked well and made me enjoy their exploits of ridiculousness.

 

[Savryc]

Sounds more like a man desperately clutching at straws to his boss.

"Yeah I know my story for a mediocre third person shooter kinda sucks but look! LOOK! Another mediocre third person shooter, it's story is way worse than mine see? It has 4 muscle bound tools in it instead of my 1 space mechanic tool! Please don't fire me."

 

[robert022614]

Gotta love the update. You can almost hear the backlash he received that would make him flip-flop like that. On a personal note I played GoW 1 and that was it. Not saying its a bad game because I had a blast with my friend, but not too "rabid" a fan.

 

[Thatguyky]

Honestly, all I got from this article was that some developers/producers have NOTHING better to do than yell at other games for how bad they are. Neither game has great storytelling. Dead Space is really just another horror game. It's really fun and awesome, but it's nothing crazy (story wise). The same applies for Gears, crazy fun and all that, but in reality it is another solid good-fun shooter.

Also, I felt more emotion in Gears 3 than I did Dead Space 1 or 2... It was hard to feel anything in the first Dead Space, I feel like Issac maybe said like, three words the entire game ( I'm exaggerating a bit ). Two was a big step up, but it's still just a horror game.

 

[PrototypeC]

Chuck Beaver has asked to clarify his position on Gears of War and his previous comments with the following statement: "I just wanted to jump in and clarify some of my comments that were taken out of context about Gears of War. First, let me say that I'm a huge fan. It is an epic franchise that has trail-blazed more than a few industry-leading player experiences and mechanics. It is deservedly recognized as a top-tier title. Its success as a property is evidenced by its giant sales and rabid fan base. The industry is far better for Epic's contributions, and we all owe a great deal of inspiration to their work."

That's not "clarifying", that's kissing ass. Look, to say the things that need to be said, you gotta sound more cruel than you really are. Maybe he thinks it's a great game, but he wasn't talking about the gameplay or the structure, but the story. It's rubbish. I thought it was rubbish to begin with, but then I remembered that first trailer where they used Gary Jules's "Mad World". Mad World is about people, not alien monsters from beneath the crust! Oh sorry, that has nothing to do with it, just me rambling. Anyway, that trailer put the emotional expectations high while the game was about as deep as a half-dried puddle. A puddle of... manly guns... and chainsaws.

In short, I think he should have stuck to his guns instead of "clarifying" how much he doesn't want to make enemies. Come on. Even the guys who wrote for Gears of War knew they weren't exactly shooting for an Oscar! The sales speak for themselves anyway, so nobody's that offended.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

The update is the complete reverse of what he said earlier. Just what?

He probably got a talking to from a higher up or realized what he had just said afterwards and wanted to do damage control.

 

[Paragon Fury]

While yes, the story of Gears isn't that great, it isn't bad and can be pretty entertaining. The biggest issue is the third game, which tries to incorporate the extended universe waaay too much without giving enough in-game references to help those who haven't read the books.

Though reading the books and comics for Gears is recommended. Though not the best writing ever, they're pretty decent and they spend a good deal of time on the non-shooty parts of the Gears universe that explain a great deal and make you see pretty much every character in a different light. Biggest example: Everyone complains that Marcus is an emotionless lump of meat in the game, but after reading the books it actually makes sense and is understandable why he is like that.

But he who wrote the trainwreck that is the Dead Space story should keep his mouth shut.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The update is the complete reverse of what he said earlier. Just what?

He probably got a talking to from a higher up or realized what he had just said afterwards and wanted to do damage control.

I'm just amazed that they think we would possibly believe what he's saying now.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Having never played Gears of War, I can't comment. However I will say another GoW (God of War) goes stupid once the first game is over. Kratos wasn't entirely bad in the first game but once the second game came about Kratos went from sympathetic underdog to just some roid raging shithead.

Totally true. GoW 2 and 3 pissed me off so much. The saddest part is that they were so close to being good games. Just a little bit of tweaking with a few critical story elements would have made it work.

 

[RJ Dalton]

In short, I think he should have stuck to his guns instead of "clarifying" how much he doesn't want to make enemies.

I think he was probably forced to retract his statement by his bosses in order to avoid a lawsuit.

 

[Eric Morales]

PR damage control retraction notwithstanding, what did he say that isn't patently obvious to most gamers? The quality of stories/writing/characterization in games needs to improve. Gears of War may be low hanging fruit but given the preponderance of swaggering 'roided up macho douches in games maybe it bears repeating. Was that this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? Possibly, but the point stands.

 

[Therumancer]

Meh,

I'm not a huge "Gears Of War" fan, but I will say that stereotypical productions that do their thing well are important. Basically if it wasn't for the Marcus Fenix type of hero forming a baseline for what a shooter hero is, there would be nothing to compare those who "break the mould" to.

It's sort of how in comics, if every hero some some dark, edgy, anti-hero, and there aren't any straight forward White Knights who successfully save the day doing things the "normal" way, the counterpoint loses a lot of it's meaning.

By all accounts "Gears Of War" doesn't break any new ground for the action hero or the way a scenario is scripted. Marcus pretty much being another version of "Rambo" and his ilk, but that's a good thing when it's depicted well (which this was). It makes other shooter heroes like say Issac Clarke or Gordan Freeman stand out as exceptions.

I'll also say that for all criticisms doing a "normal" script well can be harder than going off in wierd directions. There are plenty of games like "Gears Of War" that have tried to do the same exact thing (before and after it) but failed because they weren't as well written or put together.

See, the reason why someone like Gordan Freeman is awesome is that he's as Miracle of Sound put it "Chuck Norris in a geek form", a scientist who looks like a typical science weenie doing the kinds of stuff a Marcus Fenix type would normally do. If it wasn't for characters and stories like "Gears Of War" and the games that came before it, Gordan probably wouldn't stand out as the counterpoint that he is.

Sometimes I like my offbeat heroes, but sometimes I want the traditional versions as well.

To use comics as an example again, dark, brutal, nasty heroes and stories have their place, but sometimes I want to see Superman save the day and show that it's possible for good to win in of itself without having to stoop to those levels.


Right now for all of his "recanting", I think the bottom line is that it's currently chic to knock people who do anything "normal" or "straightforward" within a genere, oftentimes by people who fail to realize how important that mould actually is to everything else.

 

[zombiesinc]

"Allow me to further clarify what I meant by that previous statement, which was taken out of context: They're a good company."

Uh, huh...