Amr Awadallah Blog

I am half way through the campaign (co-op with my son). I also played about a dozen online multiplayer matches.

I love it, it’s Halo 2, just better, much better, and that is exactly what I wanted. They did not mess with the fundamentals of the game, they just improved the graphics, finished the story, and added a lot of new cool toys for multiplayer (equipment/vehicles/weapons/accessories).

The graphic textures are crisp clear on 1920x1080p and way better than Halo 2, they are not ultra realistic like Gears of War or BioShock, but they are good graphics, eye candy in every sense.

My only qualm is why is it rated M? I want my 12-year old son to play it with me, and my wife is making me feel guilty about it due to the M rating. The game actually does not have any gruesome violence (ala Gears of War chain-saw action), just artistic blood splatter ala the movie 300, but without any limbs being cut off. Anyway, I think it is ok for pre-teens to play it, and trust me, they will.

My son enjoyed “The Forge” a lot, it is like his virtual playground where he can make explosive physics experiments or drop tanks on top of his friends, a very welcome addition.

The mobile bases on the Sandtrap map are hilarious and really change the game dynamics..

The game is also revolutionary in being Web 2.0 like, that is you can easily share screenshots and video clips with your friends. The replay theater is super cool, lets you replay the action from any angle and pause/slowmo to learn tricks from other folks you were playing with.

That’s all I can say for now, need to wrap up some work so that I can run back home to finish the fight 🙂

— amr

For me, it feels like Halo 2, just better, which is good actually.

I like the new equipment stuff, especially the bubble shield, not only does it look good, but it has very tactical uses. I saw this guy drop off the bubble shield and wait inside it with a shotgun, as soon as somebody steps in he drops them.

I also like the man canon, and the 3rd person view while carrying large weapons. I don’t like that weapon pickup and reload is not X any more, I keep doing that by mistake, similarly I don’t like that Y is not what you use for vehicle/turret entry (both are the right bumper now). That will take some time to get used to.

The graphics are much crisper than Halo 2, but still not what I expected, I expected it to look better than this, especially after the nice trailers they had released. Only the water looks good, but other textures seem low res to me, not what I expect from a next gen console. The under water sounds are just perfect and I love that.

— amr

Gears of War is an outstanding new game for the Xbox 360, the graphics and animation for this game are the best I have ever seen, especially when played back on an HDTV at 1920x1080p resolution.

That said, the menu system for the game was kind of an after-thought and is not very intuitive. The part that I and many other folks suffered with are how on earth to get an xbox live guest signed in so that both you and the guest can play together in split-screen on xbox live? I tried searching every where and I could not find an answer, but luckily after several attempts I was able to figure it out.

Below are the exact steps you need to do to get a guest signed in:

1. Make sure the second controller is turned on and is not signed in to xbox live.
2. From the main menu select VERSUS then select XBOX LIVE PLAYER MATCH
3. At the bottom of the VERSUS PLAYER MATCH screen you should see this “Y Guest SIGN-IN” (see screenshot below)
4. On the second controller press Y then select “Guest Xbox Live” from the list that drops down.
5. That’s it, you are now ready to play with your guest

Cheers,

— Amr