Gears of War 3 has pushed nearly all aspects of the series to its next evolutionary step, as we explained in our review. While that’s easy to see in the expanded narrative and set-piece moments, the complete overhaul that Horde mode underwent resulted in a giant leap forward in multiplayer gameplay.
It was clear to anyone that Gears of War 2’s Horde Mode struck a chord with gamers, as the style was quickly adopted by Halo into Firefight. Having Halo adopt a competitor’s idea is high enough praise, but Epic took the idea and ran with it, instituting all new fortifications and mechanics for Horde 2.0.
In an interview with EDGE, Bleszinski explained where some of the inspiration for the new changes came from, and just how important the development team took the task:
Epic certainly achieved those goals of creating a deeper experience, even without the added incentive of various weapon and character skins. But Bleszinski isn’t claiming all of the credit for himself or his team, but credits the fans for showing how the new mode could serve even more desires. Who knew just how much impact Boomshield-planting would have:
It’s funny to think that a video game franchise as successful as Gears of War would owe part of its success to remembering how children build forts, but you can’t deny Bleszinski’s reasoning. Horde 2.0 demands that every player build fences, turrets, and sentries before preparing for an onslaught against their built-from-scratch base.
While the mode seems to be far more extensively designed than its predecessor, we can only imagine what unique changes and exploits the community will come up with next.
Have you tried out Horde 2.0 yet? Think more developers should spend their time getting players in touch with their childhood, instead of maximizing profits and DLC content?
Gears of War 3 is available now for the Xbox 360.
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Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Source: EDGE
