Gears Of War's Multiplayer Was Almost Cut Months Before Release

[Djost1kk]

Don't think this has been posted yet, but I find it fascinating that one of the best console PvP-modes was gonna get cut.

As game designer and lead level designer Lee Perry explains, they couldn't figure out how to make it more «fun» and make maps work. They even tried recreating Dust from Counter-Strike, but «It was always a train wreck».

Eventually they found their footing with Gridlock, which is basically a classic now, and appeared in every game since then except for Judgment I believe.

We were at the start of summer, and this thing is shipping in fall, and there was a very specific moment where we were having those discussions of, do we just cut this?

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Anyway, here's the full video from Ars Technica, it's really good.

 

[Strifel]

Slide, slide, slide, shoot, accidentally roll, die

 

[EagleBen]

I had a couple fun weeks with it before going back to Halo 2. I'm glad it made it in.

 

[Saladin]

Thank god it didn't get cut. GoW gave me years of enjoyment with the lads. Everything was great

 

[Djost1kk]

Thank god it didn't get cut. GoW gave me years of enjoyment with the lads. Everything was great

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I remember watching some videos back then and people were telling that Gears basically saved them and helped cope with depression. For some it was the best college/high school friend.

 

[Saladin]

I remember watching some videos back then and people were telling that Gears basically saved them and helped cope with depression. For some it was the best college/high school friend.

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It did that to me. 2 months before it got released my mum and dad got divorced and I have no siblings

This game got me out of it and thankfully I was on XBL back then and had a blast with my friends

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Gears 3 was the first time the Gears pvp multiplayer clicked for me. I think it might have coincided with me turning off xbox live voice chat permanently.

Multiplayer Gears seems like a nightmare to balance and design levels for. I'm not surprised that it almost didn't make it into the first game.

 

[Jawmuncher]

It's hilarious how many of the greatest MP modes seem to be stuff that was almost cut at one point or another.

 

[Lkr]

gears 1 multiplayer without the matchmaking is such a trip to think back on lol

 

[KomandaHeck]

I think it was the first online multiplayer I ever played, certainly the first on console anyway. Fond memories.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Yeah, pretty fucking wild to remember there was a time where the multiplayer mode of a big AAA shooter was the afterthought that could and occasionally would get cut, especially when the era of full-priced multiplayer-only shooters isn't that far behind us. Remember reading up on a similar story regarding Halo 1's development and how multiplayer was in such a sorry state that they had to choose between cutting it entirely or straight-up rebuilding it from the ground up in a matter of weeks.

 

[Dangerman1337]

I seriously disliked Gears 1 MP (and most Gears' MP TBF, I thought Gears 5 MP with had a bit more varied loadouts disliked they reverted back to the classic loadouts of Gnasher + Lancer when I came bakc for it) whenever I played it felt too much of a shotgun fest but GeoW's MP is pretty much a signature mode for GeoW, couldn't imagine without it.

 

[NotLiquid]

getting GoldenEye flashbacks

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

Imagine a world without Gears and Halo multiplayer lol. So much would've been lost.

Gears multiplayer needs to be its own platform.

 

[Betty]

The MP was legendary and filled the gap until Halo 3 perfectly.

 

[AstronaughtE]

I enjoy the single player in it enough, but I wouldn't hold it nearly as high esteem without multiplayer. Gears 2 probably saw the most playtime with my whole crew, Gears 3 saw a little less. Gears 1 was mostly handing the controller off between matches and hanging out at my friend's house.

I miss those weekends.

 

[Odesu]

I always found the GoW Multiplayer fascinating since, as a complete amateur, its tactics and gameplay style seems to run completely counter to what the developers intended when building these mechanics for the single player. They very specifically wanted to make a game where you duck behind cover to methodically kill your enemies, flanking them and using your grenades to get them out of cover, using your executions to pick off singular enemies at times.

But that doesn't really work when playing against other players who won't be so nice as to let you pick them off from a distance, so instead it turned into this very, very different style of game asking you to rush around with your shotgun, rolling around wildly. I remember trying to play this game as a cover shooter when it came out, completely getting slaughtered by enemies constantly zerg rushing me :D

I don't think that's a bad thing, I just always found it really interesting how the MP seemed to try to most efficiantly work around the core mechanics of the game, instead of working with them - thus turning it into a very unique experience (and allowing the designers to build on top of that style for the sequels).

OR maybe I'm completely wrong and it was always intended that way. Again, complete amateur when it comes to GoW.

 

[RIPN2022]

Slide, slide, slide, shoot, accidentally roll, die

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Having jumped onto Gears 5 recently, I can confirm that nothing has changed in the past 16 years.

 

[RockyBalboa_]

Fond memories of Gridlock anddd GOW was one of the first games where I was trashed talked by a 10 year old which was hilarious.

 

[FarSight XR-20]

Wasn't it the same thing for Goldeneye 007 and Halo CE ? Crazy.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

Man I loved Gears 1 MP, lots of good memories. Met some people on there that I'm still friends 2ith and speak to weekly

 

[HiLife]

Gears multilayer is still fun. Gnasher for life.

 

[mernst23]

Love how he basically described what made gears 1 mp great and how it was thrown out the window for respawn game types, which ultimately killed gears mp.

 

[julia crawford]

Wow I confused Lee Perry with Lee Petty and was really confused for a bit

 

[gnarlyxcharlie]

19 round custom matches on gridlock or fuel depot. Best MP of all time. The simplicity is what made it so goddamn good.

 

[Lothars]

The original trilogy multiplayer is still some of the best multiplayer experiences I've ever had, I played gears every Friday for years.

This has been known about for a long time but it's still crazy to think about how the gears franchise wouldn't have been the same.

 

[nihilence]

Heard the story, but it's still fun to know things almost weren't. Gears has a bunch of things that almost weren't, like the Lancer.

 

[Kreim]

the community for this was so brutal. No party chat back then so people trash talked non-stop. No respawn, crazy "host advantage", decisive one shot weapons. The definitive filthy Xbox Live experience.

 

[demondance]

gears 1 multiplayer without the matchmaking is such a trip to think back on lol

Click to shrink...

It was the last console MP game where I made a bunch of friends on the game itself. Probably not a coincidence it was one of the last big games without MM.

 

[Aisod]

Best part was the trash talk in the lobby and between rounds. Back in the day when people actually communicated.

 

[thePopaShots]

I ended up being more of a Rainbow Six: Vegas guy, but that style of cover shooter multiplayer was fantastic for a few years.

 

[srylain]

If anything it just shows much simpler things were back then, when you could add multiplayer modes without much of a hassle. These days if you want your multiplayer to succeed you have to make it look like it had comparable effort put into it as all the other modes as well as plenty of various unlocks and maps otherwise people will complain that the game just doesn't have enough, as if games these days are graded by the amount of cosmetics and nothing else.

It's also probly a testament to how much easier making online games are compared to doing it all yourself, sure a generic networking solution won't be as efficient as something like what Bungie did for Halo but if we didn't have these solutions there'd be a lot fewer online games.

 

[TaySan]

Thank goodness they kept it in. The series would not be as popular as it is without it

 

[moriquendi]

I always found the GoW Multiplayer fascinating since, as a complete amateur, its tactics and gameplay style seems to run completely counter to what the developers intended when building these mechanics for the single player. They very specifically wanted to make a game where you duck behind cover to methodically kill your enemies, flanking them and using your grenades to get them out of cover, using your executions to pick off singular enemies at times.

But that doesn't really work when playing against other players who won't be so nice as to let you pick them off from a distance, so instead it turned into this very, very different style of game asking you to rush around with your shotgun, rolling around wildly. I remember trying to play this game as a cover shooter when it came out, completely getting slaughtered by enemies constantly zerg rushing me :D

I don't think that's a bad thing, I just always found it really interesting how the MP seemed to try to most efficiantly work around the core mechanics of the game, instead of working with them - thus turning it into a very unique experience (and allowing the designers to build on top of that style for the sequels).

OR maybe I'm completely wrong and it was always intended that way. Again, complete amateur when it comes to GoW.

Click to shrink...

They definitely intended it to be more of a cover shooter- and tried to push it that way particularly in Gears 2 by adding stopping power / ragdoll smoke grenades. Gears 1 was where I meet the majority of my Xbox friends (many of whom are now real life friends) and the majority of people I play with to this day. We played daily for years - always a full lobby and usually a second. With the changes to MP with gears 2 (particularly at launch) much of the group moved on.

 

[TheStebe]

Run run run, grab sniper, shoot, get headshot and hearing the best headshot sound and animation of any game period.

That was my game most rounds and i loved eflvery second of it

When you are on your own against 4 opponents and you knock them all down and win is the best feeling i have ever had in a videogame

 

[Whitemex]

Don't care how broken it was, it was some fun ass times. Then 2 came out more broken and it was even better