I have been playing so damn much Gears of War lately. With my recent addiction to Gears of War 3, I've even now been heading back into prior Gears games and let me tell you, you have no idea how much better Gears of War 3 actually plays over its predecessors. Actually, I kinda think Gears 2 is... OK, not exactly the 'worst', but the overall feel of the movement just felt a little off to me. A bit too swimmy... and the default running movement is a little slower than the original Gears.

With that said, there are a lot of advancements Gears 3 made over both of 'em and it's startling at how much of an improvement it made when you head back. Gears of War still plays great, but little things like how you can't crawl when you're downed, or how you can't even revive a downed squadmate should be resting right below you when you're in cover. Also you even have limited stamina for your roadie run! That's just crazy! Also throwing grenades in the original Gears is completely fucked. Though one thing I do most definitely prefer in the original over Gears 3 are the weapon sound effects. I guess they're a little muffled, compressed maybe, but for whatever reason to me they make them sound so much meatier and more powerful, especially the snub pistol. But anywhoo I've gotten kinda off topic here.

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So, Horde mode. Pretty bloody addicting, and considering how it's practically a staple of the series at this point, I have to assume it'll be returning in Judgment. As such, I just wanted to make a thread asking what sort of improvements you'd wanna see fixed in?

As it is I think Gears 3's Horde mode is fantastic, but if there's one such feature I'd greatly appreciate it's the ability to save your game. The whole 50 waves can take a really long amount of time, and while sure, you can always head back into any wave you so desire from the start, you don't keep your current base. And heading into waves from around 34 onward with barely any sort of defences is pointless and doesn't leave you in the most opportune position - speaking from a 2-player split-screening perspective mind you.

Another such complaint is should when your entire team dies, don't spawn us on the other side of the friggen map! It's hard enough roadie running throughout your base checking what needs to be repaired/built ect with only 30 seconds to think, let alone when you spend half of that just trying to get back to your base.

Finally, since OverRun is introducing a new class system, I would love to see if they could implement that into horde. Y'know, split up all of the character skins across the four classes - or just allow you to select both a skin and then class separately. Being able to repair your structures as an engineer would be incredibly helpful, as would being able to revive allies from a distance with those life-grenades the medic has. It could make for an additional layer of strategy deciding on which classes to bring in. Plus if they could allow you to level up your classes, then Hell Yesh! Let me level up as much individual shit as possible! I wanna level up Baird's goggles so they can eventually shoot out lasers! Or level up Dizzy's beard so it eventually grows until it's able to encase him in a bullet-proof bubble of facial hair!

OK maybe that's a bit overboard. Anyone here still even play Horde mode, or any of Gears 3 for that matter?

My 360 broke 2 years ago so my last time with Gears was maybe a year before that. Nothing against the series and I still really want to play 3, mainly for Horde, but so far I'm interested in Judgement on an academic level to see what Epic and People Can Fly do with an established series.

I pop it in here and there for some King of the hill action but I have played way too much gears at this point. I do want to go back and grab the achievement for hitting rank 100 the second time since I'm so close but I'm all geared out.

I was on a Gears rampage mode pretty much last 2 years. Playing Guardian in Gears 2 almost everyday and working on getting to level 100. Gears 3 is amazing game and the best of the series no doubt about it. But like you said, there are some things they streamlined and toned down in Gears 3 I wished they made better or retained.

The sniper rifle in Gears 1 for instance, used to be an incredible power weapon with the ability to down an enemy with 1 active shot to anywhere on the body. It made people afraid and dive for cover once the opponent managed to grab the weapon. And that sound effect it made whenever a shot went off was like an alarm bell, instantly grabbing everyone's attention and telling everyone "HEY! I'm holding a sniper rifle and if you don't cover your head you're going to find it's not there any longer!". Now it's a weak version that takes forever to reload and mostly only headshots nets kills so why bother active reloading?

Went a little off topic there myself too but it's been awhile since I talked about Gears heh, so to answer your question, it's been awhile for me since I played but I'll get back to it since I'm a few levels away from another re-up for the achievement. PC gaming is what I'm doing nowadays. I'll be picking up Judgement because it's Gears even though I'm not very keen on it.

I love Horde mode, its the best one I played next to Halo Reach, its a great experience and my only complaint is that not every map seems suitable to really hold them off well without being swarmed or pushed over by big enemies (5boomers walking into your base, yo sup).
 
If I buy Judgment, its for the Horde/Class mode.

Has Epic said who in their development staff is working on Fortnite? For some reason I always assumed that the main people behind Gear's Horde mode split off to do that game.

@Yummylee: I completely agree with what you said regarding the improvements Gears 3 made that everyone seemed to ignore, especially after the garbage that was Gears 2. Gears of War 1 was and probably is one of my favourite games of all time. I played the multiplayer from day 1 until the release of Gears 3, I beat the campaign countless times and I was completely immersed into the characters and the universe.

As for the horde mode, I thought it was an awesome addition in number 2 but it was too bland. The tower defence additions in Gears 3 made it exciting and strategic and kept me coming back for more.

I like the idea of Judgement using the new class based system in Horde mode. And yes, I still play Gears 3 all the time.

Gears 3 MP is soo addicting, when i got it i played the MP for a couple months straight without touching the SP.

@mcderby4: Gears 3's Horde mode is undoubtedly better than Gears 2's, but there's something about its comparative simplicity that makes it easier to pick up and play. In Gears 2's, you don't need to worry so much about cash management or keeping a close eye on your base. That's not to say I think Gears 3's is too complicated or anything - I still think it's brilliant. But sometimes when I just want to more easily murder stuff with my brother, I'll head into Gears 2's. Not to mention because of the added accessibility of Anthony Carmine in Gears 2 :P

Plus I find Gears 2's significantly easier to get through. I can actually beat it on normal mode while it's just me and my brother in split-screen, whereas for Gears 3 we can't get any further than wave 40 - and that's only on Blood Drive. A lot of the maps and the added base building stuff is less so suited for just 2-players.

The MP, though, what's that like now? Is it completely impervious for new players at this point? I've always had a nagging urge to finally give up going against the Hive Mind of bots and face against some actual human players, but I'm admittedly kinda warded away by the prospect of getting mutilated throughout every match. I can soundly thrash bot players on Insane mode for whatever that stands for--not much I know. What about Horde mode? I don't imagine playing with randoms is any fun in that.

Guess there's only one way for me to find out for sure, but I'm also anxious because Gears 3 is the only game that I'd want to pay for a bit of GOLD for, so if it turns out to be a bust and I only get frustrated, I'll be stuck with my online capabilities and nothing I wanna take advantage of. That said, I could just get a months worth to try it all out. Just want to get a little heads up all the same. Very curious to read what a general consensus of what the Gears 3 community is like at this point.

I mostly play Beast Mode when I get on Gears, or campaign. Haven't touched Horde in ages.

@Yummylee: Multiplayer-wise. It's completely suited to new players. I was a hardcore Gears 1 player and damn good at it too. It was one of the few games left that actually required skill to be really good at and I took pride in that. The gnasher had no range farther than 10 feet, shotgun battles were highly engaging and no one weapon is entirely over-powered.

That's where both sequels disappointed me. They both tried to appeal to new-comers alike. It became far too easy to kill, the shotgun was more inconsistant than ever in Gears 2 and the movement was unbearably sluggish. Gears 3 perfected the movement to such a degree that I was mind-blown by it. Their best achievement by far is including dedicated servers which in turn leaves little to absolutely no lag in the game whatsoever. Epic puts in so much dedication into Gears 3 that it's staggering. Constant weekend events, tweaks to weapons, playlists, double XP, the works.

My only gripe is that the game has become far too easy. With the gnasher now becoming a consistant instant kill when within 5 metres of the opponent and new weapons such as the sawed-off and retro even replicating such feats, it only added wood to the fire.

Regardless, the countless amount of characters, the gorgeous visuals and the near perfect controls constantly keep me coming back.