The Gears of War: Reloaded Beta Is Here! My Unforgettable Journey with the Franchise
Recalling the chaotic beginnings and enduring passion for a series that shaped my co-op experiences, now reignited by the Gears of War: Reloaded Beta!
As I am writing this, the Gears of War: Reloaded Beta just launched! It’s been such a long time since the Gears of War series has had any spotlight, and that was why I was so excited when they announced the prequel to Gears 1 called Gears of War: E-Day. Honestly, Gears of War was one of the first online multiplayer shooter games I got to play, and it's a story I love reminiscing about with my brother because it was also the same game that got me into the Xbox 360 in general. I remember my brother and I owning a PS2; our mom used her hard-earned money to get us that, and unfortunately, we only owned it for a week or so. They had put the console in a spot where they thought it’d be fine: on top of the dresser/cabinet. That was also a time when wireless controllers weren’t as prevalent, or if they did have wireless controllers, we didn’t own them. And my bright younger self thought it was funny to jump over the wire back and forth, not even listening to them telling me to stop, and then I tripped. The PS2's life flashed before its eyes and went straight to electronic heaven. Not only did I get in so much trouble, but I didn't even think I would be able to get another game device, regardless of whether it was portable or home.
But even though that had happened, that was the day that changed the trajectory of which console I went forward with. Because I couldn’t play games for a bit, I was always watching TV, and one day, I saw this awesome commercial that stays in my head. I remember seeing Marcus sitting under a tree, Cole looking through a sniper scope, and the team all together with their silhouettes. The song to this day is always one I go back to listen to: DeVotchKa - "How It Ends." Then I saw them go underground in these contraptions, getting ready for whatever they were going to find. When I tell you that’s all that I needed to see! That was the commercial for Gears of War 2, and I was so excited for it! I knew it was a long shot, but I had to let my brother know about this. At the time, YouTube was just starting up, and honestly, I can’t even remember if we had our first PC at the time to even search up the video, so I had to wait for that channel to make sure to see the trailer again and show my brother. He was equally excited, and that was my ticket to get back into gaming and had him help me convince my mom to get us an Xbox 360… and surely that did happen! And I know, during the time when Gears of War 2 came out, I was probably 9 years old at the time, but when I got the game, it was one of my favorite co-op experiences to this day.
When we got the Xbox 360, both my brother and I were locked in for hours each day. That was the time where campaigns came out and were splitscreen co-op, and we did that and just took in all of the insane things we were introduced to. How Marcus had this deep, raspy voice and was the leader of the group; Dom was Marcus’s right-hand man, and they’d been doing this for so long together they were practically like brothers. Every character that you interacted with in the COG Army had this dynamic that sticks with me to this day. Like Tai, with him being wise but down to protect his friends at all costs, and he really was my favorite character. Dizzy, who was loud and rambunctious but knew how to tinker with any little thing and made sure we had the right weapons, or even Baird, who was almost always sarcastic but very smart with tech and knew what was up. There was so much to love with the characters in Gears, and it always had me looking forward to the next game. The one thing that always seemed to stick in Gears was the Carmine brothers: in the first game was Anthony Carmine, who died, then Benjamin Carmine… who also died. So, the fact that the developers gave us a choice before the game released to save Clayton Carmine was so cool.
The enemies the COG army faced were wild as well, not only that but the situations we were put through. It felt so cinematic running through hail while using a boom shield to block it from destroying your body or getting eaten by a Riftworm and having to chainsaw your way through its intestines. To us, though, the Locust were kind of silly in their movements when they weren’t causing havoc. They could look goofy walking around or not know what was going on, but they were ruthless as hell, especially with how the story went in Gears 2. The fact that this game had boss battles and big cinematic events really took this game to another level as well. Facing Skorge was something that sticks in my head a lot because it felt like a multi-level boss fight: dodging his ink grenades while he ran back and forth mad fast, going toe-to-toe with him like it was Star Wars with the chainsaw battles, or even chasing him down on the Reaver, flying through the sky. They did all the cool things in this game, and I hope they keep that essence for Gears E-Day.
Let’s not forget about Multiplayer; this was the best thing for this game. For a while, my brother and I didn’t get Xbox Live, so we played local co-op multiplayer with each other. The maps were one of my favorite things about it because they were all reactive or had their own weather system that could affect any player in the match. For example, in Avalanche, it’s a snowy map, but at some point, an avalanche can literally happen, and if you’re anywhere in the middle of the map, you will get wiped away. Another map is Hail, where it seemed like only in single player we would deal with that since it’s story mode stuff - NOPE. Even in Multiplayer, we had to hide in places that could cover us, or we would get killed by the hail, unless someone was able to pick up the Boom Shield.
When we finally got Xbox Live, that was also when I got my own Xbox 360 and my own copy of Gears 2. It felt so good to have a mic that came with the console and chat with my brother, who was in the other room, and friends online. It was such a great time, especially playing in game chat where everyone was trash talking like there was no tomorrow. We had so much fun and seeing how people would react if a frag grenade would land right in the middle of them while they were capturing the ring, or catching someone slip with your sniper, or even violating with the meanest wall bounce – confusing them to death. That was also a time where Gears 3 was set to release, and we played the beta all day and night – it was an amazing time.
So, all of that to say, I am very much excited to jump into Gears of War: Reloaded Beta because I don’t think I played much of Ultimate Edition when that dropped. I had checked my achievements, and it said I did, but I don’t remember much of it, so I am excited to replay the campaign once it releases and hone my skills with this beta. It’ll be running for two weekends: this weekend and next weekend, so it’s definitely a great way to see if Gears is a game for you or also feel like me and want to have that great multiplayer experience again. Hope to see y’all there!