Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

Pramod Nautiyal F2 , 1/17

Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Game Structure ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Difficulty Structure ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Gameplay Principles...................................................................................................................................... 7 Cover ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Choice of Weapons ................................................................................................................................... 7 Prioritize the enemy to be killed first ....................................................................................................... 7 Active Reloads ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Pop and fire Shooting................................................................................................................................ 7 Gameplay Loop ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Advance in the Game ................................................................................................................................ 8 Killing enemies .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Shooting System (Guns) ............................................................................................................................ 9 Shooting System (Turrets) ........................................................................................................................ 9 What balances the Difficulty in the GamePlay Loop?............................................................................. 10 New type of enemies .............................................................................................................................. 10 Increased Difficulty of Enemies .............................................................................................................. 10 Increased Number of Enemies ................................................................................................................ 10 New weapons.......................................................................................................................................... 10 Obstacles in the game environment ....................................................................................................... 10 Story Pacing................................................................................................................................................. 11 The Rhythm of play ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Movement Impetus ................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. What increases the Movement Impetus in the game? .......................................................................... 12 Objectives ahead................................................................................................................................. 12 Narrow Physical options ..................................................................................................................... 12

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

What decreases the Movement Impetus in the game? ......................................................................... 13 Obstacle .............................................................................................................................................. 13 Increased Tension ............................................................................................................................... 13 Dialog .................................................................................................................................................. 13 Threat ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 Tension .................................................................................................................................................... 14 Tempo ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 Tempo in Movement .......................................................................................................................... 14 Tempo in Combat................................................................................................................................ 14 Case Study: Gears of War 2, Act 4, Chapter 6: Royal Inquisition ............................................................ 14

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

Introduction
Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter game. In the game the COG (Coalition of Ordered Governments) continues its fight against the Locust horde, who is attempting to sink all the cities on the planet Sera. Sergeant Marcus Fenix leads Delta Squad to stop the Locust and to save the city.

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

Game Structure
Below is the structure of how the levels are classified in the game. The game has a very linear structure. The game consists of 5 Acts(Levels) and each Act has 6 chapters(Sub Levels), expect for Act 5 where there are only 5 Chapters

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Difficulty Structure

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9 8

7
6

Difficulty

5
4 3 2 1 0 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5

Act Timeline

Heres a link to the video of Act 4, Chapter 6 of the game, then followed by the link for the final boss battle Act 4, Chapter 6 Act 4, Chapter 6 Skorge Boss Battle Part1 Act 4, Chapter 6 Skorge Boss Battle Part2 In Gears of War 2, the Skorge Boss Battle is considered to be the toughest boss fight and then followed by the Sea Monster in Act 3 Chapter 6. The final boss fight in Act 5, Chapter 5 was a disappointment because; it really didnt feel like a boss fight, when Marcus sinks Jacinto city, riding a Bumark and then finally killing him by the Hammer of Dawn. Hence, the Chapter 6 of Act 4 is marked highest in difficulty even though the player doesnt encounter the final boss at this stage. (Videos on page 13, 14, 16)

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Gameplay Principles

2011

Every game has some very essential gameplay principles which once understood correctly the player can be the best in the game. The following are the main Gameplay Principles

Cover
Cover is a key component of Gear of War 2 and a Golden Rule of the Gears. Its also mentioned in the game. Here are some excerpts from the game, Marcus Fenix to Benjamin Carmine The Golden Rule of the Gears is: Take cover of die. No matter what difficulty level, if a player masters the skill of taking cover he has an edge in the game.

Choice of Weapons
Other main principle that the player should follow while playing the game is the right choice of weapons to kill the enemies. For example use Shotguns to kill enemies when in short range, sniper rifle to knock out the enemies at a longer range, throw grenades close emergence holes (the hole on the ground from where the locust reach the surface and attack). The lancer riffle is good for mid range combat and is also very effective when use in a close combat to melee using the chainsaw.

Prioritize the enemy to be killed first

In the game there are instances where the player has to encounter a variety of enemies at once. In this situation the player must prioritize the enemy to be killed first. For ex. Drones (the locust that you will encounter the most in the game) when they come in a party with the Boomers it becomes important to kill the Boomers first because they are deadly and can lead damage which results in instant down. After taking down the Boomers, the player can concentrate on killing the other enemies.

Active Reloads
Active Reloads in the game means using the perfect timing to reload your guns. When the player successfully completes an active reload, the reloads are instant and the gun also receives a slight damage dost for a short period of time. If Active Reloads are not performed with proper timing it causes the weapon to jam and hence takes longer to reload.

Pop and fire Shooting

This game is all about pop and fire shooting. This means you hide while the enemies attach, then you pop up for a while and either attack them as they were firing somewhere else or wait for them to pop up. The best move is to let the enemies attack someone else, and then pop up and fire. Pramod Nautiyal F2 , 7/17

Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Gameplay Loop

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There are events in every game that keep repeating every time in the game and its still the part of the gameplay. The following are the events that keep repeating every time in Gears of War 2.

Advance in the Game

Kill the Boos in the Final Chapter of each act Start New Act

Advance in the Game

Kill small Enemies Proceed to next chapter in the Act

The player starts the game with a new Act, then kills some small enemies, then proceed to the next chapter in the Act, kill the boss in the Final Chapter of each act it any and then Start with a new Act again. The game has 5 Act in total and each Act consists of 6 Chapters, expect for the final Act.ie. Act 5

Killing enemies
What will be the fun part in the game if the player didnt had to kill some enemies to progress in the level? The key to the next chapter or the next act is to kill the enemies in all most all the levels. So to kill enemies, the player must shoot at them or perform a melee attack, take cover when loosing health, wait for health to regenerate and kill more enemies
Shoot at enemies/ Melee Attack to kill them

Killing enemies

Wait for health to regenerate

Take cover when loosing health

Pramod Nautiyal F2 , 8/17

Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Shooting System (Guns)

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Aim/Blind

There is a loop in the firing system, very common in all the game. The player first aims or blind fires then shoot and then reload and the process continues.

Shooting using a turret

Cool Down

Fire

Shooting System (Turrets)

Aim/Blind

Shooting System (Guns)

Reload

Shoot

There is a loop in the firing system, very common in all the game. The player first aims or blind fires then shoot and then cools down the weapon and the process continues.

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

What balances the Difficulty in the GamePlay Loop? New type of enemies
Killing the same type enemies can become boring and might get easy after killing the same type of enemies over a period of time, new type of enemies gives the player new challenge.

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Increased Difficulty of Enemies

The difficulty level of the enemies increases with the progression of the player in the game.

Increased Number of Enemies

The number of enemies encountered increases with the progression of the player in the game.

New weapons
When the difficulty and the number of enemies appearing in each wave increases, to balance the system each time a new gameplay element for ex advanced weapons is introduced. For ex. The Centaur, Brumak etc

Obstacles in the game environment

With the increase in the level the difficulty of the game is not only limited to the enemies even the game environment has some obstacles which appear as a challenge in addition to killing the enemies. For ex the razorhail, breaking ice floor.

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

Story Pacing

Story Pacing
10 9 8 7 6 5 9 6 3 7 Story Pacing

Tension

4 3

2 1 2 0 Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act4

Act5

Acts in the Game There are various events noticed in the story of Gears of War 2 thats changes the pace of the game story wise. In Act 1 Marcus gets to know he is on a new mission to save the cities on planet Sera. In Act 2 Marcus finds out that a huge worm is sinking the cities into it and finds a way to kill the worm In Act 3 Dom convinces Marcus to help him to seek his wife Maria. In Act 4 Delta Squad discovers that locust have messages from Adam Fenix, Marcus Father, That suggest and alternate way of ending the war, in case they cant take out the queen.;

Pramod Nautiyal F2 , 11/17

Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

to sink Jacinto city in order to let water flood the Hollow and wipe out the Locust Horde. They then find out from the queen herself that she is not only trying to destroy humans but also to destroy the lambent Locust that have been exposed to Imulsion and are attempting to overthrow the queen. In Act 4 the tension also raised when the Queen appears. The queen appeared to be beautiful instead of ugly. In Act 5 When the Brumak is exposed to to high levels of Imulsion, he beings to Mutate. The Brumak attacks the helicopter transporting the bomb. Marcus then comes up with a plan that includes killing the lambent Brumak as a replacement of the Bomb. He uses the Hammer of Dawn to kill the Brumak, which explodes taking out the Brumak and it sinks Jacinto.

The Rhythm of play

The gears series is one of the most rhythmically engaging non-musical games. The gears universe has got a punchy gravity from the firing of a lancer on the screen to the weighty slam as Marcus and Dom take cover. The Rhythm of play is noticed in every aspect of the game. For ex the Gears sniper rifle. It offers the most undiluted way to regularly experience the awesomeness of reloading. The rip and spray of a Gears weapon is like a snare-drum roll, and the active reload is the cymbal crash at the end. Waiting the perfect amount of time before jamming the right shoulder button to slam in a super-charged round is so rhythmically satisfying.

Movement Impetus
Gears of War 2 if studied in full in terms of the Movement Impetus, most number of times it will be noticed that the Movement Impetus is on the higher side. A balance is required in the game to maintain a perfect balance of Movement Impetus so that the game doesnt get boring if the movement impetus is too high. On the other hand if the movement impetus is too low then the player might feel that there isnt any progression happening for him in the game.

What increases the Movement Impetus in the game?

Objectives ahead All the objectives in the games are ahead, so the player has to advance through levels to reach the final objective and finally beat the game. At no point in the game there is a scenario where the player moves back in the level to complete an objective. Narrow Physical options The game has predefined boundaries and the path available for the player to explore is also very limited, this leaves with the player with no option but to move ahead in the game. Pramod Nautiyal F2 , 12/17

Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

2011

What decreases the Movement Impetus in the game?

Obstacle Killing enemies forces the player to halt in the game. The player will only proceed further after killing them all. Increased Tension When killing big enemies like the bosses at the end of ever Act, the tension is usually high as the player is fearful of moving quickly because one wrong move may result in killing starting the boss battle again. Dialog There are instances where the Marcus interacts with people from the COG team and pedestrians in some areas. This certainly reduces the pace of the game.

Threat
In the game the player goes through three levels of threat patterns. High o

The player most of the time experiences high threat in the game for ex threat is extremely high when the wretches pounce on him out of nowhere. The threat is high when the player is in a boss battle.

Medium o The threat is medium when the player is on a range combat where the player can take down the enemies from a range using a Sniper Rifle or a Torque Bow or even a Lancer for that matter. Low o

The threat is low when the player is a combat and is moving

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Tension
The game is inspired from the art of destroyed beauty. Hence the destroyed atmosphere of the game creates tension in the game with the help of the audio that also plays an important role in creating tension in the game.

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Tempo
Tempo usually describes the the level of intensity of action. Tempo in the game can be classified in 2 types i.e. Tempo in Movement and Tempo in Combat. Tempo in Movement For example, to move around in the environment (Explorative Movement). The player here has time to look around and determine his route. Explorative Movement usually has a low tempo Tempo in Combat The tempo during the combat in the game is high. Extremely high during the boss battle.

Case Study: Gears of War 2, Act 4, Chapter 6: Royal Inquisition

This case study examines a small 11 minute section (Watch Video) of the beginning of the level, showing how the threat, tension, movement Impetus and tempo Change of the scenario.

0:00 sec 1:26 sec Threat 2 Tension 2 Movement Impetus 7 Pramod Nautiyal F2 , 14/17

Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Tempo 5

2011

Here the player doesnt encounter any enemies but just moves ahead in the level as he knows his objective is ahead in the game and hence the movement Impetus is high and the threat and tension are marked low

1:27 sec 4:30 sec Threat 5 Tension 5 Movement Impetus 3 Tempo 7 Here the player enters into a combat since most part of the combat is at a mid range the threat is not very high but medium. The movement impetus is reduced as the player will only be able to move ahead after killing the enemies

4:30 sec - 5:05 sec

Threat 1 Tension 1 Movement Impetus 7 Tempo - 5 The observation again here is that since the player is heading ahead the player the movement impetus is one the higher side. The threat and tension is very low as the player doesnt encounter any enemies. 5:06 sec 8:51 sec Threat 4 Tension 5 Movement Impetus 5 Pramod Nautiyal F2 , 15/17

Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Tempo 7

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The threat here ranges from low to mid because the player user a mortar to kill the enemies at a range. The movement impetus is also very medium as the player also advances ahead in the level to take the next wave of enemies The tempo here is slightly on the higher side as the player is fighting enemies (Combat Tempo)

8:52 sec 11:44 sec Threat 6 Tension - 6 Movement Impetus - 5 Tempo 2 Here even though the player doesnt get into to the boss fight. The threat and tension still goes up as the player knows that a boss fight is about to begin.

Heres a case study of a boss fight with Skorge

Threat 6 Tension 7 Movement Impetus 5 Tempo 8 In this boss fight threat is medium, the tension is on the higher side, the movement impetus is also medium and the tension and tempo are on the higher side.

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Analysis: Concept of Pacing in Gears of War 2

Boss fight with Skorge continued

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Threat 8 Tension - 7 Movement Impetus 7 Tempo 9

The movement Impetus her is also the higher side as the Marcus moves towards the Jacinto city to sink the city. The threat, tempo and tension are also on the higher side as due to the intensity of the boss battle and the ambience in which the battle takes place.

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