Speaking in a panel discussion at the Montréal Games Summit, EA Montréal general manager Alain Tascan slammed Gears of War for a lack of innovation. He also chided reviewers for liking it.
“What is Gears of War? I mean Gears of War brings nothing in terms of innovation to the shooter … like, zero,” said Tascan. “Only two very brave UK-based journalists said, ‘You know what, Gears of War is a great game but it’s like what Quake was a few years ago.'”
Tascan seems to believe everyone else is too blinded by the graphics to see the game for what it is, even though he hasn’t played it yet. “Why are people loving it so much? It’s like added production value, incredible cutscenes and the best ever graphics ever. I’m sure it’s going to be a great success, I can’t wait to play it, but let’s face that graphics are still number one.
“I’m not talking about my tastes, I’m just saying, when you go to metacritic and you see a 96 for Gears of War, then you read the critics saying, ‘Okay, storyline – there’s none, gameplay is not innovative.’ Then I say, why did they give this 96? They were blown away by the high quality of the graphics … Myself, I prefer something more creative,” he said, possibly referring to Army of Two, an upcoming EA Montréal cooperative shooter.
Neither of the “brave” reviewers Tascan mentioned included multiplayer modes in their final scores due to a lack of availability before they went to press.
Source: Eurogamer
Published: Nov 10, 2006 02:52 pm