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Best horde modes?
- Thread starter RedSwirl
- Start date
Damn is Mass Effect 3 multiplayer really that good? Is the community still strong on PC? My worry is I'll have to keep playing it in order to keep my galaxy readiness thing up (and I intend to play through the singleplayer again at least a couple more times).
Well really just not 360. My Live Gold is about to run out. The whole point of this thread for me is I'm trying to find another horde mode as good as Gears 3. I really like the fact that they basically made it "tower defense without the towers." They money and defense upgrade system adds just enough depth to the game for me. The only thing even remotely similar I've found so far is TF2 MvM.
Well shit maybe I really should at least try out the demo someday.
Well really just not 360. My Live Gold is about to run out. The whole point of this thread for me is I'm trying to find another horde mode as good as Gears 3. I really like the fact that they basically made it "tower defense without the towers." They money and defense upgrade system adds just enough depth to the game for me. The only thing even remotely similar I've found so far is TF2 MvM.
I wish Hard Reset had multiplayer. It has an excellent survival/horde mode, but no multiplayer to speak of sadly.
Well shit maybe I really should at least try out the demo someday.
ME3 is absolutely still active on PC, have not had any problems finding games so far.
Forsythia
Member
Don't worry, this has been changed with the Extended Cut DLC. No need to play multiplayer anymore to get the 'best' ending. Although I do recommend playing it, it is really fun.
Not nearly enough love for Gears of War 3 in here. You guys do all know that Horde is called Horde because of this series, right?
This game perfected Horde mode. Let me tell you what it does that no other game (including Gears Judgement) has done since. Each kill you get earns you money that you can spend between rounds on a number of options.
Building Fortifications
When you start a game, you have 5 or 6 bases to choose from on any given map. Pick the one that seems like the best spot for your team to dig in, and from here you can start to assemble a fortress.
-Barbed wire and Laser Fences for keeping the enemy out. Pay to have them repaired each round (if they take damage)
-Dummies for distraction. Can ultimately be upgraded to a full-blown AI teammate that fights alongside you for as many rounds as it takes them to die.
-Mounted machine-gun turrets. Create choke points and bear down on the enemy with heavy damage and pay to have them reloaded between rounds.
-Air support. Build a terminal that calls in snipers, mortars, or orbital strikes. One-time use per purchase.
-Extra weapons Self explanatory. Your favorite weapons are scattered around the map, waiting for you to buy them if you don't want to wait to take one from a fallen enemy.
-Automatic Turrets Just what it sounds like. Upgradeable to eventually deal electric and fire damage.
So through all of these things, you can have a hallway set up where you have mines(planted grenades) at the entry way, a lazer fence slightly past that, and a turret bearing down on the enemy when they get caught in the fencing. Its really satisfying and leads to all these decisions about how you want to spend your resources and where you want to focus your firepower. If you want, you can eventually expand outward and establish every base on the map, or just decide to stick with one and make it the Fort Knox of bases.
Boss Waves
The game has 50 waves of enemies total, but every 10 waves there is a boss thrown into the mix. Shit gets nuts when you've got a dozen locust drones laying down fire and suddenly a Brumak arrives on the scene. The feeling of accomplishment after every 10th wave has not been replicated in any other Horde mode for any other game.
In it for the long haul
If you're a serious Horde player and you want to get through all 50 waves, expect to play for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Its a marathon of teamwork, frantic action, and high fives. Its too bad the online community has died off so much, and especially that Judgment ditched Horde altogether for the ultra-shitty "Survival" mode. When you can find others to play with who are dedicated and won't quit 4 rounds in, this is amazing. I really hope they bring it back for Gears 4. If you can ever do a LAN for this, I highly recommend it. We did it earlier this year at Midwest Gaming Classic and it was on fire.
So there you have it. Take it from somebody who got obsessed with Horde. My team broke Top 50 on the leaderboards for several maps, so we had it all down to a science and its still not old for me. Sure, I play other games too, but Horde in Gears 3 will be one I go back to for years to come, even if sometimes I have to play alone and see how long I can hold out.
Also, a quick nod to FEAR 3's "FUCKING RUN" mode. Its like Horde on the go where you're scrambling to get from point A to point B while Alma's wall of death closes in from behind.
This game perfected Horde mode. Let me tell you what it does that no other game (including Gears Judgement) has done since. Each kill you get earns you money that you can spend between rounds on a number of options.
Building Fortifications
When you start a game, you have 5 or 6 bases to choose from on any given map. Pick the one that seems like the best spot for your team to dig in, and from here you can start to assemble a fortress.
-Barbed wire and Laser Fences for keeping the enemy out. Pay to have them repaired each round (if they take damage)
-Dummies for distraction. Can ultimately be upgraded to a full-blown AI teammate that fights alongside you for as many rounds as it takes them to die.
-Mounted machine-gun turrets. Create choke points and bear down on the enemy with heavy damage and pay to have them reloaded between rounds.
-Air support. Build a terminal that calls in snipers, mortars, or orbital strikes. One-time use per purchase.
-Extra weapons Self explanatory. Your favorite weapons are scattered around the map, waiting for you to buy them if you don't want to wait to take one from a fallen enemy.
-Automatic Turrets Just what it sounds like. Upgradeable to eventually deal electric and fire damage.
So through all of these things, you can have a hallway set up where you have mines(planted grenades) at the entry way, a lazer fence slightly past that, and a turret bearing down on the enemy when they get caught in the fencing. Its really satisfying and leads to all these decisions about how you want to spend your resources and where you want to focus your firepower. If you want, you can eventually expand outward and establish every base on the map, or just decide to stick with one and make it the Fort Knox of bases.
Boss Waves
The game has 50 waves of enemies total, but every 10 waves there is a boss thrown into the mix. Shit gets nuts when you've got a dozen locust drones laying down fire and suddenly a Brumak arrives on the scene. The feeling of accomplishment after every 10th wave has not been replicated in any other Horde mode for any other game.
In it for the long haul
If you're a serious Horde player and you want to get through all 50 waves, expect to play for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Its a marathon of teamwork, frantic action, and high fives. Its too bad the online community has died off so much, and especially that Judgment ditched Horde altogether for the ultra-shitty "Survival" mode. When you can find others to play with who are dedicated and won't quit 4 rounds in, this is amazing. I really hope they bring it back for Gears 4. If you can ever do a LAN for this, I highly recommend it. We did it earlier this year at Midwest Gaming Classic and it was on fire.
So there you have it. Take it from somebody who got obsessed with Horde. My team broke Top 50 on the leaderboards for several maps, so we had it all down to a science and its still not old for me. Sure, I play other games too, but Horde in Gears 3 will be one I go back to for years to come, even if sometimes I have to play alone and see how long I can hold out.
Also, a quick nod to FEAR 3's "FUCKING RUN" mode. Its like Horde on the go where you're scrambling to get from point A to point B while Alma's wall of death closes in from behind.
Resident4t.
Member
Dungeon Defenders is easily the best on the PC, so go play that.
He already played GOW3, he's looking for a replacement on the PC or PS3
He already played GOW3, he's looking for a replacement on the PC or PS3
SafeinSound
Member
Gears 2
OP has stated that he will soon be unable to play on 360.
Also, Gears' Horde mode takes so long...
Another post for Killing Floor, it's a lot of fun as long as you play with other people (game is pretty terrible alone). The class system is really nice and they have good synergy so it rewards your team for mixing up what classes you use and some classes are stronger than others depending on the map so you always have a reason to switch it up. My only real knock against the game is that on the defensive side of things there isn't much going on, all you can really do is weld doors shut which lets you create one big choke point as long as you leave someone at the door to stop it from getting destroyed. Personally I wish there was a bit more like being able to board up windows or spawn holes to some degree, but, it doesn't stop the game from being a ton of fun.
That said though, I am just going to go to my standby answer of Orcs Must Die. It's without a doubt my absolute favorite wave based survival game since it does a really great job at mixing fun action with the defensive parts of something like Dungeon Defenders (where the action part of the game is fairly underwhelming). The action in OMD is top notch, you can still get head shots, you can cleave with melee weapons, and the weapons actually effect each other in different ways (a fire weapon will unfreeze a frozen enemy, some frozen attacks cause enemies to take extra damage from weapons and also knock flying enemies out of the air, etc.) and there is a combo system that rewards you more money (which is used for laying traps) for hitting an enemy with as many different traps and weapon attacks as you can. In addition the defensive stuff is good since the game focuses more on crazy numbers than sponges. Outside of endless mode in the second game enemy HP values never increase as waves move onward, instead you constantly just get more enemies and new stronger enemy types. That is where more physics based stuff kicks in since there is a weapon and various traps that actually let you push enemies around, knocking them into pools of lava or off edges and such.
The first game is fun and I quite love it, but, the second game is the complete package. It added a more fleshed out upgrade system for your weapons and traps, 2 player co-op, far more weapons/traps in general, a second character who plays differently, and endless mode, which is exactly what it sounds like.
That said though, I am just going to go to my standby answer of Orcs Must Die. It's without a doubt my absolute favorite wave based survival game since it does a really great job at mixing fun action with the defensive parts of something like Dungeon Defenders (where the action part of the game is fairly underwhelming). The action in OMD is top notch, you can still get head shots, you can cleave with melee weapons, and the weapons actually effect each other in different ways (a fire weapon will unfreeze a frozen enemy, some frozen attacks cause enemies to take extra damage from weapons and also knock flying enemies out of the air, etc.) and there is a combo system that rewards you more money (which is used for laying traps) for hitting an enemy with as many different traps and weapon attacks as you can. In addition the defensive stuff is good since the game focuses more on crazy numbers than sponges. Outside of endless mode in the second game enemy HP values never increase as waves move onward, instead you constantly just get more enemies and new stronger enemy types. That is where more physics based stuff kicks in since there is a weapon and various traps that actually let you push enemies around, knocking them into pools of lava or off edges and such.
The first game is fun and I quite love it, but, the second game is the complete package. It added a more fleshed out upgrade system for your weapons and traps, 2 player co-op, far more weapons/traps in general, a second character who plays differently, and endless mode, which is exactly what it sounds like.
I have to agree with this, it was completely unexpected and I loved everything about it.
nephilimdj
Member
Call of Duty World at War, Zombies
Has mod support on PC compared to later versions, was 200 odd maps last time I looked and all need to do is join there game via server browser (auto download).
Believe can still buy the cd key or ebay a copy cheap.
Has mod support on PC compared to later versions, was 200 odd maps last time I looked and all need to do is join there game via server browser (auto download).
Believe can still buy the cd key or ebay a copy cheap.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
No shame. It was the best part of the game.
Especially when this song plays during extraction while the clock is ticking down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gad5BUbtpQ
The Lamonster
Member
OP assumes everyone here has played Gears of War.
JumpJeff84
Member
Gears 3 and Uncharted 2.
And games that I wish had a horde mode: Tomb Raider and The Last Of Us.
And games that I wish had a horde mode: Tomb Raider and The Last Of Us.
It's Gears 3 for the reasons outlined by Moofers. I never played it with friends, I played it with randomers, so the quality varied. But when I got a good team, mahfuckas, we owned that shit. It was great. Even when the draw wasn't so kind I got a cool memory of my teammates having no idea how to deal with a Lambent Berzerker, resulting in me killing it all on my own with a Retro Lancer while they had to watch. Watch and learn, brothers. Watch and learn.
Gears 2 Horde was great, but I think they managed to improve it in Gears 3.
Only played it on 360, but Dungeon Defenders with a good team is about as perfect a gaming experience imaginable.
Section 8: Prejudice on the harder difficulties was surprisingly entertaining.
ODST.
Pretty much any Horde mode with friends can be a lot of fun.
Only played it on 360, but Dungeon Defenders with a good team is about as perfect a gaming experience imaginable.
Section 8: Prejudice on the harder difficulties was surprisingly entertaining.
ODST.
Pretty much any Horde mode with friends can be a lot of fun.
Portugeezer
Member
Firefight in ODST was great. Felt a bit off in Reach but sad to see 343i drop the mode from Halo 4.
Bring it back FFS.
Eppy Thatcher
God's had his chance.
All glory to this fucking amazing game. Horde was fun as hell.. especially the secret 21 wave at the end with a godamned dreadnaught. I bought all that dlc and never once was able to get into a dreadnaught game (where you fight to control one yourself). Looks like amazing fun on youtube but the lobby for it is completely dead.
On the + side... vanilla SpaceMarine multiplayer is actually still pretty active.
Loved Horde in Gears 2. So many good memories reaching Wave 50 with a 30 something year old random from the south and his crew that I befriended and played a ton of Horde with.
I didn't enjoy Horde in Gears 3. Too much micro management and playing with stupid randoms/friends who didn't save their money for several waves meant that I never reached Wave 50. It was definitely an improvement, but I lost interest fast. I actually loved and played more Beast mode.
Mass Effect 3 is super addicting. The design and huge variety of characters and weapons make it the current king as well as maps and secondary objectived.
I'll also add Iron Brigade since it hasn't been mentioned. It has a pretty good story on top of tons of loot and Trench combinations. I think it's one of the best recent Horde style games. And it's so pretty to look at. Too bad I played with Europeans who had awful connections since matches would often lag.
I didn't enjoy Horde in Gears 3. Too much micro management and playing with stupid randoms/friends who didn't save their money for several waves meant that I never reached Wave 50. It was definitely an improvement, but I lost interest fast. I actually loved and played more Beast mode.
Mass Effect 3 is super addicting. The design and huge variety of characters and weapons make it the current king as well as maps and secondary objectived.
I'll also add Iron Brigade since it hasn't been mentioned. It has a pretty good story on top of tons of loot and Trench combinations. I think it's one of the best recent Horde style games. And it's so pretty to look at. Too bad I played with Europeans who had awful connections since matches would often lag.
It's more of a score attack mode than survival, but I'd recommend mercenaries from Resident Evil 5 or 6. The mechanics especially makes it stand out from other shooters as it feels more like an overall action game than a traditional 3rd person shooter.
http://youtu.be/lkBHk4WAc3o?t=1m17s
http://youtu.be/lkBHk4WAc3o?t=1m17s
Mass Effect 3.
Absolutely giant array of characters/weapons allowing all kinds of different ways to play (including all gunplay / all powers), plenty of maps and enough difficulties to sate your thirst without making for extremely long games (though duration may vary given your skill).
Absolutely giant array of characters/weapons allowing all kinds of different ways to play (including all gunplay / all powers), plenty of maps and enough difficulties to sate your thirst without making for extremely long games (though duration may vary given your skill).
Covilicious
Neo Member
I'm gonna have to go with Gears 3. That shit was fun as hell. I spent tons of hours in the horde mode and barely even touched the competitive MP/SP by the time I sold it. Don't think I got further than 2 hours into the campaign.
Doug Heffernan
Member
Gears of War 3 really nailed it.
legacyzero
Banned
I played A LOT of Terrorist Hunt on Rainbow Six: Vegas 1&2. Pretty fun stuff. Also, listening to the Terrorists scream at you was hilarious!
"BITCH OWED ME MONEY MAN!"
"BITCH OWED ME MONEY MAN!"
This and GOW 2&3 are the best.
It really isn't. It's still a really bad shooter, many maps are poorly designed and the ridiculous free-to-play random unlock system means you might never get to play the character you'd like to.
But it is entertaining for what it is and the grid can be addictive (I guess that can be a good thing, if you're into that sort of thing).
What other common name is there for the game type?
catstronaut
Member
Resident Evil 4 and 5: The Mercenaries.
Hands down, no competition.
Hands down, no competition.
DaciaJC
Gold Member
StalkerUKCG
Banned
ODST
GoW3
ME3
Interesting tidbit. Many people think Firefight in ODST was a direct response to Horde mode included in gears this is not true.Firefight was in development before Horde mode was revealed. Tim Williams (@Bungie) Started working on Firefight In late 2007 set in the dam from The end of the Halo 3 Jungle level. Horde was not announced until E3 2008 (july 15th)
GoW3
ME3
Interesting tidbit. Many people think Firefight in ODST was a direct response to Horde mode included in gears this is not true.Firefight was in development before Horde mode was revealed. Tim Williams (@Bungie) Started working on Firefight In late 2007 set in the dam from The end of the Halo 3 Jungle level. Horde was not announced until E3 2008 (july 15th)
Survival. That's what it was called before everyone assumed it was invented by Gears 2.
Survival mode. I do believe the OP is specifically talking about multiplayer ones, like Horde Mode in Gears of War.
Online multiplayer survival mdoes were not too common before Gears of War 2 did it. Before that, it was mostly PC games that had it, like Unreal Tournament.
Coolbgdog12
Member
Wow I agree with everything said here. Gears 3 horde mode was sooo fun yet I just don't play it as much because it takes forever to finish and if I'm not playing it with friends then I don't want to play it.
Uncharted 2 I've sunk HOURS into the COOP mode, it was criminally under rated imo. It was very basic but playing it on crushing and just seeing droves of soldiers come out mixed with the helmet dudes and the ones that had the gattling while you stayed behind cover pouring bullets into their head was too fun.
Tomb Raider felt like it should have had that instead of the abysmal MP they decided to shoe horn in.
TLOU I'm shocked they didn't do that. The game practically had mini hordes throughout the campaign.
tintin1029
Member
Mass Effect 3. All the mini objectives, the many types of aliens to play as (especially with the DLC). It's not just: survive. Was really a breath of fresh air for a survival mode.
boredofcanada
Member
Gears3 Horde set to insane on Blood Drive with a full party with mics......One of the best online sessions I've ever had....Took us more than three hours. I never touched Horde again after that.
The only other "horde" like console game I've ever liked is the Treyarch zombie games, which I think are fantastic.
The only other "horde" like console game I've ever liked is the Treyarch zombie games, which I think are fantastic.
MAX PAYMENT
Member
Modern warfare 3 had a horde mode? How the hell was I unaware of this?
I played mass effect's on release and didn't like it. But they've added a ton of maps since. Has it improved?
I played mass effect's on release and didn't like it. But they've added a ton of maps since. Has it improved?
Agent Matt
Member
I came to post this. So much fun.
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