payback123's Full Review: Gears of War for Xbox 360
Epic and Microsoft bring the highly anticipated Gears of War to the X-box 360. Fortunately the end result is a stellar white-knuckle action game that delivers all of it's promises and much more.
Gears of War revolves around the overly brawny squad of Marcus Fenix, an ex-soldier of an organization known as the COG (Coalition of Organized Governments) imprisoned for disobeying an order. He is broken out of prison at the beginning of the game due to the invasion of the hordish and brutal race known as the "Locust" that were burrowed deep beneath the earths surface before "emergence day" and unexpectedly left the planet in chaos. However,the Locust are far beyond your average space aliens. They to, like Fenix's squad are ripped with muscles and carry weapons that pack a punch. You will meet various versions of the Locust throughout the game, some tougher than others, some larger. Fenix and squad are sent on a mission to find the missing Alpha Squad who have a device known as a "Resonator" used for mapping Locust tunnels and essentially win the war for the humans. The Locust A.I is witty and thoughtful and play out much like your human counter-parts. Flanking and suppressing are all in the Locust tactics book and doing the same is essential to your survival. Despite the brief intro, the game was a little light on story and often leaves blanks here and there that don't necessarily make you lose sleep but would be nice.
One glance at Gears of War and it's clear why you purchased a 360. Attention to detail and effects are in full force and never seem to let up throughout the game. The enemies and environments get gradually more stunning after each level and are easily the best the X-box 360 lineup has to offer. One of the more visually pleasing moments of the game are walking through a city that's collosal buildings have now been reduced to rubble Or the Magma-like substance "Immulsion" that glows bright yellow contrasting the dark and muddy tunnels.
Three other squad mates accompany you for the majority of the game that are a bit dim and overall more of a nuisance than help. They're constantly getting killed and injured. Luckily, you can revive them by a simple button tap but unfortunately the door doesn't swing both ways and they cannot return the favor. So, everytime you die, you have to restart from the last checkpoint, the only time you can't heal teammates is when they are killed in a brutal fashion like chainsawed in half or blown into bits by a shotgun shell. The voiceovers are very suitable for a powerhouse squad of grunts. A clean vocabulary clearly isn't a priority for the soldiers so expect to hear mild swearing, but don't get the wrong impression, it's not a swear fest either. Accompanying the voicework is an amazing musical score that always seems to suit your situation, I am very thankful no heavy metal music was tossed in given the type of game it is (nothing against metal though).
Gears of War also offers one of the coolest arsenal of weapons in a shooter game. The weapons are a very unique and fresh take on standard guns in games. You get your sniper rifles, yes, your turrets, yes, but they're all so satisfying to destroy your enemies with. A specific highlight is the "Lancer" the standard issued assault rifle, the rifle itself is nothing to write home about, but the chainsaw bayonet is seriously noteworthy. approaching your enemies while revving your bayonet gives you one of the most satisfying kills in a game. You honestly never get tired of seeing your enemies torso's getting sawed in half throughout the length of the game leaving a fountain worth of blood erupt all over your screen. Of course, it's a privelage to do this to an unsuspecting enemy as you can't just rush up to the Locust at any time. The chainsaw can also be used to destroy small objects such as dressers or end tables. Another shining star is the "Hammer of Dawn" a satellite guided weapon that unleashes a large lazer column that's particularly good at destroying large enemies. This is one of the most powerful (if not the most)weapons in the game. Also, a cool reload system was added in. When reloading you can choose to speed up your reload time by stopping a marker in the white section of a long bar, however, the white part is only a small length, the rest is red, stop the reticule to late in the red region and your gun will jam, taking longer to reload.
Multiplayer is addictive and a blast (no pun intended)and will be the one thing that keeps you going back to Gears of War once the campaign is done. The modes are innovative and unique. No flag capturing, no base destroying, just three awesome variations on deathmatch. "Warzone" is your standard team deathmatch, eliminate all opposition. "Assassination" gives each team a leader and the objective is to eliminate the opposing teams, while trying to protect your own. And "Execution" is team deathmatch except to kill an enemy you must do a brutal attack i.e: Chainsawing, killing them while they are down, blowing their head off etc... Eight players can play on one server at a time, leaving the rounds fast paced and quick. Aside from competitive, you can also join a co-op game at any chapter in the game, as well as with another friend on one X-box. My one complaint with this is that you can revive your partner when your playing split-screen, but not on X-box live, it's extremely frustrating when you have to restart from the previous checkpoint when you could of simply of been revived.
The whole gameplay idea for Gears of War is cover. Cover is your best friend, and just about anything is. It's one of those rare titles that actually emphasizes the use of cover. If you pop your head out for to long you'll be demolished by the Locust horde. Stay behind cover without firing and the Horde will move in on your position quick. It's an extremely unmatched gameplay style that never gets boring. Besides fighting the Locust on foot, you'll also be in a vehicle for a short segment of the game.
To conclude, your probably saying, "You don't need to tell me that it's a good game, we've known that since November!" which is fine, but for those skeptics who are torn over buying it, or don't want to give in because of a Halo preference. I assure you, not only is this a benchmark in the 360 lineup, it's also for gaming as well. Remember how many Grand theft auto "copycats" there were after GTA 3? well, I wouldn't be surprised to see many copycats of GOW, it's that revolutionary. The campaign will last you a few days maximum, but it's unlike anything you've played before and above all alot of fun.
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