Gears of War (Xbox 360) > Reviews (93)

With the original X-Box clinging to life early-on solely thanks to the success of Halo, it was surprising to see the 360 lacking a decent shooter for the first year of its release. Just before the competition joins the fray, however, Epic Games caters to that large fanbase. Gears of War brings a few fresh tactics into the mix, coats them with gorgeous graphics and great cinematography, but it basically gives the shooter demographic what it primarily asks for: A chance to slaughter aliens with chainsaws and satellite beams.

***The Story***

Every bit about Gears of War feels like a good sci-fi war movie and before delving into the excellent presentation, let's take a look at the script.

Extra-terrestrials attacked Earth 14 years ago and a never-ending war rages on ever since, as one side tries to wipe the other out from existence. These Locust have managed to carve gigantic underground caves to use as their base of operations and as they unstoppably open Emergence Holes to freely deploy their troops on the surface, our gloomy world looks as much human as it looks alien.

Humanity needs all the help it can get and legendary soldier Marcus Fenix, is cleared from his charges as a traitor to carry out the plan to end the war once and for all.

The Lightmass bomb is labeled powerful enough to destroy the Locust's complex of caves and it's up to the anti-hero and his squad of hardened Gears to get the needed mapping data, deploy the weapon and save the world.

Gears of War is fast and furious, certainly compelling enough to leave you wanting more. Although the action is more than adequate for a movie, it can be considered short for video-game standards, but I guess this is one way to build a franchise. Gears of War has "Chapter 1" written all over it.

***The Presentation***

The cast is great on both sides of the conflict, showing emotion both visually and phonetically. The sets are stellar, really selling the fact that Earth has been a constant battlefield for more than a decade. The extras, however, for the Locust grunts could have been more varied in appearance.

Seriously though, few games feature the great cinematography of Gears of War and it really drives home the whole experience.

The game is filled with cutscenes that set the tone, be it frightening seclusion, heroic comeback, or comic relief. Of course, they are also heavily used for exposition and it was pretty funny when, on my second play-through, I noticed just how much of the premise was explained on an early action scene. There is nothing to laugh about, however, when the more elite of the Locust force make their first appearances, it is truly breath-taking and captivating.

The nifty part is that Gears keeps feeling like a movie when you actually play. Pardon the pun, but it is in this perspective that the 3rd person view helps the most. Taking cover is a huge part of the game and it just wouldn't work and especially look half as good in first person.

Reloading is a common chore in shooters, but here it actually adds to the experience.

By timing a second button press correctly, you reload faster and gain a confidence and power boost. Incorrectly and your character will jam his weapon; his frustration will be explicitly apparent as he tries to fix it. It really conveys the pressure felt in battles, as you'd like to take the chance and reload quicker as enemies rush you, but millisecond off press would cost you dear.

Aiming and firing also looks cooler in 3rd person, somehow managing not to be any harder as well. Again, slicing your opponents in half with the chainsaw bayonet just wouldn't have worked in first person. The camera shakes when running for cover, a nice touch mimicking the frantic nature of the move.

Finally, one button is specifically dedicated to cinematography. Pressing "Y" focuses on a "Point of Interest", like an Emergence Hole, Blazing Helicopter, hurt teammates and Giant Spiders. It is another stroke of genius, so simple, yet so adding to the presentation.

The quality voicing and the atmospheric music also bring the package together, as are the heavily acclaimed graphics. Life-like, there really isn't anything more to say as far as praising is concerned. The palette might seem rather limited at times, but it is The War™ not The Carnival™. Some areas spice it up a bit and Act 5 steals the show, absolutely beautiful.

***The Gameplay***

A lot of Gears' Gameplay is tied into the presentation, but a little more depth deserves to go into Covering. Pressing A dynamically puts you behind nearby places of cover, like sandbags, wrecked cars and fuel tanks, some more helpful than others. Unlike most shooters, Gears doesn't favour Rambo tactics and you absolutely must take cover if you want to survive. Also unlike most games, you are given more to do besides idly camping behind crates.

Using the Left Trigger to aim gets your character as little out of cover as possible, in an effort to get decent shots. Simply pushing the Right Trigger protrudes only the weapon as you happily blind-fire the opposition, inaccurately, but safely.

There is no "health bar" in Gears, rather a system akin to the shielding found in Halo. Taking damage unveils the Crimson Omen and the player is knocked out when it is complete. Avoiding harm has it slowly evaporate, further adding to the importance of taking good cover.

When your team-mates fall, you can revive them by pressing X or clearing out the area from hostiles. On the other hand, non-human players can't bring you back to life and you'll have to reload the latest checkpoint each time you are eliminated. Thankfully, these checkpoints are abundant and nicely spaced apart.

Characters carry up to 4 weapons, a side-arm like the Magnum-esque pistol, a handful of grenades and two more heavy-duty firearms. We have the standard machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles and also the Hammer of Dawn, a lethal weapon that calls forth a special laser beam straight from a satellite. It should be noted that the satellite is not always "online" and that when I say standard machine guns, I mean machine guns with chainsaws attached to them.

The campaign offers three different difficulty settings "Casual", "Hardcore" and the unlockable "Insane" mode. Casual isn't by any means easy, but a pleasantly challenging experience throughout. Insane is rightly locked up until you complete the game, as a lot of players might have found themselves biting more than they could chew. I would highly recommend getting through Insane co-operatively before making the solo effort.

Gears of War features both split-screen and online co-operative play, a personal favourite that seems to be making a comeback in popularity. Player Two takes the role of Marcus' best friend Dominic Santiago. Usually players cover each others' hides, but the action is sometimes split as the missions have them clear different areas. It is a mode pretty soundly conceived and carried out.

There are also the inevitable versus modes, 3 variations of, essentially, Team Deathmatch. Ranked and normal matches are available and it's pretty fun, albeit excessively gory. Even though gargantuan aliens attack in the single-player game, Gears of War might be equally brutal online, with the vicious finishing moves and countless chainsaw kills. A violence sensitive person wouldn't be comfortable in either mode.

Yet another confirmation of the game's excellent presentation is found online. It's Gears versus Locust and it's great to see the polish even the alien side enjoyed. Plenty of player stats are also available, so you might learn something interesting about your team-mates while waiting for the round to end.

Online games require, as is standard, Gold Xbox Live subscriptions and all of the packages I've seen so far contain 48-hour trial pre-paid cards; just check for the appropriate sticker.

***The System-Seller?***

Gears of War is being heavily billed as a system-seller for the 360, which is understandable considering the PS3 and Wii are also emerging, but not terribly accurate.

It's not the occasional slowdowns, the faltering AI when facing Kryll and the other minor issues that keep Gears of War from perfection. It is the fact that it is a shooter.

As such, it does little to encompass non-gamers and people not interested in gruesome wars. Most importantly, there are great shooters in every platform available and while Gears of War might currently be the best of them, it is only by a small margin and probably a matter of personal preference.

What I am trying to say is, if you don't have a 360 you don't have to buy one packaged with Gears of War to get your shooting fix; there are similarly excellent titles for each and every gaming system and twice as many for the PC. But if you do have a 360 and you like shooters, then there is really little reason not to buy Gears.

***OVERALL***

Epic Games delivers fans of action shooters a real treat, setting them up for a rollercoaster ride of atmospheric cinematography while waging war against increasingly menacing alien forces. Short and sweet, Gears of War makes up for its length with the multiplayer options and the fact that gamers experience the beginning of a very intriguing saga. Unlikely to engage non-fans of shooters, Gears does its best to accommodate people already hooked on the genre; and it triumphantly succeeds.