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702 Reviews
A New Generation of Gaming: Gears of War Review
Welcome to the Next Generation of Gaming
Gears of War Review
The Xbox 360 has been a very successful console so far. Getting a one year head start on the PlayStation 3 and the Wii was one thing, but the sheer amount of terrific games for the system is another. Things did not really kick up until late 2006, though, when the first truly amazing, truly “next generation” title appeared for the Xbox 360: Gears of War.
Story
The story is simple enough: it takes place on the planet Sera, which was once home to a glorious human civilization. After a long war, the planet was invaded by an underground breed known as the Locust. They killed a massive amount of the planet’s population and forced the survivors to run to a safe haven known as the Jacinto Plateau. Eventually the Plateau became a military base, and the non-military citizens were forced to live in squalor. The war became too rough, and eventually prisoners were released in order to help out the army. One of these prisoners is your character, Marcus Fenix, who is released from prison at the beginning of the game to take on the Locust.
Gameplay
The most important part of any game is the gameplay, and Gears of War’s gameplay is terrific. Simple and addictive, Gears has you running, hiding, and shooting. You take out the Locust by killing them with your various weapons, but they are extremely powerful. Most of the game has you taking cover, popping out to shoot, and going back into your cover. You repeat this throughout most of the game, but it does not get boring. Through great and responsive controls, a well thought out control scheme, a reload system that doesn’t mess you up, and a small but interesting array of weapons, Gears of War stays exciting until the bitter end. There is also some small squad based combat, some vehicle combat, and a couple of moments that require a bit of strategy, too.
Graphics
This game is, with no doubt in my mind, the absolute best looking video game available for the Xbox 360, and possibly all together. Running in full 1080i High Definition, this game looks flat out phenomenal. The characters sport an unseen level of detail, the environments are massive and destruction occurs in real time, and the explosions and special effects are top notch. The textures all are crisp and realistic, and practically never repeat. And the lighting? Dynamic, and in real time, the game’s lighting is extremely impressive and even plays a major role in a part or two of the game. And don’t even get me started on the game’s rain…water shines and reflects off of every single surface, resulting in a shockingly realistic experience. Every part about this game’s graphics are mind-blowing.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer is fantastic, and has been the most played game over Xbox Live since the game’s release. Not only does the game offer cooperative gameplay on and off-line, but there are multiplayer deathmatches and a reasonable amount of other types of multiplayer modes. With maps based off of levels in the game, as well as original maps, there are plenty of locales to explore and kill all of your friends.
Conclusion
Overall, there is a reason this is the top Xbox 360 game. Its mix of simple yet addictive gameplay, breathtaking graphics, a stunning musical score, and insane multiplayer makes this game the total package. And with the technology backing it up, is one of the best reasons to pick up an Xbox 360 all together.Read full review...
Get in Gear(s)
Gears of War is a third-person shooter that has much in common with popular frag-your-friends titles such as Halo or Quake: gameplay is quick, the action is intense, single-player is fun but overshadowed by online multiplayer, and the campaign storyline is contrived and more than a little trite.
Single player action: the single player campaign is quite simple, and to the point. As I mentioned above, the storyline is neither original nor necessary for one's enjoyment of the game - in fact, anyone with a college degree should try their best to mute the cut-scenes before they are driven to put a pair of scissors through their eardrums. The only challenging point, as with many games of this sort, is the end "boss," General RAAM. But once you figure his weaknesses, you can easily defeat him on the most difficult setting.
Multiplayer action: Xbox Live is where this game shines. True, the learning curve is steep, especially if you don't beat the single-player game first, but if you have the time, it is worth practicing. My advice is to play at least ten hours of unranked matches before setting foot in the ranked arena. Like many shooter communities, the players here can be less than welcoming to newbies.
However, once you are at least an average player, the game becomes a whole lot of fun. There is a nice balance of weapons and arenas, with some maps catering to the use of certain guns, and others offering nigh-unlimited variety in strategy and armament selection.
The game was also recently updated and provided with new maps. With the amount of people playing online, the game should continue to be supported in this way for some time.
I highly suggest buying this game. It is just the thing to tide you over until Halo3 comes out.
However, there is one caveat: this game earns its rating. I mean, it really earns its rating! It is for mature audiences only. For, not only is there Texas Chainsaw Massacre style gore involved, but also a whole lot of colorful language (including the occasional "f-bomb" during the single-player campaign). If you are a parent concerned with excessive violence or language in your child's video game, then I would suggest Lego Star Wars II instead.
But if you are an adult with a need to de-stress by fragging the hell out of some newbs, then this is the game for you! Plenty of opportunities to satisfy the destructive urges we cultivate all day in our tiny little cubicles.Read full review...
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Additional Information about Gears of War
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Description
A third-person tactical shooter from Epic, running on the Unreal Engine 3. Gears of War thrusts gamers into a deep and harrowing story of humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet.
Unlike other shooters, Gears of War is all about teamwork in a big way. All game modes, levels and scenarios are designed specifically to encourage co-operative play, whether it be with A.I. partners or human players (with A.I. teammates designed with specific strengths, weaknesses and personalities.) On top of that, voice recognition will be available for players, and obviously voice chat to discuss strategy with your friends. In addition to voice chat, gamers will be able to experience individualized matchmaking, view player statistics, earn player achievements, customize their games, and build and personalize their gamer profiles over Xbox Live.
Special Features
Engaging and disturbing cinematic story: Massively scoped worlds, memorable characters, and an epic storyline play out like an intense and unsettling blockbuster action film. Dramatic in-game camera work and a compelling story bring the brutal, emotionally charged experience to life. Control Marcus Fenix and his fire team as you pit advanced human technology against the overwhelming and horrific Locust Horde.Fire team co-op action: All game modes, levels, and scenarios are designed for cooperative fire team play (A.I. or human). For the first time, A.I. teammates are indiscernible from human players. They move intelligently, take orders effectively, and seek cover and defend themselves when necessary. Experience rich cooperative gameplay through unique characters that require cooperation to survive.Unprecedented visuals: Gears of War ushers in the next generation with unprecedented visuals. The Unreal Engine 3 technology pushes high-definition visual designs and brings out the smallest details in the largest battle. Experience a rich dynamic world with an unprecedented level of detail. Characters come to life with unbelievable model quality and a physics-integrated animation system that has them truly reacting intelligently to events as they unfold around them.Hyper-realistic and intense combat: The battlefield is a lethal place;to foolishly stand out in the open is to die. To survive, create and take cover using interactive and dynamic environments, suppress the enemy with blindfire, and use weapons and teammates to outwit and outfight terrifying enemies.Xbox Live action: Gears of War will embody the next-generation Xbox Live experience and extend it even further. Experience individualized matchmaking, view player statistics, earn player achievements, customize your games, and build and personalize your gamer profiles., In this epic tale that plays out like a Hollywood blockbuster, lead Marcus Fenix as he pits advanced human technology against the overwhelming Locust Horde; a I teammates are indiscernible from human players. Voice recognition and real-time lip synching heighten the immersive experience; unreal engine 3 technology brings out the smallest details in the largest battle. Experience a rich, dynamic world where characters come to life; the battlefield is a lethal place.Read full review...
Review: Gears of War
From the moment Xbox 360 launched in November of 2005, everyone has been waiting for the “killer app” that would single handedly justify purchasing the console. The original Xbox of course had Halo. But since Halo 3 was a long way off, gamers turned to Gears of War. Ever since its first showing at E3, fans have been dying to get their hands on this graphically stunning game. With Microsoft hyping the game as the next Halo, expectations could not have been any higher. The good news is that all that hype was well deserved. Epic managed to deliver on all of its promises and provide a compelling third-person action game.
The game opens up with Marcus Fenix being busted out of prison by his best friend Dominic. It appears Fenix was imprisoned for disobeying orders during the initial locust invasion by trying to save his father. Apparently things have gotten significantly worse since his incarceration and humanity needs every bit of help that it can get. With a full pardon, your initial objective after escaping the prison is to meet up with Delta Squad and stage a rescue mission for Alpha Squad, which is in possession of a weapon that may have the power to turn the tide of war. That’s about as deep as the storyline gets; there is not any more back-story to the conflict or anything like that. But that’s not to say that it doesn’t keep you interested. The game features quite a few excellent in engine cut-scenes that move the story along at a good pace. The combat chatter between the soldiers in your squad gives each of them a unique personality, even if they aren’t very deep characters.
While the storyline is only average, the gameplay is exceptional. The combat is very intense, forcing you to take cover whenever you can. Taking cover feels very natural, making it easy to pop in and out to shoot. You also have the ability to shoot blindly around corners to stay concealed, but it is not very accurate. The enemy AI is pretty good at shooting you when you pop out, so you only have a few seconds to fire before you need to take cover again. This makes flanking an especially effective tactic allowing you to rob the enemy of their cover while keeping your own. The enemies put up a pretty good fight and will attempt to flank you as well, keeping you on your toes. You also have a squad with you that you will be able to issue limited commands to. They do a pretty good job of distracting enemies, allowing you to sneak up behind them. They also do a decent job of taking out enemies on their own, which is good because you are usually outnumbered.
If playing with an entirely AI squad isn’t your thing, the game has the ability to play the entire single player campaign with a buddy. This can be done via split-screen or over Xbox Live. This can make the game considerably easier, allowing you to work with your teammate to flank enemies. You can also revive your teammate if he goes down as long as he doesn’t die during one of the sequences where you and your teammate split up and go down separate paths. Playing over Xbox Live was extremely smooth without a single hit of lag.
To take on the locust horde, you have a pretty good selection of weapons. You can carry two weapons at a time as well as grenades and a pistol. All of the weapons feel extremely powerful and are fun to fire. The Lancer will be your standard purpose weapon for most of the game. It’s a fully automatic machine gun with a pretty good rate of fire, but it also features a chainsaw bayonet, alloRead full review...
Too Much Hype
I bought Gears of War because I had heard that it was the next halo, an equal competitor in plot, graphics, gameplay, and overall game quality. Unfortunately, I believe that all the talk was exaggerative. It is in all respects a good game, but I still hold Halo 1, 2, and 3 high above it. I bought the game for a friend of mine for his birthday, and we played it for about an hour, then went back to Halo. I am also disappointed that the multiplayer gameplay was only 2 players.
There are some unique parts to it that other games do not have. The melee attack is a chainsaw which is apart of your primary gun. You can press "y" to look at your current target or goal, which is very helpful. Often times, your character will not completely die, but be losing blood on the ground in which case your ally must come and chemically inject you back into action. At tough parts, this is a very useful co-op feature. You can hold 4 guns at a time as opposed to the normal 2, but the button sequence to change guns is more complicated and obstructs view / impairs movement. You can hide behind barriers such as rocks, walls and various forms of debris to protect yourself and do moves off the barrier to re-enter yourself into combat.
Less important, but i think worthy of noting, is that the color scheme, which is intended to add to the overall "end of the world" effect, is at times annoying and confusing. When lighting is dim and everything is an off shade of gray or brown, navigating effectively becomes difficult, and no one likes to die because they couldn't tell the difference between a person and a rock.
Unfortunately, I have not yet played the game enough to offer any more information. I hope what I have posted is helpful.Read full review...
Its alright
Gears of War is a nice game, anybody can tell you that, but after a while it gets boring. The blood and gore is awesome and the weapons are sweet, but the limitation of a 4v4 multiplayer can take the fun away if most game types do not have a respawn. To some people thats ok, but to me it ends the match way too fast and leaves you bored. Tons of game developers use the Unreal Engine 3 as they believe it's a great engine to use, from what I seen in Gears theres a lot to be changed. Thats kinda bad to say since Epic is the one who made the UE3. I don't get too much into detail about the game since this isnt really an article so i'm just gonna sum things up, the campaign is fun especcially when you do an online co-op match on Insane, the multiplayer kinda sucks but a new game type called Annex makes up for it. So overall Gears gets 4/5 stars for me.Read full review...
Fantastic Shooter, Up There w/ HALO
Gears of War is one of the most well-made and well-developed games ever created. If you are a Halo fan, or just love a good first-person shooter, Gears of War is for you.
There are tons of pros, including awesome graphics and soundn, but the overall best aspects of the game are:
1) Gameplay (Each button does what you want it to),
2) The view (While many games put you in the eyes of the shooter, GOW feels like an action-movie with the camera behind your character, and
3) The online play. This is what makes GOW an A+ game, especially because the actual game is so short.
As for cons, there aren't many, but the two main cons would be, as stated above, at just 5 levels the game is pretty short. Also, there is only one vehicle in the game, and you only use it for a short period of time. But hey, there is always room for improvement with the sequel. In the meantime, this is a great start, and easily one of the best games for 360.
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Gears of War
Gears of War is a high energy, well detailed sci fi shooter set in a dismal future. You are a muscular, well trained soldier wearing pounds of gear, armor and weapons - and it'll barely be enough to keep you alive.
This game is compared frequently to Halo, but if Halo is the lighthearted ease of Star Wars, Gears of War is the non-stop assault and clinging to life of Alien. You're not jumping around like a kangaroo here, blasting at foes. You are heavily laden, crouching behind anything you can find to shield you, trying your best to stay alive for five more minutes. You have to work strategically with your fellow soldiers to climb forward every inch.
The graphics in Gears of War are very impressive. The game is done in a palatte of browns, greys and reds. The dismal skies above, the swarms of black birds, the dented and dingy equipment - this is a world on the verge of despair. Enemies don't stand out with brightly colored costumes. You have to really pay attention to know where they are and to take them out.
The sounds really help drive home the urgency of your mission. Voices cry out on all sides for help. The hammering of the machine guns and rapid fire weapons ring in your ears. The soundtrack is pounding and epic. If anything this is all TOO pounding - after playing this for weeks, I really can get a headache :) I'd turn it down, but then I wouldn't be able to tell where the enemies were sniping me from sometimes.
The storyline really helps involve you in what is going on. It's like being at the center of a high power action movie. There are decisions you can make along the way to help guide the story. I really enjoy the "fight for every inch of soil" way it has you feel like you are involved in a real challenge. It might seem TOO challenging for some new gamers. Stick with it - it's well worth it.
I do wish, with all of their emphasis on taking cover and being cautious - that you could CROUCH. I understand not being able to jump - you're wearing hundreds of pounds of gear! However, you can crouch behind cover. Why can't you crouch when you're not near cover, to lower your profile a bit? I think that would help out in some situations.
Still, that's a minor complaint for a fantastic game. If you're a mature gamer (there's a fair amount of blood here) that enjoys shooters, definitely pick this one up!Read full review...
Unpolished fun
This is the best, most unpolished game I have ever played in my life. The multiplayer is laggy compared to other games of similar nature. The glitches in the game are still so abundant you must wonder if the creators even give a damn about people's complaints, and the fairness of the multiplayer matches are very uneven.
Let me explain more. Concerning the multiplayer: Having played Halo 3 Beta I have come used to the complete lack of noticeable lag. Gears doesn't have this, it's shoot, wait a second, missed. The new maps in the game search are clogging up the servers and puts a damper on those that hope to quickly get into the game without paying an extra $10 for a paltry 3 maps.
The glitches are everywhere in the game. Find a ledge and you might fall off (albeit this has been toned down since the release of the game). Find an unscrupulous player and they will take advantage of the countless ways to take advantage of id's poor programming ability. And, the worst of all is a hybrid of all the complaints: the complete and utter luck of killing someone. You will have to conform to all the games faults and take advantage of them if you hope to thrive.
Lastly, the creators neglected to take adequate protection for those that will not be the host in multiplayer. Like all games of this nature, the host will have the least lag of all. However, there could be ways around this. They could have hid the host from the view of others, taken the Halo 3 Beta approach and somehow emitted and unfairness, or just plain create an artificial lag on the host during the multiplayer games. Gears has the nature of capitalizing on mistakes, and when the host has a major advantage over you the host's team has a huge advantage. As a result, people go to the host's side whenever is possible, creating a discrepancy on the amount of players on the opposing team (usually the Locusts).
But, despite these faults, I have had an overall very good time with the game. I have come to do well in it. Through all the faults and frustrations, it was an excellent buy. The developers created one of the best lazily created games I have ever played in my life.
But it's frustrating, damnit.Read full review...
Multiplayer Woes
OK, everything that everyone is saying about the single-player campaign is dead-on perfect. This game is one of the best campaigns of all time. Not a HALO or Lost Planet, but better than probably all others.
However, there's the online play.
There are two types of people in the gamer world. Gearheads, and the rest. A gearhead would rather take me into the street and curbstomp me for saying there's anything wrong with this game, but the rest of us would see the truth. If you take this online, prepare to be verbally assaulted at every turn. If you do not hit the ground running and start out an already elite player, the gearheads will make you regret it. I have NEVER ended a match (of about 500 played) without hearing someone verbally assault someone else. These guys take their game VERY seriously, as if they really DO have a life on the line if they lose.
The online playability is INCREDIBLE. The maps are not saturated with high-powered weapons, and there is an almost awe-inspiring assortment of map-types, that this game has found it's place among the super-elite. Just mute the other players so you can't hear the screaming, cursing, and often racist gearheads, and you will almost surely be addicted.
HOWEVER...
If you LIKE team-play, and communicating, go back to HALO 2 or Lost Planet and you will not regret it.
Gears of War is an awesome game, one of the best ever, with a LOT of replayability. It's unfortunate that many of it's fans are NOT so awesome.Read full review...