Gears of War is probably the best game of the year, but should be avoided by anyone with a weak stomache.
Gears of War makes for an excellent single player game, but it really shines in multiplayer. If you are alone your character is Marcus Fenix. You start the game getting busted out of prison by your buddy, who you will play as if you are in coop.
*Gameplay*
The gameplay in Gears of War can simply be described with shoot, run for cover, and shoot some more; but there is much more to it than that. You must take cover in this game or you will immediately die, and for that reason ducking for cover is as simple as hitting the A button. When you in cover you can quickly dive for another source of cover if it is nearby, and if it isn’t you can roll or run to it quite easily. Obviously you can lean out of cover and shoot that way, or you can square you target to the center of you screen and pull the fire button to blind fire. When you’re close to an enemy you can regularly melee them like in most other shooters, but you default machine gun has a chainsaw bayonet with which you can cut your enemies in half. Also, if you melee with a grenade, it will stick to the target which will then explode into oblivion. Which brings me to my next point; this game is the goriest game I have ever seen. You will find mutilated bodies, cut them in half (as mentioned before), blow them up, and blow off their heads. Basically don’t buy it if you have a weak stomach. Now your enemies in the game are very smart, but you allies can be somewhat dim, which makes coop shine even more than the single player.
*Graphics* The graphics presented here are simply amazing. The textures are solid, the war-torn cities detailed, and the characters realistic. This is probably the best looking game on any system. The frame rate is perfect at all times except for a few minor slowdowns in some of the in-game cutscenes. That’s really all there is to say, it’s easy to talk a lot about flaws, but you can’t say too much about near perfection.
*Sound*
Everything sounds just like it should. The guns sound realistic, the voice acting is great, and the lines aren’t corny. Chainsawing through an enemy sounds like flesh getting ripped apart. The only problem with the sound is when there is a big firefight going on the sound the Troika (turret) makes cuts out. Other than that everything is realistic and believable in this area.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the magnificent musical score which can make every battle seem epic and allows you feel the mood of the game.
*Value*
The game will take 10-11 hours to play through on the Hardcore difficulty with coop, but it deserves to be replayed several times over (if anything for the achievements). The multiplayer will also keep you busy playing for hours on end.
*Multiplayer*
The multiplayer is the highlight of Gears. The campaign is made to be played on coop. Then the versus matches you have one life, but like in the campaign, you can revive you allies, but only before a kill blow has been delivered.