For its few flaws, Gears is an exceedingly fun experience that should not be missed by anyone (except the wee ones).
Up to its release, everyone knew that Gears would be a great looking game. One of the big questions, however, was in regard to the game play. I can very honestly say that it doesn't disappoint in the least. Adopting a third person perspective, combat consists of hopping from cover point to cover point, peering over or to the side to fire on your enemies. You can take cover on just about any flat object, including rocks, debris and cars, which you'll find many of scattered about the campaign. They can similarly take cover, and perform many of the moves that you can, so in most cases they are quite able opponents. This provides a very slick and very well utilized strategic element in which you will very often find yourself flanking and being flanked, in addition to some tense moments as an enemy charges up, taking cover on the opposite side of the piece of cover you are on, forcing you to frantically pop up with your shotgun hoping that your enemy doesn't do the same faster than you can. Cover functions, as well as a few others, are all mapped to the A button, which creates little complication whether it be slamming up against cover, making a sharp switch between points, doing quick evasive maneuvers or quickly running across open space. This system works extremely well, and makes the game very fluid and playable. While many had apparent doubts, Epic really perfected their system, giving the game play an innovative edge amongst shooters. Many reviewers may cry about how "generic ;0" it is, but the fact of the matter is that you'll be hard pressed to find a shooter that plays better than Gears. The weapons are all effective and satisfying, ranging in effects from your slightly more than standard assault rife (the slightly being that it has a freaking chainsaw attached to it) to a sniper rifle, as well as some more innovative weapons such as the torque bow, a bow and arrow that fires exploding bolts that literally blows enemies to pieces. Touching on that, Gears is a purposefully gory game. Globs of blood will fly as you land shots on your enemies, and certain weapons such as the shotgun, magnum or the aforementioned torque bow will blow enemies to pieces at certain ranges. Then there is the chainsaw bayonet. Attached to the Lancer assault rifle, it must first be revved up, but when you make contact with an enemy, an animation will start as the camera angle shifts showing you digging into your enemy as blood flies onto the screen before you cut the poor sap clean in two. This element is gross, gory, yet oh so satisfying.
Something else to mention is how generally smooth the game is. Just in general, the game runs like a dream. You will seldom ever see a drop in the frame rate, held solid at 30 fps. The animations are all very good, looking fluid and realistic, and feature some great actions such as picking up a new weapon or switching cover points. The over-the-shoulder RE4-esque shooting system works excellently, and just adds to the game's level of immersion. The difficulties are well balanced as well, allowing a good difference between casual, which is fairly easy, but still no walk in the park, hardcore, which provides a very good challenge, and the unlock-able insane mode, which is very hard but very playable, albeit with a bit of saintly patience and skill. The game balances out excellently, and while game play isn't the games strongest aspect, it is damn good as far as shooters go.
The multiplayer aspect serves as a very capible compliment to the single player. Multiplayer pits players against one another in four versus four matches. Players can choose to play as either a COG or Locust soldier, both sides having a numer of single-player related skins to choose from. The game plays almost exactly like the single player in terms of its core elements and controls. Four on four matches allow this aspect to be accomplished very well, having players cautiosly using cover and trading shots, until someone tries either heroically or foolishly to flank the opposition with the shotgun or...you guessed it...the chainsaw, which is given to you by default. Multiplayer is very fun, and manages to capture the tactical gameplay of the single player, while not sacrificing any speed or pace. There are three fairly standard modes, including warzone, a standard team death match, elimination, a mode requiring you to perform a finishing move (curb stomp, execution, chainsaw, sniper head shot) to kill foes, and assassination, where you must kill a designated player on the other team in order to achieve victory. This bit of variance throws a little variety into the mix, but throughout, you're still playing essentially the exact same game. A bit more variety would have been nice on the multiplayer side, but nevertheless it stands out, and you will undoubtably find yourself coming back to it long after the single player is collecting dust.
For all that, it does have it's negative aspects. The single player dialogue, while fun, is a tad unbelieveable for the kind of serious conflict that the game is trying to portray. The game's advertising campaign was a bit deceptive. After hearing the melancholy piano, and soft lyrics of the Tears for Fears song 'Mad World', and seeing the implication that bad-ass Marcus Fenix was actually shedding a tear in lamenemotion on the part of the soldiers. Replacing genuine emotions are smart ass remarks and funt of things gone past, I was let down. You'll find little to no cracks. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I think that Epic missed a golden opportunity to back up their story with a bit of strain and emotion. There is even a bit of plot from the game's manual telling you that the reason for Marcus Fenix's imprisonment was that he abandoned his duties to go save his father, who ended up dying. Does Marcus feel anything about this or show a shred of emotion? Nope. At least not from what the game tells you. That brings me to another point. The plot is virtually non-existant within the game. There is no opening cut scene with a nice British lady explaining the backstory to you, like you may expect. Nope. You are thrown right in, without so much as a clue to what's going on. The game manual explains a bit of information, and the game does a decent job fleshing out the actual mission the soldiers are on, but even then there are gaping holes in the plot. For future reference Epic, a nice British lady would be a good addition. The plot is a definite disappointment. I've read a few Gears reviews that do nothing but **** about the burly character models, but I actually didn't find them that bad. I personally thought that they weren't that burly, and even so, it fits with the tough-guy persona that Epic was trying to create.
Despite its few flaws, Gears is a spectacular game. It combines incredible visuals with exceedingly fun and visceral action, to make one hell of a game. The bottom line is, that if you don't own it already, and you own a 360, get it. Hell, if I had to choose between a PS3, Wii, or a 360 with Gears, I'd take the 360 (the Wii with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess following a close second). Gears is definitely the best experience you'll find on the 360, and arguably the best experiece you'll find this year on any console.
You can find this review and others like it on my my blog: www.lifeschoolandvideogames.blogspot.com