We're not here for a story, we're here for action, and Gears of War Delivers.
Amongst the non-stop action you’ll find slight hints at a story about an alien Locust Horde invading the planet from below and needing do get somewhere to do something important, but it’s really just an excuse to have a shootout in a new location. That’s okay though as the game is not ruined by an attempted and failed cheesy story like a lot of action games. Its focus is on the action, and that, it delivers in spades. Most of the game you’ll be wandering through ruined city streets, though you’ll head into other areas such as caves, a mansion and a moving train.
The visuals are the best I have ever seen in any game. Breathtakingly detailed environments will be with you every step of the way. The lighting really brings the game to life, whether it’s in the sunlight or the light of a fire in the street at night, the mood is perfectly set by outstanding lighting effects. The characters are equally detailed and come with plenty of hard-to-the-core attitude.
There are not a lot of weapons in the game though what you do have are good. There’s all the usual suspects including the pistol, shotgun and machine gun, also there are a couple of newies that are great fun. The standard machine gun comes with a chainsaw bayonet, which is great for sneaking up on unsuspecting enemies, The Hammer of Dawn is a weapon that pinpoints a spot for the satellite above to unleash some sort of solar cannon and the torque-bow is a compound bow with an explosive head.
During firefights, if you stand around or try to take the locust head on you won’t last long. You need to find cover and stick to it, moving from cover to cover until you’re in a good position to get a shot off. Everything in the game can be used as cover simply by pressing the A button, similar to Perfect Dark Zero though much more in depth.
The campaign mode is fairly short, though Epic were careful not to let it get dull or repetitive and it does take longer on the harder difficulty settings when you play it again, and you will. Thankfully multiplayer is awesome, taking out thirteen year-old-Yankee’s has never been so much fun. The same tactical style used in the campaign is present in multiplayer. No longer is it about being able to get a headshot while jumping around to avoid taking a headshot yourself. It’s all about team tactics and using cover, a great contrast to Epic’s other franchise: Unreal Tournament.
Gears of War is the best game to come along in a long time and definitely the best game on 360 and you would have to be crazy not to go and grab a copy. Also if you don’t have XBOX Live or an HDTV this is a perfect excuse to get them. Halo killer indeed.