Gears of War goes beyond outstanding, beyond perfect, and into a realm of excellence no game has ever acheived.

User Rating: 10 | Gears of War X360
By gogokun | Review Date:
Very rare is a game that transforms perspectives on what a developer can do with a disc. Epic has created not only the best game on the Xbox 360, but the best action game of all time. The bar has not only been raised an impossible height, is has been chainsawed in half so that no other game can ever go past it. Gears of War is a work of art; the experience of playing it is one of awe and inspiration. Never has a game exceeded so incredibly high in every aspect of a game, wether it be gameplay, presentation, or value, or have created a sense of enjoyment to such a high magnitude before. Could Gears be the best game ever made? It's very, very possible. What makes Gears so amazing? Every aspect of it, really. As mentioned before, it is a complete package. There aren't any weaknesses; there is no part of the game you won't enjoy. But a game is only as good as its gameplay. Gears of War puts a realistic spin on the shooting genre; there is no jumping (unless you count combat dives) or circle strafing to be found here. Try it and you'll end up an inciscernable mess of blood and guts in a matter of seconds. Instead, most of the time you'll find yourself reciting prayers behind a piece of concrete or a destroyed car as bullets fly past your head. You don't absorb bullets like paintballs such as in other shooters, you absorb them like an actual living thing would. Gears pulls no punches as far as gore, and that indescernable mess I was talking about is a common occurance if you're not careful. Of course, you can make other things incescernable messes too, and herein lies the fun of the game. The control scheme in Gears of War is simple and user-friendly, but also has alot of depth. The A button is used for a bunch of different things. One use is the "roadie-run", basically a sprint function that causes your character to run really fast while crouching; you can't fire your weapon in this mode and used as a very useful way to find cover or flank. While you are holding down A to roadie run, if you run into a piece of cover you'll automatically go behind it, and excellent timesaver. Another is, of course, to take cover. This is the most important function in the game (aside from shooting, of course). Press A and you'll slam into the nearest available cover almost instantly. As with roadie-running, this function works flawlessly and feels second-nature after a few minutes. Simply tap A and any direction with the control stick to do a combat dive, an invaluable function if you are stuck with an enemy in close quarters. All of these uses for the A button may make it seem overused on paper, but while playing you don't give it a single thought. When in cover, you can move left to right while still sticking to it, or peek on top or around it by pushing the control stick in the respective direction. You can hop over or around cover, or even do a swat turn to a different cover by doing this and pressing A. You don't have to pop out to fire, blind-firing is a very useful and fun way to take out enemies that are charging your cover. When they do manage to charge your cover, the game's trademark chainsaw is your best method of defense. Chainsaw kills are, in my opinion, the best thing to come to a shooter since the sniper rifle. You hold B with the lancer rifle equipped to rev up your chainsaw, and when your enemy is in range, it's gore time! You hold the button down as your chainsaw tears deeper and deeper into your enemie's flesh, with the appropriate squishing and grinding sounds and the rumbling of the controller, as well as the appropriate gore effects. Blood fills up your screen, and you can even see drops hanging onto the camera after your monster kill is finished. Your enemie's body is so completely deformed after chainsaw kill that it doesn't even resemble a corpse; more of a stew.
This is not for the faint-hearted. You can also preform another type of creative close-quarters kill with a grenade. Simply press B with one equipped to insert it into your enemies chest, much like open heart surgery, but more brutal, and dive away as you watch your enemy's insides fly every which way; one of the more satisfying kills in gaming history. Curiously, you can do this with smoke grenades too, but I haven't experimented with it; perhaps it hampers your enemie's vision? Other weapons have melee attacks that consist of the more conventional rifle butt or pistol whip, but they are still oddly satisfying, even when compared to the other positively butal melees. The other weapons include your standard machine gun, shotgun, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, and pistol, all of which are really, really gratifying to use. The way enemies react to being filled with lead is varied and believable, especially on insane difficulty, and you should have gathered by now that the blood effects are the best in the buisniness. Gears of War is not a mindless bloodfest, contrary to what I am making it sound like, it is a strategic bloodfest that forces you to rely on teammates almost as much as cover. And here, the game kicks into overdrive. Gears of War has the best co-op in any game in history, period. You can utilize this feature with split screen or online, both of which are excellent. The online co-op is completely seamless; it feels exactly like single player presentation wise; no hiccups or framerate drops or graphical blemishes to be found. Since Gears is a team-based game, comquering the game on insane with a partner is a challenging, visceral experience, and you'll fell like you've really survived a war with this stranger you play with over the net (it doesn't have to be a stranger, but you get it), and 75% of the people I've played some of the campaign coop with became my friends, and 100% of the people I played through the entirety of the coop with became my friends. It really is the best online experience available. Now, you won't want to bond with people online forever, and if you prefer chainsawing to conversation, there is plenty of fun to be had there, too. Gears of War's versus isn't extremely deep or complex, but it is ALOT of fun. There are three modes, but I won't waste time describing them because they are all slight deviants of team deathmatch. You utilize teamwork here as well, but you have four people on your side and you fight against other people. Needless to say, communication is the key to winning games in versus mode. This is undoubtedly the best looking game of all time, consoles or PC. The level of detail in the character models and environments is absolutely humbling. The framerate is a rock-solid 30 FPS, and there are no bugs, no clippings, no glitches to be found anywhere. This game is ridiculously polished; Epic shows that they are indeed the most technically able developer around. The art style shines as well. 'Destroyed Beauty' is the look that Epic was going for, and they mastered it. Every frame is an equisite display of electronic and artistic masterpiece, and running in HI-DEF the game is a visual experience unlike any other. The sound is astounding as well; every little effect is as flawless and polished as the graphics. Gunshots boom, chainsaws vroom (and rip), enemy bodies hit the floor with believable sounds for the wieght, they roar, scream, and pound, and with a surround-sound system you will be astonished by what you will hear. The musical score holds up well, and is a great aid to the more dramatic scenes. The campaign in Gears is about 10 hours long, 12 hours on insane, which is a respectful length. The thing is, you'll play through it at least twice; one by yourself and one coop. You'll probably play through the campaign a total of 5 times before getting bored, and then you have versus multiplayer to keep you coming back for months and months. Chainsawing really doesn't ever get old. Gears of War is the best of the best, a triple-A game. It really is a killer app and so, so much more. I enjoyed it more than any other game I can think of, alot more actually, and I hold developers to a higher standard after playing this masterpeice. If there is any question as to wether you buy this game, it should be about the intense violence, gore, and vulgar language used in it. This is certainly not for the younger crowd or the squeamish, but if you aren't affended by violence, Gears of War is the best gaming experience you have ever had, and probably will have until its inevitable sequel.

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