Gears of War offers an action packed experience from start to finish where the keyword is quality.
Awesomeness: action packed from start to finish; great sense of atmosphere; amazing looking graphics; cover system gameplay plays outstanding; unique weapons; reloading minigame; geat diversity in enemy sequences; campaign can be played through co-op; good multiplayer gameplay
Bad: lacking story; feels too much set up for a sequel; multiplayer lacks options
Length: 10 hours
Replay value: decent
== REVIEW ==
Gears of War is the highly anticipated game from Epic Games. It's the first game launched to be running on the famed Unreal Engine 3.0 which has been in development for quite some time. It is the first in an announced trilogy of games where you need to rid the world of the unknown Locust Horde who lives underground and has attacked the human race for no apperent reason.
Gears of War is all about taking cover behind walls and debris and popping out to take out Locust. This method is used throughout the entire game pretty much from start to finish which may sound like it should get repetitive. This is not the case however, since Gears of War is a game of excellent quality and the diversity in enemy types thrown at you is very well done.
This is backed up by amazing looking graphics which are easily the best on the Xbox 360 so far and most likely for some time to come. And an atmosphere that makes it their own. The feel to the game is just perfect in every sense of the word. On top of that the game is action packed from start to finish. You rarely walk around without having Locust attacking you. And the diversity in Locust, like said before, is very well done. You face regular Locust Drones in the start of the game. It then builds up to different types of enemies like Wretches, Snipers, Theron Guards, Beserkers, Corpsers, Nemcyst and even more. All enemies have different kinds of weaknessess and strenghts along with a different set of attack paterns which makes it realy enjoyable to play through the campaign that Gears of War offers.
With it, the game offers a unique set of weapons. Although few in number, the weapons stand out from other games. The standard assault rifle for example, has a chainsaw banyonet locked under it for close quarters to cut down enemies. Then there is the bolt action sniper rifle which is a pretty standard sniper rifle, but it lets the heads of your enemies explode upon impact. The Torque Bow is another fun weapon, which is basically just a crossbow which fires arrows. Only these arrows explode a second after impact. Each weapon in Gears of War is special and fun to use. And the reloading of these weapons is well thought through. Reloading used to be just a moment of pausing, waiting until you could fire again. In Gears of War, you will actually have to pay attention and press a certain button at the right time to reload your weapon about twice as fast as usual. When done perfectly you reload your weapon about twice as fast as usual and gain a damage boost. When done right, you reload your weapon just a little slower then when done perfectly without a damage boost and when done wrong you will jam your weapon and reloading will take longer then usual. It is a simple but fun mechanic that makes reloading allot more interesting.
Gears of War can be played through co-op on Xbox Live from start to finish. This is an exciting option that makes the game a whole good deal better in replayabbility. You can back each other up and create strategies to take out certain enemies or beat certain points in the game. You can also revive each other when they have been downed by the enemy which makes the game quite different when played alone. It's not just a nice addition to the game, it's almost a must to play Gears of War this way at least once.
Gears of War isn't all good though. It lacks a story. It's not like there is no story there, the game definitely appears to have a big history behind the characters and each character seems so different from one another. But the game just never seems to believe it's necessary to explain to you what exactly happened in the past, where the Locust come from, what they want or anything. This all adds up to feel like the story is near-absent and the ending of the game is a huge cliffhanger which appears to be a big set up for a second game. We know that Gears of War will be a trilogy but some story and a little bit of closure wouldn't have hurt anybody.
The multiplayer component in Gears of War is interesting. It offers the singleplayer gameplay online. It works very well and the gameplay is nice and addicting. It can definitely be played for a long time and most likely will. But one thing to say about it is that is lacks content. There are only a few modes to choose from and each doesn't differ all that much from the other. There are also not allot of maps to choose from and any other options besides game mode and map are completely absent. You can only influence how long the game will take, but that's it. No options about weapons or anything. This seems a little below bar for a game like Gears of War.
This does not mean though, that Gears of War should be avoided for any reason. It's definitely one of the best games this year and should not be missed by anyone who even remotely likes shooters.