Better than Halo.
Not only is GoW a great game on it’s own merits, but it also redefines what is possible in a shooter. It does right everything that Halo does wrong. While some might not thing of GoW as a “true shooter” because it’s not first person, it allows for better gameplay.
Gears of War takes place 14 years after Emergence Day: a day when an army of bug-like creatures called the Locust burst through holes in the Earth’s surface to wage war on humans. You play the role of Marcus Fenix, a solider in the Coalition of Organized Governments or COG for short. Marcus has been imprisoned for disobeying orders, when the prison comes under attack by Locust forces. From there Marcus rejoins the COG ranks, and must prove himself against the Locust horde.
GAMEPLAY
GoW is played from an over-the-shoulder perspective. Unlike a lot of shooters, it has a strong emphasis on finding cover during firefights. You wont get killed in one hit, but you will get wasted if you stay exposed for more than a few seconds. This adds an intensity to the game, while not making it overly frustrating for the action shooter fan.
All of the controls for ducking in and out of cover are all controlled by one button. One interesting feature to the gameplay is the “active reload.” Reloading is normally a passive function in shooters, but in GoW any time you reload a meter appears to show you how long it’s going to take. Press the reload button when the marker is in the white zone, and you reload twice as fast, plus get a temporary damage boost to that weapon.
In addition to the single player game, GoW can also be played via XBL in either death-match or co-op modes. The co-op mode takes both players through the single player campaign while the death-match current rivals Halo 2 in its popularity.
The weapons are great, and add that much more fun to the experience. My favorite is the chainsaw on the bottom of the machine gun. Some of the weapons are more effective than others, and the pistol weapons are virtually worthless, but overall there are a good variety of fun weapons to use.
GRAPHICS
One of GoW’s biggest draws is the amazing visuals. This is a true next-gen game that hasn’t been seen since Oblivion. All the characters look great, and the environments are well designed. Everything about the graphics just screams realism, and pulls you into the game.
From an artistic standpoint, GoW is one of the most unique games this year. I would describe it as Aliens meets Full-metal Jacket. It has that dirty, Vietnam War look to the setting and characters, while still making it into a sci-fi game.
SOUND
The sounds are also well done. All of the gunshots, explosions, and other sounds of war are fantastic. The voice-overs are very high quality as well. The soldiers of Delta squad sound gruff, and hardened by battle. You can even hear a lot of enemies coming before you see them, and there are a lot of audio queues to let you know when you are in danger. My only complaint is that the sound volume is inconsistent when it comes to the voice-overs. Outside of the cut scenes it can be difficult to hear your teammates without the subtitles turned on.
VALUE
GoW features a lengthy campaign that offers a lot of repeatability. But the real value is in the online multi-player. There’re wide variety of maps and game types, this game is easily going to be the next fix for all the Halo shooter fans out there. It makes me wish that they had developed an online persistent war for players to fight as the COG and Locust soldiers. If they had done that, then many players might not be seeing daylight for a very long time.
The achievements are some of the most well balanced I have seen on the 360. It hits a bulls eye on finding that balance between online and offline achievements without making them too easy, or too difficult. And with more downloads coming on XBL, there is going to be even more replay value to this game.
Even if you’re only a casual fan of shooters, you owe it to yourself to try this game. It’s so much fun both online, and offline that there’s something for everyone. Gears of War is a late contender for Game of the Year, and if you play it, you’ll see why. Master Chief better watch out! Gears of War aiming for the headshot.