The best looking game on the Xbox360 and a must-have for any serious gamer.
Story starts where the game manual ends so it is very advisable to read it before starting to play the actual game. Under Earth have risen a hostile alien race called the Locust and that day is now called Emergence Day. About 15 years later Marcus Phoenix is released from prison and it is now his job to enlist for duty in Delta Squad. Earth´s big cities are pretty much in ruins so be prepared to fight in an urban environment most of the time. Frequent cutscenes move the story forward and the sharply written dialog is really funny. This is macho game for guys, no doubt about it.
Graphics and sound are the best there is in Xbox360. Games just do not usually look this good and you really need to experience this in a big wide screen HD-TV. Sound effects and music are equally good so I recommend you play this either with a home theater 5.1 system or with headphones on.
Game is divided into 5 Acts and it takes around 6 to 8 hours to play it through. Balance is nice, because the game ends just when it starts to feel repetitive. There are 3 difficulty levels to choose from and the easiest of them is called Casual. That already is hard enough at times, let alone playing on Hardcore or Insane.
Campaign progresses in a linear way, but every once in a while you get to choose between 2 different paths. This does not add much to the overall experience, but at least it adds some replay value to dedicated gamers. Save system uses checkpoints, which come reasonably regularly and the game does not become too frustrating.
Gears of War is all about using cover and this is done by using the A-button. Your character will take cover behind a concrete wall or run really fast for cover. You can also blindly fire behind cover, which is a great way to get some heat out of your back in an intense battle. Unfortunately it sometimes causes some irritating issues, when so many different actions is controlled with only one A-button.
Guns are of course a big part of Gears of War and you have 4 different weapon classes to choose from. Your main tool will be the one that reminds an assault rifle, but with a twist: it has a chainsaw attached to it. It takes a while the saw to get running, but once it does it will kill the enemy instantly while blood and body parts are flying everywhere.
For the first time in a shooter you need to focus when reloading your gun. In an active reloading you can press RB-trigger again after pressing it once in order to reload. Do it at the wrong moment and the process takes longer than it otherwise would have. Do it at the right moment and you will get a boost in damage and the capacity of your current magazine.
Multiplayer includes 2-player co-op either on a split-screen, system link or via Xbox Live and of course the obvious choice is playing with a friend through Xbox Live using a headset in order to communicate. Versus modes are all 4 vs. 4 matches in different maps. There are a few game modes here, but my favourite is the regular old deathmatch, which is called Warzone.
This is a must-have to anyone who has an Xbox360. Aside from giving a good gaming experience it shows what console graphics and sound can do in these days.