Simply put, if you're not a complete man, this game will make you one.
While the premise is uninspired (humans vs. aliens and the world on the brink of apocalypse) you can overlook it to see how well it’s been done. Visually, you really can’t imagine how this game could look any better (artistically and technically). The environments, rugged, rocky and ruined and a well thought out colour palette, make the perfect home for equally rugged and butt-ugly character models to duke it out. You don’t get much beefier than the Delta Squad. Hoo boy, someone’s been eating their lima beans. Picture a team of Micky Rourke Marv’s from Sin City with big guns and you get the idea. The audio department of Gears features, in my opinion, some of the most satisfying sounds in video games. Listen as your speakers erupt in gunfire as you pull the trigger. It’s really quite invigorating. It’s easy to expect top-notch sound in a game like this but hey….wait…what’s that in the background? behind all the ruckus of gunfire and bursting flesh? A fully orchestrated soundtrack? Awesome. The nigh-on perfect presentation of Gears pulls together to give us an experience well worth the cash we spent to pay for the game. But there’s more if you can stomach it.
As if the game weren’t already trembling in your xbox from a dangerous testosterone overload, the core gameplay itself simply erupts of manjoy. Starting with something simple, the camera dynamically captures the whole action. How? It stays behind your back, it zooms in on all the right places, points of interest, incoming enemies, it trembles at your heels as you’re sprinting, it shakes from explosions… the inspired use of the camera is something that sticks out in favour for Gears. Sliding in partnership with the camera is a notoriously tested game mechanic (kill.switch) that is done right for the first time here. In the famous phrases of many nuclear holocaust propaganda films, the two magic words of the day are ‘duck’ and ‘cover’, now adding a third and fourth, ‘pop-out’ and ‘fire’. Any solid object between you and the enemy is generally welcomed. This game mechanic soon becomes automatic as you scan the area for any knocked over pillars or bombed out cars or ANYTHING that gets in between you and oncoming bullets that you can slam yourself against. What’s more there’s a reloading system I’ve never seen before. Press RB and a little metre appears on your HUD with a slidy thing. You press RB again when the slidy thing reaches ‘the zone’ and you reload fast. Press it outside the zone and you reload slow. It’s simple but it contributes significant suspense to a gunfight as you’ve got one more thing to think about as you’re ducking behind covers and popping out looking for heads to shoot.
Viscerally enjoyable, gorgeous to look at and listen to and a fantastic multiplayer, Gears is a class act all the way. I make no hesitations when I say that I see the birth of a new Halo…