Xbox 360 Review: Gears of War
Published November 18, 2006
Gears of War is special.
Actually, that doesn't quite get it done. Gears is more than special; it's the action video game you could have only dreamt of previously. Yet, here it is. While playing it, it's hard to feel like you're deserving enough of a title this spectacular, epic, and stunning in every aspect.
From a third person perspective, players control Marcus Fenix, this generation's current Master Chief. Draped in massive oversized armor, bulging with what have to be steroid induced muscles, and guns that would be considered cannons by some current state legislatures, Fenix barrels down the invading Locust horde as if it was a game.
Oh wait, it is.
Reality checks are the only flaw here. With a masterful graphics engine creating immersive environments, Gears is a title that looks ahead of its time. The Locusts are disgusting when popping out of the Earth's crust, with pale faces, scarred bodies and full of gooey blood waiting to be shot out of them.
Design sets the game in a psuedo-future, filled with architecture from a millennia ago, dark forests, high-end electronics and barren city streets. Level design is textbook, wrapped around the games focus on taking cover. The decision to move away from run-and-gun shooting turns out to be a brilliant one. While the Locust forces are hardly Harvard material, it takes only one to make it free of the attack to flank your forces and cause problems that quickly intensify.
Gears of War is jammed with shooting. When the repetition begins setting in, the designers throw in a section of eerie silence thats creates a completely different sense: terror. When the audio mutes, it generally means something bad is about to happen and you won't move without having an adequate source of cover to move to. You can only imagine what that becomes when enemy forces are barreling down on your position and you're stuck behind a small pillar.
It's easy to pass off Gears as a generic knock-off of Namco's Kill.Switch. The first level doesn't encompass the full experience, and around the middle of the second level, things enter the realm of unforgettable. While other games are intent are reusing game mechanics to stretch the experience as long as possible, Gears continually creates new scenarios to keep the duck and cover firefights engrossing.
A brief section has the player cleaning out a portion of the city from an attack by the light-sensitive Krill in the game's only vehicle section. You'll never enter another user controlled vehicle again. The same goes for the environments. Textures are rarely reused, buildings always feel fresh, and the subtle changes in dominant colors creates a unique mood for each of the game's five chapters.
All of the above still doesn't account for the core gameplay in Gears. With an immeasurable sense of satisfaction from the weapons, especially the heavily hyped chainsaw bayonet, this is a game you'll never tire of. Wisely, the opportunities to user the mesmerizing chainsaw are few, making the player work smarter to gain the ability to use it each time out.
Matt Paprocki is the former reviews editor for Digital Press. The deep game collection, which spans nearly 30 systems and 2,000 games, lines his walls for research purposes. Matt strives to bring credibility to video game journalism, and to aid the industry in becoming respected with all forms of entertainment media. He currently freelances for GameArgus.com and MultiPlayerGames.com.
- Xbox 360 Review: Gears of War
- Published: November 18, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Gaming
- Filed Under: Gaming: Xbox 360
- Writer: Matt Paprocki
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Comments on this articleComments
While I love Gears of War, its far from perfect.
There is no engaging story for me to care about why Im doing anything. Why are the Locust there? Why do I need to kill them? Other than the fact that they are shooting at me? Who is Marcus Fenix? Why do I care that he is the hero of the plot? Marcus Fenix COULD have been the next Master Chief (Id take GOW over Halo any day, but atleast Halo has a story and an iconic hero). The gimped character development leaves Marcus and your crew flat and dry.
The game is incredibly short and surprisingly easy. Insane is definitely a challenge but you dont even open that up until you have beaten the game once already. That should have been selectable from the start.
The boss fights are downright pathetic and memorable only because they were such a joke. General RAAM has got to be the easiest final boss in the last few years of gaming.
Multiplayer maps are symmetrical and super small which are both completely inexcusable in my book. Although, multiplayer is an absolute blast. Definitely the best deathmatch oriented online game Ive played in a long time.
Anything I havent complained about is perfect. From graphics to gameplay to the incredibly engaging score to spot on intuitive controls, this is what gaming should be all about. Definitely the most original and fun take on the third person shooter franchise in a long while. I just wish they put more time in getting the player emotionally invested in the plot and the characters. It would have made the passion for pressing on and destroying the Locust easily twice as satisfying.
Like always i have come to give my oppinion, the game gears of war gains ground well with its choice of generic controls. From here features such as strong stinted lighting, strong enemies (ai is alright) and it goes into trivial close combat for hours on end. It feels like Epic have tried to duplicate Unreal but have took every good feature of Unreal and turned it on its head, the effect an average shooter with more cliches then Jay Lenos face.
In some forms or another they should have tried to get the feel of Goldeneye (long combat feels close, and close combat is refreshing). I mean even worse is the indications it feels like an unatural force has nudged you in the right direction (whats the deal with that?).
Ryan, how can you even compare Gears to Goldeneye? They're completely different genres. Generic controls is hardly true, with the reload mechanic, various ways of getting out of cover, two seperate aiming functions, and new grenade tossing. If there's anything about Gear that's not generic, it's the controls.
Also, I have no idea what you're talking about when you say "unatural force pushes you."
This game takes the cake in innovative 3rd person shooters, and even though this article is not up to date, it is still good to hear someone speak so well about Gears. There is a new mode of play, which is called Annex, which is essintially the equivalent of King of the Hill in Halo. The only real thing you might have meant to forget is the fact that people still glitch, giving online play less value, but not much less. I do hope that this tidbit helps some who are thinking about getting Gears. Hit me up sometime: Mikey4231 on Xbox live.
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Special indeed. After just finishing a three hour stint on multiplayer, I can confirm that Gears is just about as special as they come.
Two on Two cat and mouse Execution games are incredibly tense. And high stakes chainsaw kills are incredibly satisfying.