Gears of War Impressions

TGS 2005: During Microsoft's pre-Tokyo Game Show conference earlier today, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinkski talked us through a demo of Gears of War. A third-person sci-fi shooter being developed exclusively for the Xbox 360 using the Unreal Engine 3, Gears of War will see you assuming the role of a soldier named Marcus Fenix who, along with his colleague Dominic, is battling a locust horde on the postapocalyptic planet of Sera--which bears more than a passing resemblance to Earth.

The demo was set in the middle of the night and saw Marcus and Dominic attempting to negotiate a run-down city as hordes of locusts flew overhead. Most of the locusts could be seen in the distance rather than being close enough to pose an immediate threat, but a conversation between the two characters suggested that the main reason they hadn't already been attacked was that they stood in a well-lit area. Light sources were few and far between, though, so when the pair happened across a burning car, they decided to push it everywhere they went so that the light from the fire would keep the locusts away. The car ended up rolling down a hill away from them, though, and so when the fire went out the soldiers were quick to pull out their firearms and make for the only light source they could see--a burning barrel at a nearby gas station.

At the gas station, Marcus and Dominic encountered a friendly guy who invited them inside. Moments later shadowy, not-quite-human figures could be seen running past the windows outside. Anticipating the battle that followed, Marcus and Dominic took cover. Taking cover, it seems, will be a key gameplay mechanic in Gears of War, and as the battle ensued we got to see the soldiers providing cover fire for each other, moving quickly between safe locations, leaning out of cover to take shots at enemies, and firing blindly holding their guns above their heads or around corners.

The battle sequence ended when one of the soldiers, with cover fire provided by his colleague, headed for a large tank of gasoline and opened it. The resulting river of highly flammable liquid was ignited with a gunshot, and the spectacular explosion that followed certainly took out plenty of enemies.

Although we weren't able to get hands-on with Gears of War on this occasion, we saw more than enough action to get us excited. The game's frame rate looked to be dipping below 30 frames per second occasionally, but we'd be very surprised if that's still the case when it ships sometime in 2006. We'll bring you more information on Gears of War from the Tokyo Game Show.