Read on for an honest, rant-review of the single player campaign. Not your typical review.
In case you stop reading at some point, I want to get this off my chest first. This game has one of the dumbest flaws I've ever experienced in any game. Every time the game loads, whether from a cutscene, or you died, you will automatically be equipped with the weapon assigned to the right of your D-pad. I can't stress how annoying it was, since I had the Hammer of Dawn (can only be used outside, and not often) equipped to this slot. After every cutscene, I'd emerge into a firefight with a useless weapon that I didn't equip. Can't this game remember what weapon I've been using this whole time? Sure all I had to do was re-equip my useful weapon every time, but why? Every game I've ever played doesn't have a problem with leaving my weapon choice alone, and feeling the need to keep changing it on me. Ridiculous.
If this review was based on my first impression, I probably would've given it a perfect 10, made it one paragraph where I rambled on about how amazing the graphics are, and used the worst grammar possible. When I put GoW into my 360 for the first time, I prepared myself for what could only be the most impressive game I've ever played. I rode the hype bandwagon, I watched all the videos, consumed every bit of new info surrounding this game, and I was prepared to be blown away. For a while, I was amazed by the detailed textures and presentation. The graphics, while technically impressive, were hard for me to take in, when I was constantly rushed from area to area trying not to die. It reminded me of another genre.........
Racing games. Think about it for a second. The only important thing in a racing game are the cars, and the road you travel on. Everything else in the background is eye candy, put there to provide atmosphere and environment. GoW feels very much the same to me, in that the backgrounds are the most impressive graphical achievment, yet they don't have a strong impact on how the game plays. The characters (cars) are very detailed, but your path feels very linear (like a race track), with a few random left-right path choices that don't really affect anything. The level design is very basic; keep moving forward, duck behind solid objects, and look for the open door.
GRAPHICS:
Great graphics are truly in the eye of the beholder. I've been gaming for 20+ years (since I was six), and I can still recall experiences where I put down the controller and thought, "I can't believe games have come this far." I wanted this to happen with GoW, but I never got that feeling. There were only two memorable parts that took my breath away. One was in a greenhouse that had glass panels forming a domed roof. The other was a part where you can look across a lake, and the water looked amazing. That's not to say the GoW doesn't have outstanding visuals, since you'd have to be crazy to say it looks bad. The problem is that the graphics are great, but the subject matter and presentation is very uninspired.
What do I mean? Well, if the Unreal Engine 3 has told me anything, it's that we can look forward to having normal-mapped, armor-wearing characters in every next generation game which uses it. After playing games such as Chronicles of Riddick, Doom 3, and Prey, GoW seems like a technically superior game that uses elements from these games to a better extent. While the artists did a good job of creating different textures, and not reusing them throughout, there isn't a lot of variety in what you're looking at. Everything looks gray and dark, the whole "Destroyed Beauty" aspect doesn't allow for a whole lot variety, and the only unique parts are far and few between. The character models are pretty good, except for when you aim your gun. In the aim mode, Marcus looks like a low-res polygon mess, except for his normal-mapped bandanna. His ear looks like a crude 3-D object, and the gun is muddy-texture madness. GAMEPLAY:
Personally, I think the third-person perspective made the game far less immersive than a FPS. I know Cliffy B. wanted to show off the character model, but I never got the feeling that I was there. The hide-and-shoot gameplay is different, but didn't come across as being better than a run-and-gun shooter. I prefer methodical gameplay in my shooters, but this felt more like your character is a weakling, and therefore must spend half the game cowering behind rubble to avoid instant death. The whole "A Button does everything" get's old when it seems to do all the things you didn't want to do. Sprinting looks cool, but controls like crap. You'll often stick to any object that lies in your path, bringing you to a stop so the enemy can unload hell upon you. The chainsaw works great when the planets align, and sometimes you stand there like a moron trying to rev that thing up while the enemy hacks you to bits.
SOUND DESIGN:
The sound is Ok, but not amazing like they claim in many of the reviews I read. It's a good thing there's subtitles, because sometimes the voices disappear between my left and center speaker (no it's no my equipment). Also, I encountered many instances where the sound byte didn't load in time, so there was no sound for my actions. When I kick open a door, I don't expect to hear silence. There were only a couple instances where the sound had me on edge of my seat, but unfortunately, nothing exciting happened in the game during or after these moments. It is worth noting that the song which plays during the end credits is perhaps the worst pile of crap I've ever heard, and I'd be embarrassed to have such garbage associated with a top profile game.
COMPARING GOW TO OTHER GAMES:
Cliffy B. brought this one upon himself, by constantly praising and criticizing games when asked about his influences for GoW. Throughout development, he criticized the Splinter Cell series because the game felt like a bunch of "mini scenarios" that you had to replay until you moved onto the next one. Well I hate to break it to him, but Gears of War suffers from this very same design. There were a couple moments where I almost threw my controller out the window because of this. I replayed one scenario 23 times, and each time the enemies acted the same way, hiding behind the same walls. It reminded me of Splinter Cell in every way, so he failed on that behalf.
During development he constantly praised Resident Evil 4, which is good, because that game will always be in my top five until I die. But perhaps a little too much was ripped from RE4, yet failed to match the implementation of that game. The third person view with over-the-shoulder aiming was one rip. The Berserker enemy was a complete rip of Nemesis, and the blind guys with claws from RE4. The Berserker briefly gave the same panic-like feel that you are being hunted, and you can't rest for even a moment until it's over. Then there's the A button, and how it's used for all the context sensitive stuff. In RE4, it was used for a large variety of tasks, and worked very well. In GoW, it winds up causing unwanted actions, and seems like it could have been more refined.
MY HONEST CLOSING COMMENTS (finally, right?)
I cancelled having dinner with my parents so I could go back to my house, and get in a few hours with GoW tonight. In my mind, I was about half way through the game. Never at any point did I recognize the game was building up towards the end. I loaded my game where I was about to take on a rather "minor" enemy. Little did I know, but that enemy was the final boss, and within 10 minutes, the game was over. There went my supposed "hours of playing" I looked forward to all day. Gears of War is a fun game. It has high production values, and the graphics will impress all your friends and family. This game will sell systems left and right, which is good for everyone who owns a 360. I recommend owning this game, because it is good, but it's not everything I hoped it would be. If you're like me, you can take a 12 hour game, and milk about 35 hours out of it. Unfortunately, GoW is hard to get more time out of, unless you play on hardcore difficulty. Even then, the game isn't longer, it's just that you have to move through it at a slower pace. Personally I found recent games like Okami (PS2), Shadow of the Colossus (PS2), Condemned (360), and Call of Duty 2 (360) to be more impressive than this game. I can't wait to play co-op, since it seems like a huge added value to this game. I hate playing deathmatch games online, so multiplayer is a non-issue to me.
You are programmed to know that all 360 owners must buy this game, so just do it already. It's really not that bad, but I can't help but wonder if they cut it short due to development time, or to milk consumers by having a sequel ready within a year. Two discs would've been fine with me, if the game clocked in around 12 hours instead. I just hope that in the future, games don't take 8 years to make, last 2 hours, cost $100, and allow you to purchase the rest of the game for additional costs and hassle.