The gameplay doesn't live up to the graphics.
User Rating: 7.7 | Gears of War X360
Let me just say that when I played this game, I was expecting a fluid, well done, very fun shooter. I didn't get that. Now, if you come into this game with no expectations (or at least not the very high ones that I did) you probably will enjoy this game. The gameplay is very solid except for two major flaws, each having to do with the controls. I enjoyed the pacing, the map levels, the characters, and a number of other things, but these two problems were so glaring that they literally ruined the experience for me. First off, the weapon switching feels clunky and slow. Rather than setting a face button to switch between your weapons, you're stuck with a mechanic similar to, albeit poorly done, the magic selection in God of War. Each direction is assigned a weapon and while that might be fine, you basically have to stop moving your character and use your thumb to select your weapon rather than control the analog stick. The second flaw is that the A button is a do it all button. Okay, if this were done on the SNES, when you only have two buttons and arrows, then that would be fine. But when you're making the controls on one of the best controllers ever made, there's no excuse for you to ignore the rest of the real estate. Obviously, this game is not meant to be like halo where you run around and spray bullets; this is a tactical game. That doesn't take away from it having a chance to be a great game, but when you have a limited amount of life and are being fired upon by multiple enemies, and you are running along, it can be quite a probelm when you suddenly get sucked into a wall (because holding down A both causes you to run and seek cover, so you go from moving quickly to not moving whatsoever). This would not really be much more than an annoyance except for the fact that you can seek cover on practically anything (what would've been a good achievement acts as a shortcoming), and so you usually will stop sprinting and just literally stand there while getting bullet-riddled. The targeting feels a bit clunky, but that is more likely a deliberate sense, so it doesn't really detract from the gameplay. The novel and slight (but still pleasant) idea of active reloading is a nice addition that helps keeping the movement and your fingers going, but its purpose to make the game more fluid is rather moot, since you do spend a good bit of time firing and then ducking for cover. It would be far more useful in a run-and-gun style game. The graphics speaks for themselves; this is the best looking game I literally have ever seen. Regular DVD's might only hold 9 gigabytes and however many polygons, but when a developer does the excellent textural and lighting job that was accomplished in this game, it looks astounding nonetheless. Definitely the high point of the game. The sound affects are also great. The gunfire is abrassive and appropriate, the voices fit their characters (any similarity between voices can be attributed to the fact that most people in the game are about the same size as one another: 6'6, 280 pounds, 5% body fat), and what music there is does a good job of adding to the ambiance. There's Co-op, both online and off, as well as versus 1-8 people. That's about as much as you can ask from a shooter. It's not the greatest multiplayer experience, but it still ranks high up there. With three different difficulty modes, the single-player package has a good deal of replayability. Definitely worth the 60 bucks in that regard. Were it not for the two flaws that I ranted about earlier, this would be a high calibre game. It is still a very good game, but just don't expect it to be Halo-quality in terms of longevity and playstyle. There's a lot of sitting and hiding like a pansy in this game, so if you don't like that, this probably won't be too fun of an outing for you. The two flaws I listed really are this game's only two major flaws, so if you can somehow force yourself to ignore the huge, gapping problems that they present, than you very well might find yourself among the legions of easily manipulated and less than brilliant Gears of War fanboys. Whether you think you'll enjoy it or not, it still absolutely important to give the game a shot.
