It boils down to this: Gears of War is a must-play for anyone even remotely interested in any kind of shooter.
Taking place on a fictional planet known as Sera, Gears details humanity’s long, hard struggle against a ferocious underground race known as the Locust Horde. For fourteen years, the humans of Sera have been in a constant struggle against the Locust for control of the planet. You don’t find out much about the Locust other than they’re an unrelenting race that will stop at nothing to achieve complete domination. Fortunately for humanity, they’ve devised a method to obliterate the Locust once and for all. Your main objective in the game will usually be attempting to plant a device called the resonator so your allies can map the underground tunnels to destroy the enemy stronghold. However, don’t expect the Locust to just let you walk on through like kids in a park, expect worse, much worse.
Throughout the game, you’ll be placed in the shoes of Marcus Fenix, a battle-hardened soldier who’s been locked up in prison for some time. But Marcus’ partner Dom Santiago has been sent to spring him free and help fight the Locust. You quickly find out that Marcus was accused and sentenced to jail for acts of treachery, however the details are kept to a bare minimum. But even the lowest prisoner can make a difference, and it’s this that gets Marcus accepted back into the C.O.G. Gears of War’s present plot is rather uninteresting strictly due to the fact that it just follows you and a few other characters trying to turn the tide in a long, hard war. The backstory to the game is actually quite interesting since it takes a lot of inspiration from what’s happening in our world today. For instance, before the Locust broke Sera’s surface, humanity was at war with each other over Imulsion, the planet’s oil source, much like we’ve been at war over oil. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t present you with this intriguing backstory in a cinematic. Instead, you’ll need to resort to the instruction manual or the Destroyed Beauty booklet included with the Collector’s Edition to get all the juicy details.
Fortunately, what Gears of War lacks in story it more than makes up for in gameplay and enjoyment. The one moral that you’ll learn to abide by in the game is that cover is your best friend. Basically, Gears of War plays like Ghost Recon just with fancier maneuvers and far more intense action. By this, I’m of course referring to how the game has a heavy emphasis on the use of cover. Just about any object can be used as a means of defense, whether that be a car, temple wall or even a cabinet. Heck, take cover behind a mere sofa; it still beats standing in the open awaiting your demise. Every action relating to cover is made possible by just the A button, which also serves as your sprint and dodge button. Basically, this singular button is what you could call the “save my ***” button.
Also, one small touch added to the game is the introduction of “active reload”. Instead of automatically reloading a gun by the press of a button, you’ll need to hit it again at the right time. If you accurately hit the right mark, then you’ll reload faster; and if you get a “perfect reload” you’ll reload faster and your weapon will inflict more damage than normal. However, if you miss the target mark for your active reload then your gun will get jammed and could mean the difference between life and death. It’s an interesting and surprisingly fun little mechanic that may become like a mini-game if it grabs you well enough.
But why take cover when you could just stand out and kill everything in your path? Well, for starters, not taking cover pretty much makes you the new targeting dummy for your enemies. Then there’s your enemies themselves, who would love nothing more than to make your head the latest addition to their rotting trophy collection. Not to mention the fact that your enemies can inflict a substantial amount of damage on you in a heartbeat. With all that in mind, you may want to reconsider going “Rambo” in hopes of getting trough the game. It’s this combination of challenging enemies and the utmost requirement of using cover that makes Gears of War such a tense experience.
However, don’t think that you’ll be slaughtering Locust empty-handed; you’ll have plenty more resources than a mere slab of rock. There’s a decent amount of firearms at your disposal, some are fairly basic while others are quite interesting to experiment with. You’ve got your standard burst-fire machinegun dropped by Locust Drones, a loud and powerful shotgun as well as a haunting sniper rifle that’s one of the most effective weapons in the game. But then there are certain weapons that not only look and sound awesome, but deliver just that feel when placed into your greedy little hands. One that stands out is the Hammer of Dawn, which calls upon overhead satellites to send a vaporizing beam of heat that’s fatal to any that go near it. However, the Hammer requires an open sky and the chances you’ll get to use one are rare, but deeply enjoyable.
Then there’s the Lancer assault rifle, which requires a paragraph of its own to actually emphasize how truly awesome it is. The Lancer basically serves as your primary weapon of choice, acting much like your standard assault rifle. It may not be the most powerful gun when it comes to firing, but it’s the most versatile in the game thanks to its simplicity. But there’s one thing that makes the Lancer stand out like an explosion in a peaceful town: the chainsaw. Basically, the Lancer is equipped with a chainsaw on the end, otherwise referred to as a “chainsaw bayonet”. With the Lancer out and by holding the melee button, you activate the chainsaw motor. This, upon closing in on an unsuspecting enemy will reward you with a heavy spray of blood and a fantastic display of guts and carnage. The amount of visceral satisfaction gained from watching your enemies shred apart at the merciless power of your chainsaw is so immense, it becomes a guilty pleasure. Once you experience the true power and domination of the chainsaw, you’ll want to see all your enemies die at the mercy of your deadly blades of butchery.
And the pleasures gained from the chainsaw bayonet are just the beginning of what Gears of War will offer. Your grenades not only serve as a means of disposing distant enemies, but you can stick one in an enemy to watch them explode in a fantastic display of flying guts. There’s also a torque bow that delivers an equal amount of satisfaction if its shots come into contact with an enemy. Not only that, but it has two blades on the ends that will slice your enemies apart at the slightest touch. And scoring a headshot with a sniper rifle will reward you with a decapitated enemy body. Mmm, juicy!
These visual pleasures are made only more enjoyable by the game’s fantastic graphical engine. Not one part of the game is left untouched by the unbelievably realistic technical superiority of the visuals. Character models are rendered with believable facial expressions and phenomenal detail, especially when ripped apart into a spectacular display of meaty chunks. Environments are even more impressive, both up-close and in the far away distance. It’s not hard to agree that Gears of War is indefinitely the greatest-looking game out there, but it’s not without graphical issues. For one, there are some pop-ups here and there, usually at the start of a certain part of a level. You might also encounter a brief framerate dip in some of the game’s more intense action sequences. But these flaws are easy to look past and regardless of their presence, Gears still remains a disturbingly realistic-looking game that goes way beyond the thought boundaries of in-game visuals.
And if the revolutionary graphics weren’t enough to sell the game’s cinematic feel, then you’ve got an equally impressive combination of sound and audio. Almost every area in Gears is treated with some form of excellent sound, whether it be voiceovers, music or sound effects. The main characters in the game all have believable and realistic actors to bring their characters to life, not to mention having several comedic lines. There’s really nothing quite like hearing the main character refer to perhaps the most annoying individual as a “smart***”. Then there’s the sound and audio effects, which are nothing short of spectacular. Every noise in the game has been touched upon with so much detail that the game simply demands for the latest surround sound set-up. The machine guns deliver an incredible punch of crisp clinging while fired, and the explosions roar like a lion in the calm of night. Finally, there’s the game’s Oscar-worthy score, composed of several variations to flow with each and every scene in the game. Every time the music steps in with the action it’s all of a sudden like you’re acting out a scene for the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Marty O’ Donnell and Harry Gregson better watch out, Gears could potentially knock them out of the best game soundtrack list.
All of this wondrous enjoyment is what makes Gears of War such a fulfilling shooter, and it all comes together in both the campaign and online multiplayer. The single-player itself is quite enjoyable and, shouldn’t take much more than twelve hours to beat during your first run. That said, the amount of time it takes to beat the game does vary depending on the difficulty chosen. The game has three difficulty settings: Casual, Hardcore and Insane. On Casual, you feel like you’re not being challenged enough and as a result, make the game a lot easier to beat in a few hours. But when you switch to Hardcore, the difficulty ramps up to a level that’s almost equivalent to that of Halo on Hard. This noticeable gap between Casual and Hardcore makes the game feel unbalanced in the single-player; you never feel like there’s a perfect difficulty setting. As for Insane, well, let’s just say that you’ll feel like the biggest “noob” on Xbox Live when playing on that difficulty.
Fortunately, if you can’t manage to tackle some of the game’s harder challenges, then you can play through the campaign via co-op. While games like Halo and Doom 3 have integrated cooperative play, Gears of War is the first to utilize online co-op. Sometimes your nearby friends simply don’t make for as good of an assistant as your fellow Xbox Live buddies. That said, you’ll want to play through the game on Insane through co-op, unless of course you’re ready to pay for a few window replacements. And since on co-op you can revive each other unlike how your AI allies can’t revive you, it makes teamwork essential to your success.
But if there’s any aspect of the game that demonstrates the significance of teamwork, it’s the online multiplayer. Gears is a purely team-based game when it comes to multiplayer, which may turn a few gamers off who abide by the “every man for himself” idea. And simply sticking together in a group isn’t going to cut it, you’ll need to cooperate with each other and come up with a quick and effective strategy. If you just rush out on your own hoping your teammates can take care of themselves, then you’d better prepare for some brutal punishment.
There are three modes for Gears of War’s multiplayer: Warzone, Execution and Assassination. Warzone is your basic team deathmatch with the same rules you’ve come to expect from such a mode. Execution is just like Warzone, except in order to actually dispose of an opponent, you’ll need to use the most vicious tactics. Basically, the only way to kill an opponent in Execution is by chainsaw, explosives, and a headshot from a sniper rifle or taking a shotgun round at point blank range. Then there’s Assassination, which is probably the most interesting multiplayer mode of the three. In this mode, one player serves as the target for the other team to kill, and the others act as protectors. If the target is killed, then the opposing team wins the match.
The online multiplayer allows for up to eight people to play simultaneously, up to four for each team. Both the multiplayer and co-op online run very smooth and there’s rarely an instance of lag in either portions. The online segments are handled very well for-the-most-part and do help to add a decent amount of replay value to the game. However, you get the feeling that a lot more options could’ve been added to the multiplayer component, especially a few more modes to spice thing up. Otherwise, Gears is basically like Ghost Recon online with faster action and all the other subtle features that make the game so fun and awesome. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there are some that may not be into the idea of using teamwork to win a match. But the multiplayer components still work quite well and although not as robust as say Halo 2, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in the online multiplayer.
All told, Gears of War is a fantastic shooter with many subtle features that truly help it stand out from the crowd. The game does have its fair share of problems, but most of these shortcomings can be easily overlooked, especially when leaving a trail of grotesque carnage behind you. A combination of almost flawless gameplay mechanics, jaw-dropping visuals, excellent all-around sound and audio are just the beginning of what this game has to offer. If you’ve been looking for a single game that will entice you enough to purchase an Xbox 360, then this is about as close as you’ll get until Halo 3 comes around. And the amount of insane thrills and countless amount of deeply satisfying killing methods make this a game that you simply need to play in order to fully comprehend.