X05: Gears of War Update: Through the Woods...

AMSTERDAM--Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski took the stage at the X05 press conference to show off a new hands-on demo of Gears of War, the company's much-anticipated shooter slated to hit the Xbox 360 next year. We've previously only seen one level from the game, in which Delta company soldiers Marcus and Dom attempt to navigate a dark, ruined cityscape infested by the malevolent locust horde. This level quickly goes from careful exploration to all-out warfare, which is appropriate considering Gears of War is a shooter at heart.

But if the demo was any indication, the game will have some dramatic horror elements as well, sort of in the Resident Evil vein. The new level had Marcus, Dom, and two unnamed allies making their way through a rainy, forested, almost pitch-black area, looking for some unnamed antagonist. After approaching what looked like a garage out in the middle of nowhere--and then being startled by the building's light going out for no apparent reason--during a flash of lightning, one of the characters caught a brief glimpse of...something pale and with spindly legs scurrying across a pipe a few feet away. As the group advanced toward another structure in the distance, two more of the unsettling creatures were briefly seen. Gears will very briefly halt your control of the game to show you these scripted sequences--Bleszinski called this a "forced look" technique--but this doesn't look like it'll happen invasively enough to annoyingly interrupt the flow of the gameplay.

Once the foursome reached the structure and began to explore its innards, a grim scenario was revealed, with blood smeared across the floor and mutilated bodies dumped in the corner. One of those nasty creatures was feeding on one corpse, but it quickly fled into the darkness of the factory complex lying beyond the entryway. From here, the demo reverted to the now-familiar shooting action we've seen in the past. But where the enemies in Gears' first demo were humanoid and used guns and battle tactics, the first foes we saw here were far more animalistic and frightening. These so-called wretches skittered around on all fours, were hard to follow, and had a nasty habit of coming at the player out of nowhere, emitting a shrill, unpleasant screech. In fact, Bleszinski told us that as with the rest of the locust horde, these wretches hate the light--and they can use their high-pitched scream to shatter the light bulbs in a room before then descending on you in total darkness.

After dealing with the wretches, there was a healthy dose of combat against those good old gun-toting locust commandos, and we saw that one of Delta company's primary objectives was to restore power to the facility, which both lit the way forward and drove back the horde of enemies. At various times throughout the demo, Marcus was contacted by a remote female operator who advised him and the rest of Delta about the current situation and mission parameters. Presumably, this is how you'll receive much of your mission briefing throughout the game, especially since there won't be any between-level briefings. That's because there won't be any levels, period--after the game's initial load on boot, it'll stream all levels off the game disc, providing a seamless experience until you stop playing.

One last notable sequence at the end of the demo had Marcus climbing into a mine car of sorts that was bound for an incinerator. This cart provided a decent amount of cover, and the player had to duck down inside many times to avoid incoming fire from the locust opposition who were lining the track. At the end of this sequence, other Delta company troops hopped into a cart on a parallel track, and each side had to help lay down suppressing fire for the other. Bleszinski commented that in cooperative play, the second player would in fact take control of a character in the other cart.

We've certainly espoused the quality of Gears of War's visuals in this space before, but the new elements we got to see here bear even more comment. Outdoors in the rain, there were some nice little touches that enhanced the game's visual believability. For one, the water off to one side appeared to be getting impacted by individual rain drops. Bleszinski pointed out how the character model of main character Marcus (and indeed, the surrounding environment) appeared slicker and shinier than usual--and naturally so, considering it was raining. Yet inside, the specular highlights that created this shininess had been toned way down, giving the factory "more muted, dustier" tones than what we saw outdoors.

The presentation of the quick cinematics we saw in this latest demo was totally horror-movie and a little unnerving, so we're interested to see exactly what direction Epic is going with this one. Gears of War is due out next year on emergence day, whenever that is, and we'll bring you more on the game before then.