Review: Gears of War
Gears of War is the game which, aside from Oblivion, served as motivation for a lot of gamers’ purchases of the Xbox 360. One thing everyone knew was that the game featured some truly amazing graphics, but no one was sure if it would deliver a steady dose of the excitement it promised. One thing that was for certain, though, was that the amount of guns, violence, and overly manly behavior could quite possibly make the Master Chief look like a little schoolgirl in comparison. After playing the game for the past couple of days, that’s a pretty safe argument to make… though the Chief’s color-coordinating abilities are still second to none.
Story
Arguably Gears’ weakest aspect, the game takes place on a world in the not-too-distant future, where humanity is losing its battle for survival. One day, seemingly out of nowhere, a subterranean race known only as “The Locust” swarms up from beneath the planet’s surface and begins the process of eradicating every last man, woman, and child above ground. Players assume the role of Marcus Fenix, a man who begins the game in jail as a traitor but quickly becomes our last great chance for survival. There really isn’t too much more to the plot other than what’s been explained, which is a little sad since it’s such a promising premise.
Graphics
Gears of War is one of those games which redefines the visual standard for a generation of console titles. There are no other words other than, “this is quite possibly the best-looking game on the market.” For a while, it’s difficult to focus on anything other than how good the game looks. Everything about Gears’ world oozes style, albeit a haunting, chilling, and horrifying style: while the reptilian/insectoid Locusts are fantastic, the eeriest moments occur when Fenix is walking with his squad through the remains of his civilization and one can simply goggle at what a wasteland it has become.
Gameplay
Gameplay reintroduces the rarely-used concept of taking cover (it’s similar to the method in Kill.Switch and the Time Crisis games, only far superior in implementation) and firing from behind safety barriers. While there are a number of other great moments (such as being given the ability to chainsaw an enemy when they’re within melee range or using satellite-based weaponry), taking cover is a major element of gameplay that one has to employ often if they want to survive for long. This, combined with a rapidly regenerating health level, keeps play at a quick pace that never feels overly easy or difficult, only exciting and visceral.
Summation
Gears of War is one of those games with which it’s hard to find fault, but I’m not entirely sure that it’s “the best game ever!” Sure, it’s a blast (ahem) to play, especially with a partner or through online battles via Xbox Live, but there are moments when it feels like the game’s world could have been expanded upon to bring its audience a little more depth. This in no way means that there is anything wrong with the game, in any capacity; it’s fantastically-paced, exciting, and so well-polished that everything about it positively gleams. As a result, Gears of War is a perfect stocking-stuffer for anyone who enjoys action or shooter titles.
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Video Games on 11 November 2006
· Comments (3)
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Gah. Must… buy… game. Seriously, in the last few days, I’ve become near-obsessed with getting this game.
“One day, seemingly out of nowhere, a subterranean race known only as “The Locust” swarms up from beneath the planet’s surface and begins the process of eradicating every last man, woman, and child above ground. Players assume the role of Marcus Fenix, a man who begins the game in jail as a traitor but quickly becomes our last great chance for survival.”
Did anyone else see this and mentally change Locust to Rabbids and Marcus Fenix to Rayman?
By the way, underneath the comment box it says “simple HTML is allowed” but I tried i, em, blockquote and cite tags to quote the above and it stripped them all out. It also strips out ampersand-lt-semicolon entities.
You know.. the story may be weak.. but hey.. I was (and still am) glued to the damned game.. I watch and say to myself “story? there is a story”? I am just too busy oggling the guys and action to bother with much else..