Gears of War - Review

Publisher: Epic Games
Creator: Microsoft Game Studios
Genre: Shooter
Platform: 360, PC
Release date: 2006-11-12


Gameplay 20/25
Fun 20/25
Sound 18/25
Graphics 23/25
Total 81/100

Review

Gears of War is a game for the let's go kill cats kind of player. It's heavy on the gore and less on the gameplay. Now this isn't saying that the gameplay isn't good, it just isn't the main focus of the game. The game is more for killing stuff, and finding new ways to do it. A game tailor made for the general Xbox fan boys since they enjoy killing stuff. Now this comes from Epic using the Unreal engine they are known for to power this game. This means the player is going to have a bad watch your mouth time. This can be told from the single fact that it's main selling point is a modern age bayonet with a chainsaw to slice and dice people.

This is something that appears like everything with massive amounts of blood and gore. To the amount it will make many wonder how it didn't get slap with an AO rating as you play as Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner and war-hardened soldier. Anyone who plays this can tell from the fact that the game starts out with you getting release from solitary confinement to this third person game. Making you the bad ass character that must take on insurmountable odds, which for added bonus is the same voice as Bender. You can either jump into the fight or learn how to do things which is an added bonus since this allows people who are replying the game to skip the training they already know.

The gameplay you learn from either training or getting into the fight is mostly duck and cover gameplay that seems to be the new "thing" in games for added difficulty. It allows the choice wither to go for a quick kill that saves ammo that risks death or fire from a covered position with bad accuracy. Which adds difficulty in situation to the point it's like adding sprinkles on ice cream. The game gets tougher and tougher, but so much more enjoyable because of that. Simply because you are put in situations such as going against a turret gun where popping up to get a shot off will kill you. Now you may think I'll just pop up every so often but be aware of health in a situation like this. The game takes an interesting take on health by only showing what health you have when you get shot. So only when you get hurt do you know that, and it doesn't go the traditional route of telling you how much health you have left, but tells you how hurt your character is. So when it is fully hurt your character is dead.

Now one might think with great gameplay would have a great story. Sadly along with appealing to the "let's kill something" audience that will buy this has little dept. The story is interesting since it really brings you into the action, but the story is like most action flicks. You're hear to kick ass and take names as you go from point a to point b to do something while killing stuff. In that respect it is a lot of fun, but it being a game that has a goal of being a tough game so that when you beat the game you feel like you have accomplished something. This is something that will make people hate this game, so if you looking for a deep storyline while going around killing stuff this isn't your game. The game as a whole does the same thing that a summer blockbuster does, it entertains while drawing you in. Now it does have some great bits, that make it a great shooter. Hell it pushes the genre of shooters ahead. Maybe not a full new direction, but it works on the same formula that Halo did. It brings new life into the genre by doing something different with the same old formula of killing stuff.

Blood and guts all over the place. Wielding bad ass weaponry as you progress to kick some Locust ass.

Pros

*Blood, bullets, and guns show well
*Lots of things to shoot up in some new ways

Cons

*No dept or story other then shot stuff
*Friends low iq, foe high IQ