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| | Title:
Gears Of War
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System:
Xbox 360
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Genre:
Action Shooter
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Publisher:
Microsoft Game Studios
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Developer:
Epic MegaGames
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Release:
11/07/2006
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Online:
Yes
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ESRB:
Mature (M)
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Of all the videogames at E3 this year, the most impressive in Microsoft's lineup was easily Gears of War. Yes, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there wondering why I haven't decided to give Halo 3 this title. Well, Halo 3 was shown only as a two minute trailer at Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference and on occasion in their booth. Gears of War however, was a full in-game demo. It not only gave gamers a great idea as to how the game will play, but it also proved that Microsoft's console is very capable to creating some truly awesome sequences. Anyone worried that the Xbox 360 is not powerful enough should watch the gameplay footage and shut up. It's hard to put into words just how awesome this game looks. It's the total package; the killer app that Microsoft has been waiting for to really push their system. Sure Perfect Dark Zero, GRAW and even Oblivion are great games, but Gears of War is on a whole new level.
At Microsoft's press conference, Cliffy Bleszinski took the stage and jumped right into the amazing demo. The demo began with Marcus Fenix, the main character in Gears of War, sitting in his dark holding cell. The story behind why Marcus is in prison is that he is a war criminal. He was thrown into jail for disobeying orders during a crucial fight in humanity's continuing struggle against the Locust. The Locust is an unstoppable enemy force who literally erupted from under the crust of the earth. The humans have been fighting the war for quite a long time and things are not going well for humanity's side.
As Marcus stood in his cell, a large growl filled the room. Looking up, two Locust soldiers crouched almost mocking Marcus as they took threatening swings at him. But they quickly scurried away as the sounds of fighting echoed towards Marcus's cell. The cell door bursts open, and standing before Marcus's was his old body, Dom. It seems the war is going so badly that even war criminals like Marcus are being released to help fight the war. Dom tosses Marcus his suit and through a very clever use of a flash light makes the player's familiar with moving the joystick up or down.
Exiting the cell, Marcus followed Dom into the grand hall of the decaying prison that Marcus was held in. This was the first glimpse into just how detailed and beautiful the world of Gears of War is. Wooden tables are overturned, and large concrete blocks and pillars line the floor as the best HDR lighting to date gleamed through the broken roof. Although the hall was a mess, it was also so detailed that one couldn't help but admire just how much work Cliff and his team had put into making this game what it is. From here the action picked up. Being that this was the first level in the game, there were two options: the easy path (which introduced players to the mechanics of hugging a wall and shooting) or the hard path (for those like us who want action right away). Cliff obviously chose the hard path.
Screaming overhead, one of the human airships began dropping bombs on the prison, sending massive quakes through the structure and causing several sections of the roof to fall onto Marcus and Dom. Dom quickly called off the attack, telling them to hold back because he and Marcus were still inside. Apologetic, the crew in the airship peeled off just as the first waves of the Locust soldiers began to converge on Marcus and Dom.
The basic idea behind Gears of War is using cover to your advantage. Running and gunning without utilizing cover will leave many players dead before they realize what happened. Even though Cliff is an obvious expert at Gears of War, the Locust still never let up an instant and he had to use cover.
Luckily, the cover system is incredibly easy to use. All players have to do is press A whenever they are near any structure or wall which can utilized by cover, and Marcus will instantly snap onto the wall or duck behind an overturned concrete slab. The animations are quick and a loud thud always accompanies the move. It really drives home the idea that the cover is the only was to survive encounters with the Locust. Pushing forward on the thumbstick while hitting A causes Marcus to hurdle any cover he is able to. You can also push left or right on the thumbstick while hitting A allows Marcus to perform a swat move from one side of the doorway to the other in order to get a better vantage point on the enemy.
But cover is not going to be enough to survive encounters with the Locust. Players are also going to need loads of firepower. Marcus and Dom are armed to the teeth with guns which can dish out a good amount of pain. The three weapons used in the Gears of War demo were the assault rifle, the shotgun and grenades. A fourth weapon was available but never used in the demo. Switching between these weapons seemed very similar to Battlefield 2 in that each was mapped to a certain direction on either the D-Pad or thumbstick.
For the assault rifle and shotgun there were three main ways to aim and fire. The weapons could be aimed for better accuracy, or while utilizing cover be used in a blind firing maneuver that is best used to "soften" up the enemy. Each firing mode has its own strengths and weaknesses. While aiming was more accurate, it also really didn't allow much maneuverability to avoid incoming enemy fire. Not aiming the weapons allowed for more maneuverability but wasn't as accurate. Blind firing was the least accurate of the bunch but almost assured that no damage would be taken. Gears of War looks to be designed so that each of these modes of firing the weapon can be utilized.
The use of grenades also had a refreshing change. A helpful blue "bounce line" display of where exactly the grenade would fall or bounce appeared whenever the grenades were selected. The reason behind this particular design choice was the difficulty of throwing grenades in videogames. By giving the player a visual representation of where the grenade is going to fall, Gears of War eliminates this nagging problem.
Gears of War also showed off a new mechanic when it comes to reloading a weapon. The whole feel Gears of War is trying to go for is the intense and personal connection between enemies as they try and kill one another. Encounters are intense, chaotic, and fast, with the enemies quickly performing actions in order to survive. One of these actions is reloading the weapon. Like many shooters, the button to reload the weapon is X. When the gun is reloading, for a split second the gun icon will flash white. If the player hits the X button again--with the correct timing--Marcus will reload the gun faster than normal and half the bullets in the clip will do extra damage. Hit the X button with poor timing though and the gun will jam, making the reload process considerably slower. It is a Catch-22 situation that should be interesting to use in intense firefights.
After dealing with the enemies inside the main lobby, the fight moved upstairs to a balcony overlooking the prison. Again, the intense atmosphere of Gears of War was displayed with awesome precision as aircraft blew through the prison unleashing firepower on the Locust soldiers below. The balcony where Marcus was standing took quite a beating and only by performing a new bull rush maneuver was Marcus able to get across to the other ledge. After blasting through another hallway, the fight moved to the outside courtyard of the prison. More and more Locust swarmed Marcus and Dom as they fought to get to the airship touching down on the far side of the courtyard. It was here that the melee attack was introduced.
In homage to Halo, the melee attack is mapped to the B button. If a Locust soldier gets to close, Marcus can brutally finish them off. The one showcased in the demo involved the chainsaw end of Marcus's rifle, which cut right through the Locust soldier causing blood to ooze in every direction. Needless to say, it was quite gory. Once the courtyard was cleared, Marcus and Dom rushed for the airship only to have the ground erupt from under them as a new and quite large Locust enemy burst from the ground to attack them both. It was here the demo ended leaving everyone in the whole audience wanting more.
Later at the Microsoft reception, Gears of War was shown again. While the demo was the same, the issue of multiplayer was brought up. Gears of War will have not only online and offline co-op for the single player portion of the game, but also four on four multiplayer. For the co-op the two players will take the role of Marcus and Dom. It was made very clear that this wasn't going to be like two Master Chiefs. The single player campaign was built so that co-op would be seamless. It was also stated that the co-op could be started at anytime during the single player game. So let us say a player is having trouble in one section. They can message their buddy to help them and Dom will go from being AI controlled to player controlled without ever having to leave the single player.
Overall, Gears of War was easily the best showing by Microsoft. It was the whole package: great graphics, phenomenal cinematic gameplay, intense sound and an online integration that looks to be taking full advantage of Xbox Live. This game can't come soon enough, and should keep all Xbox 360 owners happy until Halo 3 arrives. Or dare I say it, even surpass the Halo franchise.
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More Reviews for this game: (displayed by authors name)
Cloud890 & Crusader
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