Gears of War Review

The Xbox 360 has been out on the market for a year now, and while receiving a fair number of good to great games, has never had the ‘I must own this’ game that sells systems.

Until now. 'Gears of War', developed by Epic Games, is a jaw-dropping third-person shooter. Set in a futuristic, apocalyptic setting, it is without doubt the premier Xbox 360 game of this holiday season.

The basic premise is that a strange race known as the Locusts has invaded Earth, and is pretty much destroying everything in sight. You are Marcus Fenix, a former convict. Your task is to locate Alpha Squad, which has in their possession a device that could potentially win the war for the humans. The story is rather barebones, but then, very few people play shooters for the story.

Gameplay is fast-paced, with the standout feature being the ‘cover system’. Take refuge behind slabs of concrete, burned-out car husks, pillars, crumbled walls, etc., because if you don’t, you’re going to get killed. The gameplay is intense, contributing to the pulse-pounding sensation when you pop out from behind cover – you know a swarm of enemy projectiles will be headed your way immediately.

Another feature is the reload system. While ordinarily, reloads take a set amount of time, a bar on the screen can allow you to circumvent wasting those precious seconds, if you have good enough reflexes. Stopping the meter on a white area instantly reloads your gun – a grey area speeds up the reload process. But if you land on a black area, the gun jams, and the reload time is increased.

The game gifts you with several squadmates, but frankly, they’re near useless, and will get themselves killed often. The game isn’t so difficult that you're going to miss them much, but if worse comes to worst, you can always run over and hit ‘X’ to revive them.

The single-player campaign is pulse-pounding enough, but the game really shines in multiplayer. You can play online with a partner for the campaign, making it both more fun and significantly easier. You can also play four-on-four matches, from the standard deathmatch system to the ‘Execution’ mode which has you targeting specific squad members.

Graphics are absolutely superb. The character models are well-defined, the burnt-out war zones are realistic and gritty. The enemy Locusts, while mostly humanoid, sport some great character model variations as the game progresses.

In closing, if you have an Xbox 360, get this game. And if you don’t possess one, give serious thought to getting one! It’s not as if 'GoW' is the only stellar game for the system after all.

By: Jonathan Lau