Game Info
Game Name: Gears of War
Developer(s): Epic Games
Publisher(s): Microsoft
Platform(s): Xbox 360/PC
Genre(s): Third Person Shooter
Release Date(s): November 7, 2006
ESRB Rating: M
I’m sorry…did I cut you?
It has been fourteen years since Emergence Day and the COG are still battling the Locust Horde on Sera. Rescued from prison, Marcus Fenix finds himself leading a team of COG soldiers with Dominic Santiago against the Locust. The COG are trying to capture the resonator which can give them an edge against the Locust by mapping their tunnels, but the Locust Horde is growing and the battle is getting tougher.
Gears of War was one of the early titles that made the Xbox 360 a must have. Released to positive reviews, the third-person shooter became one of the systems biggest selling games. The game went on to be a big award winner including tons of “Best Action Game” awards from multiple review sites. A few downloadable maps were available for the game and many of the downloads were also part of the Game of the Year edition.
Grab your friends…because most of the punks you play online will kill you in a second!
Gears of War gets the whole 3rd Person perspective perfect. The over-the-shoulder look of the game was based on Resident Evil games, but the game far exceeded those games by getting the controls down right. The game mostly relies on gunning, ducking, and covering and doing so is very smooth and slick (plus the chainsaw weapon is a great add).
A big aspect of Gears of War was the multiplayer play. The campaign aspect of the story can be played with one player controlling Fenix and the second player controlling Dom. With multiple levels of difficulty, this by itself provides multiple playthroughs. The second part of the multiplayer involves combat maps with COG versus Locust. I have a problem with these style of online games because unless you are a master or have set up a private match, you quickly can become a handicap to a team unless you get good…fast.
Let’s light these ugly mugs up!!!
I do find the Locust to be rather generic villains. They attack you and aren’t very distinctive. I wish that the Locust had actually been a bit more like Starship Troopers (which I felt they were based on) and had been intelligent insects. Here, they are a little more developed intellectually and fall somewhere between insects and the enemies from Halo.
I bought Gears of War pretty early on in the Xbox 360’s life. I enjoyed the game and have played through it a couple of times, but I haven’t fallen into the “cult of Gears”. I enjoy the game and feel it has some of the best controls, but I don’t find myself on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment…and with books, comics, and talk of a movie, this is a franchise with a lot of followers. If you have an Xbox 360, you probably need this in your library of games regardless…if you’re a true gamer. Gears of War was followed by Gears of War 2 in 2008.
