If you’ve ever needed a good excuse to buy an Xbox 360, it has arrived. Epic Game’s Gears of War is the perfect reason to spend some hard-earned on a next generation system, not only because the game’s Unreal Engine (one of the most enjoyable gaming and physics engines for first-person shooters) takes advantage of the masses of graphical power now available, but because there’s so many “wow cool” moments in the game that make you want to keep playing to see what unexpected monster-from-hell or twisted scenario is around the next corner.
You play the game as Marcus Fenix, your standard tough-as-nails soldier on the war ravaged planet of Sera. After years of global conflict between all nations (the backstory of which is quite interesting and hints towards intended sequels or prequels), an enemy known as the Locust Horde emerged without warning from under the ground and ravaged mankind. The few remaining able bodies soldiers struggle in constant war after the last fortress of mankind is overrun. Think of the Starship Troopers and Aliens movies combined with the annihilated futuristic environments of Killzone, and that’s more or less what you have for the general look of things.
What makes it different to other comparable games is that you’re often working in a team in a very different way to the usual “babysit the NPCs so they don’t die”, such as in the Halo series. Your companions quite often seek enemies of their own accord, and dive for cover when being fired upon. This can sometimes cause annoying problems when certain members constantly need your medical support when you’re under heavy fire from a room full of very aggressive bugs, but the good moments outweigh the bad. One quite hilarious addition was the voice of Marcus’ teammate Augustus Cole. If you’ve ever seen the “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” advertisements for Reebok on the internet, you’ll recognize the voice of Lester Speight, who played the character of Terry. Sometimes, the over-Americanised catchphrases shouted by your companions might make you wince, but it’s better just to get into the spirit of the game and join right in.
Gears of War much unlike the feel of games like Halo and Half Life 2, where the character you play is much more of a lone wolf. You have to work within a fire team to tactically move from engagement to engagement, hiding behind cover and firing only when possible. Charging in and attempting to lay waste to everything single-handedly, Master Chief style, just doesn’t work. It’s a satisfying way to play, as opposed to the spinning around and bunnyhopping method usually used in FPS games.
The weapon list is not too far removed from most other games, but the BFG of Gears of War is the “Hammer of Dawn” orbital cannon, which rains a glowing torrent of charged ion death from above, much like the one in Unreal Tournament. Even though you have such an extreme weapon as this available, the best fun comes from eviscerating your enemies with the rifle-mounted chainsaw and even the good old sniper-rifle. Headshots are no longer just provide a small red bloodspray to indicate your success, instead a huge explosion of thick goopy claret explodes forth from their vacant necks. It’s some very satisfying stuff.
While not a perfect game, Gears of War has a substantially larger amount of cool things in it than you’d expect. While there are a lot of annoying little things that can irk you, like the sometimes stupid behaviour of your teammates, and the reasonably standard storyline, but there’s so many parts that remind you why you decided to play this game in the first place. It’s good, visceral, alien killing fun.
FINAL VERDICT: 4.5/5 |
