Gears of War is a great example of what the 360 is capable of...
In 2006, a year after the release of the Xbox 360 a dark, violent game named Gears of War was released. This redefined third person cover games, as gameplay for a game of this genre was the best anyone had ever seen. The visuals at this time was impressive and showed off what visual power the Xbox 360 is capable of.
The campaign puts you in the boots of Marcus Fenix, a grizzled soldier just released from prison by Dominic Santiago (who player two will be) The two heroes make their way through a war torn city on the planet Sera. For the majority of the game they are are accompanied by Cole, a former Thrashball Star and Baird, a mechanic. The four early on are instructed by Col. Hoffman to activate a resonator which will destroy the home of the Locust, a terrifying species that is putting the human race on the brink of extinction. These monsters vary from the standard humanoid drone and the boomer to the beastly Corpser and Besrker. For the entire ten hour campign you will constantly be facing blood thirsty Locust that want to kill you in many creative ways. The story here is almost non-existent, either that or I didn't understand what was going on in the plot of this game.
The combat in the game is designed to be intense, for you are constantly at threat at the hands of your enemies and at the same time, you must dispatch them. The concept of taking cover to regain health and avoiding danger is very clever, even if not too realistic. But realism doesn't matter in my opinion, it's about having fun. I enjoyed the campaign as the environments were very detailed and varied, along with the enemies that I encountered. The characters had personalities, but they didn't seem to show much care for the story. This story and the multiplayer is the only downside, everything else was great. Multiplayer I didn't like because connecting to a match was near impossible and when I did, there was a lot of lag and the match types weren't fun or interesting.
This game was good for it's time, but it's successors overshadow it completely, even though I enjoy and respect it for what it is. Next review: Gears 2!