Gears of War

            Emergence day has come. Epic Game’s long awaited and mega-hyped “Gears of War” has hit the Xbox 360. And not only as an exclusive title, but as the best game yet to be released on the console.

            Taking place in the fictional world known as Sera, an alien species of unknown origin, the Locust, have emerged and begun destroying everything human. As humanity teeters on the brink of annihilation, you take control of Marcus Fenix, a ex-soldier labeled traitor under the COG (Coalition of Organized Governments). You are tasked with recovering and planting a device known as the resonator. Once deployed, the resonator will locate the base of operations of the Locust, giving the humans the chance to make a decisive blow in a war that has devoured the planet.

            The story behind “Gears,” while compelling, isn’t too deep. It fails to explain much of the conflict at hand, past events, who the Locust are, etc. It also deprives you the knowledge of Fenix’s past. But with that said, through top-notch voice-acting, the way the story is told works wonders. It leaves a shroud of mystery around the subject urging you to progress further to find out more, however little it may be. You can also play through the story with a friend via Xbox Live or even on the same TV, making your run-through a little more satisfying. Though the main-story is roughly an eight-hour endeavor, it’s one you won’t soon forget.

            The meat of “Gears” is split up into encounters. Instead of fighting a steady stream of enemies, you’ll constantly be moving from one area to the next fending off attacks from Locust all grouped up. It’s this design decision that make the gun-battles the best the industry has seen, and it’s all complemented by the absolutely captivating music. While the AI (artificial intelligence) is smart, it makes some critical errors at times. Standing in cover while taking hits and running into a hail of gunfire are the big issues. Thankfully, if an ally goes down you can quickly revive them. But in all, the AI issues are minor and don’t present a problem to the overall enjoyment of the game.

            Gameplay wise, nothing comes close to the innovation “Gears” has laid down. Unlike your typical run-and-gun shooters, “Gears” throws out the equation entirely and has replaced it with an intriguing cover system. With the press of a button you can put a wall, car, or doorway between you and a horde of enemies. Since the damage system works exactly like “Halo” (take no damage for a certain time and go back to full health) this can allow you to escape an onslaught of bullets and provide you a moment to heal your wounds. Although it can be easy to get stuck on cover, as you progress you’ll find the cover system is effective and simple to manage. Other innovations include the “Active Reload.” Prompt your character to reload and you’re hit with multiple options. Hit nothing and you’ll reload with time or hit the reload button again at the correct time for a quick reload, allowing you to get back into the action with a short damage bonus to boot. But hit it too late and you’ll jam, making the wait even longer and leaving you vulnerable.

            Visually, “Gears” is mind-blowing. The scenery and graphics are the best gaming has ever seen. Water-drenched trees, mangled cars, jostled statues, it all looks extremely life-like in this post-apocalyptic world. Each area is filled to the brim with textures that look so incredible, you’d swear they were real. Even the character and weapon models amaze. Scars, blood, smoke from a recently fired gun, it’s all rendered flawlessly on every model. And speaking of weapons, “Gears” has an arsenal, while small, fits and pleases. Weapons such as the Lancer, a machine gun with a chain-saw bayonet, contain some of the most brutal executions even conceived. Rev the bayonet when an enemy closes and you’ll saw them in two. Classic.

            Finally, “Gears” takes its innovation and stellar gameplay and throws it to the multiplayer masses. With a wide range of beautiful stages (with more to come via downloadable content), each map has specific weapons to it, yet each player starts out with an assortment that is by no means weak. But this type of gameplay is not for the run-and-gun crowd. “Gears” multiplayer requires teamwork, not a one man army. Work as one and you’ll find the competition fall before you, do the opposite and expect frustration to set in as your losses will skyrocket. But this may be hard to do, especially since you can’t play ranked matches with your friends ala “Halo’s superior matchmaking system. Instead you’re forced to guess the game they’re in or just settle for the normal player matches where you can play with friends, but can’t get the achievements. And if you want to change between one of the three modes available, you’ll have to dump your room since there is no option to change the settings within a game. Though these are poor designing choices, make no mistake, “Gears” multiplayer is still to die for.