Gears of War

Gears of War is one of those games that relies entirely on pure, unadulterated fun. This fact becomes blatantly obvious when you see that one of the guns has a chainsaw stuck to the end, however, its not exactly lacking in problems either. Besides the longest install time I have ever had to endure, the game is also riddled with bugs and the word “performance” becomes a relative term, in the sense that having it not constantly freeze up and jerk around would be classed as “good” performance. That said, it does what it does very well; surely isn’t that what’s important?

Describing Gears of War is a fairly easy task; it’s a third person shooter with a pretty basic cover mechanic. The game pits you against the atrocity that is the Locust horde, with a plan to find a “resonator” and use it to find and destroy these hideous beings. Simple enough, the main thing that comes to mind when playing this game is just how basic it is in its approach, the storytelling is OK; at least, it is as good as it can be with such a simple story. You start in a prison cell as you wake up to find some horrific creatures crawling across the railings above, all of a sudden some bloke in what can only be described as “PHAT” armour opens the cell door. It turns out he’s your friend, Dom, and you have been drafted back into service of the COG after being locked up for…some reason… because the crap is hitting the fan and it seems you are the only guy who can save the earth. I think you get the idea. While the story may be no work of art, the characters themselves are fairly likeable. There are three others you get to know well and fight alongside through the whole game, all of which are pretty badly stereotyped, but are fun to be alongside nonetheless, offering banter throughout with the occasionally curse thrown I for good measure.

I say the game is simple, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. While the main game play mechanic is a pretty slick cover system, it isn’t really anything new. What it is though, is damn good fun! With a quick snap of the space bar your character, who goes by the name of Marcus Fenix, will immediately move to the nearest block of cover, if you are close to some. From here you can shift between different spots of cover and spray blind fire, as well as being able to do the usual shooting and grenade throwing required in a game like this. The only other game I have played that employs such a smooth system is Rainbow Six Vegas, and it was just as fun in that. Keeping this cover system fast means that the action is always intense and usually, just a few feet away.

One of the great things about this game is the combat itself, while the cover system provides you with good defence; you are also supplied with a fairly strong arsenal of weapons to keep the Locust scum-bags at bay. While the selection of guns is a bit limited, it helps that there are a few that stand out as truly awesome to play with. For a start, there is the Hammer of Dawn. This calls in a particle beam from orbit onto a target area and can be manoeuvred around the battlefield, it can however, only be used outdoors. Another great choice is the torque bow, which essentially fires explosive arrows which will implant themselves into an enemy before exploding…. Seeing one get stuck in you often leaves you in bits, however it gives you a few seconds to try and get close to an enemy to take them down with you.

Bay far the coolest asset in this game though is the finishing moves. Shooting an enemy may take them down, but not fully kill them. Leave them too long and they will eventually get back up and enter the fight again. In order to stop this, you can either empty the rest of your clip into their huddled body, or run up to them and hold “F”. If you have the basic assault rifle equipped, this will rev up your chainsaw and start off an insanely brutal death animation as you rip your enemy into pieces. The immense feeling of satisfaction then overwhelms you as you need to quickly run for cover again. With the chainsaw bayonet however, you aren’t limited to finishing downed opponents, you can hack up living enemies too, of course it is much riskier but it is oh so pleasing! Alternatively, and much quicker, you can simply curb stomp your opponent, while this is just as effective it isn’t as cool, however it’s a good choice if you don’t have the assault rifle equipped.

Another note-worthy mention is the Active-Reload system. This allows you to get the “perfect” reload by timing it so that you press “R” as a reload bar crosses over a white line under your weapon symbol. In short this then grants you a clip of bullets that deal extra damage, and merely rewards you for your accuracy when reloading. While not overly important, it at least keeps you on your toes, which is exactly what you need in this game.

As the game is made by Epic, it is using their Unreal 3 Engine. This immediately enters it into a high standard of visual quality, however Gears manages to achieve such a high level in this area, it can only be described as impressive. This cannot be said about its stability though. While it often achieves good frame rates on my system, it still suffers from regular freezing for a second or so, which may not sound too bad but it really collides with the action, and can get really frustrating in a fire fight. It has improved somewhat since release with a few patches, but this brings me to another problem.

Games for Windows Live *shudders*. I know, it makes you cringe just to hear it but this is the online service Gears of War relies on, and like it or not, you will have to endure it if you are going to play with your friends, or even on your own, since it automatically tries to log you in on starting the game. This is where the games console roots seep through as you are presented with a poor server browser, no dedicated server support, and heaps upon heaps of lag. The games only redeeming online feature is its brilliant co-op, however finding someone to play with is as easy as nailing jelly to a tree these days, as the word “desolate” comes to mind when browsing through the server lists. What a shame, I have played this game online and it is great fun, the only problem being is that Epic didn’t use their brains and go for a better system, such as Steam. Instead they shot themselves in the foot by taking away almost all of the game’s replay-value. I would go on about the different game modes, but to be honest, the chances of you getting in a good game online are so low, I don’t see the point, not only this but the game modes are pretty much what you would see in most other online shooters these days, they are essentially all just spin-offs of the team deathmatch mode.

The PC version has been given a little extra content over the 360 version, and it looks much better graphically. Fighting the mighty Brumak is one particular , although it was very easy. Gears of War could have been an amazing experience had it been given good online support, however since that area is practically non-existent, I have no real reason to go back and play it now. Having said that, it is an extremely fun game, the game play is fast and smooth and the cover system is incredibly streamlined and slick, but don’t expect to get much more out of it than the 10-15 hours that the single player will provide.