Play Time: over 100 hours
Progress: Beat game on Insane difficulty
Maybe a little late with this review, but better late then never. This may be one of the older games for Xbox 360, but if that is what is keeping you from playing this game FOR SHAME.
Gears of War is a horror-style 3rd person team tactical shooter. You are playing a character named Marcus Fenix who is a member of the COG, earth’s last defense against an alien army known as the Locust. On the campaign, you are accompanied by three other members that help you on your missions (there is also an optional 2 player co-op mode). Your job is too infiltrate into the heart of the Locust Caverns and blow it too smithereens (KABOOM). Now of course this is not the total story, but I’m not going to ruin it for those who have yet to play this game. The campaign has three different difficulties: Casual, Hardcore and Insane. On casual difficulty, this game should take around 6 hours (give or take) depending upon how well you play.
Visuals & Audio
The visuals in this game are amazing, in my opinion. The game has a horrific effect to it, which means that the levels you play and the monsters you fight are dark, damp and scary. This unsettling atmosphere is highlighted by the amazing way light shimmers off of items, such as your suit and the metal plating in the surrounding areas in a both realistic and eerie way. The audio adds to the effect of horror as well. As you walk through the alleyways and broken cities, you are hear the echo of foot steps and the dripping of rain into puddles you cross on your way to save the Earth. The music is dark and suspenseful, as the music begins to get louder and the screen starts to darken, all you can do is keep walking until you turn the corner to find a locust with a chainsaw running at you. These effects are what define the horror genre, and may at some points have you yelling out in terror… I didn’t I swear!
Gameplay
The only thing I can say about the gameplay is that it’s INTENSE. You often find yourself rolling for cover from gunfire being laid down by a locusts only 10 feet away. Most of your gunning time is spent popping up and down from cover. Your survival depends on how well you can get from point A to point B without being shot too much, with usually only fallen pillars, blown up cars and fallen debris to use as cover. The cover is usually your aide because the AI players on your team and will often not be doing anything at all.
In your arsenal you can carry 4 items. In the first category can carry only one pistol. In the second category you can carry two items; you have a choice of either a three round burst machine gun called a hammer burst, a fully automatic machine gun that has a freak’n chainsaw attached to it, a shot gun, a sniper rifle, a crossbow that fires explosive shots, or a grenade launcher. In the third category you either carry a smoke grenade or a frag grenade that if you hit an opponent with it, they’re not going anywhere *insert diabolical laugh here*.
Online
Online supports up to 8 players in both player and ranked matches. Online is fun, but should probably only be played if your over 18… much like the rest of the game. With only 4 vs 4, the outcome of the battle can often be decided by one player, which can be a pro or a con. The gameplay is just as intense online as it is off, possibly more intense because you are no longer firing at a guy standing in the middle of nowhere but you’re fighting actual humans who can use dynamically changing battle plans… and cheat. Watch it online though, players online will have an insult for anything you do. You will be chided if you use your chainsaw too much, hit someone with a grenade… or almost anything else.
Online consists of team deathmatch with sub categories, you can play either Execution, where if you’re shot enough at one time you will fall down onto your knee and will be given x number of seconds before you can get up or be killed by the other team if they are close enough to your “downed” body. Another deathmatch mode is Warzone, where after you are downed you are given x number of seconds before you die out or a member of your team comes and revives you. They have also added a new type of gameplay recently that you must download from Xbox Live called Annex. Annex is a king of the hill type gameplay in which your team must stay within a floating circle to gain points.
PROS
+Visually beautiful
+Solid Gameplay
+Intense Online
CONS
-Ranked matches can only be played with strangers
-Online hosts seem to be stronger than everyone else
-Only 2-player Co-op
-Not terribly long
8/10
