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You immerse yourself in an experience so intensely emotional and gut-wrenching that playing will be like controlling a blockbuster action movie. Gears of War presents a focused and well-paced cinematic experience and is a classic. Gears of War unites next-generation technology with classic, emotional storytelling and a revolutionary tactical combat system, engrossing the gamer in a horrifying epic story of war and survival Unreal Engine 3 technology pushes high-definition visual designs and brings out the smallest details in the largest battle. To be effective in combat you'll need to allot for time to successfully reload your weapon. GOW is built with both the hardcore and casual gamer in mind. Gears of War thrusts gamers into a deep and harrowing story of humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet.
A disgraced former war hero, Marcus seeks personal redemption. Do it well and the battle is yours; do it poorly and you may actually jam your gun.
Players take the role of Marcus Fenix. In the vein of choose your own adventure, you can select between a difficult or easy path.
Time it perfectly and you'll earn a bonus with a temporary damage boost. But, instead of selecting a difficulty level at the start of the game, GOW offers a choice at the beginning of each level.
Experience a rich dynamic world with an unprecedented level of detail. Control Marcus Fenix and his fire team as they pit advanced human technology against the overwhelming and horrific Locust Horde.
With GOW you're sure to experience a rich, dynamic world where characters spring to life. Though GOW clearly showcases a sci-fi experience, its roots are in tactical, realistic combat scenarios.
I found it too difficult and therefore more frustrating than fun. Everyone has different skills at video games. I am not very good. It would have been fun for me if it had two lower difficulty levels: easy and very easy.
It's not meant to elicit tears but it's not eye-rolling either. At least thankfully we have "active reload", where during reload a bar will slide underneath the display with a large portion greyed out and one whited out with the rest being dark. Either I don't run enough or I just never noticed but I will say sometimes characters don't take cover so much as they keep rolling in front of the car instead of taking that much needed slam against the stone. Carrying up to 4 weapons at a time, we have the Hammer of Dawn, a laser-targeting system where a satellite will beam huge rays onto the area and all but vaporizing the enemy to standard pistols and shotgun. While sometimes it didn't rev up or trying to actually getting it to activate, it's still an immensely satisfying kill.The big problem with the game is the AI and not the enemies who'll flank, throw grenades and do whatever it takes till you're lifeless on the ground. While co-op in most games is more fun, here it's more beneficial you go through it co-op since the players will be smarter than the game itself.And to be perfectly honest, that whole magnetic wall thing of characters doing a "roadie run", a documentary-like view of your character football-sprinting through the level, only to be sucked into cover when you didn't want to and I have to say I haven't experienced this once yet.
The music however is fantastic from the creeping sound design to the big bombastic moments during firefights, this is one to have a stereo on.Gameplay: Whereas shooters like Call of Duty or Halo are all about strafing a little bit from a wall or cover just enough to nail the enemy, Gears of War is all about taking cover. Developed by Epic Games who work on the Unreal Tournament games, this became one of those great action movies that offered an intense experience through its many firefights and seemed to replace its blood with testosterone. They'll openly go out of cover for seemingly no apparent reason other than wanting to get closer and they'll end up crying for help to be revived which you do by pressing X near the body. But one can't deny the graphical power of the engine and from the extremely detailed character animation, scale of the firefights and architecture make this a showcase for what the 360 can bring to the table. With multiplayer drawing big crowds, co-op, the achievements as well as COG tags hidden in levels for collectibles, this one'll keep you busy.that is if you haven't bought the sequel yet. I think like most people, the idea of putting money down on an Xbox 360 knowing its failure rate, overheating and Microsoft's tendency to sometimes lose orders or take longer than necessary makes a purchase of the system a paranoid one since you're constantly going "I hope this isn't the day/game that bricks it". While fighting through a prison, Dom Santiago rescues his friend and your main guy, Marcus Fenix, and it's up to you to make it through dangerous cities and areas to hopefully nail a crippling blow to the Locust Horde.Graphics: This is really a cosmetic nitpick than anything but I never liked the blood in games that uses the Unreal Engine like Uncharted since it was seemed more mass-like and gooey than a liquid but in a game like this, it seems to go hand-in-hand.
The AI problems come from your teammates since they are, to borrow a Yahtzee phrase, "pants-on-head retarded". However, those that are interested in the system always looked at the one game that looked like a must-have: that of Gears of War. Really small nags are the occasional texture problem and slight framerate but they're usually never an issue or distracting enough to cause frustration.Sound/Music: The movie 300 was something that I tried several times to get into but I never could and one theory was that it was basically a movie for the frat boys who'll cheer at the violent parts and revel in the weird use of heavy metal music yet it has quote-unquote "depth" that made it different than most action movies. The highlight of course is the Lancer, which is basically a normal assault rifle only it has a chainsaw for a bayonet. Only some big nitpicks make this game less than completely perfect but I have to say, I have a blast with this one.Story: On the planet Sera, the inhabitants have been terrorized by an alien race known as the Locust Horde who suddenly popped out of the ground on Emergence Day ("E-Day") and are gradually reducing the number of the survivors.
It happens with such frequency that I even saved one guy only to literally need help 4 seconds later when he got out of cover instead of just staying put. Gears of War on the other hand knows it's basically a dumb summer blockbuster movie and just rolls with it from the line readings and one-liner dialogue. Just hold the B, get closer to an enemy and press RT and we have the perfect dissecting machine. From columns to big blocks of stone, doorways, ruined cars etc, just press A and your character slams his side and is able to avoid enemy fire. Not.
Pressing the LT lets you take aim and RT to fire or pressing RT is just covering fire, inaccurate but helpful for nailing charging Locusts without wanting to pop up. Get it in the grey and it's a faster reload, white same thing but extra damage to bullets whereas the rest causes a fumble and he acts like Solid Snake or a Call of Duty player doing one of those painfully long reloads on certain guns.The game isn't that long though given its repetitive "stop-and-pop" gameplay, as Epic calls it, it prevents the game from being too long and just being more acts and chapters for the sake of it.
it's a little too easy on casual but it's still a lot of fun. i got this game for my birthday and i haven't gone a a day since without playing it. it is so much fun, the online multi-player, the campaign, and especially the two player on-line co-op. anyone who owns an xbox 360 should buy this game.
The NPC's not only provide depth to the game, but they actually do help you. While they're definitely not bad, they're also not great. The story about a war against the Locust Horde was brilliantly told. As far as gameplay goes, this game is top-notch. The controls are super fluid and easy to grasp. It's a shame they couldn't refine it more.
The shadows look somewhat hokey and the edges are strikingly messy. I've been hearing nothing except how great Gears of War is, and with a sequel coming out in less than a month, I decided to give it a try. I recently bought an Xbox 360 (yes, I'm late to the party). When I first started the game, I couldn't put it down for hours. It's more of a killer app than Halo 3 by far. Simply stated, the game was beyond my expectations.Make no mistake, this is the gaming equivalent of a summer blockbuster popcorn flick.
I've never been a fan of Unreal Engine 3 (which Epic created and a huge majority of Xbox games use). BioShock uses the same engine and they managed to make it look incredible. When they're injured, you actually feel compelled to help.In fact, the only shortcoming I found was the graphics. The difficulty is wonderfully challenging.even on "casual" mode. Solid story, very solid voice-acting, and a surprisingly great Star Wars-like musical score all add some much-needed substance to the shooter genre. Also, this game features the best use of non-playable characters I've ever seen.
Gears of War 2 (which I will DEFINITELY buy) is said to use an upgraded version of the Unreal Engine, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how it looks.All this aside, Gears of War is the game that no Xbox 360 library should be without (provided you're old enough, that is).
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