Does “Gears of War” live up to the hype?

Greetings gamers and welcome to the home of video games in the Slate. I’m Grizz, your guru for all things gaming and it is going to be my distinct honor to bring to you all the gaming reviews, news and previews I can fit into my little corner of the Slate.

As the holiday season bears down on us faster and faster everyday, we should take a second to think about what this season means to most of us. For many, the holidays means a time when forced, awkward conversations with distant relatives is commonplace and a time for telling white lies to your family to save face (“No, grandma, I really do like the sweater”). But above all, the holidays are a time for us to remember just how important family really is. For Marcus Fenix, however, the importance of family cost him his reputation and his freedom.

As “Gears of War” opens up, gamers are given relatively little information about the situation they are going to be faced with so allow me to condense the story. A number of years ago, the Locust Horde attacked human civilization but not from space as is the norm in sci-fi shooters. The Locust Horde, a vicious race of subterranean beings, gathered underneath every major human city and on a day dubbed “Emergence Day”, the Locust launched a surprise attack from underground, killing everyone in their path and in the days that followed, unknown millions died. Rather than stand idly by, the Coalition of Governments (COG), launched a counter attack of chemical weapons and orbital particle beams in an attempt to halt the spread of the Locust Horde. Unfortunately, these devious foes retreated into their extensive network of tunnels, only to emerge from the ground whenever and where ever they please. After the initial attacks, human survivors began to gather on Jacinto Plateau. The survivors thought that the solid granite of the plateau would be enough to safeguard them from the Locust – they were wrong. When the Locust inevitably attacked, Marcus Fenix, our hero, defied his orders to protect the plateau so that he could save his father at the East Barricade Academy. Fenix, however, was too late and could not save his father. Because he left his post, he was charged with dereliction of duty and charged with 40 years in Jacinto Maximum Security Penitentiary. As Fenix sits in confinement, the Locust move closer and closer to overrunning the facility. This is where our story begins.

As the game starts, Fenix is busted out of prison by his close friend, Dom. From here, you are given the choice to enter battle outright or opt for a small in game tutorial. Assuming that you share my feelings on tutorials (that they’re for girly men), jumping right into the action seems the only logical course of action.

The combat found in “Gears of War” is slower paced than what is normally found in sci-fi action/adventure games. This slower pace, however, fits the look of the characters perfectly. Every character you encounter, whether it’s a COG soldier or a Locust Drone, is a bulky, lumbering mass of pixels that’s just itching for a good fight. This slower pace also lends itself perfectly to the idea that no one person can win a war and team work is paramount in defeating your enemies.

Though the action is slower, it is by no means less fun. “Gears of War” is an extremely fun game to play and actually incredibly simple. Though the controls at first seem a tad confusing, it only takes a few minutes of playing the game to get a firm grasp on how the game is played. The “A” button does virtually everything in regards to getting into and out of cover, which is one of, if not the, most important aspect of playing “Gears of War”.

In most action games, running into a room full of bad guys with guns blazing will result in a small subtraction of health, but nothing a med-kit couldn’t fix. In “Gears of War”, this same strategy is the quickest and easiest way to an early grave. Finding and firing from cover is about the most important thing to remember in “Gears”. Your enemies are many in number and want nothing more than to add your head to their mantle of conquests.

“Gears’” graphics and environments suit the setting of the story perfectly. With the majority of humanity wiped out, players will battle through various destroyed and run down areas. The fact that these areas are already destroyed means plenty of opportunities for cover in battle. Though the areas you fight through look vast, they are actually pretty limited in terms of the ability to explore them.

The superb graphics in “Gears” also allows for two things – frighteningly realistic Locust enemies and intense violence. The Locust aren’t your average cave dwellers. These brutes come in all sorts of hideous shapes and sizes and have all manner of beasts that assist them in their quest to extinguish human existence. One such enemy is the Corpser, a gigantic spider-like creature that burrows from underground and dwarfs Fenix and his crew in terms of size. Also, being that “Gears” is a war game of sorts, violence is to be expected. The standard issue rifle of COG soldiers has a chainsaw bayonet which makes cutting through enemies not only a breeze but exceedingly fun. It is also possible to literally stomp on a downed enemy’s head as he is “bleeding out”. Bleeding out happens whenever your player takes too much damage. You don’t die right away, but instead are given time to either be saved by your teammates or have your head stomped into the cement. The palpable fear and helplessness of bleeding out makes playing “Gears” just that much more fun.

The single player experience in “Gears” is a little on the short side, though the addition of a cooperative mode helps the single player game immensely. The multiplayer mode allows two teams of four (one COG team and one Locust team) to do battle in a number of different maps. Though “Gears” is quite short on multiplayer game types, these battles are still great fun nonetheless. However, after being spoiled by the ingenuity of the “Halo 2” online matchmaking system, the manner in which online games are set up in “Gears” feels very dated.

Though “Gears” is incredibly fun, it is far from perfect. The A.I. of your teammates in the single player game is laughable at best. Your teammates will regularly not give you cover fire and not get into cover when they need to but instead opt to stand up during firefights and walk directly into enemy fire forcing you to not only deal with all the Locust on your own but also save the lives of your team in the process. This is where having a friend to play co-op with really comes in handy. The enemy A.I. is also quite dim. Even on the harder difficulties, pulling off headshots and dispatching your foes quickly is not a very hard task to accomplish.

There is also no on screen map in “Gears” which can sometimes make it difficult to tell where the next objective is located.

But does this game, that was coined as Xbox 360’s “killer app”, live up to the hype that it is going to sell 360’s the way “Halo” sold the original Xbox? Initially, I am going to have to say that “Gears” definitely deserve all the attention it has been getting but will it stand the test of time and endear itself to gamers everywhere the way “Halo” has? Only time will tell if “Gears” becomes the next great franchise for the 360, but as it stands right now, “Gears” is a solid shooter that delivers intense, tactical action and I would absolutely recommend it for all 360 owners.