Xbox 360: Gears of War

You all know that Gears of War is the shit, you've seen all of the reviews and probably a lot of gameplay movies. I'd like to go into further detail on why it is so good and touch on a few of the shortcomings of the game as well.

First off, I've already beaten Gears. I received the game on Tuesday and played it through the entire campaign via Xbox Live co-op. It took us 6 hours and 15 minutes on the casual setting. You may think that this is very short [it is], but I've since begun playing again on the hardcore difficulty and I can tell you the AI is a lot smarter, and they are actually greater in numbers as well. The integration of the co-op is the best that has ever been done in a game. In case you don't know, you can seamlessly join or disconnect from a co-op game and it doesn't disrupt the game. There are 2 main protagonists in the game, Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago. When you play single player, you control Fenix, and Dom is your sidekick. Invite a friend and after about 10 seconds of loading he is controlling Dom instantly. If your friend needs to leave he can just disconnect and the AI takes back control of Dom.

A couple of original ideas within the game is the ability to revive your fallen comrades and the reloading minigame. If one of your teammates gets "killed", they won't actually die right away unless they are finished off. [curb stomp, chainsawed or shot some more]. A little icon will pop up on screen and point in the direction of your fallen friend. You then just press "x" on them and they will be back to new. The reloading minigame is brilliant. To reload you press the right button, a small cursor will then sweep across a power meter icon in the upper right hand of the screen [think hot shots golf power meter]. There will be a highlighted sweet spot and you have to press the right button again once it is in that spot to get a perfect reload. If you manage to do this you get a power boost for few seconds and a lightning fast reload. If you miss it by a little you get a regular fast reload and if you miss terribly your gun will jam and you'll be unable to shoot for about 3-5 secs. I've actually died from a bad reload, and my friend on co-op has died because I've had a bad reload and he was rushed. It takes a little time getting used to it because each gun has a different sweet spot, and the sweet spot is larger if you expel more bullets. So you get penalized for reloading when you've only used a few bullets.

Graphics in this game are sick. You've played nothing that looks even close to this game. There are some later stages that will make you put your controller down just to stare at what is going on around you, it's that good. The effects are astounding, your bullets will chip off concrete, splinter wood, and cause a gooey blood squirting slaughterhouse of insanity. If you chainsaw an enemy the blood splatters all over the screen and it looks real. Most people, including myself will say that graphics do not make a game, but damn, it sure doesn't hurt when it looks this good.

The campaign is fast and full of non-stop action, but the story is weak. If you haven't read anything outside the game or do not have the collector's edition, you will have no idea who the locusts are and why they are so pissed at you [even after you beat it]. There is no back story, no beginning cut scene and very little within the game that actually touches on the overall world. The plot surrounds very small events that you take part in and it would have been nice to get a grand look at things.

Mulitplayer is intense in the fact that there are a lot of standoffs. By this, I mean that you and your buds will be behind cover while the other team is doing the same. Both are shooting at each other and you are both trying to figure out the best position to flank. Often, the battle ends melee style with chainsaws revving and blood all over the place. Getting into a multiplayer game, however, is very very difficult. I actually could not connect to any of the hosts while trying to join ranked and non-ranked games. I had moderate success hosting my own game but the lobbies are terrible and once you finish the designated number of rounds, the game kicks you back to the main menu. Also, there is no way to play a ranked game with a friend, they wanted to curtail cheating, but they also curtailed fun in doing so.

Gears is a must buy if you own a 360. Even if you aren't a fan of shooters you owe it to yourself to experience what is Gears of War.

Final Score: 9 out of 10