Gears of War Review (Xbox 360) By Mushu1942

10 / 10
25 Nov 2006 at 15:26

Review by: Mushu1942

I am generally pretty dubious when you hear reports of something being THE best thing ever. That doesn’t only apply to games, it applies to everything. So when this exact description was seen by myself, adorning the posters for Gears of War, I was more than a little sceptical. It was only the fact that I had been monitoring this games progress from a long time ago that made me buy this game the day it came out.
What can I say? This game is good. This game is very good. In fact this game is so good that I played it pretty much non-stop until I completed it.
So, where do I start? The storyline would be a good place. In itself it isn’t the most imaginative story in the world. Set in the future, aliens are attempting to wipe out the human race. However, it is cleverly told. For instance, the aliens in this particular story, The Locust Horde, have come from beneath the ground and your not given enough information to decide exactly what it is they want. This works brilliantly to keep you guessing and adds a particularly sinister feel to the game. The cut scenes are a superb accompaniment to the game and are both great to watch and ideal in length.
Graphically, you would be hard pushed to beat this game. It contains excellently rendered landscapes that create a totally believable post apocalyptical utopian city. Another great touch to this game is the fact that for the majority of the time, there is nothing cluttering up the screen, and I mean nothing. The ammo and weapon hud only appears when your firing weapons or reloading and there is no health bar. Instead, when you’re close to dying an icon appears in the middle of the screen and fades over time. This really adds to fact that playing this game is like controlling a film.
The control system for this game is really easy to pick up and is unlike anything I’ve seen before in any other game. A superb cover system means you can duck behind objects whilst firing and performing all sorts of crazy moves like commando roles, cover-to-cover transfers and crouching runs. This generally gives you the feeling that, although your not really pressing many buttons, you look dead good at the game and feel pretty tough too. One of the greatest things though, is the fact that the A.I. in this game is really good. This means that not only are you diving around like a crazy thing, so are your enemy’s. Other features involved in this game are a multitude of different online multiplayer games and split screen co-op or versus. I must say that the co-op mode is so much fun that after I completed this game on single player, my mate and me spent the next few days playing through it again together. Although, I have to say, when choosing someone to play co-op with you, make sure they’re not a complete idiot.
The only problem I found with this game is that occasionally you will get to part of the game that is just crazy hard and it can be a bit frustrating. That said, the game was just so much fun, I just kept at it until I beat it. The other thing is the fact that the game is so much fun that I honestly felt disappointed that I finished it so soon. I don’t think this is to do with the game being short, I think I just spent too much time playing it.
In summary, I’m not going to say this is the best game ever because that’s just my opinion. I appreciate that other people may not like it as much as me but what can I say? This is the sort of game you could just play and play. You’ll constantly be stopping to look around at the stunning scenery. You’ll also be looking for fights when there is no enemy’s present. This is a thoroughly superb game and well worth the wait.

Discuss Gears of War (Xbox 360) with other users in the forum