Like a lot of other people I bought into the hype and picked up a copy of Gears of War the first week it came out. I wasn't really anticipating the game but when it finally arrived I guess like everyone else I was influenced by the onslaught of advertising. With Gears of War opening me up to so many things I had never seen before (I had just bought an xbox at that point), I can't really say that I wasted my money even though I still to this day don't see what all the hype is about.
Gears of War places the player in the not to distant future where the planet earth has been overrun by a species that humans refer to as Locusts. When I first played Gears of War I thought the story was pretty bad, they left out a lot of details and the player knew very little about the Locusts by the end of the game, and that aggravated me a little bit. When I was done with it I really thought about it and decided that it's not so much that the story is bad as it is that the way they are telling it is designed to bring you back for a sequel. Now with that being said the story isn't great. You follow Marcus Phoenix who begins the game in a military prison that he is broken out of by a solider and friend (Dom). Once freed, Phoenix is charged with stopping some sort of doomsday weapon that the Locusts have designed. You spend a majority of the game trying to reach this weapon and destroy it. In the end the story feels incomplete (as it was supposed to I can only imagine) and is littered with horrible dialog that should only be suitable only for the crappiest of action movies.
Now like I have already said Gears of War opened my eyes to a lot of things I had never experienced in video games before and for that the game scores some extra points. Gears of War was my first experience with a cover system that I have grown to love. After playing Gears of War with its one button cover mechanic I fell that every game that does not have a history predating the cover system should be designed with a cover system of some sort. Being able to easily switch from one area of cover to another with the flick of a button is fantastic. As a matter of fact the whole control scheme is top notch. Even though Marcus Phoenix is clunky by the nature of his massive figure, the controls for Gears of War's campaign never make you think about the controller or what you want to do next; you just react. I also enjoyed the co-op system that Gears of War offered up. Once again this was a first for me. I had never played an online co-op game before and even to this day the co-op for Gears of War is as good as any other co-op currently available. Being able to seamlessly hop in and out of games and not have it take you out of the action is one of my favorite features in the game. Finally and probably most importantly the campaign for Gears of War features some phenomenal game play. The Locust AI is some of the best I have seen in any game. I never found myself in a situation where they were looking or shooting in the wrong direction, they flank and they are a great shot; making every encounter with the Locust a challenge. And to kill those very intelligent Locusts, Epic has provided the player with some great weaponry. I can honestly say that the chainsaw gun is one of my all time favorite weapons. The visuals and sound of cutting through your enemies is one of the most satisfying experiences in gaming and I would strongly recommend that every gamer try it at least once.
Sadly for all its innovation Gears of War falls very short of gaming perfection as some would have you believe. The campaign is very short and I will put an emphasis on very. The campaign can probably take you no more than 6 hours. Although there are differently difficulty levels to take for a spin the horrific dialog and below average story will probably make this a one and done for your average player. Now for my money multiplayer is where it's at. A game like Gears of War can have the shortest, crappiest story this side of Lost Planet but as long as they have a quality multiplayer it doesn't matter. Sadly though, Gears of War really suffers for me in the multiplayer arena. The game feels completely unpolished and very clunky for lack of a better word. I always felt like I was facing the wrong way or that my character just didn't have adequate range of movement in order to get the job done. Not to mention I can't count the number of times I was basically sniped with a shotgun and watched my body explode only to shoot someone with every same weapon the next round at point blank range and watch them walk away. This was not an isolated incident, it was a common occurrence. Suffice it to say that the game really could have used some refinement in the multiplayer.
All in all Gears of War is a solid game. For shooter fans you will most likely find something to enjoy. For online enthusiasts prepare to be frustrated and confused at the same time. With an overhauled multipalyer and a better story Gears of War could easily be as great as it's hyped up to be.
Huzaifah from eXputer "With a new Gears of War game possible, I'll go ahead and say that the original trilogy was the peak of the series and should get remastered."
1-3 are incredible with each one being bigger and better than the last. I don’t know what it is, but 4 was super underwhelming to me and 5 was slightly better than 4, but I didn’t feel the same epic feeling I had when going through 1-3. I hope 6 brings that epicness back, but yea like a full remake of 1-3 with current-gen visuals would be *chef’s kiss*.
I was actually devastated with Gears 1 Remaster on Xbox and PC. From when the OG released in 2006 right up until Gears 2 released a few years later. Me and a small group of friends would play it almost daily.
When the remaster arrived. It was annoying that they changed the way you could find a create games. The PC version was dead on arrival as it didn't release on steam just the crappy windows store so about 7 people (including me) bought it. I think I managed to find about 5 games in the first week of release. After that it was just a ghost town.
Not sure about Xbox version. Didn't actually try it until I got a series s in late 2022. It was completely dead online.
A new game would be best. I don't understand why gamers want to rebuy old games over something new.
The Xbox 360 was a fantastic console in its day with some truly classic titles, but what are the seven best games for the console?
I'll go with,
Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Culdcept Saga, Shadow Complex, Ace Combat 6 with the flight stick,A Kingdom for Keflings, A World of Keflings.
Bonus Kinect Games: Happy Action Theater and Sesame Street.
*Skyrim was so bad on PS3 that it almost deserves to be #1*
Was this made by a.i.? No human being would put Shadowrun, Fable III, and Splinter Cell: Conviction into a list of the 7 best Xbox 360 games.
Would love to play Ace Combat6 on PlayStation, but Xbox decided to buy exclusivity and keep it off a competing platform.
The only mainline game I never played except for one level at a friends place. Game sold less than any other in the series if I remember correctly.
When the current gen XBOX offering is so lacking people need to refer to games released two generations back....
Shaz from GL writes: “In an interview, Cliff Bleszinski says that he’d be interested in helping develop a Gears of War reboot akin to God of War. Unnecessary? I think so.”
A reimagining that continues the lore, and story of established characters is absolutely a great way to continue a series that needs a refresh. I agree that any long standing franchise that has run it's course definitely needs a "God of War" style reboot, because GOW did it right. I might have my issues with the last two games but they did right by the series regardless.
There's no helping Gears of Woke. Microsoft killed this franchise when they forced the woke culture into the story.
I thought they were doing a soft reboot with gears4 but then it turned out to be the exact same as all the others.
A more horror oriented and tight corridor renewal would work for that franchise....also...why they got guns? They're alien like...they should have other types of weapons entirely.
you nailed that perfectly. Especially the area with the cover system i felt the EXACT same way. The story sucked but it really didn't matter to me that much. Over all i would give gears a 9. Game was fun to play but i eventually grew tired...very very tired.
i loved the multiplayer considering it was only tacked on at the end. It could have done with a party system but apart from that its great fun.
Still in the top5 games on LIVE too i think, even 15 months after release!
i agree on the story mode, too short. It takes longer on hard mode, the way its meant to be played, but still not even 10 hours. I hope the next one is longer