Campaign
The Planet Sara, inhabited by humans, is under attack by the Locust Horde. Things aren't looking good for humanity, and it is up to you, Marcus Fenix, and the rest of COG, to save the human race from extinction. I was really interested in the story of this game from the start, and stayed interested until the end. I found the main character, Marcus Fenix, to be very likeable, and someone that many people would be interested in. He's just a badass type guy, and is not afraid of kicking some locust ass. While playing through the campaign, you also get help from his buddy Dominic (or "Dom"), Cole (or "The Cole Train"), Carmine, and Baird.
The campaign takes between 8-10 hours to complete, but there is COG tags that you can collect throughout the campaign, similar to Halo 3, that will lengthen your experience quite a bit. On top of this, you can also play 2 player co-op through the entire campaign, either on Xbox Live, or with your buddies on split-screen.
There is quite a variety in the different types of locusts that you will meet throughout the campaign. There's just the standard, equipped with maybe a shotgun or machine gun of some sort. Then there's what are called the "Boomers". These are huge locusts, maybe 3-4 times larger than the average, equipped with a weapon called the Boomshot, which is basically the Gears of War version of a rocket launcher. Then there is the Berserker, which is also quite a large Locust. Only you can't kill it with a standard machine gun or shotgun. You can only kill it using a weapon called the hammer of dawn, which shoots a huge beam of light down from the heavens, and basically fry's the berserker to pieces.
The only flaw that I have with the campaign is that the AI of your teammates really isn't that good. Most of the time they will be getting killed. The only thing they are really good for is distracting the enemy so you can flank them.
Overall, the campaign is a complete blast to play through, and offers a wide variety of environments aswell.
Graphics
Well, let's see, this game was released in 2006, and in my opinion, it still has the best graphics of all time, both in terms of art style, and realism. There is really no words to describe how good this game looks. Absolutely everything, from character models, guns, explosions, and textures down to things like the blood and gore, bullets, and cut scenes look absolutely stunning.
This game still has my vote for best visuals in the history of gaming. It just looks so crisp, clear, and real. And there are no flaws whatsoever. No jaggies, no framerate issues, nothing like that. It's going to take a long time for this game's visuals to be forgotten.
Sound
The sound is almost as amazing as the graphics. The gun effects are great, and very realistic, the locusts grunts are fantastic, and the music playing at some points in the campaign is in the same league as Halo. Another thing the sound is great at is the sound of enemies bodies blowing up into pieces after you've shot them with the shotgun, or sniped them with the sniper. It is just a fantastic feeling after headshotting them to hear that nice satisfying "pop".
The sound is completely flawless, just as the graphics and visuals are.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Gears of War is very fun, both online and off. It also does a great job at innovating. This is definitely not your typical run and gun shooter. If you want to survive and beat this game, you need to use cover. Cover is the most important key to survival in this game. It has been referred by many as kind of like a "cat and mouse" game. When in a battle with enemies, you hide behind cover, pop out, take a few shots, and duck back behind cover and heal a bit, then pop back out.
The weapons are very fun to use in this game. There is a weapon called the Lancer, which is basically just a machine gun, only it has a chainsaw attached to it, so if an enemy gets to cloose, you can cut them to pieces using that. Then there is the extremely powerful shotgun, which can blow to pieces any enemy that comes with 10 feet of you with 1 or 2 shots. Then there's the Boomshot, the GOW version of a rocket launcher, and the hammer of dawn, which shoots a beam of light down from the sky to completely fry any enemy that crosses its path. The weapons are extremely fun to use, especially in multiplayer. It is just a very satisfying feeling hiding behind cover, popping out, sniping someone in the head, watching there head pop off, and returning to cover, preparing for your next shot.
As for vehicles, there is really no vehicles in this game, except for one of the missions in the Campaign, although that's really not a complaint, I have no problems with it.
Overall, the gameplay is unique, and very, very fun. There is nothing like kicking some locust ass.
Online
The online in Gears of War can be described by one word, "intense". The online is what will keep you coming back for a long time. The max amount of players is 8, but the maps are completely designed around this number, and there is still a ton of action. And this isn't a game where you can win if the rest of your team sucks. The teamwork needed to win an online match is very high, and requires a lot of skill.
There is also a wide variety of game modes. There's warzone, just a basic 4 on 4 type match, first one to kill all players on other team wins. Then there is execution, where the enemy must be killed with something like a curbstomp, or chainsaw. Next is Assassination, where each team has a leader, and the leader on the opposing team must be killed in order to win. There is also Annex, which is basically like King of the Hill. And I believe there is even one more matchtype, which I can't remember right now. But you get the point. There is a ton of creative and fun matchtypes in this game's online to keep you entertained.
Then on top of all the fun in online matches, there is also 2 player online co-op.
The online in Gears of War is incredibly fast-paced, fun, and satisfying.
Closing Comments
Gears of War is an absolutely incredible experience that every Xbox 360 owner should own. No Xbox 360 games library is complete without Gears of War. Both the campaign, and online multiplayer are a complete blast. All I can say is I can't wait for Gears of War 2.
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."
^ this
and judgement as well
Why not Remaster them and release them as Marcus Fenix Collection for PC and Series
I would buy it. I sh1t on microsoft alot but their gears of War series I loved. Some great gameplay and if they would keep up the multiplayer I'd play that too.
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.
It an excuse to revisit something you loved a long time, and it’s prettier and shinier!
Yeah, new game is always better in my book but remake/remaster is definitely a good runner-up.
Agreed. The old games are there anyway.
I went back and played them all again in anticipation of Gears 5 with a friend and they hold up really well. In fact, they were more fun than the recent ones in some ways.
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*
Ah yes, Shadow Complex! Good indies back in the day. Summer of Arcade. I enjoyed Trials Evolution as well.
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.
360 had Namco hitters AC6 and RR6... both quality titles. You should at least bust out the 360 for AC6 if you can score the flight stick. Its great.
When the current gen XBOX offering is so lacking people need to refer to games released two generations back....
It's a nostalgia peice same reason we get thousands of YouTube videos on sega genisis. Something people have fond memories for but the era is long gone.
It's xboxs golden year imo it was their genisis years the time where they stuck it to the market leaders Sony.
They stuck nothing. Sony screwed themselves giving Xbox an opening. They would have gotten the usual smack down if the PS3 had launched at $399 and was easier to develop for.
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.”
I completely disagree. Outdated in what way? There is literally no other cover based TPS multiplayer game like it and the core gameplay is so good that people still play Gears 1 today. I can't think of any games that has shotgun battles like Gears. The real issue is that there is simply no new audience for it, because the learning curve is so steep. It just needs to market itself better and the work needs to be done on the campaign side. Better to just split up the single player and multiplayer as two different projects and releases.
Also, this who "reboot" discussion isn't considering the fact that God of war doesn't have multiplayer as a significant portion of the game. Single player only games have a lot more freedom to change. With Gears you have to consider that there's an entire community still playing every day, so you can't just change the core gameplay balance. On top of that they can't dedicate as many resources to single player as God of war, because the budget has to be split with multiplayer.
There is no other one like it because there is no demand for that style of game, kinda obvious really. If there was an interest in gears style games the market would be flooded with them.
Gears of War 1 and 2 were bad combat wise.... Story wise too. I beat both of them because of the hype and gave up after that.
I agree. It needs done kind of overhaul, but I don't think a God of War style would suit this game.
I gotta be honest I don't know what it needs, but it needs something ... And 5 wasn't it
Maybe it's a reboot more in the sense of a more emotional storyline or something like God of War, and some small tweaks in terms of gameplay.
Do you have a genuine reason to come to that conclusion, other than it not being a PlayStation studio?
The Coalition probably have the best and most knowledge team on Unreal Engine 5 outside of Epic. I'd have thought if anyone "had the talent", it would be them.
Because they did not do a fantastic job when they took over the ip.
In fact, the majority of ips under Microsoft shows complete signs of cheap development with bigger marketing budgets.
More make up on dated engines can work… but can not be mistaken for innovative.
No innovation equals no ability to push a franchise into anything new.
Take the “open world” introduction in the last gears…
Empty vast traveling areas to get to pre determined “random” encounter areas is a cheap developing approach.. not innovation to build any trust into.
Even if they were the best in the world at UE5 that would only mean that they might make a great looking game. It takes a lot more than that to make a great game.
"Do you have a genuine reason to come to that conclusion, other than it not being a PlayStation studio?"
History and current output.
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.
God of War did the same, just in a more subtle sly way.... They could of probably made a few cuts and bam, PG rated movie right there. God of Rainbows and Daisies.
Dang, so many dislikes lol, willing to elaborate, just didnt want to throw out a bunch of spoilers. If anyone wants to discuss as to why, im always open to discussions. Just shoot me a DM.
How is it woke? Because the lead is a female?
Is Horizon woke also?
There's no helping you. Anti-woke culture killed your brain when they force fed you the idea that diversity is the worst thing ever.
Lol....good to see that you agree as do I with the fact Microsoft went woke as Disney with the Gear franchise. Microsoft tried to save the franchise by taking the formula that was working with the strong Bro leads and going to the woke weakass female formula that no one cared about.
Diversity isn't a strength. Look at the world. That's the reason it's in the state it is.
Forced diversity is the reason people don't like diversity, you should just hire who is best for what, not have to tick boxes first then worry about talent next.
@ra3030
Every company has gone woke, even successful ones. Those don't fit your narrative though. Yeah no, the only two things Microsoft and Disney have in common is that they're woke /s
Totally not that they're risk averse companies that don't wanna innovate in fear of it being a waste of time. They've got bottomless pockets and limited time. So they spend their time trying to crack codes, find patterns, create money making templates out of whatever property they're working on. It needs to be as mass produceable as possible. Disney and Microsoft, bringing sweat shop factory made quality to gaming storefronts and theaters near you.
@binary
Right because the world was so much better segregated... and there's a million other reasons I'd put ahead of diversity as to why the world is the way it is, but way to show how much diversity is on your brain by how dangerous you think it is. It's literally the cause of everything to you.
@gaming
Actually forced diversity is the only reason people like diversity. If you don't force people to do it, they won't do it. The only people who end up liking it due to having met new people with different perspectives only ever got to because they were kind of forced to. That's literally part of the reason diversity is being advocated for, because it promotes innovation. Having dozens of people with too similar of viewpoints can lead them to being too likeminded and unable to think of different solutions, or even different problems that weren't even recognized. There's more than one way to be a useful hire, and having a genuinely unique perspective is one of them.
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.
dang why do most of the different species in god of war use swords, axes, and bows? They should have other types of weapons entirely.
They don't... Okay you obviously haven't played god of war. What a way of owning yourself man! Lol
The draugr are pretty much the only ones...and besides we're comparing established mythology with made up bug aliens
I have to take issue with the graphics remarks. They were the best at the time but have since been surpased. Uncharted and Crysis, in particular, look better.