Overall, this game improves and fares just as well as the 360 version released a year ago. Despite its flaws, the characters, striking environments, special weapons and the inclusion of a game editor, longer single player campaign, additional achievements and new multiplayer maps makes Gears of War an exciting game that should not be missed. For those eager to experience an interactive and engaging PC shooter, look no further than Gears of War this holiday season.



Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Gears of War, originally released on the Xbox 360, was an extraordinary game. It featured gorgeous visuals, interactive gameplay (contributed largely to its run and cover system), and an engaging third person perspective on the narrative side. The game spurred the sale of many systems and persuaded prospective gamers who sat on the fence to join the Xbox 360 camp. After the story mode was finished, fans happily spent hours on multiplayer matches killing and “chain-sawing” their friends online. PC gamers now have the chance to experience Gears of War in addition to all the downloadable content from Xbox Live in one neat package.

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The story begins with your role as Marcus Fenix, a soldier charged with war crimes and treason who is left to die alone in the prison barracks. A deadly mutant race known as the Locusts has invaded and destroyed major cities across the globe relentlessly. As the death toll escalates to untold figures, the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) grants a pardon to all their war criminals, Marcus being amongst them, and enlists them in a fight to defend the earth against the Locust Horde. He is joined by his fellow Delta squad comrades and others from Alpha squad, including Dominic Santiago, Damon Baird and the comical Augustus Cole, known as "Cole Train". The storyline in Gears is quite linear in length with occasional decision points that allow you to choose different paths to reach your intended destination. The path you choose will dictate the weapons and ammo spoils found as certain items are only available on your treaded pathway.

Gameplay mechanics remain the same as the 360 version with the traditional "duck and cover" tactics in battle. Buildings, boxes, wooden furniture, cars, stone pillars, road barriers and more can be effectively used to shield Marcus from heavy enemy gunfire. The game continually pressures you to hone your skills by not only interacting with your environment, but also to keep a sharp eye on your active reload meter when your gun is empty. When timed perfectly, your reload time drops and you temporarily gain a boost to the damage dealt to the Locust enemy. Weapons and grenades can be swapped with ease by selecting numerical keys 1 through 4 at any given time. If you miss the mark on the meter, Marcus will curse as he spends more time reloading his weapon than needed. The roadie run maneuver, which allows you to stay low and speed through the area, is executed by holding the spacebar. Though it is useful in the game, holding the spacebar key to run feels awkward and takes a bit of time to get accustomed to.

The arsenal of weapons available includes the Snub Pistol, Gnasher Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Grenades and the Hammer of Dawn. The Assault Rifle is a favored weapon as you can gun down your enemies or brutally sever them with a bloody chainsaw attack. Regarding the shotgun and sniper rifle, they are vital for close combat and for eliminating the Locust threat from a safe distance. One big issue I have with using grenades is the time required to toss a single grenade. That’s right. Rather than simply throwing it, you must direct a blue trajectory line indicating where and how high to throw it. There is a tendency for the camera to direct the view upwards making it hard to throw one accurately. Compared to games like Call of Duty, it’s a chore to toss a grenade at the enemy as you make yourself vulnerable for far too long in an open gunfight. The Hammer of Dawn is a powerful weapon that burns and devours the enemy but can only be used outside when a satellite connection is established.

Regarding the AI aspect of the game, the presence of your squad mates draws out mixed reactions. My comrades have saved me on many counts from Locusts that would have killed me. However, the duck and cover tactics easily throw them off as a Locust could be standing behind a road barrier with his shoulder and head clearly visible. Dominic, Baird and Cole don’t seem to notice this and continually shoot the center of the stone barrier already protecting the enemy’s torso, missing their target entirely in open sight. Consequently, the Locusts were able to pin down half my squad leaving me to revive two teammates used as bait to lure me out from cover. The most frustrating scenario was watching them run right by a Locust standing a few feet away without even turning around! Thus, issuing squad-based commands to regroup, cease fire, or attack is a "hit or miss" affair as more often than not, you must rely on your wits and skills to survive. There are two difficulty settings at the start: Casual and Hardcore with the Insane difficulty unlocked once the campaign mode has been completed.

Rather than giving gamers only a straight port, Epic has provided extra content that includes five new game chapters, three new multiplayer maps, game editor, 50 additional achievements and a new multiplayer game mode. You’ll find the five extra game chapters in the latter half of the game that shed light on the events involving an enemy boss encounter and the details of the team’s escape. The multiplayer modes featured are Warzone, Execution, Assassination, Annex and the all new mode, King of the Hill. Warzone pits the COG soldiers against the Locusts in a deathmatch while the Execution mode, though similar, requires you to kill your opponents at close range, either by chainsaw attack or stomping their corpse. Assassination assigns the COG soldiers and Locusts to kill the opposition leader and to hold leadership for that team whereas Annex mode is a race to complete objectives and achieve a targeted score first before the other team. Finally, the new King of the Hill is a territorial challenge in which you must control and defend fixed territory against the opposing team for a specified period of time. This mode shares the same objective as the Execution mode in that you must kill your enemies with special close range attacks. For those who engage in online matches and stats, take note that a Gold subscription may be needed in the Games For Windows Live membership. As for the game editor, you can create customized level designs but it remains unsupported by Epic and Microsoft.

Gears is a stunning game that exceeds the boasted graphics of its 360 predecessor. I was privileged to be able to play the game on an HP Blackbird setup and I was blown away. Breathtaking visuals, solid framerate, smooth animation and polished character designs all contributed to making the game a visceral experience. Not surprisingly, my computer was gasping for dear life trying to run the game on the lowest settings. Make no mistake, Gears is graphically intensive and is meant to be played on a powerful rig at maximum resolution. On the audio side, the sound effects, voice acting and soundtrack fit well within the game’s context in building its dark and sinister atmosphere.

Also available on: 360
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Epic
Release: Nov 6, 2007
MSRP: $49.99
Mature | Online

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