User Reviews (181 - 191 of 405)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Half-Life 1 killer ?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Loved this game. The last game that was this groundbreaking was Half-Life.

Gripping. A New Era for Console Gaming Has Arrived!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Wow.

I have been playing console games since the 80s. With each new generation of systems, there is a game that will truly define the generation. Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario 64, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, and Splinter Cell all stand out as generation-defining games. Up until this point, the new generation of games has not differed too much from the previous one. Aside from extra sparkle and polish, no game released this generation has changed the way we look at and play games.

Until now.

For fans of shooters, both first-person and third-person, Gears of War is a must own game! Fans of tactical shooters like Ghost Recon or Socom will fall in love with the cover system in Gears of War. Though not as complex as those games (you only have to press A), the cover system in Gears of War feels incredibly intuitive and you'll find yourself a pro at the mechanics in just a matter of minutes. This is great, because Gears wastes no time throwing you into the action of the game. It starts of strong and never slows down, and never feels dull. Never. Additionally, the level design in Gears of War is designed to take full advantage of the cover system, while maintaining the realistic feel of the landscape and architechture.

For fans of "more run-and gun" Halo-esque shooters, Gears of War does not disappoint here either. As I already stated, the action in Gears is non-stop, so you won't find any moments where you're begging for more action. In fact, I've found that some points in Gears of War are so intense that it's literally tough to handle. One scene in particular where your character is forced to defeat a huge, blind enemy had my heart pounding like no other game has ever done before! I cannot recall a time where I have actually screamed in a game, but this definitely did it for me. Overall, the game is a rather pleasant mixture of both the run-and-gun and more tactical shooters. It plays out flawlessly.

If you're looking for a killer multiplayer experience on Xbox Live, Gears of War is possibly the strongest game available on the service as of right now. Players have the option of playing a ranked game, or an unranked game and there are 3 main types of gameplay. There is no respawning in matches, so when you are dead, you are dead. But the round system and 8-player limit gets you right back into the action in no time.

My only complaint with multiplayer is that if you're new to the game, you will find it increasingly difficult to jump into a game with people of the same skill level. Unlike the matchmaking system in Halo 2, if you are brand new to the game, you may very well be put up against people who are the best players in the world, without warning or acknowledgement. In other words, you won't stand a chance. There is a huge learning curve for multiplayer, so don't be surprised if you wind up getting booted out of several matches by the host due to your skill level. More consideration by the developers would have greatly benefitted the less skilled gamers out there. Hopefully, this will be addressed in further Gears of War titles.

Graphically speaking, Gears of War is the most visually impressive game ever seen on a home console, bar none. It's easy to get caught up in the action in Gears, but if you ever get a chance, take the time to look around the environment and see the amazing job that Epic did in creating this game. The level of detail in every square inch of the playing field and beyond is simply breathtaking. Spot on character models and fairly decent voice acting rounds out what is simply one of the best shooters ever created and by far the best game to be released on a next-gen console thus far.

Gears of War is definitely not for everyone. The gore and violence in this game are through the roof, and the gameplay can be intense beyond belief. However, if you're a fan of shooters, you simply cannot pass up this marvel of a game. Gears of War is definitely one of the best games of 2006 and the first game to set itself apart from the rest of the pack in this console generation. Check it out!

AMAZING

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Yes, this game is wonderful. I was sad when it ended. I played through mostly cooperative, and that added a great dimension to the game, with extra strategies and whatnot. This is one of the best games on Xbox.

You use cover and your team mates to accomplish missions. This isnt one of those games where you play some invincible warrior that goes around handling all the enemies on your own. If you dont use cover and tactic properly, you will lose. Plus, the difficulty settings allow you to find exactly what you are looking for.

I highly recommend this game to ANYONE with an Xbox 360. It is immersive enough to pull any style of gamer in.

Not a typical shooter by a not so typical fan

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought Gears of War (GOW) for its popular multiplayer. I ended up loving it. I can't play first person shooters (FPS) because they make me dizzy. The over-the-shoulder third person is a unique perspective that gives you the involvement of first person but the playability of third person. The game features innovative controls that are easy to use once you learn them. Sometimes the controls are often confused when you are trying to get down a cramped hallway or around a rounded corner. GOW also features "blindfire" where you can fire your weapon without accuracy from the safety of your cover. The use of grenades is sometimes tricky and cannot be blindfired so you take a degree of damage. The recovery system and bleed-out ability is awesome. There are few negatives about the game. The dark scenery of the game sometimes is difficult to deal with using a standard definition TV. The game is also short. With 2 players it took about four hours. This would normally bug me but the replay value is oddly high for some reason. I keep picking this game up, though I have beat it several times now. For the casual gamer and the even more casual shooter fan this game is tops. The die hard shooter fan may not find this to be their top ten.

It was war!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: December 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

My husband wanted this game so bad for chirstimas in 2006. He has it for a week and sold it because it wasn't what he thought it would be.

Not overrated

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Having finally gotten a 360, this was the first game I chose to play (even before Halo 3). It didn't fail to deliver, and it lived up to it's Game of the Year award. The story is well driven, the graphics are obviously terrific, and the gameplay itself is wonderful. Once I got a feel for the controls, and got a hang of the cover system, I became addicted.

If for whatever reason you don't own this yet, I strongly advise you to get it.

One of the Must Own Xbox 360 games.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First off, I realize this review is late to the table, but I only picked this up about 2 months ago and I would like to share my thoughts.

Graphics:
The grapchics are very well done in this game. They really set the tone.
There are some minor things like texture pop in when loading a new area or when just joining into a multiplayer game. These non texture moments are very short and really take nothing away from what is a graphically gorgeous looking game.

Single Player:
This game is average when it comes to the solo campaign compared to other shooters. Meaning the length of time to beat it is not the shortest nor longest single player shooter campaign.
There are some obvious omitions. Like bosses you see but never get to fight.
In no way do you ever feel like your not having fun. In fact, the game is fun all the way through.
The ending leaves a bit to be desired. Frankly, it really doesnt have a good ending at all. Sure you fight a boss and feel like its finished and the game lets you know there will be a part 2, but when it does end youll find yourself saying "Wait...Thats the end?"
Given all that, its still amazingly fun to play through.
Now lets add some meat to this. The solo campaign is playable with another person via split screen, system link, and the best of the three via Xbox Live.
The game is really fun to go through with another person.
However there are some moments that youll find very frusterating if the buddy your playing with is not of the same skill level as you and the difficulty is too hard for him. During the game there are points when the two of you must split up. Its in these moments when if one of you dies, you both go back to the point of the split and start over.
This is a minor gripe and the parts that are like this are usually short so it really doesnt hamper the campaign too much.

Xbox Live online play:
This is your meat and potatoes for Gears of War.
There are four game modes.
Execution, Warzone, Assasination and Annex.
The multiplayer in this game is based on rounds. You wont be playing matches where you continually spawn and rush in to kill some more. (No Deathmatch.)
One person (Guy/Gal who creates the match) is the host. That person picks game type, round length, and duration of a down.
When you are downed in this game, its basically as close to being dead as you can get. Another player from your side is able to pick you up provided they reach you in time.
Execution: In execution if you are downed, you cant be killed from distance. You must be killed up close execution style, via curb stomp or any weapon provided they are close enough.
Warzone: Basically the same thing as Execution except the fact that if you are downed you can be killed from a distance.
Assasination: One person is the leader on each side. The round ends when that person is killed.
Annex: King of the hill type gameplay. Go into cirlce, stay there long enough to capture it, then add time to your teams side. Try to hold it till the pre set points to win is met. (You do respawn in this gametype.)

All that out of the way the Online portion of Gears of War is amazingly fun. Once you know how to play and are good with the controls you feel like a gracefull killing machine. In fact if your really good the matches veiwed by bystanders will look spectacular.
The only drawbacks to the online play are a few glitches and the fact that the host will always have the advantage.
Because the game is never server hosted and always hosted by the player that creates the match that person always has an advantage in a one on one. Most people say its because the Host is more powerful but this is not the case. Its because due to a delay in the time that your information of positioning is sent to his xbox and then returned to you with his positioning you are not seeing exaclty where he is at yet he is seeing exactly where you are at.
Basically, your xbox sends info on your location, shots fired and in what direction and whathaveyou to his xbox, on his screen he now sees exactly where you are, but your xbox is then waiting on his posistioning and all that so on your screen the host is not exactly where you are seeing him.
Its not a huge delay as in your seeing the host 10 feet in front of you yet he is behind you. its more like he is 10 feet in front of you yet he just moved to the left a bit but on your screen that hasnt happened yet.
Most people can get around this hurtle by shooting ahead of what they are seeing. If he is moving left, shoot slightly left of him.
Anyways, this is the single biggest drawback to Gears of War online.
Now it takes away a lot from the gameplay. However I have never found myself at that much of a disadvantage that I have given up playing. The game is just incredibly fun.
The glitches I mentioned earlier are the fact that some people have learned to get out of the map. Usually its just an annoyance to tick people off.
All that being said, the game is fun to play online despite its drawbacks. However for Gears of War 2 I really hope they move to server hosted gameplay which is the norm for games that are this popular and this competitive.

Sound:
The sound is great, the music is eerie. The gun fire sounds exactly as it should. The voiceovers are great too. Throughout the campaign youll hear the various other characters chatting with eachother and it never sounds forced. The music as mentioned is eerrie, but it never gets in the way nor did I ever feel it to be repetitive.
Exploding someones body with an up close shotgun spray sounds very satisfying and using a chainsaw on someone sounds equally gratifying.

For sheer fun this game is a definate 5 very easily.
However for all the drawbacks I mentioned I simply couldnt give it a 5 at all, but like I said, it deserves a place on your shelf.

If you havent picked it up yet, you really should at the very least rent it. Or save yourself some money and buy the game outright because if your a shooter fan youll end up buying it anyways.

Good game for a gift for gamers

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Bought a few copies for gamer friends, they loved it. Bought one for myslef and I found I did not like the over-the-shoulder perspective. I prefer the Halo series.

OK game, but has some shortcomings

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Got the game for Christmas 2007 and have enjoyed it so far, though it doesn't measure up to Call of Duty 4 for engrossing fun. The sci-fi theme is interesting, but not as engaging as the "real-life" opponents of COD4.

The opponents are creepy, of course, but some of the ways you can die just seem contrived to make the game harder. There is a night-time portion in which you die if you stray out of the light into the dark. Flying things attack you, even though the enemy are supposed to be burrowers.

You can turn off the "Extreme" language and graphics, but you still get some strong language and plenty of gore and scenes with nasty ways to die. Definitely deserves the Mature rating.

Game is good from an action and combat system standpoint, but as a casual gamer I find the setting too creepy, the combat overly brutal / graphic, and some of the situations a bit over the top.

If I had to do it over again, I would prefer to rent this one instead of owning it.

A Must Own for All Shooter Fans

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of the best games available on the Xbox 360 and is worth every penny. I've owned this game for about a year now and still play it every once in awhile. I have beaten the game on all 3 difficulties (Casual, Hardcore and Insane) and they are all very fun and challenging. The graphics are great, sound is even better and the controls are easy to use and very fluid. Don't spend your money on other games if you don't own this one first!

Review Page: Previous 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Next 

Actions