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A Must Have for the Mature Gamer

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 135 / 156
Date: November 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Gears of War is a high energy, well detailed sci fi shooter set in a dismal future. You are a muscular, well trained soldier wearing pounds of gear, armor and weapons - and it'll barely be enough to keep you alive.

This game is compared frequently to Halo, but if Halo is the lighthearted ease of Star Wars, Gears of War is the non-stop assault and clinging to life of Alien. You're not jumping around like a kangaroo here, blasting at foes. You are heavily laden, crouching behind anything you can find to shield you, trying your best to stay alive for five more minutes. You have to work strategically with your fellow soldiers to climb forward every inch.

The graphics in Gears of War are very impressive. The game is done in a palatte of browns, greys and reds. The dismal skies above, the swarms of black birds, the dented and dingy equipment - this is a world on the verge of despair. Enemies don't stand out with brightly colored costumes. You have to really pay attention to know where they are and to take them out.

The sounds really help drive home the urgency of your mission. Voices cry out on all sides for help. The hammering of the machine guns and rapid fire weapons ring in your ears. The soundtrack is pounding and epic. If anything this is all TOO pounding - after playing this for weeks, I really can get a headache :) I'd turn it down, but then I wouldn't be able to tell where the enemies were sniping me from sometimes.

The storyline really helps involve you in what is going on. It's like being at the center of a high power action movie. There are decisions you can make along the way to help guide the story. I really enjoy the "fight for every inch of soil" way it has you feel like you are involved in a real challenge. It might seem TOO challenging for some new gamers. Stick with it - it's well worth it.

I do wish, with all of their emphasis on taking cover and being cautious - that you could CROUCH. I understand not being able to jump - you're wearing hundreds of pounds of gear! However, you can crouch behind cover. Why can't you crouch when you're not near cover, to lower your profile a bit? I think that would help out in some situations.

Still, that's a minor complaint for a fantastic game. If you're a mature gamer (there's a fair amount of blood here) that enjoys shooters, definitely pick this one up!

Gears redefines FPS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 96 / 123
Date: November 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'm a Halo FREAK. I love Bungie's masterpiece and will count the days until Halo3 comes out- but Gears of War destroyed my expectations of what a FPS could be like. Gears does things on a level I thought this generation of hardware was incapable of doing! I never would have thought that graphics like this were possible - you simply MUST SEE IT to BELIEVE IT! The high resolution screenshots on the web do NOT do this game justice. And the music is AMAZING to hear in the heat of combat.

And the combat- nothing touches this. Your teeth will be clinched TIGHT the entire time- every bullet is a potential killer and you feel TERRIFIED as the cover you're behind begins to fall apart while Horde forces are flanking your position!! I can not give this game any higher praise than to say it sets the bar so high, I'm only hoping that Halo3 will be able to touch it!

Game of the Year -no DOUBT in my mind

Gears of War is THE Xbox 360 Killer App....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 56 / 65
Date: November 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Let me start with this. Gears of War is the best looking console game ever. Period. End of story. The amount of detail in this game is mind numbing, but more on that later. Lets start

Gears of War is the highly anticipated shooter exclusive to the Xbox 360. You won't find this game anywhere else. This game has been hyped for years, and now that it has finally been released, most people agree it has actually surpassed the hype.

Gears of War follows the story of the humans battle against the Locust Horde. The Locust Horde have, for some reason, come to planet Sera (home of the humans in this game) to take over. It's your job to stop them. To do that, you assume the role of COG soldier Marcus Fenix. When you start the campaign mode, you find that the story begins with fellow COG soldiers breaking Marcus out from prison. Marcus did something wrong, but his battle tested skills are somehow needed. From there the story takes off, carrying you through 5 "acts" and 30 chapters. This is just the way the game is broken down.

When you start the campaign mode, you can select from 3 difficulties. Casual, which the game should take you no more than 8-10 hours to complete. Then there is the Hard mode. Hard mode is a challenge, and can easily add 4-5 hours to the game, making the campaign about 12-14 hours long. Finally, we have the mode "Insanity". Think of Halo's legendary mode. You may not even be able to do this mode on your own.

Which is why Gears features a co op mode, simialr to Halo. Co op allows you to play through Gears with a friend. You can do this over Xbox Live, through system link, or through split screen. It is most fun over Xbox Live. You simply host a campaign "server" and start playing the game. Somone can join, take the role of a computer controlled soldier, and play alongside you, which can be great fun. If they have to go, when they leave, the computer will automatically assume the role of the soldier again, so it doesn't ruin the experience. Of course, you can always invite somone on your friends list to come play through campaign with you.

Aside from the excellent campaign mode, Gears features a robust multiplayer mode. Up to 8 players are split into two teams of 4 people. Doesn't sound like much, but this game is all about cover, flanking, and working with your teammates. The game ships with 10 multiplayer maps: Canals, Clocktower, Escalation, Fuel Depot, Gridlock, Tyro Station, War Machine, Mansion, Mausoleum, and Roof Tops. In multiplayer, there are 3 modes to choose from: Warzone, Assasination, and Execution. Warzone is a standard team deatmact, and like counter strike, once you die, you spectate until the next round. Assasination requires players to kill the other teams "leader". Finally, Execution requires that in order to kil somone, you must curb stomp them (smash their heads into the ground after wounding them), chainsaw them (a chainsaw is attached to the "lancer" machine gun), or kill them with a torque bow (a bow that fires a rocket the explodes on contact.)

The weapons in Gears are very diverse. The Lancer machine gun is most common, and best of all, it has a chainsaw attached to the end of it. So when you come up close to somone, you can press "B" to rev up the chainsaw, and then go in for the kill. Other weapons include a sniper rifle, pistol, magnum, shotgun, grenade launcher, and of course, the hammer of dawn. The hammer of dawn is a gun requiring you to charge a laser beam. Once charged, the gun calls down a laser beam from an orbital satellite, blasting anything in its path.

The sound, of course, is incredible. The music is amazing, and the gun sounds are some of the best you will hear. Like I said, the graphics are some of the best I have ever seen in my life. The amount of detail is scary. For instance, when you shotgun somone up close, you can see individuals parts fly, such as the jawbone, brain, etc. But the graphics don't just excel in a gruesome kind of way. Brick walls, water reflections, blades of grass all look so real, you are going to be stunned. Like I said earlier, the BEST graphics you have ever seen.

The Xbox 360 has been waiting for a killer app. This is the one. Halo 3 comes out in Nov 2007, but this game will make you forget all about Halo until then. People will be buying 360's just to play this game. The game is very voilent, but really, people, this is the MUST OWN game of the year. If you have a 360, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Games like this don't come around very often. Do yourself a favor, and play this game. It is THAT good.

Gears - The 360's First Killer App

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 18
Date: December 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I recieved Gears of War for Christmas and have to say that it's visuals are absolutely second to none and are the first thing your likely to notice about this title. We're talking visuals quite a few steps ahead of the pack, and the animations that they support are superb, everything from the characters to the explosions, to the game's oh so destructable world. I havent completely finished the game but felt compelled to throw in my two cents now to maybe influence holiday buying decisions for you late shoppers out there, people who maybe received say 60 dollers as a gift and is wondering how to spend it. Well, quite frankly, you couldnt spend it on a better game. Gears of War does for the 360 what The Legend of Zelda did for the N64, or what Halo did for the original Xbox. It will become one of those games that defines the system, or at least for a long, long while. Apart from the outstanding visuals (either in high-def or not) gamers will be pleased to find one heck of a sound design. The sounds of the Locust crying out as your chainsaw rips through them is one of the most satasfying things i've heard in recent gaming. The musical score is also to be highly noted, it is beautiful in a creepy kinda way and i hear it in my head between playing stints. The game controls really tight for the most part. Using a "one button does all" approach, the A button will become your best friend...yes even moreso than the right trigger. It allows you to take cover, barrle roll, all sorts of things, depending on the context. Basically it is your protection from becoming a thousand tiny pieces in a pool of blood. Which takes me to my next point. This earns its M rating with some pretty graphic violence. It's not quite as heavy as Dead Rising, but its certainly bloodier than any of the Halo games. The language on the other hand actually isnt as heavy as i thought it would be. No f bombs thus far, and no gd's. But like I said, the game earns its M rating nevertheless, thanks to its heavy gore. Production values are high in Gears and you certainly feel the effort that went into its creation. It earns the distinction in my book as quite possibly the most polished game I've ever played. I am yet to find a glitch, or even a cheap gimick. All in all, I'd say Gears of War is a fantastic game, slightly overrated, but a fantastic game. People looking to buy just one xbox 360 game need to look no further. I recieved Call of Duty 3 too and although thats a pretty good game, this is dominating my 360. Do yourself a favor, purchase and experience Gears of War. Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!

Gears of War is THE Killer ap that X-Box 360 owners have been dyin for!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: December 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Aside from a few really great games, I HATE first person shooters. The reason for this is that I grew up cutting my teeth on "real world" combat games like BB gun fights (way way back) and have about 12 years of Paintball under my belt.

One simply cannot run around in the open, circle strafing around your opponent while hopping like a jackrabbit on crank and hope to accomplish anything other than experiencing pain and a quick ticket to the dead zone.

That's why I was glad to hear that Cliffy B and the team at Epic were working on a more "real world" combat style for Gears of War.

There is nothing more annoying than logging into an online FPS game and witnessing players pressing and holding the jump button (bunny hopping) and searching for targets that they can circle around like a shark. It kills the experience and it makes for gimicky gameplay that eliminates the tactics needed in combat, and thus for me, most of the fun.

Gears of War is not that kind of game.

Gears is build around a "stop and pop" play mechanic and anyone who plays this game looking to "Run and gun" or "bunny hop" is going to be in for a world of hurt.

Gears forces you to take cover, think out plans of attack, and fight it out with your enemies in a much more realistic manner. There isn't even a jump button to press. There is a contextual button (very similar to the way Nintendo's latest Zelda games really only use one button to accomplish many feats. The context sensitive button will allow you to dive into cover, leap over barriers, get low and run for cover, get tight to the wall, roll out of the way, or jump from cover to cover. So no bunny hopping at all...

To compliment the realistic maneuvering there is realistic gun play. The developers have really emphasized real world combat in this game. It's all about your cover and knowing when to pop out and fire. They've thrown in shooting from the hip (firing in the direction your are facing and not very accurate), aimed fire (get a bead on your enemies and come out from behind cover to get accurate shots) and blind firing (sicking your gun over the top of your cover point and blindly firing rounds in the opponent's general direction). To make matters even more realistic, you have active reload which means that you can basically wait until the clip is empty and reload at a ordinary pace or you can wit until the clip is almost empty and actively reload your gun. Do it right and you reload faster and get a brief damage bonus to your rounds. Do it wrong and the gun jams and you have to clear the jam. AWESOME! It's about as close to real world combat as you can get in a computer game.

Gears of War is a masterpiece of graphics, game play and fun. While it seems that the concept of using cover and popping up to fire off a few rounds before taking cover again as your opponent opens up on you sounds like it could get repetitive, Gears keeps it all so fresh with different kinds of environments, places to sneak into that give you a tactical advantage, and fights where you will really have to fight to make it through alive.

Luckily the Developers didn't stop with realistic play mechanics and gorgeous high-definition graphics. They also saw fit to include AI opponents and team mates that are actually intelligent. Your squad mates will slug it out and move intelligently in battles. Sure, they aren't as smart as having a buddy play along side you, but the developers even threw in a Co-op mode for that. The enemies are very intelligent as well, constantly trying to move in on you or your team mates or flanking to your side and opening up angles on you. You can't just find cover and get comfortable. You have to know where your enemy is and move to cut them off or they'll end up right on top of you ready to take you down.

That's where the Chainsaw comes in handy... Or a frag grenade... :)

For all the realism of the actual combat in Gears of War, there are also the "over the top" moves... The Chainsaw, smacking an opponent with a frag grenade and having it stick in 'em, coming up on downed opponents and givin' 'em a curb stomp, and etc.

This is not your typical video game. This is truly meant to be enjoyed by adult gamers. The language is "real" and adult, the story line is complex enough, but not over the top, and gore can get excessive (what do you expect when you jam a frag grenade into your opponent's chest or drive a chainsaw through their torso?) but it never stops being a fun experience even for grizzled old gamers like me.

The control scheme takes a little getting used to, but it's not so complex that it intimidates you and the multi-player and co-op modes are worth the $60 price tag alone. If you own a 360, Gears of War should be on your game shelf right next to Dead Rising as the two great examples of Next Generation gaming at it's best. I cannot recommend this game enough.

A TRUE Killer App.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 16
Date: November 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The other day, while I was sitting in a computer class, a friend of mine asked me if I was going to buy any of the new consoles. I said probably not, because I've drifted away from console gaming, and gotten into computer gaming. Then he mentioned Gears of War, a game I remembered seeing a video of from E3 or something like that. After watching a couple new videos, I realized that I hadn't been this hyped about a game since Halo 2.

All day today, I've been anticipating my friend buying this game...after a long day of school, and a band rehersal that was obligatory, I rushed over to his house and barged in the door. They said to me, "This is the best game I have ever played." I quickly saw why.

The visuals are amazing. The techniques are amazing. The weapons are amazing. The action is perfect. The controls felt natural after 5 minutes of playing. The A.I is amazing. The whole thing is the definition of a good game. But let's get on to the multiplayer. That's where the game gets good.

After logging on to XBox Live and playing for about 10 minutes while switching off with my friends (We didn't take the time to see if more than one person could play off of one xbox), it hit me that I had never gotten so excited after being killed. I wasn't angry at all. That's because even though you die, there's something enjoyable about getting your head smashed in, American History X style.

This game is the best shooter I think that I've ever played. It's the perfect blend of Halo, Counterstrike, and Splinter Cell. I only hope that it gets the recognition it deserves, so we can get a sequel.

Easily the Game of the Year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: November 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

With the Playstation 3 on the horizon, Microsoft releases the Xbox360 exclusive "Gears of War" to convince players to "jump in" with the 360 and forget the PS3. If it were any other game, most would balk at this attempt, but Gears of War alone is reason enough to buy an Xbox360 over a PS3, if you're on the fence about which console to invest in. Gears of War, along with the rest of the 360's strong and large library, make a huge case for the 360 as the dominant console.

I played the game for several hours today and was simply blown away. The game's main selling point is that it simulates intense violent and realistic warefare that requires players to seek cover while fighting, just like in real combat, in order to survive. When I first heard this, I thought it would make for a boring and teadious game...nothing is further from the truth! This is so fast paced, so action packed, so real and intense that it's sure to be the first game in a future franchise that gamers will be talking about for years to come. There are numerous things about the game that I love, but I'll hit the most important points here:

First, the enemies are not stone statues, like in other games. What I mean is, the enemy will take a position for cover and from that position attack you and your squad. However, if the enemy realizes that they're in a bad spot...they move. Also, the enemy is always trying to get closer to you to go in for the kill. In other war games, enemies just stand in one spot and are always in the same places when you play....not here! The gameplay is realistic and intense and ever changing, just like real combat.

Second, the game itself is very cinematic. It feels like you're inside a red hot sci-fi action movie and living the action. The music is powerful and top notch, like what you would expect from a big budget Hollywood feature film. The sound effects are huge, organic and terrifying. The storyline is original and very exciting and the enemy is really cool and memorable. The character designs are gritty and disturbing, and the weapons feel big and powerful.

Third, a friend can team up with you using the split screen co-op mode during a campaign. Yes, split screen! That way, if you don't have an Xbox Live account, you can still play a co-op mode! As for Xbox Live, I haven't played it yet, but you can play against or as the Locust Horde in massive online deathmatches. I'm going to renew my Xbox Live subscription solely to play this game online.

Finally, if you're ready to go next gen, but can't decide between the 360 or the PS3, this game makes an excellent case to purchase a 360. I was at my local video game store yesterday and saw the PS3 display. Most of their games will be on the 360 too and the exclusive titles didn't look all that great. So, I can't see why anyone would spend more money on the PS3 and miss playing what is obviously not only the game of the year, but one of the best games to come along in years, "Gears of War".

Gears of War Needs to be Made Into a Movie

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: November 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I just went out a few weeks ago and bought a Xbox 360 console along with Call of Duty 3 and Gears of War. I've always been a PC computer gamer myself for years because I always thought that PC computer games had much better graphics than any console game out there.

Personally, I love World War II games and when Call of Duty 3 first came out I noticed it didn't come out for the PC. I just had to have Call of Duty 3 so I decided I had to go out and buy a Xbox 360 console so I could play Call of Duty 3. I ended up playing Call of Duty 3 first before I played Gears of War. I played the single player part of Call of Duty 3 all the way through and I really like the game. I love playing first person shooters.

Well I heard alot about Gears of War and I thought to myself even though this game is a third person shooter, I would still go out and buy Gears of War to see what all the fuss was all about. To be honest with you, I wasn't too sure if I like the game since Gears of War is a third person shooter. But I wanted to be fair and give this game a chance, because lets be honest, most games aren't cheap anymore. So I wanted to out and try to buy the best game for my money out there.

I really like Call of Duty 3 but when I played the single player part of Gears of War, I was blown away by how smart the AI is for the both the enemy and allied soldiers and the amazing graphics. You don't have to tell fellow soldiers what to do, they're smart enough on their own just to go out and try to find some cover. Same goes with the enemy. They will try to use cover whenever they can and they will try to outflank you and try to overcome you with sheer numbers. I thought the battles in this game were better than the battles in Call of Duty 3 and that's saying alot right there.

Gears of War is by far one of the best games out there, period. It doesn't matter which gaming platform it is. No PC computer game, PlayStation 2 or 3 game, GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, or other Xbox 360 game comes close to this game. I have a top of the line Dell PC computer and the graphics in this game are much better than the computer games on my Dell computer. I honestly thought I would never find a console game which would have better graphics than a PC computer game.

My hat is off to the developers of this game. You definitely have a moneymaker here. I can already picture endless expansion games to Gears of War in the future. If you can't decide which game to go and buy, go get a Xbox 360 and give this game a shot. You won't regret it.

I noticed Gears of War is getting extremely high ratings on all the gaming websites on the internet. It wouldn't surprise me if the developers of this game have already been approach by a movie director out of Hollywood to do a movie on this game. It's that good. If someone does decide to do a movie on this game, believe me I'll be one of the first ones in line to go see it.

Fun and Immersive Shooter

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: June 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

GoW was the game I most looked forward to when I got my 360; so much so that I refused to play it until I got my HD home theater system in place.

Now that I have completed the single player campaign on "Casual", I am ready to finish it on "Hardcore", a testament to the replay value of this game. (And that's not even touching on the multiplayer elements...)

First of all, the game is beautiful. It takes full advantage of your High Definition display to render crisp, detailed environments. The game designers also make good use of the 5.1 surround, making the experience even more immersive.

Gameplay is not overly complicated, and allows the player to do what he wants without too much problem. A VERY important aspect of gameplay is getting into cover, which is accomplished with a single button. The same button also allows various ways of getting out of cover. This, combined with the ability to shoot from cover, and "active reload", makes you feel like you're really fighting the Locust.

The story line IS quite linear, although you are presented with branching choices at a few points in the game. You are also given very simple control of your squadron, although this does not seem to accomplish much.

Speaking of your squad mates: they are ALWAYS injured and you have to go help them recover and get back into battle. This gets a tad annoying at times, and often you just fight on without them, as completing a stage always brings them back to health. I call this my "victory is the best medicine" strategy. Your squad mates are also a source of amusing dialog. (Cole's "Hells to the no!" is now part of my vernacular.)

One of my favorite things about GoW is the design of the many building interiors you encounter during the story. They are simply works of art, and you will find yourself enjoying just looking at the environment.

I have already mentioned "active reload", which at first seems like a trivial detail, but is actually an important part of the game. AR permits you to reload much faster by hitting the reload button a second time after a precisely timed interval. If you do not use AR, you just reload at normal speed. However, be aware that if you AR and FAIL, you reload REALLY slowly, which can mean your death when Locust are bearing down on you. It adds an element of realism, because it's really easy to screw up, or forget AR when a bunch of Lambent Wretches are bearing down on you.

There are also plenty of Achievements to earn in GoW. Many of them are awarded for just completing the various Acts of the game at the various difficulty levels (Casual, Hardcore, Insane). There are some fun ones based on gameplay elements, such as active reload skill, or killing certain boss creatures, etc. There are some Achievements awarded for collecting "COG" tags, which are dog tags shaped like little gears. COG tags mark the locations where soldiers have fallen fighting The Locust, and they are hidden in 30 locations throughout the game. This is a fun detail, and encourages you to completely explore your environment, rather than just completing the levels and moving on. Some of them are pretty hard to find, and, to date, I have only collected 25. I like the COG tags.

A few minor gripes. The grenade throwing in the game is actually pretty cool; you hold down the left trigger and you see the trajectory, complete with bounces, your grenade will take when you throw it. The problem is you often cannot see where the trajectory will take your grenade because you are looking UP at the arc. Since where the grenade will land is pretty much what you care about, this is a little annoying. Another annoyance is that sometimes the getting into/out of cover can be a bit of a pain. Often time you are frantically trying to get into cover only to go into a headfirst dive roll into the wall you are trying to get into cover behind. Sometimes you get stuck on cover you don't want.

These are minor quibbles, however. This game has everything: lots of cool weapons, lots of cool monsters, lots of cool levels, lots of achievements. Heck it even has the obligatory "Driving a Vehicle Now" level. (Is there the obligatory Lava Level? There must be...) Also, the game is sufficiently challenging for ANYONE. I initially jumped right to Harcore (cause I think I'm Hardcore) but I was getting killed in the TRAINING LEVEL. It may, in fact, be impossible to beat the game on Insane without a partner.

Anyway, you will get your money's worth on the single player campaign alone. Then there is the MULTIPLAYER aspect, which I will not even touch on here. Needless to say, if you have a 360, this is a must-own game.

Too bad, it's really pretty

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: March 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Gears of War threw in this whole movement system where you can hide behind stuff, and bounce to-and-fro like you're a member of the LAPD SWAT. It's a cool concept, but the problem is it's completely unnecessary.

Why? Because the hit detection is abosultely horrid. You can literally empty an entire clip with your machine gun into a running target and not kill it. I understand there will be some weapons more powerful than others but a whole clip? Give me a break.

If you actually want to get a kill during an online battle, learn to grenade tag, chainsaw, or shotgun. That's what everyone does. And the sad thing is, each of these methods is fundamentally the same exact thing (a close-quarter kill). Imagine, you're hiding behind a corner and see a guy run past and go to hide in front of you. He's about 30' away, so you decide to unload with everything your machine gun has to offer. Well, since this is Gears of War, he'll be startled but not killed by the first 20 bullets. During the barrage of hot lead, he'll turn around, run towards you, and kill you with one shotgun blast to the chest. The complete ineffectiveness of the guns is what has driven most my friends away from this game. It makes all your hard work seem like a waste of time when it can be shot to crap with just one cheesy blast.

I liked playing the story mode, but the online deathmatch is the main reason most people buy fps games, and Gears does NOT deliver.

Rent it. It's fun. But the online aspect blows.

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