XBOX 360 Review: Gears of War

"Gears of War" is a great game that simply puts all other games to shame. Not many games excel in every gaming area, but "Gears of War" has done just that. The storyline of "Gears of War" is a very important part of the game itself. While it is true that a game doesn't have to have detailed storylines to be considered great, but the ones that do stand above the rest.

"Gears of War" has an excellent storyline about bitter struggle between a strange monstrous species known as the Locust and the COGs (Coalition of Organized Governments, which is the rest of humans). The Locust seem to have been buried deep under the ground, but have risen to take control of planet Earth. In "Gears of War" your character is a soldier named Marcus Fenix. Your squad’s main assignment is to locate the Alpha squad. They have a trinket in their possession that could possibly end the bitter war with the Locusts once and for all.

"Gears of War" is not your usual first person-shooter. In fact, its not even a first-person shooter because you play from a third-person point of view. The third person view works well in this game. "Gears of War" isn't a "run & gun" game either. It’s more of a strategic shooter in which you must plan your movements ahead of time. Taking cover is very important in this game.

The mechanics of taking cover are fairly easy to get used to, and it’s fun to watch. Fenix will do 2 quick steps and smash his shoulder into whatever object in front of him. Then you can then perform an over the top move and quickly scramble over the object.

Taking cover is not only necessary to avoid incoming enemy fire, but its also the only way you can recover from body damage. Like most games today, "Gears of War" has done away with the old health bar and gone with the duck & cover health regeneration technique. That means when you get badly wounded during a fight you have to retreat to a safe area and take cover in order to survive.

Most of the shooting that you do will be from behind cover as well. Blind fire is useful for keeping your enemies away, while popping your head up and taking aim is much more effective for taking out the Locust. You have to remember though that you will not be the only soldier that takes cover. Both the Locust soldiers and your allies will also use cover when necessary. So you have to take well aimed shots to win on the battlefield. The Locust soldiers are quite intelligent as they will react to their surrounding environment by switching up their game plan when necessary.

"Gears of War" does have several different enemies for you to shoot at. The most common enemies will be the human-sized Locusts that carry around shotguns and rifles. But there will be recognizable differences in some of the Locusts ... such as weaponry and the sound of their commands. The smaller Locusts are much less of a nuisance because they can be gunned down rather quickly.

There are also bigger bad guys that you will run into and they will usually take much more effort to bring down. And a few of your enemies will be invulnerable to your weaponry and you must use a special weapon to take them out.

During "Gears of War you will comes across pistols, a shotgun, grenades, a sniper rifle, and your average automatic assault rifle, as well as a few other more "destructive" weapons. One weapon that you will never want to get rid of is the "Lancer". The “Lancer” comes fully equipped with a chainsaw bayonet, which you can use to saw the Locusts in half vertically. The whole chainsaw thing is quite messy but entertaining.

Each of your weapons has a reloading feature that will allow you to reload the weapon faster. However, doing this can also result in your weapon jamming which could end in your death if an enemy is charging. A perfect reload will actually give you a small damage boost, allowing you to take out even more enemies even faster than usual.

"Gears of War" has stunning graphics and textures. The frame rate is excellent, and there are very few visual glitches. The environment makes exploring very entertaining as the overall look of each area has been excellently designed. Click Here For More Articles About: Video Games!