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Gears of War
by Evan Parker, Staff Writer
Set in the distant future of the Earth-like planet Sera, Gears of
War follows the footsteps of a band of rebel soldiers, called Gears.
With the faith and hope of mankind riding on their shoulders these
men traverse rubble, debris and alien caverns in the hope of ridding
the world of the invading parasites and restoring the once-great
planet of Sera to peace. These parasites are aptly named: the
locust. The initial story in Gears of War suggests that the locust
gave been dormant in Sera's crust for thousands of years in
preparation for their attack. If you haven't established any
resemblance to a blockbuster movie released last year with a
suspiciously similar plot yet, that movie is called War of the
Worlds. And, like in that movie, the invading alien forces reveal
themselves, to devastating effect (although this event is not
visible in the game, we may only assume so). The responding Seran
nations, splintered by factional conflict, were quickly eradicated.
And, as the saying goes, divided they fell. The rest has been placed
in the hands of the Gears. And while certainly not holding an
advantage in numbers, they make up for it with their vast ingenuity,
experience and inspiration. After all, the alternative is none too
exciting.
The Gear you control in the game is named Marcus Fenix,
a thick, dirty, masculin dude who really does not have time for
pain. The story behind Marcus is that he was once a mercenary
fighting for the Coalition of Organized Governments (COG). As a COG
soldier he was tried and convicted as a traitor. This part of the
story is never fully revealed, however, and the game starts you in a
prison cell where your COG (now Gear) buddies free you. At this
point you know nothing of your mission, just that you have been
freed from your cell and recruited into their numbers. Soon after
being freed, your squad (Delta squad) is alerted of squad Alpha's
disappearance and is tasked to locate them. The significance of this
is that squad Alpha is in possession of a machine that would turn
the tide of the war.
Gears of War is not a classic "run and gun" shooter.
Engaging the enemies straight on without shelter is the equivalent
to suicide. This is where the game's comprehensive cover system
comes in. In order to shelter your character from enemy fire, you
must utilize your surroundings. This includes walls, windows,
pillars, couches and even ovens. You will learn to use this cover
effectively throughout the game. From behind cover you are able to
shoot at enemies through your sights (which will reveal your
position and allow enemies to fire at you) or blindly, which is very
effective when enemies are advancing on your position or when the
field is too hot to expose yourself to enemy fire. Overall, the
cover system is used to its full potential and feels solid and
fleshed out.
A shooting game is only as good as its guns. Each gun
in the game has its own unique attributes, and every one is utterly
satisfying audibly and cosmetically, and each is incredibly
powerful. My personal favorite, and easily the most satisfying
weapon in the game is the Lancer. Not only is it a fully automagic
instrument of death, but it is mounted with a chainsaw. Although it
is sometimes difficult to get close enough to the enemy in order to
use this weapon, what ensues can easily be described as the pinnacle
of combat in the game. While burying your chainsaw in your oppenent
and seeing the rain of blood fall, your character screams as the
adrenaline and rage course through his veins. The rest of the
weapons include the standard fare for modern shooters, such as a
rocket launcher, sniper, shotgun and countless grenades.
The health system is very simplistic, which makes the
game faster paced, while still forcing you to be cautious. Once you
are hit a gear displays on screen, alerting you of your vulnerabilty.
If you continue to take fire while this gear is displayed, it gets
brighter, and when it is fully illuminated you are near death. This
system bears marked similarities to Halo 2’s shield system.
Of course, there have to be enemies! What else would
those shiny new guns be used for? Developer Epic Games has crafted a
race of grungy alien drones, each in their own dark, filthy, rugged
skin clad with outlandish sets of armor. They have gone to great
lengths to make these enemies plausible, as well as enemies that
you absolutely want to shoot. The artificial intelligence (AI) is
everything that you would want it to be in a shooter. Enemies are
cautious, aggressive and resilient. On harder difficulty levels the
game can get truly brutal.
In the graphics department, this game delivers. It is
the best looking game on the Xbox 360 today, and even surpasses some
Playstation 3 games. The game is based upon the Unreal 3 engine, the
newly created, state of the art engine that will be used in many
highly anticipated games in the coming years.
The developers did their best to provide an appropriate
soundtrack for the game. The sound is stellar, complimenting the
game’s great visuals and mood with dark, exaggerated orchestral
pieces. Each sound effect has been carefully recreated to its
exactness.
Gears of War seems to capitalize on all of the next
generation benefits that were promised. While the story isn’t as
fleshed out as it could have been, the action will keep you, and
your friend at the edge of your seats.
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