Gears of War Review. Gears Gearing Up!

Brought to you by Epic Games in 2007 Nov. This is one of the few games in the world you must own.

The sequel is already out, and I am still doing this review LoL. Anyways let's get started.
I would like to do it on newer games but it looks like my VGA does not allow. T_T.

Gears Of War is a 3rd person shooter that emphasizes on cover, tactics, and cooperation.
There is no way you can go Rambo in this game. A. I here are accurate, deadly and ugly.

E-Day (Emergence-Day)
It is time, that humans are almost in a brink of extinction in their own soils, Sera.
The Locust are the antagonist in this game. As they, live in underground and emerge from their hole anywhere they wish.
There are advanced creatures that uses weaponry and you will find them hellishly annoying as they popped up everywhere.
Fourteen Years after E-day
You play as Marcus Fenix, a former COG soldier that has been spending four years in prison. He joins back the military after Dominic Santiago successfully extracted him out of the prison.
Your mission is to obtained the resonator, a device that will allows the COG to map the Locust Tunnels.
Then, COG will launch a Lightmass bomb straight into the heart of the Locust forces.

GamePlay
Remember, everything is designed to be meant as a cover. A post, a mailbox, concretes, cars and so on.
As I said before this game heavily emphasizes on cover.
If you are new to this game. It may take some time to get the hang of it.

Duck, hide and shoot!

Your survival depends on how well you take cover. Shots can be made while taking cover.
You can either right-click to zoom-aim to have a more accurate shot but it reveals a part of your head which will prove sometimes fatal. Or you can just blind-fire from the cover without revealing yourself.
*note that blind fire will have more lower accuracy compared to zoom-aim.*
You can move from cover to cover. Which makes this game looks cool.

The second trick is quickly bring down an enemy.
In most shooters, there will always be reloading. This is the feature that makes Gears Of War enjoyable.
Reloading in Gears Of War is never the same compared to other shooters.
During the reload's process, there will be a scale with a mark below the weapon like this...


Notice the mark? If you hit the gray area, you will have a faster reload.
If you hit the white mark.....
You have performed an Action Reload. It grants you faster reloading time, increased firing rate and enhanced damage.
You will not gained any bonus if you do not press anything but pressing without hitting the gray or white areas will jam your weapon. Thus, making reload a little bit more longer.

Sometimes, the player are required to choose which way to go for some chapters of the game. Picking any of them is almost the same and it does not affect the ending. Well, you can always replay the game and choose another route right? No loss there.

This game allows players to play on Co-Op mode via Windows Live.
You can have 2 players playing at the same time for the Story Mode.

If a player is downed in co-op mode or Multiplayer. You can either save him or save yourself.
Well, if you choose to save him. You will have to get near him and help him up by pressing the action button.

The game's intense. There will always be more Locust surrounding you. You have to take them out quickly, aiming for the head is a necessity and looping a grenade to the emergence hole is a must. Fortunately, aiming for the knees and legs will immobilize the Locust, allowing you to downed them thus stomping them to the curb.

Eat Dirt!

You are surrounded by 3 major aspects in this game.
Death, dirt, and Locust.
Death is in the whole game, you never really met any survivors except for your squad. It's just Locust and the eerie surroundings. People have evacuated the city. So basically, you are alone with your squad and some Stranded.

Since everyone evacuated, all buildings are by far empty. Empty prisons, empty gardens, empty parliament and empty building. There is only dirt and dust. No sign of life in Sera anymore. It's like having an adventure on Forsaken Island.

Locust are your best friend, they keep you busy and entertain you for the rest of the game. Expect action in anytime and anyplace.

Later in the game, you will be able to command a squad. Although they are only a few simple commands. They still provide your squad from getting wipe off in a split second on higher difficulty.

How do you kill Locusts in an abandon civilization? One answer....

Weapons.

The weapons are awesome but it lacks on variety. You have an assault rifle, a sniper rifle,shotgun, pistols, unique grenades and a heavy weapon.
Now, is the trademark of the game. The chainsaw bayonet that attached to your standard Assault Rifle, the Lancer.

Hit the "F" button to rev your chainsaw, creating a vicious sound and click the fire button to cut your enemies into pieces.


Muaha-haha-Muaha-haha....DIE!!!

This is one kick ass weapon, it makes you feel like that you are far more superior than any Locusts for that short moment.
"The Hammer of Dawn."
HoD is a more tactical weapon that can only being used on certain conditions.
It fires a beam from the heavens exactly where you wanted it by holding the fire button long enough.
This makes it far more difficult to use. But anything that comes between the beam is reduced to ashes.
The weapon can only be use on certain scenarios. You can never really give us too much power.

Tenchu! Punishment from the Heaven.

Another weapon that I came across is the Torgue Bow.
This futuristic bow can perform an instant kill to the Locust infantry.
The Torgue Bow requires skills to kill.
The bow must be held long enough for the arrow to penetrate the enemy.
The arrow will penetrates the Locusts and blown them up to pieces after a few seconds.

And I thought I can shoot Locust to the balls for the first time.

Results
Overall, this is a game you must have.
The game has good storyline, sharp controls, rated M for Mature; bloody and brutal, a very good multiplayer gameplay and it has uber-xcelente~ graphics.
The game will eventually leaves you a feeling of satisfactions. And making you playing it over and over again.

The Downside of the game?
The variety of weapons. It still has a little bit lacking on choices of weapons.
And if you played Hardcore mode. You will be rip apart in a matter of seconds.
This game is a punishment to some players that are bad in shooting as the Locust are far more harder to die and you are more easier to be crush in hardcore difficulty.

But this game still provides very good entertainment, bloody experience, engaging storyline and multiple ways of finishing the game.

Gears Of War is arguably one of the most entertaining and enjoyable that will rock your gaming collections.

I do find the final boss' cutscene a little annoying. Veteran players should know what am I talking about. If dying multiple times doesn't get you. Maybe hearing the same lines over and over again will. XD

Gamespot reviews rate this 9/10 with Editor's Recommendation.
I personally gave it a 4.5/5.

Epic Games' games are worth getting!