Gears of War is one of the most well-loved game franchises of all time. Nobody could have predicted how popular the saga would become back when it was an Xbox 360 launch title in 2006; but does the first game still stack up as one of the best – if not the best – in the series?
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Established in 1991, Epic Games Inc – also known as ‘Epic’ and formerly ‘Epic MegaGames’ – are well-known for their Unreal technology, which has powered their popular in-house Unreal series of first-person shooters. With bases in East Sussex in the United Kingdom, Yokohama in Japan, Seattle in the USA and Cary in North Carolina, the developer has produced titles such as Unreal Tournament, Fortnight, Infinity Blade and of course Gears of War.
When I first picked up the, what struck me was the overall look of the game: the slightly-faded and dull colours instantly made me feel that the world I was playing in was a desperate and miserable one to be in. You can tell that Epic have really tried put over the fact that this a war-torn world that humans aren’t in control of any more. I found the combat at the start hard to get to grips with, and had real trouble locking onto the Locusts; but after I got used to the sensitivity of the targeting system the title was a lot easier to manage.
The targeting system does take some getting used to.
Gears of War’s plot begins fourteen years after Emergence Day (E-Day), when the Locust Horde overran and killed many Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) soldiers and civilians. Marcus Fenix, a former COG soldier, is reinstated into the military after spending four years in prison for abandoning his post in order to make an attempt to save his father Adam. Dominic Santiago – or ‘Dom’ for short – is Marcus’s best friend who eventually releases Fenix from jail and takes him to meet Delta Squad. The group seeks to obtain the resonator: a device that will map the Hollow, the underground caverns that the Locust inhabit.
The team deploy a bomb which destroys the heart of the Locust forces inside the Hollow. Fenix and his allies recover the resonator but suffer multiple casualties in the process. Delta Squad successfully detonates the device but it fails to map enough of the tunnel network; fortunately though, they discover a larger map of the network that originates from Fenix’s old home. The group makes its way to the estate and when they arrive, heavy Locust resistance is encountered but they manage to fight their way past the enemy and board a train carrying a lightmass bomb. This is where our team face their final encounter, and it was a story that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
Delta Squad sticks together.
Gears of War is basically a third-person shooter that places the focus on using cover to avoid taking damage while moving towards the Locust army. It uses a lot of weapon types but the main featured is the Lancer, a badass gun that has a mounted chainsaw on it; annoyingly, failing to perform the reload correctly will cause the gun to become jammed while our hero fixes it. A red cog representing your health, the crimson omen, will fade onto the screen and become more defined with larger amounts of damage taken. This gives players the sense of needing to get out of the situation right away and seek cover to recover health – but that isn’t always the easiest thing to do.
The title features a five-act campaign that can be played alone or in co-op mode with one other player, where you’ll be joined by AI teammates that will help fight the Locust. Certain sections show two paths that can be taken; this is very clever as it causes you to think about which will give you least trouble. The campaign can be played at three difficulty settings and the hardest – ‘Insane’ – is unlocked once the title is beaten on either the ‘Casual’ or ‘Hardcore’ mode. Sadly, one gripe I have about the gameplay is at times it feels quite repetitive. The main bulk of the game is all about finding yourself in an open area with a heavy swarm to fight off, then five minutes later you find yourself walking into another similar area knowing exactly what’s about to happen. Fortunately, the well-done gun-play more than makes up for that what with it being so much fun.
Use cover to avoid taking damage while moving towards the Locust army.
Gears of War looks absolutely stunning (in a weird kind of way). The death and destruction is done to perfection with half-demolished buildings, abandoned cars and bomb-damaged roads, and Epic has done a great job in making the world look like a place so broken down that it’s hardly worth saving anymore. This just adds to the desperate feel of the game and reinforces the fact that the COG soldiers know that their mission may be a lost cause. The look of the Locusts is quite terrifying; they actually appear as if they smell terrible but also like they could rip you into a million pieces with their bare hands if they wanted to.
The voice-acting for the COG soldiers is top class, especially that from John DiMaggio; his Fenix has gruff been-there-done-that voice that lets you know who’s in charge. The same can’t be said for the Locusts I’m afraid. Although there are different types of grubs who all have their own sounds during battle, I found it was limited to a couple noises per type. This made it very easy to hear what was coming next so took some of the surprise away. But one thing that made me chuckle was when the enemies tried to swear in our language: it’s as if our soldiers swear so much on the battle field that it’s the only words they’ve managed to pick up.
John DiMaggio does a great job a Marcus Fenix.
You’ll probably find yourself playing this title again at some point on a different difficulty setting. It’s all well and good completing the game on Casual but what about Hardcore or Insane – how will you fare when there’s not a lot of bullets or guns laying around and the swarms of Locusts just won’t stop coming? I’d get good at headshots and quick if I were you. But essentially it’s the same story whatever difficulty you play through; there’s no extra bits or backstory rewards for finishing the game on a harder setting.
Gears of War isn’t a particularly innovative game in the sense that you’re a bunch of soldiers fighting off aliens. I mean, that’s been done a million times before right? But it’s the way the title does this tried-and-tested formula that makes it stand out from the rest. It uses much more emotion; despite being hardened men of war, you can tell that if anything happened to Fenix or Dom the other one would be emotionally-crushed for life. The story makes you want to go back in time to discover Fenix’s past and what happened with his father, but also keeps you wanting to move forward and see what’s coming next for our heroes. For me, this balance was spot on.
Overall, Gears of War is a great game.
All in all, Gears of War is an amazing game that can still stand up with any other in the series. I for one couldn’t put it down and was desperate to find out what was going to happen next; as soon as it ended, I popped Gears of War 2 into my Xbox to continue the epic story. Epic have a franchise here that will be remembered and considered as one of the best. I just hope they know when to stop so fans don’t get bored and the Gears of War name isn’t tarnished with lacklustre instalments put out just to make money.
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