Well, it took me a bit of time (I was busy you know), but I finally finished Gears of War, and man – this was the most fun that I’ve had with a game since.. dare I say Halo? (Halo 2 comes close but I honestly felt Halo was more fun though it did get boring near the end).

Anyhow, back to the game at hand – Gears of War. I actually purchased this game back when it first came out. I know – it took me some time to play it. I just don’t have the time to play a game for that long anymore. I’d play a few boards here and there and then put the controller down and wait for another day.. but the key thing was, I always came back GoW. There are some guys which start out great for me.. and then I simply lose interest but not this game. I just had to see it through to the end.

In Gears of War, Epic has created what is possibly THE best console game ever for the Xbox 360.. let alone the entire Xbox platform (that might be heresy for Halo fans but come on.. the graphics rock!). Do graphics make the game here? Partly.. but what truly makes GoW so enjoyable is the whole new notion of shoot and scoot. There’s none of this run into the middle of a room and shoot the hell out of everyone. You do that in GoW and you stand a good chance of dying. Nope.. what you need to do is run and cover.. shoot and cover.. run up to a pole.. cover.. shoot. It’s all about flanking and moving up or side to side. Combat has never been so much fun. Of course I’m the first to say that I generally suck at FPS games these days -  especially on the PC. I just don’t have that mouse twitch that many other gamers do.. but in GoW, I truly appreciate the notion of making the right moves at the right time.

So let’s back track a bit – what is Gears of War exactly? Well it’s a simple story actually. You play a soldier named Marcus Fenix (love the name.. if you know me then you’ll know why) who was sent to prison for disobeying orders in order to save his father from the invading Locust Horde. After 14 yrs of war, you’re freed from prison simply because the Locust are closing in on your position and they need your help. So yes.. from here on out, your mission is to essentially destroy the Locusts who are below ground.. above ground.. everywhere around you.

Along the way, you get help from fellow soldiers Dom, Baird, and Cole..(ok.. honestly they really aren’t much help at all) and you encounter all sorts of fun enemies. You also get to play with a ton of fun weaponry – from the assault rifle, to the sniper rile, to a grenade launcher.. and of course the Hammer of Dawn. The Hammer of Dawn is an outdoor only weapon that basically paints a target allowing an overhead satellite to oblierate your enemy. It’s not the easiest thing to work with especially if your enemy is rapidly moving towards you but it’s a hell of a lot of fun!

One of the more unique aspects about GoW is the new concept of reloading your weapons. Standard reloading takes a bit of time in this GoW – and time is something you don’t have in a big firefight. That’s where “Active Reload” comes into play. The upper right hand screen will show a progress bar during reloads. There’s a section along the bar that is all white followed by a bit of grey. If you reload and hit your right bumper button at the right moment during the white section, you’ll reload much faster. Miss the white section when pressing the bumper, and your gun will jam – a heavy penalty to pay when you’re in close combat. Nice touch though annoying to some.

Weapons aside, the other cool aspect of the game is the enemy. The Locust can in all sorts of varieties and my personal favorite is the Berserker. It’s one large blind beast that simply runs at you (think Juggernaught). One problem – it can’t be killed by your normal weapons. You need to use the Hammer of Dawn OR you need to outsmart it somehow. Then finally, there are the ending bosses are the major levels which can be a royal pain in the arse to kill.. but the real pain is the final boss – RAAM. I must have taken 40-50 tries to finally kill the SOB. Ah but once I did, it was simply satisfying.

Gears of War does take a bit to get used to. The whole notion of covering behind rocks and barriers is a bit strange for anyone who likes to simply shoot.. and the controls are a bit different from your standard Halo style controls. However after a few boards, you’ll get the feel for it. Most of the movements are controlled by the button A. Some reviewers have mentioned that the A button may be used a bit too much. I can see their point but the A button often does exactly what you want it to do. The key is using the A button in conjunction with your analog stick.. Your sticks movements will help the system figure out what move you’d like to make.

Graphically, this is one of the most gorgeous games that I have ever played in my life. No matter where you go, the environment is beautifully rendered. There’s just so much detail in this game – it’s just a shame that sometimes you don’t have the chance to actually soak it all in b/c you’re under fire. This game is certainly intensive – both from a gameplay perspective and from the visual effects. Definitely one of the games out there that really pushed the boundaries of the 360.. and sometimes it shows! My console was pretty loud with both the drive and the system making a bit of noise during the gameplay. There were a handful of times that the console itself froze on me.. luckily it all happened after a checkpoint so I didn’t lose too much progress.

I haven’t had a chance to actually play multiplayer yet on the Live network. I’m actually a bit afraid to do so fearing that I’ll never have my life again if I do. However, it appears the MP play on Xbox Live is pretty straightforward – nothing fancy here. Clearly GoW is first about the incredible campaign – which by the way – you can play cooperatively with someone else. Not bad eh?

So if you haven’t had a chance to get this game as of yet and you enjoy FPS games, do yourself a favor and go get this game. Don’t walk.. run. Get it.. play it.. and enjoy this fully immersive game. It’s been a year since the 360 launched, and the console finally has its killer game. It’s called Gears of War folks. Repeat after me – Gears of War.

P.S.

For people that are having difficulties killing RAAM – check out this video on YouTube of someone killing the big bad boss at INSANE. NUTS!

Technorati Tags: Gears of War, Epic, Microsoft, Xbox 360