OK so its time for a quick change from movie reviews and I thought I would do on one a video game so I've opted for the first game in the franchise of Gears of War, which was funnily enough called Gears of War, which was a big success when it initially came out for Xbox 360 back in 2006. So let's give this un a look......
So a bit about the story but I won't go into too much detail but it takes place some time in the distant future on the planet Sera where the humans are fighting for their survival against an alien species known as the Locust. The humans and the Locust have long been in battle with one another since the day that came to be known as E-Day (Emergence day) when the Locust first attacked and killed many soldiers and civilians. The soldiers in the game are known as "gears" and operate under the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) who were sent to protect the humans and fight against the Locust. And the main character of the story, Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio) who is a "gear" and at the begining of the story is reinstated having served a prison sentence for once abandoning his military post in an attempt to try and save his father (which he was unsuccessful in) and he is extracted from prison by his best friend, Dominic "Dom" Santiago (voiced by Carlos Fererro) who takes Fenix to meet up with Delta squad. The group intend to try and obtain a device called the resonator which will map the underground caverns that the Locust inhabit and later a device called "the lightmass bomb" which will destroy the forces within the caverns. And this is only the starting of Fenix's incredibly dangerous journey as he plays his part in destroying the Locust hordes in order to save humanity.....
Gears of War was a big critical and commercial success on its release and its easy to see why as it remains a very impressive, entertaining and compelling third person shooter, which is very atmospheric and suspenseful throughout. It also manages to tell a compelling story and has some engaging characters, particularly as Marcus and Dom are best friends and help each other during the game and would continue to appear together in the future games. The game's use of team based tactics is also a refreshing change from just controlling the one character and having no one else to support you which gives the game a slightly more unique feel to it.
Gameplay wise the game is also very accessible and easy to play and the game's combat system is also pretty simplistic and there is quite an emphasis on taking cover, as Fenix in the game can duck behind just about any surface, whether it be a wall or a door in order to take cover from gunfure. Fenix can also jump over surfaces (small walls etc) as well as take cover behind them, do a roll to evade enemies and he can also carry out low sprint action where Fenix can run fast while keeping low to avoid baddies. The game allows Fenix to carry two weapons one of which is his main weapon, an assault rifle which has a chainsaw bayonet mounted to it, which comes in handy when the player has to make close quarter kills and he can also carry grenades and a smaller secondary weapon and Fenix can swap out these weapons as he finds them throughout the game. During gameplay Fenix's health bar is measured by a red cog which grows more red in colour the more Fenix takes damage and if he takes covers the colour reduces and the cog eventually fades, however Fenix can end up suffering a pretty gruesome death if you are not careful! Fenix can if he becomes incapacitated by enemy attack, be revived by one of his teammates during combat if they are close by as well.
In terms of the story aspects of the game the player is also given the choice of taking one of two different paths at certain points during the game, however if you play the single player campaign in co-op mode then the second player will automatically take the other route. The multi-player campaign will also be sure to please gaming fans as it allows for up to four-on-four gameplay and players can play either as the gears or the locust. The single player campaign itself is quite sizeable in itself so even if you aren't a fan of multi-player games then there is still a fair bit to enjoy here as well and there has since been plenty of downloadable content for the game as well.
As for the game's visuals it looks quite stunning for its time given that the game is now nearly 10 years old as the environments of the game are quite incredible and very impressive looking. The character models by today's standards are however admittedly a bit crude looking as the characters all look unnaturally bloated and muscular probably also due to the bulkiness of their "gear" suits but at first you would guess that they all look like oversized bodybuilders rather than soldiers! The game's enemies, the Locusts are graphically well represented and they look quite creepy as well. The game's violence levels are fairly strong and there is plenty of bloodshed, particularly in close quarters combat when Fenix and the other gears use their mounted chainsaw on their assault rifles to slaughter a locust, which leaves plenty of blood flying up onto the screen! Fenix also can suffer pretty nasty deaths if he takes enough gunfire he can be decapitated or he could end up losing body parts!
Getting onto the game's music score which was written by Kevin Riepl it is an excellent score, which is very moody and atmospheric in places and also quite heroic and suspenseful in others and it perfectly suits the tone of the game and I would say it probably ranks as one of my favourite video game scores. It even sounds a bit like James Horner's score for Aliens at times particularly during one of the tracks that is available on the soundtrack for the game. So all in all its a really good one to listen out for. And lastly the voice acting in the game is also really good with John DiMaggio (who you might recognise his voice work as Bender from Futurama) giving a good solid performance as the gruff, straight talking Fenix. And DiMaggio get's to deliver some good quips when Fenix kills bad guys such as "Suck pavement!" or when Fenix tosses a grenade to seal an emergence hole for Locusts "Get back in your hole!".
As for flaws..... well Gears of War isn't quite perfect even though it is an excellent game one of the niggles I found had to do with the limitation of carrying only two guns, which whilst it caters to be more realistic, it can also restrict the player in being able to select more weapons and they have to resort to dropping their current weapon and pick another one up. Another issue is to do with reloading ammo for your weapon as there is a feature in the game called active reload, which if you time it right allows you to inflict more damage when you fire at your enemies, however if you mistime it then it will result in your gun jamming, which can be a pain in the arse and ultimately you feel was it a feature worth including?? Maybe not. The game's inclusion of a secondary smaller weapon is also a bit naff as none of these weapons are particularly effective against the Locusts, you might as well attack them with a butter knife! You could also argue that the game's combat can tend to get a bit repetitive after all as you continuously keep running around from area to area shooting swarms of Locusts and you are not given much else to do in terms of sub-objectives in the game other than take different routes now and then, trying to access other areas or just travelling to reach your destination on foot or by transport. But I guess these are fairly minor things and don't detract from the game too much.
So that's it for my look at Gears of War which kicked off the successful series in fine style and its still worth playing as are the worthy sequels that followed although I have only played up to Gears of Wars 2 so far, which is also a very good game even though it contains or two moments that nearly made my stomach turn! (yep I admit I'm a bit of a wuss! ;-)).
Anyway so that's it for now and I will be back again sometime soon with yet another review on something else.
Bye for nowww!
No comments:
Post a Comment