Right, so as we are now into March, I thought I would do another post and this one is on an action game I've been playing lately and its the acclaimed original Gears of War, which I have already reviewed in the past.
However, this review will be based on the Ultimate Edition of the game, which is a re-mastered version with updated graphics but it will incorporate most of my previous review but with redone headings and added detail to the sections.
So, with that said, let's take a look and see how the Ultimate Edition stacks up compared to the highly acclaimed original...
And I will say a bit about the story, so the following warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
STORY
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.
So, the main character of the story, Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio, best known for his voice work as Bender on the sci-fi animated comedy, Futurama) who is a "gear" and at the beginning 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.....
THOUGHTS
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 other duo of Baird and Cole in the game also provides some comic relief too, particularly with Baird's bitchy character, who somewhat resents that Fenix later takes control of their mission.
The Ultimate Edition however as mentioned above, is a remaster of the original game as it provides enhanced graphics and was originally released for the Xbox One back in 2015 but a PC port was later provided for Windows in 2016. The voice acting and music however remains unchanged from the original release of the game.
However, it was not all plain sailing with this version, particularly on PC as there are numerous frame rate and stuttering issues with the graphics that prevent it from being a smooth experience. Regardless of that though, patches were released to try and address these problems, although I have to say they haven't entirely been resolved as I also encountered these issues on my PC playing the game but to be fair they haven't ruined my playthrough of the game itself.
GAMEPLAY
Gameplay wise the game is also very accessible and easy to play and I will go into the gameplay further with sub sections below.
COMBAT & MOVEMENT
So, to start with the game's combat system, it is pretty simplistic and there is quite an emphasis on taking cover, as Fenix in the game can duck behind just about most surfaces, 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 a low sprint action where Fenix can run fast while keeping low to avoid baddies.
WEAPONS
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. Fenix can also carry grenades and a smaller secondary
weapon and Fenix can swap out these weapons as he finds them throughout
the game. Fenix can hold up to four grenades at a time and you can use your controller to directionally aim the greande at your target with an onscreen outline of your proposed target.
HEALTH
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. It is worth noting however that the game graphic core content can actually be switched off just in case you get tired of seeing Fenix's limbs being blown apart!
ENEMIES
As for the game's enemies they feature a mix of standard locust soldiers, who are creepy looking humanoid creatures that are heavily armed just like the Gears are. These enemies can range from easy to tough and they also can appear out of emergence holes, which Fenix often needs to plug up with an explosive to prevent them coming through. There are also some boss encounters in the game although these are somewhat limited and only appear at key moments in the game but some of them do provide a fair challenge to overcome depending on the difficulty mode you play.
PATH CHOICES
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. It is debatable however whether or not that one route is tougher than the other most of the time
MULTIPLAYER MODE
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.
GRAPHICS
As for the Ultimate Edition's graphics, they look very impressive and they offer a solid visual upgrade for gamers with extra added detail and shadows to environments. The character models have also been greatly improved as the original's were admittedly a bit crude looking as the characters all look unnaturally bloated and muscular! This is also probably in part due to the bulkiness of their "gear" suits but even without that these guys still 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!
MUSIC
Getting onto the game's music score which was written by Kevin Riepl it
is a terrific 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 easily 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 can even be listened to independently from the game its that good.
VOICE ACTING
And lastly the voice acting in the game is also really good with solid performances from its cast.
Starting 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, who is a disgraced soldier and "gear" who is reinstated at the start of the game and takes the lead in a crucial mission to stop the Locust. 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!". And one of my favourite lines of his in the game is when Fenix and Dom travel deep into the underground labyrinth of the Locust and Fenix says to Dom "Well they know we aren't here to sell cookies, so they know something is up!".
Carlos Ferrero is also excellent in his role as Dom, Fenix's best friend and fellow cog, who battles against the Locusts. And Ferrero has some fun moments of dialogue in the game too with one of them being when Fenix and Dom are deep in the Locust labyrinth, Dom hears the creepy sounds of the Locusts and he asks Fenix "Did you hear that?" and Fenix says "Its just the wind" and Dom asks him "Really? When was the last time the wind said "hostiles!" to you?!".
Damon Baird is also very good in his role as Baird, the bitchy, wise-cracking cog that also helps Fenix and Dom on their mission to stop the Locusts but he is often at odds with just about everyone, especially Fenix himself.
And last of all is Lester Speight, who is also pretty good in his role as the obscenely muscular Cole, another cog, who was a former thrashball player (probably similar to American football) and was well known for it. Speight himself is a former American football player.
FLAWS
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. Not only that but I found in the Ultimate Edition, you can't always pick up the previous weapon you had again if you want to swap back and in these cases they just disappear, which really sucks if you picked up another weapon by mistake!
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 ass and ultimately you feel was it a feature worth including?? Maybe not. I personally don't think its worth as I can never time the damage bonus reload right at all!
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! Further to this, I also found the chainsaw attachment on Fenix's assault rifle isn't always effective and I know you are supposed to hold down the B button on your controller to make it work but again I rarely managed to get it right and often found myself getting killed by enemies instead!
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 although to be fair you are given other things to do in the game other than take different routes now and then, trying to access other areas or just traveling 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.
I also found the sprint move in the game to be a bit a limiting in terms of moving freely, which can occasionally get you into trouble in certain combat situations and the movement for it feels a bit static when you try and turn your controller to make Fenix go a different direction. So, even though the sprint works well at times, it can also feel a bit lacking in fluidity and freedom of uni-directional movement.
And last of all, I have to say that the Ultimate Edition's graphical issues also somewhat detract just a little bit from the game, as I have encountered numerous frame rate dips and stuttering when playing the game, which is disappointing given I have a pretty decent PC system. This however I think comes down to a lack of optimization for the Windows port of the game from the developers, who never properly ironed the problems with this edition, which is a pity.
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Gears of War - Ultimate Edition is a worthy revisit of a classic action game and it features an impressive visual upgrade and overhaul, with the game now featuring improved character models and more detailed environments. However, technically, the edition is far from perfect with numerous frame rate and stutter issues in the gameplay that really knocks this edition down a bit, which is a pity.
However, if you are willing to forgive all that, then the Ultimate Edition of Gears of War is still worth checking out on Windows or Xbox One.
So, I will give this version of the game a rating of:
8 out of 10.
So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon.
Till then, bye fer now!
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