"Gears Of War"

After hearing people sing the praises of "Gears Of War" for months (and choking on the $60 price), I finally got to try it for myself. I got the game as a Christmas present and when we got back from our holiday travels, I popped it in.

Since I am new to console gaming, this was my first FPS experience, console-style. FPS games on the PC have been one of my favorite game categories for many years but this was my first time without a mouse and keyboard. A new game; a new experience.

Overall

Gears is your standard FPS clone which borrows heavily from the games before it. Gears has very strong influences from "Starship Troopers" (space marines who fight "bugs" but without the power-armor), "Halo" (space marines who fight "bugs" with armor and vehicles but without the power-armor), id games (space marines and monsters that combine machines and living creatures), and "Half Life".

In addition to the tried & true space marine story line, you will find the obligatory vehicle mission, the stationary machine gun spots, and the monsters your cannot kill with normal guns. If you have played other FPS games, you will know what to do from the get-go (although I actually read the small manual for a change).

What I liked

I like the cover system. I understand that this idea was pioneered in an earlier game, but it was the first I played with it and I liked it. I like things that add to the "realism", like dying. These games should be hard and it should take some skill to get through the missions, not just patience and never-ending "health" boxes. I died a lot in Gears, even on the easy level.

I also liked the team. Even though I played alone, you have 1 to 3 side-kicks in the game, and I enjoyed their witty banter. The dialog, ie swearing, was fun and funny.

The graphics were good. A huge step up from Halo, which I find unplayable nowadays. But after hearing about how great the graphics were, I am not sure they are any different from HL2 with a good video card.

There were very long dialog sequences with in-game video which I liked. These cut scenes were much longer than I expected and I really liked them. In fact, I would have liked even more of them if they explained more of the story which leads to my complaints.

What I didn't like

the story

I never found out what a "Gear" was. I assume it means a soldier but I am curious why they say gear and not soldier... I had a lot of questions like that about the game as the story line leaves something to be desired.

At some point in the game you ask "Jack" to open a door... Since I am standing there alone, I am wondering who the fuck Jack is? Suddenly this invisible flying robot appears and starts to cut open the door with torch... How long has he been there? Who the heck is Jack and if he can be invisible, why cant I? The game has a lot of experiences like that.

Another puzzler are the enemies themselves. They are called "Locusts" but they dont look anything like insects; they look like orcs or trolls, definitely not like bugs. I was also puzzled by the bezerkers, these super "Locusts" that have eyes but cannot see. Not only do they not look like locusts but what is wrong with their eyes? If they cannot see, why do they even have eyes? Wouldn't big ears or a giant nose make more sense?

My biggest story complaint came at the end of the game. I was on some train when I realized that I had no idea why I was on the train or why there was a giant bomb on the train or what it was supposed to do. I also had no idea what any of this had to do with my Father's house or why we trudged through these dangerous caverns when my idiot partner had some map-machine with him all the time?...

I have heard others say that the game makes more sense if you play it again, but since I have never replayed an FPS, I guess I wont find out.

missions

The missions were fun with one exception. For no apparent reason they included a vehicle mission. The vehicle was a Halo-derived Warthog without the fun. Driving the vehicle was fun but driving was pointless and the light-gun was really stupid. That entire mission was unnecessary.

My one criticism of many of the levels is the Boo! effect - having monsters suddenly appear out of no-where. This type of trick does provide a surprise and an adrenalin boost but it is a cheap shot that eventually detracts from the game play. These games are a fantasy but I need some logical coherence to maintain that fantasy.

Actually I have another criticism but it may be more of the engine than the mission design. You play this giant, bad-ass space marine who... is too feeble to jump off a ledge or out of a window or climb a ladder. You cannot even fall into a giant gaping hole and die. (In all honesty there are a few select windows you can pass through and one ladder, but those are the exceptions not the rule.) With so much attention to creating a visual world, this deficiency in the engine seems really strange and ruins much of the immersion factor.

bugs!

While I did not see many Locusts, there were a number of bugs. These bugs weren't BSOD-crash-the-PC affairs but they did detract from my $70 experience. On one level you have to push an old car but after dying a few times (ie starting over), the car would get stuck on nothing until I powered off the machine and reloaded the game. Another time my partner got stuck on a pillar and kept dying whenever he moved - again I had to reload to move further. In another scene there is a minor voice problem where it tells you to take the "alley on the left" but the alley is actually on the right. Finally there were maybe two spots where the machine could not handle the video and and it slowed down and hiccuped for a bit.

AI

As I mentioned, I really liked playing with a group of wise-cracking space marines but the AI was often infuriating. My marine buddies just did dumb, crazy shit and not the kind of dumb, crazy shit Marines are expected to do and famous for.

Instead of covering me or following my lead, my partner would often charge the enemy alone and get killed. Other times, I expect them to cover me when instead they let aliens walk right up behind me and then they would watch while the creature killed me.

I know AI is hard but these situations happened enough that it bothered me. The game also included an order system but I found that it did not work very well. Either my troops did not follow my orders ("Negative!", "I can't do that!") or I could not tell what they were doing; either way I did not feel in control which is the whole point of an AI order system.

magic

I hate games that let you "run" while carrying a roomful of weapons and ammo and then let you magically heal yourself with little health packs and ammo packs, all of which are magically lying on the ground where no one else has picked them up. Gears gets it half right.

You are limited to a pistol, two rifles and a 4 grenades so you have to make some decisions about what weapons to carry. It is also a nice touch that you can actually see the weapons on your character.

Where they got it wrong is the number of guns and ammo lying about all over. Now maybe this was worse because I played on easy, I dont know.

The way they handled damage was also new to me and pretty nice. Instead of picking up "health" like so many Joe Weider protein shakes lying on the ground, you heal up just by standing there. It does not make any sense, but it does encourage you to use cover and provides a seamless experience. Kudos.

short!
I play all games pretty slowly so it is not uncommon for me to lose interest before I finish a game - not so here. I finished Gears in 3 days! Frankly the game was so short, I was astonished. 3+ years of development, a $70 price tag and a newb like me finished the game in 3 days? Ouch. I spent less on Oblivion and I have played that game for well over a hundred hours. This is probably my first review written completely after finishing the game.

Closing

Now I actually enjoy the fantasy of being a tough space marine and kicking ass, but it needs to be with a good story to hold my interest (sorry Doom3). Even though it was on a 42" TV, I didnt find the game as immersive or addictive as the PC FPS competition.

I did have a fun time playing Gears of War, at least while while it lasted and that is my main problem with the game.

When compared with Half-Life 1 and 2 and Halo, I just dont see why people raved about this game so much. Game of the year? Goodness.

Not only did the HL story go on and on and on, but I got to play online mods for free for YEARS after finishing the game. All that and it still cost far less than $70. Asking the customer to re-play the game (for achievements) is a cheep shot as is charging for online play. So while I had fun playing Gears, I find myself wondering if it was worth the investment or if I should sell the DVD as fast as possible.