Gears of War Review (PC)

Just a little over a year ago Gears of War, with it's excellent game play and dazzling graphics took the Xbox 360 by storm and left PC gamers green with envy for this shooter. Now that same title has finally found it's way to the PC and surpasses all expectations by offering more of everything. With better graphics, more missions and the same great game play, Gears of War for the PC is on track to captivate another set of gamers this year.

Game Specifics

• Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
• Developer: Epic Games
• ESRB Rating: "M" for Mature
• Genre: Third Person Shooter
• Theme: Science Fiction
• Pros: Excellent game play and combat with non stop action; Gorgeous graphics, very detailed & realistic; Includes game editor
• Cons: Heafty hardware requirements; Some awkward controls using Xbox 360 controller

Storyline & Gameplay

The back story for Gears of War is rather simple and for the most part the overall plot is nothing out of the ordinary for a sci-fi shooter. Humans under siege by a terrorizing alien force and it's up to you to try and save humanity. In Gears, players assume the role of Marcus Fenic, an ex-Delta Squad member serving a 40 year sentence in a maximum security penitentiary for disobeying orders during a time of war.

In times of war however, things change quickly and from the outset of the game you are set free to rejoin Delta Squad to help in the battle against the Locust, an underground race of creatures that have already destroyed nearly every city on the planet. Missions are quite linear in Gears of War and overall the story doesn't go very deep, however, it does just enough to keep you interested and moving along to discover the real gem of this game, the non-stop action.

The track record of console to PC ports has not been very good over the past few years, great console titles such as Resident Evil 4 and the Final Fantasy games are just a few that have faired well on the PC. There were probably a few skeptics out there when it was announced that Epic Games would be porting their third person shooter and Xbox 360 smash hit to the PC. Now with the release Gears of War for the PC, Epic has silenced any possible skepticism by developing a game with flawless gameplay that is an even better action packed thrill ride from start to finish than the original Xbox 360 version.

In Gears of War, players have the option of playing with either a keyboard/mouse configuration or with the Xbox 360 controller. The game controls using the Xbox 360 controller are identical to that of the console version; joysticks to move and trigger buttons to aim and fire. The keyboard and mouse configuration follow the standard WASD for movement and the mouse to look, aim and fire. The edge has to go to the keyboard and mouse, it is more natural and can account for quicker reaction times and more accurate aiming when having to do a multi button tasks. These same tasks may become awkward on the controller by having to learn how to use both thumbs and both index fingers (sometimes in different directions) to successfully move how you want.

Game Mechanics & Combat

The action in Gears of War is engaging and intense from start to finish. There are three difficulty levels to play; causal, hardcore and insanity. Each time you increase the difficulty you really must embrace the game's underlying premise towards combat. It's better to wait for your shot from behind cover than it is to Rambo charge head first into oncoming fire. You can take on damage and be cut down very quickly if you do.

Health in Gears of War is pretty straight forward and simple, you won't see a health bar showing your current state nor will you find any first aid/health packs littered through out the environments. Instead when you start taking damage a red icon or Crimson Omen will appear center screen notifying you that you're hurt, if it becomes completely red your character dies forcing you to restart from the last checkpoint. Health is regained automatically when you're able to avoid taking fire and lay low for a few seconds. Once the Crimson Omen vanishes from view you're back at full strength and ready to press on.

From the very start, players are thrown into the heat of combat armed with pistol and assault rifle. Throughout the game you'll come across an excellent choice of weapons; shotgun, sniper rifle, grenades and the Hammer of Dawn, but you most likely come back to the assault rifle which is also armed with a chainsaw bayonet that dishes out some heavy damage in melee combat. In addition to your weapons, you will also be helped out by fellow Delta Squad members who can help with cover, spotting, and taking down enemies.

As mentioned previously, the most effective way to get through combat is to use the duck and cover approach. While behind cover you can rest to regain health or aim and fire at enemies while just exposing a your head or small portion of your body. This makes it much more difficult for enemies to inflict damage. That's not to say the entire game will be played from behind the safety of a concrete wall. You will have to expose yourself and move through the environments to get from checkpoint to checkpoint. Fortunately there are a number of great moves that are built in that allow you to do so. Using the space bar or A controller button while moving enables these moves which change dynamically based on your location in regards to objects in the environment around you. This includes getting into and out of cover, jumping over low cover, evading and many more.

Missions

The single player campaign in Gears of War has a total of about 30+ chapters/missions spread across five acts which should account for about 15 hours of game play. Exclusive to the PC version of Gears are five addition chapters which do a better job of tying some of the acts together. Overall the new missions are great for extending your Gears experience, with some having a little different style of play to them, possibly a look into game play styles that may be seen in future Gears of War sequels.

Graphics

Built using the Unreal Engine 3.0 Gears of War looks great. Character models are detailed and rendered perfectly, while their animated movements are very realistic. In addition to the character models, the game's environments throughout look fantastic and lighting effects enhance and play a big role in setting the mood.

It's worth noting that in order to get the game to look really fabulous it's going to take some heavy duty hardware. The game's minimum requirements call for 1GB of RAM and a GeForce 6600+ or ATI x700+ Graphics card. To get the really great looking graphics however it may take a dual core processor coupled with a DirectX 10 compatible graphics card and Windows Vista. Meeting the minimum requirements will probably get you graphics looking like the Xbox 360 version, which, don't get me wrong, is good but nothing compared to it's full potential.

Multiplayer

Gears of War has a very extensive set of multiplayer game modes which are hosted over the Games for Windows Live gaming network. There are five multiplayer game types that allow for a maximum of eight players to fight along side or against each other. These game types include Warzone, Execution, and Assassination which are slightly different versions of a head to head match-up between Humans and Locust teams. The Annex and King of the Hill modes are geared towards capturing specific locations and holding them for points.

In addition to these multiplayer modes, Gears includes a Co-op mode that enables two players to play the campaign mode together. Connecting to Co-op mode is still done through the Games for Windows Live community and is enabled for the free Silver level membership. In Co-op mode the second player takes the role of a fellow Delta Squad member named Dominic Santiago. Through the Co-op mode, players will have the same overall objective and checkpoints, fight along side each other simultaneously and have the ability to heal/revive the other if within close proximity.

Bottom Line

There have been some bugs/issues with the retail release that have been reported to the Gears of War Forums, but the great thing about PC games is that bugs/issues with an initial release can always be (and usually are) fixed with an easily installable patch. In spite of these issues, Gears of War for the PC is a solid game from top to bottom. Whether you've played Gears of War or not the new chapters, multiplayer maps and better graphics coupled with the same great game play and combat system should put Gears of War for the PC near the top of every game of the year list.

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by compactiongames.about.com