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Gears of War

aka: GOW
Moby ID: 25761
Xbox 360 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Gears of War is a tactical third-person shooter where the player controls Marcus Fenix, a member of Delta Squad, to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from an enemy known as The Locust Horde. The story, played over 5 acts with 30 chapters in total, has the humans reunite their strength after fighting over cheap energy in the Pendulum Wars for many years, to face this new alien threat.

Unlike many other shooters, the emphasis is not on brute violence, but rather team-based actions and cover-dependent tactics. Gameplay requires looking for cover options all the time, from which the player then attacks, along with turns and rolls to quickly pop out. By holding a button, a "roadie run" is performed, to sprint to another location. Marcus is part of a full squad, but another human player can take on the role of Dominic Santiago to fight cooperatively (split-screen, system link, or online). At times, the paths will even be split up to face different challenges. Players can only hold two weapons, a sidearm, and a few grenades. There is a selection of submachine guns, sniper and assault rifles, grenades, grenade launchers, and pistols, but the main gun is the COG Lancer Assault Rifle, which can also be used as a chainsaw bayonet in close combat. There are also a few exotic weapons, such as the Torque Bow with explosive arrows, or the Hammer of Dawn, to make an orbiting satellite fire a laser at targeted enemies.

All weapons need to be reloaded manually. By timely pressing a button on a meter, the weapon is reloaded, with more damage and at a faster rate with perfect timing, or it gets jammed when timed poorly. Instead of a health bar, the game has the Crimson Omen, a cog-shaped icon that fills up with blood when the player sustains damage.

In addition to Co-op multiplayer, there is also Versus which has three game modes: Warzone (deathmatch), Execution (deathmatch, but with the addition of "fatalities" to take out enemies completely), and Assassination (focus on killing each other opponent's team leader).

Spellings

  • ζˆ˜δΊ‰ζœΊε™¨ - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Xbox 360 version)

304 People (251 developers, 53 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 94% (based on 138 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 93 ratings with 5 reviews)

You don't know how much you need a chainsaw until you've played this.

The Good
The background: humanity has been fighting itself for more than 3 generation's over emulsion, a new hyper fuel that solves the energy problem's of the human world of Sera. But one eventful day, forever known as emergence day (E-day), the rival nation's of Sera are forced together by a nightmare that has sprung up from beneath the surface to bring the human race to it's the brink of extinction, turning Sera into a living hell, and it's your job, freshly sprung from prison due to a dwindling army, to keep humanity going and cripple the Locust Horde....

It is this back story that gives rise to a one of the bloodiest games that is not for the faint hearted. It is this back story that has given rise to one of the greatest potential story's ever, and while it does not have the greatest in game story line ever, you can sense the potential throughout the game.

Add to that, the delta squad, who you fight with through gear's feel very believable. Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, the most loyal of comrades and friends. And backing them up, the sarcastic but slightly abrasive tech head Damon Baird and the ever boisterous and cheerful Augustus 'cole train' Cole. They are the team you like to like.

Whilst fighting through the game with delta squad you will no doubt come to enjoy the Lancer assault rifle. What makes it so unique is it's chainsaw bayonet. It may sound crude, and, well it is. But unlike a lot of weapons in other games, it's distinct and surprisingly fun to use.

And while using the Lancer, you come across another thing that makes gear's such a stand out hit. Almost insane amount's of blood and gore. In a world of political correctness, this makes a change from games that really don't push the envelope that much. But that said, it is not recommended that you use it too much, with is a good thing, because in this you discover one of the other great's of gear's in it's cover system. In other games, you don't need it. in gear's you do. Luckily, using cover is a very smooth and easy to use process.

The Bad
Whilst gear's does have a decent story to it's name, you get the feeling it could be much better.

Multiplayer wise the only problem would be that it lack's any bots for when your game number's are a little low.

Graphic's could of also used a little bit more polish, especially the lighting.

The Bottom Line
A word of caution, you could potentially turn into a vegetarian as a result of this game....

Xbox 360 · by Starbuck the Third (22608) · 2010

Action packed all the way.

The Good
I liked the constant action of this game. I also liked some of the characters in this game, and of course the weapons of this game. Incredible presentation and enormous attention to detail, make this game a must have for any gamer.

The Bad
This game was very, very hard. So hard that at times you find yourself wanting to pick up your game system and throw it out the window that's how hard this game is. However a good challenge isn't alway's a bad thing, however when you have enemies that take an hour to kill, that's a bit ridiculous.

The Bottom Line
A game that almost anyone will enjoy, but be warned it's a very hard game. And takes some getting used to, and quite a bit of patience and quite a bit of practice.

Xbox 360 · by David Bryan (21) · 2007

Definitely On Par With Halo!

The Good
The main thing I love about this game is the atmosphere! From the musical score to the intense sound of bullets whizzing past your head, you feel as if you are actually part of the war. It's been a very long time since I've played a game and actually felt a part of it. The controls are perfect as they are basic so you don't get frustrated trying to remember what button does what when you are already worrying about that incoming Berzerker! Even though the controls are basic, you can pull off some snazzy moves like Blind fire, covering behind objects, aiming and running for more cover. Oh and the graphics...DROOL

Also, it's been a very long time since I've played a game which you don't mind been killed on! I was stuck on a few areas for quite a while and I had a smile on my face every time I died, it's just so much fun to play!

The Bad
I can honestly say that there is nothing I hate about this game! When I first picked up the controller and entered the Gears Of War world for the first time, my immediate thoughts was "This is a bloody hard game!". But as you play on, you start to love it and you feel the difficulty is spot on!

The Bottom Line
If you're after a game which is just as much fun to play as Halo, this is the game for you. It's not exactly like Halo because these are two different games but in my opinion, Gears Of War is more playable and atmospheric than Halo. Halo 3 had better be good to top Gears Of War!

Xbox 360 · by Reaver (1732) · 2006

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Gets too much credit for the gameplay Simoneer (29) Oct 10, 2010

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Gears of War appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Novels

To date, five books based on the Gears of War universe have been written. All five are written by Karen Traviss and are canon material:

  • The first, Aspho Fields, bridges the gap between the first and the second game, as well as the battle of Aspho Fields, with takes place pre E-day during the Pendulum Wars.
  • The second, Jacintos Remnant, takes place after Gears of War 2, as well as one year after E-day.
  • The third book, Anvil Gate follows up from the ending of Jacintos Remnant, as well as the siege of Anvil Gate during the Pendulum Wars, during which Col. Hoffman was in command of the COG forces involved.
  • The fourth, Coalitions End, continues the story of Jacinto's Remnant and Anvil Gate, as well as bridging the gap between the books and Gears of War 3
  • The fifth, The Slab, deals with Marcus Fenix's time in Jacinto Maximum Security prison.

References

  • The achievement unlocked by defeating a berserker on hardcore difficulty is called My Love for You Is Like a Truck. That is a reference to the film Clerks (1994) where it is used as a line in a fictional, Russian metal song: "My love for you is like a truck, Berserker!"
  • The character of Augustus Cole (the "Cole Train") shares a name with a character to have appeared on the X-Files television show. The season two episode, Sleepless features a super-soldier of the name Augustus D. Cole, portrayed by Tony Todd, who has been modified to never require sleep. It is unknown if this is a coincidence or deliberate.

References to the game

The game is referenced in the movie Live Free or Die Hard where one of the characters is playing it at the beginning. It also appears in Disturbia where a teenager is killing some time with it.

Technology

According a news item from TeamXbox.com, and as mentioned in a podcast interview with Epic's VP Mark Rein, this game is the reason the 360 has 512 MB of RAM instead of the planned 256 MB. This modification of the system's hardware cost Microsoft an alleged $ 1 billion.

To convince Microsoft that the change was worth it, the guys at Epic took a screenshot of the game as if it were running using 256 MB.

Apparently the Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft Game Studios called Mark Rein to tell him that they had cost Microsoft one billion dollars, to which Mark Rein replied "we did a favor for a billion gamers".

To see the whole news item, click here.

Trailer

The game's teaser trailed used Gary Jules' Mad World as the soundtrack. That sequence was later spoofed through a teaser trailer of Battlefield: Bad Company titled Bad World. A link to the clip is available in the related links section.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2006 – Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year
    • 2006 – Best Graphics of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2006 – #4 Game of the Year
    • 2006 – #3 Console Game of the Year
    • 2006 – Xbox 360 Game of the Year
    • 2006 – Xbox 360 Game of the Year (Gamers' Vote)
    • 2006 – Multiplayer Game of the Year
    • 2006 – Offline Multiplayer Game of the Year
    • 2006 – #3 Online Multiplayer Game of the Year
    • 2006 – Xbox 360 Action Game of the Year
    • 2006 – Xbox 360 Offline Multiplayer Game of the Year
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2007 - Ultimate Game of the Year
    • 2007 - Xbox Game of the Year
    • 2007 - Editor's Choice Award
    • 2007 - All Nighter Award

Information also contributed by havoc of smeg, PhoenixFire, piltdown man and Tracy Poff.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sciere.

Xbox One added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Yearman, charlie morrison, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, ResidentHazard, FatherJack.

Game added January 5, 2007. Last modified March 4, 2024.