Reviews// Gears Of War (Xbox 360)

Here it is then – Emergence Day, the arrival of the Xbox 360’s most-hyped, Epic Games’ genre-redefining first-person shooter and, supposedly, instant justification for hordes of people to go out and buy Xbox 360s. But does it live up to the rhapsodising?

It does, pretty much, although it is perhaps not as perfect as some will have you believe. The important thing is that, as a gameplay experience, it feels fresh, new and forward-looking. It’s sure to be much imitated – OK, ripped off mercilessly - in the years to come. And it looks magnificent, although not everybody will be entirely enamoured of the comic book-influenced art direction.

We’d be surprised if you didn’t already know about Gears of War’s basic ingredients – for a start, it’s not really a first-person shooter. When you’re in open ground, it’s a third-person game, and you will have to get used to third-person shooting when the Locust Horde gets up close and personal. But when you’re behind cover (requiring you to move the direction stick and hold down [A]) you can pop up to fire at the enemy by holding down the left trigger.

This fairly radical control system works like a dream, and encourages you to anticipate when the Locust will emerge from their cover, at which point you can loose off bursts of fire; continuous fire, unless you’re extraordinarily accurate, will merely result in a quick death.

The storyline, too, ought to be familiar – the Locust Horde have emerged from the centre of the game’s world, wreaking havoc. You play the deadpan, macho Marcus Fenix. Released from prison at the start of the game, you become a member of a four-man squad of soldiers looking for the Resonator, which will map the Locust’s system of underground tunnels, enabling their ultimate destruction.

General Feel
Although Gears of War is pretty much a single-path game, it thankfully disdains the over-familiar practice of corridor-shooting, forcing you to take a much more strategic approach. There’s the basic need to stay behind cover – moving from cover to cover is impressively handled via the direction stick movement and [A] button as previously mentioned. However, you can also rush through open ground (accompanied by a natty low-angle camera view) by keeping [A] depressed. But the first time you come across a Locust manning a machine-gun, you discover the importance of flanking moves.

Proficiency with grenades is important too, as the Locust sometimes pop out of Emergence Holes, and will continue to do so until you close them with grenades.

Luckily the grenade-aiming system – holding down the left trigger and moving the left stick to adjust the ghost trajectory that appears – is exemplary. That said, you do have to stand while aiming grenades, so you risk taking one bullet too many. The game is heavily checkpointed, which helps you learn the necessary techniques.

Gears of War consistently adds new tactical elements as you progress. There are fixed-gun sequences (in which unlimited ammo with a lot of stopping power is balanced by the lack of a targeting reticle).

Before long you begin encountering bosses - like the (amusingly, allegedly female) Berserkers - which simply can’t be taken down with normal weapons, but must be dispatched with the Hammer of Dawn.