Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Pros: Graphics, Unique Gameplay, Intelligent AI and Multiplayer Capabilities

Cons: Diversity and longevity

Summary: Gears of War is the newest edition to the Xbox 360 gaming portfolio that has been touted as being the first, truly next-gen title for the Xbox 360. Rightfully so, Gears of War presents a graphical quality that has not been seen in a console game to date, including those games previewed for the PS3.

As a participant at E3 2006, the latest Build of Gears of War looked as though it was ready to take on the graphical power of the PS3. Until now, skepticism remained prevalent amoung the Xbox 360 community as well as its competitors that Gears of War would be considered a true next-gen title. Games such as Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Oblivion attempted to unleash the power of the 360 with marginal success. Developers were unaware of the 360's potential. That is, all developers except Epic.

Epic was the studio that insisted that Microsoft include 512MB of video RAM for the 360, which is double that which was going to be included in the 360 at first and double of what is included in the PS3 (256MB). Epic insisted that the additional RAM would allow much more data to be buffered which would in turn allow developers to create true graphical masterpieces. None were able to do so, until Gears of War.

Gears of War will set the standard for next-gen gaming on the 360. Having played through the campaign on the lowest setting, I am able to say without uncertainty that Gears of War represents what the Xbox 360 is truly capable of. Graphics set aside, the unique gameplay brought forth by Gears of War revolutionizes the 3rd person shooter genre. The "take cover" mentality truly creates a unique environment within which your character resides. However, the multiplayer aspects of this game should not be excluded.

Gears of War allows the user to join the single player campaign of one of his/her friends so that they, as a team, can fight through the game with even more satisfaction than if they were on their own. The Xbox Live portion of Gears of War also translates the extraodinary unique gameplay from the single player missions to the multiplayer side which creates some astounding gaming scenarios.

Though there are many great characteristics about this game, there are also a few drawbacks as well. The diversity of the enemies that you fight will not leave you breathless. It seems as though you are fighting the same 4 types of monsters throughout the entire game. However, this tends not to be a large concern because you become more worried about keeping behind cover than what type of enemy you are fighting. Also, the longevity of the game is also in question. Most FPS and TPS games do not endure. That is, actual game time is around 10 hours or so. However, this can be remedied in Gears of War by starting on the "Hardcore" setting rather than the "Casual" setting. This will leave your first experience with Gears of War much more satisfying and it will most certainly test your patience towards the end of the single player mission.

Overall, Gears of War is by far the most brilliant game to come about for the Xbox 360. From its graphics to its unique gameplay, Gears of War will undoubtedly set the standard for next-gen gaming on the Xbox 360.