Gears of War: Reviews

Suited, booted, and ready to get executed...

Welcome to the site's most compromised review of the year. Not because anyone here has shirked on playing the game in question, though – heck, I've personally spent the last four nights entrenched up to my digital eyeballs in entrails, bones, bullets and chainsaw bayonets – but because, when Gears of War arrived in the office early last week, seemingly everyone (including a couple of customer services staff, oddly) all tried laying claim to the review.

So, we struck a deal. Iain – who has quite frankly ate slept and breathed every bite size snippet of Gears info over the past twelve months – got last week's singleplayer review, while I – who have ate, slept and breathed online shooters for longer than I'd feel comfortable mentioning – got to cover multiplayer.

And Jonny? He got to sit there and look pretty. Well, okay... he got to sit there, anyway. Sorry Jon.

Ironically, a part of me really does mean that, as the thought of anyone missing out on Gears of War is practically painful. The superlatives you can aptly throw at the game are almost ludicrous: The action is almightily intense, the pacing improbably pitch perfect, and the visuals retina-wreckingly gorgeous. All of which combined can't help but make the game's vaunted multiplayer battlefield feel all the more ferocious.

I'll start in the place most people's minds will wander: Halo. Comparisons will be obvious and widespread – after all, Gears is A. Microsoft's big hyped holiday hope, B. a shooter, and C. seen widely as THE game to overtake Halo 2 on Xbox Live.

What it isn't, however, is anything like the Master Chief fronted magnum opus. Halo 2 is a fast-paced FPS designed for up to 16 combatants across any number of free-for-all, team, deathmatch and objective-based variants. Gears, on the other hand, is a more measured third-person affair that's all about tactical small-squad 4v4 action with one single objective; annihilating your enemy.

Of the three modes offered, the one everyone's playing online is Execution. Indeed, I've found that some players simply won't join a game set to the other two modes. It's not that these are uninspired gametypes, however. Gears' multiplayer offers slight variations on the same theme, so the straight-up deathmatch of Warzone and Assassination's ‘kill the leader' remit boil down to the same frantically fun thing: shoot the other team. But Execution just offers that extra something special to really make it stand out.

Essentially, it's Warzone with a twist; you'll pepper opponents with bullets until they go down, but to actually finish them you'll need to get up close and press X before one of their team can do the same to revive them. There are exceptions though; gibbing an enemy to high heaven with some of the more powerful conventional firearms will splatter thick, syrupy blood all over the place, while the satellite weapon, the Hammer of Dawn, is outright awesome when used properly.

And then of course there's the chainsaw. Hearing one rev behind you is possibly the most terrifying sound in gaming; seeing it slice a haemoglobin hailstorm through someone's flailing frame is as visceral an experience as multiplayer games get, whichever end of the blade you're on.

But the real satisfaction comes from using cover to position yourself for the kill. Ducking, diving and sprinting from pillar to post is as easy as pressing A, allowing you to hide in unexpected areas and surprise unwitting opponents. The first time you ambush a friend by crouching in a burnt-out truck and shredding him up as he passes by, you'll have a grin as big and clear as the hi-def widescreen TV you'll ideally be playing on. The first time it happens to you you'll jump right out of your skin, then spend the rest of the round admiring your opponent's ingenuity.

And you will spend a lot of time watching, because this is a round-based shooter in the vein of Rainbow Six and Counterstrike. Once you're dead, you're dead: No respawns, and no choice but to watch your team mates duke it out until the round ends; agonisingly incommunicado as they do.

The trick, then, becomes to work as a team to ensure you stay alive. There's an intense glee at co-ordinating an attack, flanking your enemies in pincer fashion, and appearing behind them suddenly before they can react. It's also about being decisive; when you mow down an opponent, you'll have to leave cover to close in for the kill, exposing yourself in the process – but if you falter, deliberate and wait too long, he'll soon be back on his feet, gunning for revenge. It's an extraordinarily absorbing, unbelievably balanced game of cat and mouse, and carries with it an amazing degree of hidden depth.

As a multiplayer suite, however, it's not without its failings. The lack of objective variants was expected, but some Capture The Flag would still be welcome if (and hopefully when) Epic get round to releasing additional multiplayer content. Likewise, grenades at the moment seem far too powerful, and sticking them to players is far too easy to do, so that could do with a spot of balancing. Most importantly, the lack of a matchmaking system like Halo 2's is slightly bemusing, but the smooth lobby system and ease of joining games goes some way to making up for it.

There's also the occasional glitch which can shatter the illusion Epic have so carefully crafted. Character models aren't mapped to receive damage on every square inch – there'll be times you'll scope in with a sniper, aim for an opponent's shoulder sticking out from cover, and shoot right through it, doing zero damage. Considerably more frustrating, though, is when the cover system randomly decides not to work, leaving you rolling haplessly against a wall, and ultimately getting you several shades of dead through no fault of your own. These really are such very rare, niggling occurrences, though. It really is picking tiny, pinprick holes in a modern masterpiece.

And that's precisely what Gears is; offline or on, playing competitively or ploughing through the campaign. Indeed, no multiplayer rundown would be complete without a word on Co-Op, which is the real heart of the game. Gears is inherently a team-based shooter, and when player two picks up the pad to control Delta Squad's second-in-charge, Dominic Santiago, the story-driven aspect really does come to life. Within seconds you'll be co-ordinating attacks, balancing your arsenal between you, and covering each other every step of the way. It's hands-down the best co-op offering since Halo – but, it's also online, with full voice communication, and that makes it truly phenomenal.

For those without Xbox Live, there's a two-player splitscreen offering, while System Link is thankfully present and correct – though I can't stress this enough; Gears of War is THE title to sell an Xbox Live Gold membership, in exactly the same way Halo 2 originally sold the Xbox online dream. It's by far the best shooter of the year, and easily the new standard for every future game on the system. A masterful epic from Epic, then; and for me personally, the very best kind of compromise.

GAME's Verdict

• Supremely balanced and well-done 4v4 deathmatch
• The best Co-op mode since Halo – but online too!
• Flanking foes for some slice-and-dice chainsaw action is brilliant fun

• No matchmaking
• Stubbornly deathmatch-only
• Dying occasionally purely because the cover system messed up

Review by: Mark Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 21.11.06