Gears of War
Marcus Fenix is the new Master Chief. No, scratch that. Marcus Fenix will own Master Chief. As first, ot third, person shooters go, this violent and enjoyable new gun in town is the next generation killer game that Microsoft has been waiting for that is not called \"Halo\". Epic\'s new masterpiece puts you in the boots of disgraced soldier Fenix, who is released from prison by an old teammate to fight the Locusts, a group of underground monsters who have just about destroyed the planet Sera. While the story is far from inspiring, the new gameplay on Gears Of War puts a fresh spin on what was becoming a repititive genre.
Winning is not about charging, dodging or bunny hopping over the enemy in some lucky attempt to take him out. Instead, think more of the actual arcade shooting games where you have to take cover and aim well to make your mark. Hiding is not for the weak as without the walls, barriers and objects aplenty for use, the Locusts will easily take you down if you\'re dumb enough to be standing out in the open. Running around like a headless chicken, even with guns blazing, is pure suicide and Epic has masterfully delivered easy to use controls to make it easy to hide and pop up for quick salvos. And these Locusts aren\'t fools.
Designed with an impressive artificial intelligence, they can target you with deadly accuracy and employ teamwork in flanking your position as well. Stay in one spot for too long and your four-man team will be surrounded. Making a hook from the side while your teammates lay suppressive fire on the enemy is as important as knowing when to advance, while at the same time studying the environment to know which cover to move to. To make things more irresistible, one of the best weappons you have is a chiansaw which cuts straight to the bone. Unfortunately, it is a challenge itself to get close enough to an enemy, much less be able to actually use a chainsaw for the kill. But when you do, seeing the blood splatter and feeling the vibratiob is just too sweet a feeling not to try and risk again and again.
Several gameplay functions also add more combat realism to the game. Instead of a boring life bar, a red spot appears in the middle of your TV screen when you get hit. Multiple hits cause the red spot to bleed out, obscuring your game vision, much like in real life where you expect an injury to impede your vision and focus. Reloading under a hall of fire is also more than a simple button push. A slider located just below your ammunition display starts to move along a bar during reload. The length of the bar is the reload time but you can speed things up by stopping the slider over highlighted areas on the bar. Time it right and you can reload faster, or have your bullets deal more damage. Miss the highlight and your gun will jam, extending your reload time.
In this mini-game, the rewards balance the risk and no matter how good you think you are, your finger will always be trigger happy in the heat of battle. The overall graphics are also perfect, simply because this is a game where the animation quality of the video sequences matches those used in the game itself. Evy character looks carefully crafted with the environment richly detailed. Game music is a cross between action and horror, mixed in with the great sound effects. Throw in multiplayer, online play and three levels of difficulty and you get a must-have game that will make most gamers go, \"Halo who?\"
