Gears of War (page 4 of 7)

Destroyed Beauty
PROTIP: Boomers wield devastating grenade launchers. They'll scream

PROTIP: Boomers wield devastating grenade launchers. They'll scream "boom!" right before they let loose, so keep your thumb on the A button and be ready to dodge.

Finally, a game that shows off what the Xbox 360 can really do. We could easily spend the next 500 words describing how breathtakingly gorgeous Gears looks, but even then we couldn't paint a full picture. Instead of listening to us ramble on and on, you should see the game for yourself. Go to your local Best Buy, a friend's house, rent an Xbox 360 - whatever. It's worth the trouble because Gears of War is simply the most visually sensational game seen yet for a home video game console. So much so, in fact, that it casts serious doubt on Sony's claims of PlayStation 3 graphical superiority.

Of course, an HD-capable 720p or 1080i TV setup shows the game the way it was meant to be played. But cash-strapped gamers can breathe a big sigh of relief -- Gears still sparkles on a cruddy old 480i TV, a serious testament to its outstanding art direction. One quirk: I noticed lots of compression artifacts during the closing scene (watch the Immulsion as the rockets streak through it). Was this just careless video encoding, or - gulp - did Epic nearly run out of storage space?

Gears' sound gives the best argument yet for dropping a few Benjamins on a bangin' 5.1 speaker setup. Deep, rumbling explosions supply the wow factor, but thanks to the spatial sound effects there's actually a distinct gameplay advantage to keeping the volume pumped up. Consider muting the over-the-top soundtrack, though, which threatens to break the game's eerie mood with its overzealous B-movie histrionics.

The voice acting doesn't fare quite as well. Moments into the game, one of the lead characters roars "Now I'm pissed!" and you instantly know what you're getting yourself into. The dialogue has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face ("'Sup, bitches?") and about half the personality. I particularly liked one marine's no-nonsense description of paradise ("Food, man. Hot food. All day long.").

PROTIP: General Raam is one tough customer. Torque Bow blasts will inflict big damage, but if you're playing in co-op mode, try sending one player behind him to man the gatling gun.

PROTIP: General Raam is one tough customer. Torque Bow blasts will inflict big damage, but if you're playing in co-op mode, try sending one player behind him to man the gatling gun.

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eyegotskillz

wahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The very triumphant song of joy that exploded from my lungs after just the first five minutes of playing this game. word

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