A Look At The Campaign Mode Of Gears of War

Every now and then a game comes along that has a little extra something. Gear of War for the Xbox 360 is such a title. Not only is it a beauty to behold but the game plays as great as it looks. Unquestionably this is the greatest looking title to grace a next generation console so far. Only Oblivion comes close but that game's poor frame rate takes it out of the running. Not that GOW's frame rate is perfect. It is locked at 30 fps and does have the occasional hiccup but thankfully they are not very prevalent. The art style is gritty and highly textured and there are some nice things done with contrast here. Whites really glow against a dark background. The rain effects in Act 3 are nothing short of breathtaking. But pretty visuals are not the only thing you look for in a game and GOW delivers in the game play department as well. Gow is about cover first and foremost. If you're looking for Halo-style action that is not what you will get here. The goal is to use barricades placed throughout the levels to hide behind while you pop up to take out the Locusts, who also use cover extensively. Take yourself out of cover for very long and your demise will follow soon after. The control over you weapon while out of cover is slow and a little clumsy but it is done intentionally to keep you playing the game the way it was intentioned. Overall the control is very good but does take a little getting use to. Gears of War plays differently than most shooters that have come before it and because of that there is a bit of a learning curve. Give yourself a good hour of practice and you should have it down to a science by then. The only real downside here might be the Roadie-Run. Because it is mapped to the same button as taking cover you may find yourself accidentally anchoring to a wall on occasion when what you really want to be doing is getting the hell out of Dodge. With practice this becomes less of an issue but it never goes away completely. Fighting alongside you are 3 AI controlled team mates, although at times only Dom will be with you as the game splits the team up from time to time. Admittedly the AI of these team mates is not always fantastic. More than once you'll find yourself marveling at the idiocy of some of the decisions they make. But let's face it, if their AI was done too well the game would be too easy as you could simply hide behind a wall and wait as they finish off the Locusts for you. Having them along for the ride really ramps up the excitement of the action as battles take on a much more chaotic feel because so many characters are involved. The game's only real shortfall is the length of it. There are 5 Acts each of which are broken down into several chapters. The first 3 Acts are quite lengthy but the latter 2 are very short in comparison. All told there is probably between 8-12 hours of campaign game play here, maybe even shorter if you are especially good. There are 3 difficulty levels to play these levels at, those being Casual, Hardcore, and Insane. Hardcore is probably the best overall experience. Casual is far too easy for a seasoned gamer and Insane is...well...insane. Of particular note about the Insane difficulty is the game's final boss. Unless you are playing cooperatively with another player this final encounter at the Insane difficulty setting is one of the toughest things you'll ever encounter in a video game. Undoubtedly there will be some pulling their hair out trying to beat this guy by themselves. But curiously enough when set to Casual or Hardcore he isn't very difficult at all. Despite the game's short campaign Gears of War is simply one of the best games out there. This is one of those games that is so good it is the one that most 360 owners will choose to pop in when showing off the system to their friends. Go out and get Gears of War now, you won't be disappointed.