It's a very Mad World (Gears of War Review)

Lately, a website I love (GameTrailers.com) has made something pretty unique and basically very awesome - even with the minor controversies it created with many angry gamers : a Countdown of the best 100 Trailers of All-Time!

Funny thing is, when I first read that, there were 2 trailers that I immediately thought about : LBP2's quite long trailer with that catchy song by Passion Pit, and Gears of War "Mad World" trailer. Eventually I thought about all the other awesome trailers I've seen, most notably Bioshock Infinite's and Arkham City's this past year, but I thought it was amazing that I first thought of Gears' trailer mainly because I had never played the game.

Now I have, and to be honest I had high hopes for the game, as I did with Halo 3. Thankfully, they were not quickly shattered like Halo 3's because Gears is actually a great game. Sure, it's a bit over-violent and there may be one or two unnecessary "Kill that MOTHAF***ER baby!!", but it was still an enjoyable experience overall.

The gameplay is very solid, controls are easy and efficient. It's nothing revolutionary when you have played other cover-based TPS's, but I think that when it came out long ago, it was probably more of a novelty. Nonetheless, it's pretty good.

The campaign is quite short, I didn't actually clock it but I'd estimate it was no more than 6 or 7 hours long, and I'm pretty sure fast gamers could do it under 4 hours. Obviously I didn't expect much more from a linear shooter, especially one that made its name with online multiplayer. Pacing is good, and only once in the whole game did I get the feeling the developers "overkilled" a set piece/section of a chapter, stretching it pointlessly with endless enemies (I got that feeling at least two or three times in Uncharted 3, which is a vastly superior game overall). The story is basic enough, yet it's not bad, neither is it excellent. It fits the game well.

I kinda wished they would develop the main character's personality a little more. It has probably been done in Gears 2 and 3, but at the end I felt like I knew what kind of guys Baird and Cole were, but not Marcus or Dom. I'm looking forward to learn more about them as the series progress.

Graphically I thought the game passes the test of time. It may look a bit static compared to what developers do today, but I didn't feel like I was playing an early-seventh-generation game, and that tells you a lot. In 2006 I might have said it looks pretty damn good. It may be a bit too dark at moments, I found myself closing the curtains, all the damn lights to try and see what the heck was going on. I loved the fact the game had a lot of music (certainly very epic at times) to accompany the overall action, it really added something to the general feel of the game.

I haven't even tried the online, yet I'd give it a 8.5, it's a very, very good game.