Title: Gears of War
Genre: Shooter
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studios
Release Date: November, 12 2006 (USA); November, 17 2006 (EUR)

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I would like to start this article apologizing with you: the following are, without any doubt, the most important 15 thousand characters in my "career" at XboxWay and I'm now realising that it is not a simple job to describe what my feelings are having my "hands on" the most eagerly awaited Xbox 360 game and it would probably require several days of work.

However, from another point of view, I think that our (and, if you allow me, "mine") readers deserve to have every info as soon as possible, because what is an important news one day, it becomes "old" the day after.

Hence, this article won't, probably, contain the usual puns, the usual digs at developers and the usual jokes; please, forgive me and be sure that my only aim is to:

Bring you home Gears of War a couple of weeks before its official release!

The Options

I don't know if it has never happened to you but, during these first 27 years of my life, only 2 times I found myself with an eagerly awaited game/book package in my hands without the heart to open it, as fearing a disappointment. A couple of days ago, during the World Cyber Games at Monza (Italy), I felt that same feeling again, for the third time! I was there, with the gamer-pad in my hands and Gears of War game-menu asking me to "push the Start button".

GoW is, indeed, the game at the centre of everybody hype since Xbox 360 release, thus it is fundamental to afford it in the correct way and to enjoy every single detail of it: try to finish the game in 5 hours is not a wise way to use this title that has promised much and we'll soon discover what he'll be able to maintain.

Hence, let's start with a light topic: the options. As any other console game, there are not many customization available, a part from the classic possibility to adjust the gamma set-up, the audio volume and switch-off on-screen helps. Although this "mediocrity", we can immediately understand that Gears is a title with strong contents because of an option to disable violence scenes: in essence, with this option on, there will be fewer litres of blood on screen, but the game-play and the graphic contents won't change. I was sincerely amazed by the presence of such an option in Gears of War, and it can be interpreted as the tangible sign of the effort Epic Games and Microsoft put in trying to pass Dutch rating "exam"; the fact that they, at last, wasn't able to is, for me, the glaringly obvious truth that the USK (the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle) rejection has been caused by the game concept not by its contents and, unfortunately, this becomes a bad precedent (with the Dead Rising case) and not only for Dutch gamers!

However, after a quick glance to all the game modes (besides the classic single-player "Story Mode", I can confirm the presence of system link and splitscreen co-op modes), the call of the Locusts was too strong.

Here it is, at last, the game itself!

The Graphics

GoW begins with the very same cut-scene we've seen since months: a couple of "gollum-like" beings slaver from over the grating of our jail and an old "friend" of ours saves us from prison. Sincerely, I would have liked something like a trailer that could help our understanding of what have happened to the world but, as we'll see later, probably the developers' choice has been slightly different.

Few seconds and I have, for the very first time, Marcus Phoenix in my hands: outside the cell, the first impact with the game graphics is devastating! Just forget Perfect Dark Zero walls, Oblivion shiny armours and Kameo throne chamber light effects: Gears of War enjoys a never-seen-before graphics and details that, really, I thought impossible for a resolution "limited" to "only" 720p.

All in all, Epic Games title offers a magnificent glance and the graphics maintains its appealing even zooming on details. However, let's clear things up: GoW graphics doesn't make a deep impression on me because of its perfection, but much more because of its limits. In fact, it has to be considered the fact that this game is the "baby" of exceptional programmers who were able to make the most of 2 years experience on the Unreal Engine 3 and on Xbox 360: because of its release date, Gears of War can, indeed, be catalogued as the last title of the console first generation games. With this preamble, it will be clear why, seeing some shadows shaking on character faces and some texture loosing definition after an excessive zoom, I felt comforted: this is "only" the beginning!

However, besides these defects, I have to admit that it is difficult to reprimand something concerning graphics: sure, during my game-session a couple of dead enemies disappeared and some details on the ground weren't correctly spawned, but nothing that could not be put down to the demo version of the game.

All things considered, if you fear to be disillusioned by Gears of War graphics, just go out and reserve a copy of the game: from the graphics point of view the title is beyond criticism! Moreover, even delicate palate-people, who want light effects also in dark rooms and "living" walls, won't be disappointed by GoW, which will leave them astonished also thanks to our brother-in-arms' tattoos.

Before leaving this topic, I just want to add one more consideration. The 17th of November (12th for NTSC territories) Gears of War will demonstrate that CG (computer graphics) is no more needed in video-games: if E3 2005 Killzone 2 video left you with your mouth open or, more recently, the spectacular Lost Odyssey trailer left you without words, prepare yourself to weep for joy in front of Gears of War cut-scenes!

The Game-play

When, immediately after having escaped from the cell, I've had to choose between the tutorial and the "action" I've, at last, had the chance to discover how Epic Games chose to teach how to play at Gears of War: they do not teach anything. The tutorial lasts in 5 minutes and, barely, consists in a couple of location (inside and outside the jail) where some basic moves are explained: how to shoot, open doors and "stop-and-pop". All the rest is left to the gamer and, I hope, to the manual.

But now, let's find out what are the main commands (and their button/s) available in the game:

• Movement: Left Stick
• Camera: Right Stick
• Shoot: Right Trigger
• Shoot with accuracy: Right Trigger + Left Trigger
• Melee Attack: B
• Run: A
• Open doors, push buttons and pick up items: X
• Break a door down and run: X + A
• Cover: A, if near to a wall
• Somersault and dives: A + Left Stick
• Jump an obstacle: A + Left Stick
• Observe: Y
• Change weapon: Directional Cross (4 slots available)
• Re-animate: X, near an unconscious yellow soldier
• Re-charge weapons: Right Back-button
• HUD: Left Back-button

It is easy to notice that the most useful button is A as it will change its "meaning" depending on the circumstances and the combined use of other commands: this is one of the game key features because Gears of War seems always in search of spectacular actions both from the enemy side and ours. Thus, the use of always the same button avoids wasting of time, gives the title a very fast rate and offers a very steep learning curve (also thanks to de-selectable on-screen helps).

Going on the analysis, I would like to underline the interesting use of the Y button: while most of games do not use it at all, in Gears of War the button is at the centre of a "little revolution". During his recent exhibitions, Cliffy B (GoW Lead Designer) has several times shown an in-game scene in which an helicopter flies over Marcus head pulling down an enormous pillar that crashes at few meters from our "hero"; all the scene is followed by the camera as it would have in a cut scene, but it isn't: all is in-game and we are just pushing the Y button in the right place and in the right moment. Clearly, it will not always possible to assist to these kind of scenes, but at least pushing the button will rotate the camera toward our "friends" or points of interest. During the review, it will be interesting to understand how the command linked to the Y button will be mapped in multiplayer modes: bets are opened!

On the contrary, all other commands are pretty "standard" excluding the interesting weapon re-charge mini-game and the "run mode": this latter is, indeed, peculiar. In fact while running we'll have a couple of disadvantages, the visual getting narrower and difficult direction changes, and an advantage, the automatic covering against walls. This is, indeed, the key point of the game-play: Gears of War is not a title that can be faced bravely, but we'll have to jump from cover to cover being careful against flank attacks.

Furthermore, this "stop-and-pop" game-play is exalted by a very simple HUD that can be also set to fade down, in order to have all the screen dedicated to the game set and enemies with only the Emergence Day logo signalling how near we are to our defeat.

Unfortunately, the enemy AI hasn't astonished me: generally, Locusts are so big that they simply cannot cover: hence, in essence, the only thing we'll have to do is to stop behind a wall or a pillar and to shoot at enemies while they are re-charging. However, even in the demo, choosing the highest level of difficulty (between the 2 available), Locusts were more resourceful and the strategy above won't be successful anymore. Moreover, having only played the first two levels of the game (the tutorial and the 1st real level), I'm not really able to, definitely, judge the game AI which could also depend on the type of enemy we'll face during fights; on the other hand, our "friends" AI seems more advanced but it still won't be wise to leave them to their destiny as we would face something like a collective suicide and we would have to re-animate them all to continue the mission.

Eventually, concerning game-play, let's spend some lines on the game physics and its impacts. The sets aren't completely destroyable (during the review, we'll able to understand if this is true only for the first "tutorial" levels or not) and the bodies of dead enemies will be of obstacles and will react to our "treatments". Furthermore, if on the one hand the title has impressed me for the absence of polygons compenetrations (worth an honour mention), on the other I felt discouraged when I hit an invisible wall trying to jump into a Locust hole: I expect that this bug will be removed from the game final version as it could be very annoying and not really in theme with the game benchmarks.

I hope that all I've told you till now is interesting (isn't it?) and, in some cases, hot news no site has been able to highlight, but...

The Plot

...this is nothing compared to what I've saved for the last part of this article: the Story! Don't worry, it's not my intent to spoiler you on nothing but only to let you understand if Gears of War is worth or not.

Epic Games has always declared that, even if the most evident thing of the game is its amazing graphics, Gears of War will have a strong plot and the just opened website, through several trailers, gives us an idea of what they are referring to: the search for new energy source, war among nations, a difficult peace and the arrival of the Locusts.

Having tried the game for about an hour, I cannot promise you the game will have an Oscar worth story-line, but I can assure you that the plot will have a deep impact on the game-play and on all the game itself. In fact, we'll pass from one level to the other through cut-scenes that will tell us more on the characters, their story and on key elements of Sera history; moreover, the Y button will always be there, available for in-game spectacular camera angles that will help us understanding what is happening.

In short, the plot permeates all the game aspects and the dialogues, even if slightly overstated, indicate good scripts and a care we probably won't expect from an action game. A mysterious woman we have to protect, a resistance leader who hates us and mysteriously devastated brother-in-arms' bodies are all elements that give rise to my (and our) hopes of a good depth single-player mode.

Conclusions

And here I am, after the second level intro cut-scene, pushing the gamer-pad "Start" button in order to re-start the game: it has been a tough decision but forced by the fact that the demo was optimised only for the first level and the tutorial.

Hence, to close the article, what can I say about a game that kidnapped me from the real world and bring me to an universe were we'll face ecological disasters, the rebelling nature (in form of Locusts), unwise planetary governments and un-efficient press?...

...I say that Gears of War world is even too similar to the third planet of the Solar system, just entered in the 3 millennium of its modern history. Is this the realism that has disturbed Dutch censors? If this is the case, we recommend them to close their eyes and spend all days closed in their houses.

In the meantime, WE have a world to fight for and neither censors nor Locusts will be able to stop us!

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Original article by David Famà, XboxWay Staff