Gears 5

Note: This review contains spoilers for Gears 5.

Since I’ve played the previous Gears of War console titles, including Gears of War 4 (a game I never gave a full review for), it felt inevitable to me to play Gears 5, the second installment developed by The Coalition. I even went out of my way to get the version with the Terminator: Dark Fate DLC. When I finally got around to playing this game, I was curious about where this presumed second trilogy was heading, but I left very wary of how a Gears 6 will turn out.

2016 – The Highlights (EHeroFlareNeos)

Whatever your opinion may be on how 2016 turned out, let’s now take this time to reflect back on the entertainment we received during the year. This year, we were able to watch a lot more movies and play more games, so this list is now longer as a result. As usual, we are limited by what we actually watched and played, as we do everything on our own time and dime, and the list is in no particular order.

Top Movies of 2016

Deadpool

This R-rated Ryan Reynolds passion project came out at exactly the right time and proved that it could stand out in an era of big blockbuster superhero movies. Deadpool is a laugh riot as it mocks modern superhero conventions and regularly breaks the fourth wall with perfect comedic timing. It’s sort of an antithesis to other films in the genre, as the story is more personal and the final fight does not resort to leveling an entire city, but rather stays entirely within a confined space. I highly recommend it to absolutely anyone, though it must be stressed that Deadpool is absolutely not for children.

Zootopia

Zootopia has a production history as fascinating as the unique world that it takes place in. For a PG-rated movie, it manages to tackle the mature subject of racism in a universal way without talking down to the audience and features a cast of flawed and expertly written characters. Various small details such as the realistic way the animals move help to sell the setting and immerse the viewer. Combine this with smart humor and incredible voice acting and you have a movie that shouldn’t be missed.

10 Cloverfield Lane

Where Cloverfield was a mockable attempt at a found footage film, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a masterwork of a psychological thriller. The consistently ambiguous nature of the events does a fantastic job of keeping you guessing about the true nature of everything until the very end. While its connection to the original Cloverfield seems vague at best, the very gripping and multilayered narrative will leave you trying to process what you just saw in the days following your initial viewing.

Keanu

Comedic duo Key and Peele’s first venture into feature-length film has no shortage of laughs as it follows two average joes in their quest to enter the criminal underworld to steal back a kitten. The humor is mainly found in the many contrasts that occur along the way, all of which make the movie fun to watch more than once. Come for the cute kitten, stay for the laughs.

Kubo and the Two Strings

Laika Studios proves once again that they are the modern masters of stop motion. Kubo and the Two Strings presents an original story set in ancient japan which pushes the envelope as far as it possibly can in terms of what’s possible with the medium. Apart from the top-notch animation and voice acting, the story knows how to immerse the viewer and deliver in terms of narrative and emotional payoff.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

I wasn’t sure at first how to feel about Rogue One, but the end result turned out better than I had expected. Rogue One is a true Star Wars prequel, with an engaging story and likeable characters, plus the ending neatly plugs directly into the original Star Wars. As a bonus, watching Rogue One and Star Wars back-to-back only enhances the latter.

Yo-kai Watch: The Movie

Although Yo-kai Watch: The Movie does not have the same pedigree as most of the other movies on this list, I was able to feel a great sense of fun watching it. Its story adapts Yo-kai Watch 2 in a way that is very film friendly, the animation is pretty high quality and the humor is enough that it doesn’t try too hard or overstay its welcome. While perfectly enjoyable in its own right, it also makes for a good family movie and is one of the very few video game movies that actually succeeds at being a good movie.

Top Video Games of 2016

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Naughty Dog proves once again that they are masters at storytelling in video games. The story focuses on Nathan Drake, but this time showing him as torn between settling down and having a family or indulging in his lust for adventure, as well as the consequences which follow his decisions, leading to a satisfying conclusion to the franchise. There is also a much better mix of gunfights and platforming than in previous games, aided in part by the introduction of the grappling hook, which helps to pace the game better, and the controls were the smoothest yet. If you didn’t have a reason to get a PS4 before, Uncharted 4 is a pretty good one.

Doom (2016)

Although this was my first proper exposure to the Doom franchise, I felt this latest entry was exactly what the FPS genre needed. The old school maze-like level design and fast-paced gunplay emphasizing environmental awareness felt like a breath of fresh air and I enjoyed every second of it. Doom (2016) demonstrates that sometimes going back to your roots is the best way to stand out from the competition.

Gears of War 4

This latest entry in the Gears of War series retains much of the familiar elements that fans have come to love and expect, but also adds just enough to keep the gameplay interesting. Thanks to placing more of an emphasis on the environmental awareness, players will now have to be aware of a new enemy type, Juvies, possibly erupting out of organic cover spots, as well as keep track of enemies which can quickly jump around the battlefield. There is also the occasional storm that can throw off trajectories and force you to dodge lightning to get to the next objective. The new gameplay challenges, combined with a fairly well-written “passing the torch” story, mark this game as one of the few reasons to actually own an Xbox One.

Killer Instinct: Definitive Edition

Another solid reason to actually own an Xbox One is to play the Definitive Edition of Killer Instinct (2013). The combo-based fighting system forces the player to think about the most effective combo strings (if they’re not playing with an assist function), the fighters all feel different from each other and can suit any playstyle and the music, especially Celldweller and Atlas Plug’s collaborative contributions in Season 3, is fantastic. The ability to also have all characters and other DLC on-disc in one package for a pretty good price also made it pretty enticing. Plus, unlike Street Fighter V, it’s actually a complete game.

Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits

Although Yo-kai Watch has been compared to Pokémon in the west, the concept of monster capture is truly where those similarities end. Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits has the player traveling around Springdale befriending spirits called Yo-kai responsible for all of life’s problems, both big and small, while also preventing the evil Dame Dedtime from erasing the Yo-kai Watch from history, thus preventing humans and Yo-kai from ever becoming friends. The story is engaging and the gameplay is well-designed, as it encourages the player to strategize and create the right Yo-kai team with the right mixture of special abilities while the active battle system keeps them on their toes. A number of real-world touches to the open world, as well as giving each Yo-kai a unique and distinguishable personality, add to the game’s charm and help make it a worthwhile 3DS experience.

Top Disappointments of 2016

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

The second installment in DC’s cinematic Extended Universe, following a three-year gap after Man of Steel, does very little to raise the bar from its predecessor. It’s overly dark and plodding narrative feels more like filler leading up to the showdown promised in the title, only to have the actual fight remain one-sided throughout the entire five minutes in which it occurs. On top of that, DC and Warner Bros. lazily inserted teases for their other films, which come off as complete non-sequiturs. It’s amazing how one can go in expecting nothing and still feel disappointed.

Suicide Squad

The latest installment in the DCEU is better than both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, but that’s not really saying much. What could have easily been a light-hearted antidote to the preceding movie is, in reality, an overstuffed movie that was hastily re-edited in a rather obvious way in an attempt for Warner Bros. to save face. Too much plot and not enough character (except for Harley Quinn and Deadshot) and story logic, as well as a botched interpretation of the Joker, make for one of the bigger disappointments of the year.

Warcraft

Though I knew next to nothing about the Warcraft games, I went in solely to see what director Duncan Jones, son of the late David Bowie, was capable of. Unfortunately, this movie was made exclusively for Warcraft fans by a Warcraft fan. The plot is somewhat easy to follow at first, but gets lost somewhere in its own lore and character names are nearly indistinguishable unless you’re already familiar with the property. It’s difficult to recommend to a general fantasy-loving audience, but if you’re already a Warcraft fan, you’ll no doubt love it.

Ice Age: Collision Course

Not that I really expected too much out of an Ice Age sequel, I had even skipped Continental Drift, but this installment is proof enough that the franchise just needs to die already. The basic premise alone is far-fetched, but then it tries to balance too many characters at once and makes Shrek-esque references to modern trends and technology while making the animals act even more human-like than they ever did before. It should also say something if not even the usually humorous Scrat segments could save this disaster.

The Secret Life of Pets

Not that I expected high quality from this movie to begin with, but I initially thought it might at least be decent. Unfortunately, the humor willingly appeals to the lowest common denominator and the plot is literally Toy Story with Pets, not to mention there are some darker elements that the trailers made no effort to show, perhaps in favor of repeatedly drilling Bounce by System of a Down into the viewer’s brain. It seems that so far that Illumination still has yet to even match their first success, Despicable Me, in terms of quality.

Street Fighter V

As a fan of the Street Fighter series, I was relieved that Capcom finally made a proper fifth entry after the slew of Street Fighter IV versions that weren’t supposed to exist. Unfortunately, the game was obviously made to appeal more strongly to the tournament crowd, as a complete lack of a proper story mode until a few months later, as well as the absence of a proper Arcade mode, a rather small launch roster and a broken Fight Money system, cement this game as hard to recommend except to the most die-hard fans. Either wait for the inevitable [Prefix] Street Fighter V with all of the DLC on it or just get Mortal Kombat XL or Killer Instinct: Definitive Edition instead.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan

As both a fan of Platinum games and more recently the TMNT franchise, both felt like a natural fit for a satisfying action game. Unfortunately, while the graphics and voice acting are solid, the gameplay left something to be desired, with a rather short campaign and a difficulty which pales in comparison to previous Platinum projects like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It wasn’t a bad game by any stretch, but it lands on this list purely for a lack of substance.

Dead Rising 4

Since I had played all of the other Dead Rising games and generally liked them, mostly the first two and Off the Record, I readily played the holiday themed fourth instalment when I got it for Christmas. The combo weapons and vehicles are fun to use, and it’s fun to mow down zombies without feeling rushed by a strict timer, but the whole experience reaches its conclusion much faster than the other games and there was a relative lack of difficulty, as leveling up takes less effort than before. Ultimately, it goes on this list because unlike the other games, I felt less motivated to max out Frank’s stats in the post-game due to an unexplainable feeling that something’s missing.

Gears of War: Judgment - The Gears Turn Faster

Last March, I reviewed Gears of War 3 and mentioned at the end that it would be a while before I played the then-upcoming Gears of War: Judgment. This was because God of War: Ascension came out around the same time and we ended up buying that instead. Later, I would actually receive Gears of War: Judgment as a Christmas present, enabling me to finally play it. About six months later, when I didn’t have school to worry about anymore and I was between things to review, I finally got around to playing the game, finishing the campaign within a couple of days during my free time. I enjoyed my time and I thought the new developer, People Can Fly, created something worthy of being an entry in the franchise. At the same time, though, there are a couple of annoyances that do hold it back a little.

Gears of War: Judgment serves as a prequel to the previous games in the Gears of War series, taking place during some early point in the Locust War. Kilo Squad, led by Lieutenant Damon Baird, is on trial by Colonel Ezra Loomis under accusations of treason for stealing COG experimental technology while on a mission at Halvo Bay. The trial serves as a framing device for Kilo Squad to give their testimony on what happened, switching back and forth between the past and present to transition between each member’s testimonies.

Colonel Loomis is kind of an ass.

Personally, I thought the story was written pretty well and was generally easy to follow, although at times I needed a reminder on why a specific action was happening. As this takes place in the past, the personalities of Baird and Cole are different than the games later in the timeline, but the vocal chemistry between them adds some depth to their friendship by giving more specifics to the audience. Because of this, we can see how they are able to stick together for so long in the main games and hearing their dialogue is fun. Two new additions to the Gears of War Universe are Cadet Sofia Hendrik, a former reporter who went to the Onyx Guard academy before her assignment to Kilo Squad, and Private Garron Paduk, a former Gorasni soldier who was originally a Major in the UIR, but became a Private with the COG through the Open Arms Program and got assigned to Kilo Squad. These two are very interesting characters, written in a way that you’re aware of their back stories, but their personalities are pretty well fleshed out and let you get to know them as people. Allowing everyone a shot at giving testimony was a great idea since we get to know everyone better and are allowed to hear multiple sides of the same story. Granted the stories follow the same timeline, but the idea is still brilliant and executed very well, especially since all characters are playable this way.

The way the story is played through though could have used some work. Each chapter is divided into a number of parts, each part consisting of an introduction to a new part of the environment before fighting through at least one wave of Locust and then moving on. After a few sections it gets pretty formulaic and it’s easy to see when a fight is coming, especially if the map layout is suspiciously firefight friendly, but over ten hours of it gets tiring and got me more and more anxious to see the ending. Missions also have a star rating, with improvement on it providing incentive to replay through the levels. However the frequent stops to give the rating for each mission frequently break the immersion, which led to me getting increasingly anxious to end the game. An additional replay incentive is the Declassified goals, which add a modifier to the mission and give a boost in increasing your star rating, along with adding additional testimony for Kilo Squad by filling in details they would have otherwise neglected to mention. Since I did all but a couple Declassifieds on my first playthrough, I don’t really know if the additional testimony changes the game at all apart from the narrations in the past. Still, it’s a neat idea that deserves mention for allowing more self-imposed challenges.

Triggering a Declassified mission requires finding this glowing logo.

Gameplay is mainly the same as previous games, but with tweaks to make it flow faster. Switching weapons is now done with a single button, Y, and grenade throwing is done such that you can still go through the setup to aim with LB and then throw with RT, or you can just simply hold LB to aim and then release the button to throw, or, more simply, just tap LB to throw in the direction you’re facing. In addition, the game introduces a new Locust type called the Rager, which starts out as a normal Locust equipped with a Breechshot, but physically changes to a melee-focused enraged form that can only be quickly disposed of with headshots; the one Declassified I intentionally skipped included waves of almost nothing but already enraged Ragers. A number of weapons are also introduced for the first time, those being the Booshka, a grenade launcher which fires ricocheting rounds with a delayed fuse; the GZ18 Marzka, a UIR sniper rifle; the Breechshot, a Locust sniper rifle without a scope, Stim-Gas grenades, which create a field that heals anyone within its range; and the Tripwire Crossbow, which fires rounds that are useful when setting up a defense against waves of Locust. These additional weapons are all very responsive and easily lend themselves to differing play styles throughout the campaign, though if you choose to go after all the Declassified missions you will be forced to change things up anyway. In any case, new weapon variety is always welcome to prevent things from getting stale and these weapons end up making sense in the long run thanks to the game’s setting.

Things are about to get Ghnasty.

Graphically, the series is almost identical to Gears of War 3, but there are slight improvements to the color palette that helps things stand out a bit better on the battlefield, though I would chalk that up to the campaign taking place mostly during the day with clear skies. However, this just shows off how good the lighting is and it’s always pretty cool to look at. Sound design is the same from the last game, but is no less impressive, and the sound which indicates the end of an encounter remains as satisfying as ever. Voice acting is also good, displaying a good emotional range and chemistry between characters.

As a bonus, earning 40 stars unlocks the Aftermath campaign, which takes place during the events of Gears of War 3. At some point during that game, Marcus Fenix sent Cole and Baird on a mission to find a ship and reinforcements for their assault on Azura. With Clayton Carmine, the duo returns to Halvo Bay and run into an old ally, Paduk, whom they haven’t seen in years. Paduk begrudgingly helps them on their quest, since his people made camp there and he knows the area. I liked playing this storyline, since I finally got closure on what happened to these characters during Gears of War 3, specifically why it took them until the final act to show up again. The campaign is also pretty short, maybe a couple hours, and its gameplay is basically Gears of War 3 (complete with graphics) but with all of the tweaks from Judgment, minus the tedious stopping between sections, star ratings and Declassified-type modifiers (though this makes sense given its spot on the timeline). I highly recommend playing this after completing the entirety of the Judgment campaign.

One of the first shots of Aftermath.

Before I end the review, I’d like to briefly discuss the Multiplayer. Normally, I don’t play online and, unlike my Gears of War 3 review, I don’t have an Xbox Live Gold account. So, in the interest of still wanting to discuss it, I tried the offline options to see what each thing was. Thankfully you can play offline with a second player and/or with bots. However, none of the modes were really that fun with two people. Sure the bots add some variety and increase the enjoyability, but my brother and I both concluded that all of the modes would be infinitely more fun with three or four people locally to provide more variety. Fortunately the new OverRun mode, in which players take turns defending or attacking an E-hole cover, is very fun regardless of having only two people around, although I must say that, due to the assigned roles of the characters and having pre-determined loadouts, the mode reminded me a lot of Team Fortress 2. That isn’t really a mark against it, just merely an observation; also, OverRun is sadly the only mode where a player can play as the Locust and Down But Not Out and Executions are no longer there (there are too many additional changes to list in this space). In addition, the new Free-for-All mode is basically a nice way of saying Gears of War now has a Deathmatch mode, though our conclusion about the number of people needed to make the game fun still stands.

I’d like to make one final complaint, which is that three Multiplayer modes, Execution, Master-at-Arms and Breakthrough, can be seen in the menu, but trying to select them has the game telling you to buy the DLC in order to play them. I have no idea if these were added to menu from an update or they were already on the disc, but I don’t like the idea of having a game tell you to spend money on it so you can do more things, even if you never intended to do so. If this was through an update, then it’s more understandable (though no less annoying), but if it was already that way from the start, then I have a problem.

Gears of War Judgment improves on the formula in all of the right ways, introducing tweaks to make the gameplay faster and creating greater replay value through additional modifiers and star ratings. While the story is pretty well-written, the frequent stops erode at the immersion and make the campaign unnecessarily tedious. However, it’s still a very fun game to play and the unlockable Aftermath campaign provides some much-needed closure on what happened to Baird, Cole and C. Carmine during Gears of War 3. This is a must-buy for Gears of War fans, plus for those who are only interested in the Multiplayer, I don’t think you can really go wrong. The gameplay may be getting a little more formulaic, but I’d still be willing to buy the next game and see what they’ll do next.

Gears of War 3 - A Fatal Ending With No Surrendering

So, five months after Gears of War 2, I've finally gotten around to playing Gears of War 3, the very first Xbox 360 game I ever owned. There were other games that had been keeping me busy in the interim, and plus you may have noticed the proximity of this review to God of War III (If you figured out why, then good for you). I've been waiting a while to play this, especially since it came with my Gears of War Xbox 360, so to finally do it after being invested in the series got me wondering if it would meet my expectations. As it turns out, it has.

Unfortunately, the "manual" is not much more than copyright info and a seizure warning, like most games nowadays (thanks, EA), but there is actually a small blurb within it describing the game's premise. Since this and controls are the only things that make this folded paper qualify as a manual in any sense of the word, and due to liking to describe the premise of games which I review, I have decided to borrow heavily from this single paragraph as I do so. After the ending of Gears of War 2, Jacinto, the last stronghold of humanity, has been destroyed. The Locust Horde has driven the Stranded remnants of civilization to the very brink of extinction now that they have swarmed the surface of the planet. And a fearsome new enemy-the Lambent-now threatens to destroy them both. It is now up to Marcus Fenix and the remaining members of Delta Squad to find Marcus' father, Adam Fenix, in order to help destroy the Locust once and for all.

It's Carmine!

What I find interesting about the Gears of War franchise is that every game seems to have a story that is better written and more involved as it goes on, which I find to be a good thing since story is something that I actually care about in a video game. Gears of War 3 is no exception, having been written by science fiction author Karen Traviss. Traviss seems to have a great understanding of the Gears of War universe, as her story is easily the best of the bunch. She writes the characters in a way that shows the deeper connections between them, as well as filling the player in a little more on their lives pre-Delta Squad and how they reverberate to the current situation. Her depiction of the interaction between Marcus and his father is actually very well-written, giving us a sense of their relationship and a reason to care about them. In fact, the plot is done in a way that pretty much every important character is fleshed out very well and we end up caring about them throughout, especially the surprise deaths that have a very meaningful impact on everyone else. To this, I say that Karen Traviss is an excellent writer and a good choice for elevating the quality of the story even higher.

On that note, the single player campaign is actually very good. The levels feel more varied than before, though I could still tell that chest-high walls equals immediate or eventual firefight. Locust and Lambent Locust are introduced at a good pace almost all the way to the end and the introduction of Lambent Humans also created some rather interesting combat scenarios. If I could say one thing though, it would be that a couple of types could easily get annoying, particularly Lambent Stalks and Armored Kantus, the latter of which can only be harmed by explosive ordinance or shooting it in a small area on the face; using a Torque Bow and/or Frag Grenades made these encounters more expedient. On the other hand, the final boss is very challenging and thankfully doesn't go into the realms of annoyance that General RAAM occupied, which made it more satisfying to defeat.

At this point, the gameplay systems are basically the same, but there are some new additions to the weaponry, including the Incendiary Grenade and Sawed-off Shotgun, which allows for experimentation with play styles. Armored suits like the Silverback are also introduced, giving a distinct advantage on the battlefield for as long as its armor can hold out. All in all, the weapons respond very well and all have their own advantages and disadvantages that will surely influence how anyone decides to advance through the game. While I ended up changing my secondary weapon very rarely, I would make sure that I used the Lancer the entire time since I grew to depend on it to help me get through encounters. There may not be any smart bombs, but there are definitely some precision-guided armaments that ensure a more sophisticated way to end up dead.

Or not.

Graphics-wise, Gears of War 3 really pushes Unreal Engine 3 to the limit, utilizing its capabilities in ways that can display both beauty and power. The lighting is much improved and the enemies remain very detailed in a way that you can develop quick strategies simply by looking at what's in front of you. The sounds of the game are also appealing, with voice acting that conveys the characters very well and noises that manage to sound realistic and avoid cacophonous resonance even during the more complex battles. I also really grew to love the sound that plays when a fight was over, since there seemed to be a much higher volume than the previous game.

On another note, I'd like to briefly talk about the different game modes, specifically the return of Horde mode. This mode is similar to what was introduced in the previous game, but has the new addition of command bases, which you must spend money to build up and maintain. The all new Beast Mode is sort of a reverse Horde Mode, in which you spend money to spawn individual Locust to attack a group of humans, either Stranded or COG Soldiers. Due to the changes made in the former, as well as how the latter works, they end up being a lot more fun if you're playing with at least one other person, since your approach by yourself can be significantly different and may end up costing you the match.

So yeah.

Finally, I'd like to bring up the Online Multiplayer component, which is a rare thing for me to actually do, so you're in for a treat. When Microsoft was offering up two months of Xbox Live Gold for $2, I made sure to ride that train for as long as possible. Within this time, I got requests from friends to join in on their matches, so I decided to actually go for it and see what it was like. While I did go through the noob motions at first, I quickly gained speed and figured out how to dominate on the battlefield, even without having the best record among everyone. My play style continued evolving in a short time frame and I was even good enough to beat a modded controller in a Chainsaw Duel, which was actually a surprise to everyone in the party. One of my friends said I was a natural at it, which was great for me because I was actually having a blast. While I have yet to upgrade to Gold again, I found the multiplayer to be excellently done with good balancing and I recommend this feature to anyone with Gold.

Gears of War 3 concludes the saga on a very high note of game design. The story by Karen Traviss is very well written, the graphics are the best it's ever been and the multiplayer is simply fantastic. Fans of the franchise will definitely enjoy this entry in the franchise and shooter fans in general who are looking for their next fix and only care about gameplay should make this their next stop. Newcomers should start from the beginning to aid the story, but if multiplayer is all you care about, should you be in this group, you'll still have a great time.

While Gears of War: Judgement comes out next week, this will unfortunately be the last Gears of War game review that I will get to do for quite a while. If you come back here looking for a review of the next game in the franchise, which takes place at the very beginning, don't expect it anytime soon.

Gears of War 2 - The Gears Keep Turning

Well, it's been about nine months since I first played Gears of War, but I have good reason. After the first game I was ready to play the next entry, but I didn't really have a way to obtain it when I wanted. Fortunately I was able to get a copy of it for my birthday last month and was then able to start and finish it. As a side note, I was going to try and review Otomedius Excellent (you know, the one shmup that all American reviewers hate for no particular reason), but I quickly realized that I wasn't the right kind of person to grant it a proper review (and no, it had nothing to do with that game's anime art style or the clothing decisions of the characters), so I almost immediately swapped it out for this. Anyway, Gears of War 2 is the 2008 sequel to Gears of War, developed by Epic Games. Though four years is a pretty short time frame, or the internet equivalent of eons, it serves as proof that the game has aged gracefully in that time.

As always, I begin with the story (you know, the thing no one seems to pay attention to in shooters anymore). Months after the ending of the first game, COG learns that the lightmass bomb they detonated failed to produce the intended result, with the Locust now returning stronger than ever. As cities continue to sink into the depths of the planet Sera, Marcus Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad are sent into Locust territory to find a way to destroy them once and for all. During this journey, Dominic "Dom" Santiago embarks on a personal quest to find his wife Maria, who had been taken by the Locust horde long ago.

This is the basic idea of the storyline, but its execution is done much better than in the original. No longer does it feel like a bunch of events strung together by a loose plot thread. Now there is sense of urgency, a true sense of war on a much larger scale than what they had shown before. The conflict is also more personal, adding an extra layer to an already deeper story. I personally felt myself becoming more attached to the universe of Gears of War thanks to the true magnitude of the story finally becoming more realized and fleshed out. Dom is also seen as a much deeper character and the heightened emotions of the Delta Squad teammates lets you get to know a bit more about their camaraderie on the battlefield, their real strength when they work together. Plus, the revelation of what exactly happens to Maria Santiago is a truly heartbreaking moment, especially when it's revealed just what the Locust do with the humans they capture.

However, the campaign, which I played on the new Normal difficulty setting, is not without its faults. For one thing, the (strongest) villain Skorge's boss fight, while difficult, is nowhere near as difficult as General RAAM  (not that this lowered difficulty is inherently a bad thing) and he can only be damaged through the newly introduced chainsaw dueling feature, which makes him out to be a rather gimmicky boss. Then there's the final boss, which I won't spoil the identity of, that literally dies in seconds, so it felt rather anticlimactic. The sequence of events that happen up until this point however is nothing short of awesome.

To switch over to gameplay for a bit, there are some improvements to the systems introduced in the first game. While the cover system remains largely the same, it is now possible to pick up downed enemies and use them as meat shields to act as bullet sponges for longer lasting survival. I didn't use this feature too often, but it really came in handy when I needed cover in a pinch (and of course didn't already kill someone). Another feature that's really cool is the aforementioned ability to initiate chainsaw duels between enemies that also posses a Lancer. In a chainsaw duel, the chainsaw bayonets clash until someone gives up and dies. To ensure your own survival in this situation, you must rapidly pound B to overpower your opponent. While this didn't occur too often, I did find this feature to be a great addition, since it takes more advantage of the series' signature weapon.

While these are both fun new abilities, there is something very worth mentioning as far as new battlefield additions go: weapons. The already existing weapons seemed to have some tweaks done to make them more balanced (no longer will I lean on the shooter strategy of "pick the shotgun and win"), but brand new ones are introduced, and I love almost all of them. Two of these will lower walking speed while in use, but they come with some serious firepower in return. The chain gun can be used as a cover mount and the mortar cannon can rain death from above; I liked using the former more, but only because at times it seemed a little difficult to determine the correct distance with the latter. The flamethrower allows one to attack multiple enemies at once, which gave me a sense of power while using it, and the Gorgon pistol, which fires in bursts of four shots at a time, was actually good enough for me that I would always take that over the regular pistol whenever possible. The last one is the ink grenade, which is a grenade that emits a poison cloud instead of an explosion, but it just wasn't the weapon for me. In fact, I couldn't really tell the difference while playing (does it have anything to do with me playing on a standard def television?).

Then there are the enemies themselves: The Locust. There are some new locust types to keep things interesting and the firefights long. While I don't quite remember the names of the new additions off the top of my head, except for the infected Lambent Locust I do remember that they showcased the new weapons to a sometimes brutal degree, which made them fun to overcome. However, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that only one new type particularly pissed me off: Tickers. They make a sound that eventually becomes annoying and they move too fast for proper aiming. Plus, they explode.

The level design in the campaign was very good. Checkpoints are well located, for the most part anyway, and the environments are all unique from each other. Sections would sometimes come with a unique environmental challenge, including one where Marcus has to dodge razorhail, hail that is presumably as sharp as razors, while moving through a train yard with plenty of open sections. It is challenges like these that really spice up the events and help make the game more memorable in its ability to do so. What helps are the improved graphics, which help to truly capture the feel of each environment and display its full nature, including a stretch that takes place in an realm that is completely organic.

While I haven't really played the online multiplayer, since I actually play games for their stories, I did actually try out the new Horde Mode, a wave based survival mode that pits the player against up to 50 different groups of Locust on several maps. The challenge is certainly present, especially if you go it alone, but the result is no less enjoyable (except for those pesky Tickers). I liked playing through Horde Mode for a bit and wonder now just how much better it is when playing with friends. However, I do have a complaint about the lack of a local multiplayer option for this mode, since I believe that more games should be able to do that.

As a sequel, Gears of War 2 is proof that what started in the original can indeed get better as it goes on. The story is better written and its most awesome moments make it unforgettable, there is more variety in combat and Horde mode is an excellent addition to the franchise (which would then be included in every shooter ever made). Though the bosses end up being underwhelming, the strengths totally outweigh the weaknesses. I can't wait to play the next installment and in the mean time would highly recommend what is definitely a future classic for the Xbox 360; It's one of the best I've played so far.

Gears of War - The Invasion Has Begun

Soon after Christmas had ended, I decided to use money I had been saving over a few months to purchase the Gears of War Xbox 360. While the console did come with Gears of War 3, I felt it would be best to play the other games first in order to help the story. After borrowing the first game from a friend, I can now proudly introduce Gears of War as this blog's first ever Xbox 360 review. As a game developed by Epic Games in 2006, Gears of War is still enjoyable today, though I did find some things off about it.

The first thing to address is the story. If you don't read the manual or idle at the Title Screen for a few seconds, the game drops you into conflict with little to no explanation as to what led up to it. The best explanation given is that the Locust have been invading the planet Sera since an event known as Emergence Day, which led to the government using a Scorched Earth tactic on every invaded city. The continuing invasion leads in turn to the main character Marcus Fenix getting released from prison; he was in there in the first place for disobeying orders. After being taken out, he rejoins his fellow Gears soldiers in the Delta unit of COG (Coalition of Ordered Governments) to aid in wiping out the Locust threat.

And that's about it. The story is really more of a series of events tied to the invasion and what Delta Squad does about it. I didn't find myself engaged in it too much because of this, since their efforts don't really amount to much in the long run. Still, even if the plot doesn't go anywhere, it was interesting anyway and I kind of want to see what happens next in the overall storyline. The characters are also interesting to interact with, but I still couldn't find myself getting emotionally attached to them.

The gameplay mechanics on the other hand are fantastic. The emphasis on getting to cover during a firefight is aided by an excellent system that allowed me to do what I wanted with ease and allow good tactical precision. Occasionally I would stick myself to an object I wanted to navigate around, but it was more my fault than anything. I also liked the Active Reload system, where the player can double tap the reload button on a meter similarly to a sports game in an attempt to reload faster. Hitting the button at the right time will give a much faster reload time, with a perfectly timed press offering extra damage. Miss however, and your gun will jam and delay the timing more than if you didn't do anything at all. Once I got the hang of it, it made my tactics a lot faster to implement.

Encounter design is done very well too, with deaths attributed more to the fault of the player and checkpoints placed mostly in right areas. What also helps is that the overall AI is smart enough to aid Fenix without getting in the way, as well as make it somewhat satisfying to overcome. I wish I could say the same for boss encounters, which for the most part weren't very challenging due to employing simple strategies to take them down. The final boss on the other hand felt a bit too overpowered due to all of the elements in place to make sure that beating him even on Casual is extremely difficult. The only way I was able to pass was to take advantage of a glitch where he stayed in one spot the whole battle. Incidentally, this was also the only major glitch I could detect from the game.

I also enjoyed wielding the various guns in the game, especially the iconic Lancer/Chainsaw Bayonet. Getting up close and personal to dispatch Locust with that weapon was always incredibly satisfying as blood showered everywhere and onto the camera. The other weapons handle very well and act accordingly, though the Hammer of Dawn, while awesome, has an admittedly underwhelming size for a laser beam that rains down from the sky.

On the technical side of things, I loved how detailed everything was down to the guns and environments, but especially so on the living objects. Sometimes when reloading a checkpoint though, the textures can visibly take a few seconds to fully appear. Voice acting was also good, even if the occasionally humorous dialogue falls flat some of the time. The music on the other hand was fantastic to listen to, with a great score that kept me playing until the end.

Overall, Gears of War was a very enjoyable experience that helped to justify owning an Xbox 360. Even when stumbling in some places, Epic Games created a solid campaign that I hope will be improved upon in Gears of War 2. If you're playing on a 360 for the first time like me, I would give this a good recommendation. Here's to the first of hopefully many 360 reviews to come.