Excellent Campaign but Lacking in Multiplayer

Gears of War takes you on a harsh, gritty experience as a former soldier turned prisoner who was freed in order to fight the Locusts hordes scattered throughout the world.

Overall, the game provides intense action and sequences that will often keep the user on their toes. Unlike many first and third person shooters, Gears implements a “sticky cover system,” letting the player use various objects and environmental features to protect themselves. The user can fire blindly around objects, or lean around them to fight back. Gears pulls this system off beautifully, providing fun and realistic game play.

Gears of War shines when it comes to cooperative game play. Here two players can team up and play the entire campaign together from start to finish. The game forces players to work and help each other through obstacles, and at times are split up apart from each other. The primary downside with coop game play in Gears is the fact that if one player consistently messes up and dies, you constantly have to restart that section of the game until they get it right. It can be fairly frustrating if you friends do not excel at shooters.

Overall the game play is solid and the graphics are awe inspiring. However, multiplayer is where Gears of War struggles. The game utilizes Windows LIVE! service, which can often be slow and frustrating. It can take several minutes at times for servers to even appear. On the bright side, Microsoft recently made their online service entirely free, opening up players to full benefits of matchmaking and achievements. Multiplayer also does not feel as smooth as many other games, often feeling clumsy and awkward at times.

If you are looking for a solid single player and cooperative game to play, Gears of War is an excellent solution to meet those needs. If you are looking for an intense, gritty, action packed multiplayer experience, I would not recommend Gears of War. Hopefully patches will be released to tweak the game and improve performance in online play.