Sierra Kilo

Read Damion’s post for my thoughts on Gears of War. I can’t vouch for the AI because I played the game co-op, but everything else is spot-on. I played through the game twice: once with a buddy, and once with my brother-in-law.

As far as weapons go, I carried the same two: the machine gun and the sniper rifle. The submachine gun was okay and you could always find plenty of ammo for it, but it didn’t have the chainsaw for the Wretches. I only picked up the shotgun by mistake. The Boomer gun was cool, but ammo was scarce. The crossbow was a bit boring and useless in a firefight. There’s nothing you can’t do with the machine gun, sniper rifle, and a few grenades.

The story was interesting, but was a bit like watching the second movie in a trilogy without seeing the first. There was little backstory and very little was resolved. It set up a sequel so well that we felt cheated. We only got about 6-7 hours of play out of it (not counting that I played it twice). That being said, for such a short game in story mode, you’d think that multiplayer would deliver more. Unfortunately, all you get is a couple of 4-on-4 game modes using the same maps from the story mode. Very disappointing.

I did enjoy certain parts of the game, though. The reloading minigame was excellent. That should be a feature included in every future shooter. The Berserker sections were fun, too. I also really enjoyed the Pitch Black-esque sections where you had to find/shoot the propane tanks to give you pockets of light to travel through or else you’d be torn up by the bat things in the dark. Why the refugees just left propane sitting around was a bit of a mystery, but it was fun.

Overall, I’d give it a 7/10. Passing, but just barely. The graphics were good, cutscenes were good, control was easy. I had problems with voiceover volume going too soft a lot. Ambient noise would often be louder than the actors. This is a game that I’m going to trade in the near future. Co-op mode was a lot of fun, so hopefully I’ll find a longer game that includes it. Does Rainbow Six Vegas include co-op?

UPDATE: Damion and the XBox site confirm that R6 Vegas includes co-op play, so it looks like Gears will make way for Ding and the gang. I haven’t played R6 since the original on PC, but I enjoyed it then and it sounds like things have only gotten better. The customizable multiplayer character sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I might have to brush up on my fragging skills a bit, though, because the 10-year-olds in Gears were wiping the floor with me. My skills are probably better suited as a medic, anyway

UPDATE #2: It looks like it might only be co-op over XBox Live. That’s a little disappointing because I can’t have a friend over to play. Instead, he has to have his own XBox 360 at home. I liked the split-screen co-op mode. I’m still making the trade, though.