Monday, Mar 24, 2008
Gears of War
Gears of War is a tactical third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was initially released an as exclusive title for the Xbox 360 on November 12, 2006 in North America, and on November 17, 2006 in Europe outside of Germany, where Microsoft Game Studios did not publish the game after it was denied a rating.A Limited Collector's Edition was also released, which included a disc of bonus content and an art book titled Destroyed Beauty that detailed much of the game's back-story. A Microsoft Windows version of the game was created with additional content and released in North America on November 6, 2007, with a Mac OS X version also confirmed.
The game centers on the soldiers of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as the Locust Horde. The player assumes the role of Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner and war-hardened soldier. The game is based on the use of cover and strategic fire for the player to advance through the scenarios; a second player can play co-operatively through the main campaign to assist. The game also features several online game modes for up to eight players.
Gears of War has been highly successful since its release; it sold over three million copies in just ten weeks and was the fastest-selling video game of 2006, and was the second-most played game over Xbox Live during 2007 A film adaptation is currently in the works, and the game is slated to be the first of a trilogy. The first sequel, Gears of War 2 is slated to be published in November, 2008.
Story
Setting
Gears of War takes place on Sera, a planet inhabited by humans, who have warred over a phosphorescent, low-viscosity fluid known as "Imulsion" highly valued as a source of energy. Over several decades, the Pendulum Wars took place between various human countries, and ended with the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) taking control of the planet. The war quickly came to an end on "Emergence Day", when a ravenous force known as the Locust Horde bursts from underneath major human cities using a network of underground tunnels.
The Coalition, unable to defend against the sudden attack, is routed, and the Locust Horde takes control of the majority of Sera's urban, military, and manufacturing centers within 24 hours. The COG orders any survivors to Jacinto Plateau, a safe haven from Locust underground attacks due to the composition of the rock it is made of, and then uses orbital laser weapons in a scorched earth strategy to deny the Locust Horde its gains. The human survivors that could not make it become known as the "Stranded" and have to survive on their own. In the 14 years since "Emergence Day", the Locust continue to attack the fortified Jacinto Plateau and force the COG to turn to the infirm, the young, and the condemned to replace their dwindling numbers.
Characters
Gears of War focuses primarily on Marcus Fenix, the main character, and Delta Squad's (consisting of Marcus, Dominic, Augustus "Cole Train" Cole, and Damon Baird) encounters with the Locust Horde. Players take control of Marcus Fenix, freshly rescued by Dominic Santiago from the Jacinto Maximum Security Penitentiary. When in co-op two player, the second player assumes control of Santiago. All four of the squad members are available for play during multiplayer games, along with Victor Hoffman.
Some of the characters received voice-overs from popular culture icons. Marcus Fenix is voiced by John DiMaggio, best known as the voice of Bender in Futurama, and Augustus "Cole Train" Cole is voiced by Lester "The Mighty Rasta" Speight, who plays "Terrible" Terry Tate, the "Pain Train", in the Office Linebacker commercials made for Reebok.
Plot
The game's actual plot begins fourteen years after Emergence Day. Marcus Fenix, a former COG soldier, is reinstated into the military after spending four years in prison. Dominic Santiago successfully extracts him from the prison, and takes him to meet Delta Squad. The group seeks to obtain the "resonator", a device that will map the Locust Tunnel, and later deploy the "Lightmass Bomb", which will destroy the heart of the Locust forces. Fenix and his allies recover the device, but suffer multiple casualties in the process. Amidst the chaos, Fenix leads the remaining soldiers through the ruins of Sera, to a mining facility, and finally into the planet's depths.
Delta Squad succeeds in detonating the resonator, but only to shortly discover that the device failed to map the entire tunnel network. Fortunately, they discover a near complete map of the network that originates from Fenix's old home, specifically his father's laboratory. The group ventures to the Fenix estate at East Barricade Academy, encountering heavy Locust resistance. The data is collected, and the group then boards a train carrying the Lightmass Bomb. Fenix and Santiago battle their way through the train, and defeat General RAAM, before finally uploading the data. Fenix activates the bomb while Santiago escapes onto a helicopter and then, with the help of Colonel Hoffman, pulls Fenix onboard after the Bomb is activated. Fully activated, the Lightmass Bomb launches into Sera's underground, and eradicates the Locust tunnel networks. In the game's final sequence, Hoffman delivers a victory speech as the tunnels collapse and explode, whereupon the voice of the Locust Queen promises that the Locust will keep on fighting.
Gameplay
Gears of War is a third person "over-the-shoulder" shooter. The game places emphasis on the importance of cover, and on the harder difficulty levels being exposed to enemy fire for only a few seconds can result in death, making cover essential. While behind cover, players can choose to aim carefully with their weapons or use blind-fire to avoid subsequent damage from showing their heads from behind cover. Players have a wide assortment of rolling and cover maneuvers at their disposal with the press of a single button. The player can perform a roadie run, or a sprint, where the camera will lower towards the ground and bob considerably, as if the camera were being held by another person running behind the player.
Gears of War features a relatively small variety of weapons compared to other shooters, following other third-person shooter weapons sets with assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and sniper rifles with additional melee capabilities. Notably, the "Lancer" assault rifle is equipped with a chainsaw bayonet that instantly kills a foe, while each of the other weapons can be used to bash an opponent at close range, with a heavier weapon doing more damage. There is also a more tactical, immensely powerful weapon named the Hammer of Dawn which targets areas for an orbital satellite-mounted laser to destroy. The weapon, while very powerful, can easily kill the player as well as the teammates and opponents if used carelessly and can only be used in large, open outside spaces. Both smoke and fragmentation grenades are available to be thrown or used in melee. Single-player missions usually carry over weapons from previous missions, while multiplayer matches provide players with a smoke grenade, Lancer assault rifle, Snub pistol, and Gnasher shotgun, with more powerful weapons being scattered at strategic locations on the map, though the host can select to randomize weapon locations (in unranked player matches). Discarded and dropped weapons and ammo can be collected by the player, but the player may only carry one type of grenade, one type of side arm, and two types of the remaining weapon ****s at any time.
A gameplay component unique to Gears of War, the Active Reload, entails hitting the right bumper at the correct time to speed up your reload. There are three possibilities for the result of the second tap of the reload button: perfect, good, and fail. If timed perfectly, the reload takes less than a second and any rounds refilled will momentarily have an 8% increase in damage. If timed well, the reload will simply take less time. If timed poorly, the gun will jam momentarily and the ammo screen turns red, and the reloading process will take longer than if an Active Reload was not attempted. When a gun jams, players cannot change weapons or melee, exposing themselves to several seconds of extreme vulnerability, especially when involved in close-range combat.
Instead of the health bar found in many third and first-person shooters, Gears of War uses the Crimson Omen, a cog shaped icon that grows brighter to indicate increased damage. If there is a faint appearance of the Omen on the screen, it indicates that the player has sustained minor wounds. When the Omen becomes more defined, it shows that the player has sustained severe wounds and should seek cover. When there is a skull inside of the symbol, the character is incapacitated; in the single-player mode, this represents player death and the player must restart from the last checkpoint, while in multiplayer (both co-op and competition modes), another team member may attempt to revive the player. A downed player in the competition mode Execution may also try to restore himself from incapacitation by rapidly pressing the (A) button for several seconds, though during this time the enemy can brutally end the player's life by using the chainsaw bayonet, smashing the player's head with the butt of a weapon, performing a "curb stomp", or taking a headshot. If the player has taken damage but is not incapacitated the damage can be healed by staying out of the line of fire for a short time, which causes the Omen to slowly fade away.
The game features three difficulty modes (Casual, Hardcore, and Insane) across the five-act single player maps. There are 49 Achievements that shipped with the game. These achievements may be unlocked through playing single player, two-player co-op as Dominic Santiago, and ranked match games in Warzone, Execution, Assassination, and Annex on Xbox Live. Eight new Achievements that can be earned in either Ranked or Player matches for Annex mode and the Hidden Front maps were introduced in the fourth update, bringing the total number of achievements to 57.
Gears of War is a tactical third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was initially released an as exclusive title for the Xbox 360 on November 12, 2006 in North America, and on November 17, 2006 in Europe outside of Germany, where Microsoft Game Studios did not publish the game after it was denied a rating.A Limited Collector's Edition was also released, which included a disc of bonus content and an art book titled Destroyed Beauty that detailed much of the game's back-story. A Microsoft Windows version of the game was created with additional content and released in North America on November 6, 2007, with a Mac OS X version also confirmed.
The game centers on the soldiers of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as the Locust Horde. The player assumes the role of Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner and war-hardened soldier. The game is based on the use of cover and strategic fire for the player to advance through the scenarios; a second player can play co-operatively through the main campaign to assist. The game also features several online game modes for up to eight players.
Gears of War has been highly successful since its release; it sold over three million copies in just ten weeks and was the fastest-selling video game of 2006, and was the second-most played game over Xbox Live during 2007 A film adaptation is currently in the works, and the game is slated to be the first of a trilogy. The first sequel, Gears of War 2 is slated to be published in November, 2008.
Story
Setting
Gears of War takes place on Sera, a planet inhabited by humans, who have warred over a phosphorescent, low-viscosity fluid known as "Imulsion" highly valued as a source of energy. Over several decades, the Pendulum Wars took place between various human countries, and ended with the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) taking control of the planet. The war quickly came to an end on "Emergence Day", when a ravenous force known as the Locust Horde bursts from underneath major human cities using a network of underground tunnels.
The Coalition, unable to defend against the sudden attack, is routed, and the Locust Horde takes control of the majority of Sera's urban, military, and manufacturing centers within 24 hours. The COG orders any survivors to Jacinto Plateau, a safe haven from Locust underground attacks due to the composition of the rock it is made of, and then uses orbital laser weapons in a scorched earth strategy to deny the Locust Horde its gains. The human survivors that could not make it become known as the "Stranded" and have to survive on their own. In the 14 years since "Emergence Day", the Locust continue to attack the fortified Jacinto Plateau and force the COG to turn to the infirm, the young, and the condemned to replace their dwindling numbers.
Characters
Gears of War focuses primarily on Marcus Fenix, the main character, and Delta Squad's (consisting of Marcus, Dominic, Augustus "Cole Train" Cole, and Damon Baird) encounters with the Locust Horde. Players take control of Marcus Fenix, freshly rescued by Dominic Santiago from the Jacinto Maximum Security Penitentiary. When in co-op two player, the second player assumes control of Santiago. All four of the squad members are available for play during multiplayer games, along with Victor Hoffman.
Some of the characters received voice-overs from popular culture icons. Marcus Fenix is voiced by John DiMaggio, best known as the voice of Bender in Futurama, and Augustus "Cole Train" Cole is voiced by Lester "The Mighty Rasta" Speight, who plays "Terrible" Terry Tate, the "Pain Train", in the Office Linebacker commercials made for Reebok.
Plot
The game's actual plot begins fourteen years after Emergence Day. Marcus Fenix, a former COG soldier, is reinstated into the military after spending four years in prison. Dominic Santiago successfully extracts him from the prison, and takes him to meet Delta Squad. The group seeks to obtain the "resonator", a device that will map the Locust Tunnel, and later deploy the "Lightmass Bomb", which will destroy the heart of the Locust forces. Fenix and his allies recover the device, but suffer multiple casualties in the process. Amidst the chaos, Fenix leads the remaining soldiers through the ruins of Sera, to a mining facility, and finally into the planet's depths.
Delta Squad succeeds in detonating the resonator, but only to shortly discover that the device failed to map the entire tunnel network. Fortunately, they discover a near complete map of the network that originates from Fenix's old home, specifically his father's laboratory. The group ventures to the Fenix estate at East Barricade Academy, encountering heavy Locust resistance. The data is collected, and the group then boards a train carrying the Lightmass Bomb. Fenix and Santiago battle their way through the train, and defeat General RAAM, before finally uploading the data. Fenix activates the bomb while Santiago escapes onto a helicopter and then, with the help of Colonel Hoffman, pulls Fenix onboard after the Bomb is activated. Fully activated, the Lightmass Bomb launches into Sera's underground, and eradicates the Locust tunnel networks. In the game's final sequence, Hoffman delivers a victory speech as the tunnels collapse and explode, whereupon the voice of the Locust Queen promises that the Locust will keep on fighting.
Gameplay
Gears of War is a third person "over-the-shoulder" shooter. The game places emphasis on the importance of cover, and on the harder difficulty levels being exposed to enemy fire for only a few seconds can result in death, making cover essential. While behind cover, players can choose to aim carefully with their weapons or use blind-fire to avoid subsequent damage from showing their heads from behind cover. Players have a wide assortment of rolling and cover maneuvers at their disposal with the press of a single button. The player can perform a roadie run, or a sprint, where the camera will lower towards the ground and bob considerably, as if the camera were being held by another person running behind the player.
Gears of War features a relatively small variety of weapons compared to other shooters, following other third-person shooter weapons sets with assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and sniper rifles with additional melee capabilities. Notably, the "Lancer" assault rifle is equipped with a chainsaw bayonet that instantly kills a foe, while each of the other weapons can be used to bash an opponent at close range, with a heavier weapon doing more damage. There is also a more tactical, immensely powerful weapon named the Hammer of Dawn which targets areas for an orbital satellite-mounted laser to destroy. The weapon, while very powerful, can easily kill the player as well as the teammates and opponents if used carelessly and can only be used in large, open outside spaces. Both smoke and fragmentation grenades are available to be thrown or used in melee. Single-player missions usually carry over weapons from previous missions, while multiplayer matches provide players with a smoke grenade, Lancer assault rifle, Snub pistol, and Gnasher shotgun, with more powerful weapons being scattered at strategic locations on the map, though the host can select to randomize weapon locations (in unranked player matches). Discarded and dropped weapons and ammo can be collected by the player, but the player may only carry one type of grenade, one type of side arm, and two types of the remaining weapon ****s at any time.
A gameplay component unique to Gears of War, the Active Reload, entails hitting the right bumper at the correct time to speed up your reload. There are three possibilities for the result of the second tap of the reload button: perfect, good, and fail. If timed perfectly, the reload takes less than a second and any rounds refilled will momentarily have an 8% increase in damage. If timed well, the reload will simply take less time. If timed poorly, the gun will jam momentarily and the ammo screen turns red, and the reloading process will take longer than if an Active Reload was not attempted. When a gun jams, players cannot change weapons or melee, exposing themselves to several seconds of extreme vulnerability, especially when involved in close-range combat.
Instead of the health bar found in many third and first-person shooters, Gears of War uses the Crimson Omen, a cog shaped icon that grows brighter to indicate increased damage. If there is a faint appearance of the Omen on the screen, it indicates that the player has sustained minor wounds. When the Omen becomes more defined, it shows that the player has sustained severe wounds and should seek cover. When there is a skull inside of the symbol, the character is incapacitated; in the single-player mode, this represents player death and the player must restart from the last checkpoint, while in multiplayer (both co-op and competition modes), another team member may attempt to revive the player. A downed player in the competition mode Execution may also try to restore himself from incapacitation by rapidly pressing the (A) button for several seconds, though during this time the enemy can brutally end the player's life by using the chainsaw bayonet, smashing the player's head with the butt of a weapon, performing a "curb stomp", or taking a headshot. If the player has taken damage but is not incapacitated the damage can be healed by staying out of the line of fire for a short time, which causes the Omen to slowly fade away.
The game features three difficulty modes (Casual, Hardcore, and Insane) across the five-act single player maps. There are 49 Achievements that shipped with the game. These achievements may be unlocked through playing single player, two-player co-op as Dominic Santiago, and ranked match games in Warzone, Execution, Assassination, and Annex on Xbox Live. Eight new Achievements that can be earned in either Ranked or Player matches for Annex mode and the Hidden Front maps were introduced in the fourth update, bringing the total number of achievements to 57.
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