Gears sets a high standard for next gen gaming. By seamlessly integrating disparate but superior elements into a cohesive, awe-inspiring whole, it raises the bar to an impressive level.
My initial impression, of course, was related to the game's production values. The character models, in particular, impress with highly detailed facial features and expressions.
Likewise, lip movement is impressively in sync with dialog, which is well-written. And the voice acting, while uniformly betraying an over-reliance on deep, gravelly machismo ala Clint Eastwood, nonetheless excels and is consistent with the general presentation.
The highly stylized art direction also contributes to ridiculously muscled bodies and excessively copious bloodletting, but these features similarly are appropriate within the context of the game's hyperrealistic world.
Character animation is particularly well done. Humans contort and move convincingly and foes charge, climb and bound disturbingly. The best example is the roadie run, where the cinema verite camera follows your character's crouching sprint.
One caveat, however, is how wading through foes' corpses tosses their hulking bodies aside like featherweight ragdolls. More realistic would have been having to walk over them, but this is a minor gripe.
That said, character design of your foes is well realized, with otherworldly yet terrestrial features that makes them familiar in a creepy, nightmarish kind of way (the pasty skin befitting their underground existence is particularly effective).
Animations here, too, are well done, especially the climbing, bounding wretches and the blindly charging berserkers. And their calls, from the high-pitched shrieks of the former to the bloodthirsty scream of the latter, effectively sends shivers down ones spine.
The characters are clearly at home in a devastated art-deco inpsired world of once-majestic, crumbling facades and gutted, stylized interiors. Highly detailed and inpired, they brilliantly convey a unique time and place, and the loss that has been experienced by this world's inhabitants.
The one downside is that some of the locales are standard fare for this genre, be it factory, mine, caverns, etc. However, the developers have put their stamp on the details, where their imagination has produced a decidedly unique take on these well-worn conventions.
This setting would be nothing more than window dressing were it not for the superlative gameplay of this action-adventure shooter that helps animate this world by successfully bringing the characters and action to life.
The main element that propels the gameplay is shooting from cover, and this is well-implemented, surpassing even the clever and effective mechanics seen in kill.switch. In Gears, besides shooting blindly from behind cover, one can shoot accurately to either side or over cover.
You can also dart from cover to nearby cover with the press of a button. Likewise, you can often vault over your cover or roll away from it. The multipurpose, context-sensitive A button is the key to all these moves and while involving a learning curve actually is well-implemented.
The one caveat here is that this all-in-one button can lead to frustration when it confuses competing demands. For instance, when using roadie run (also mapped to A) to flee a berserker, I brushed against a column and instantly took cover. Nevermind that berserkers blow through these.
This is the one major gameplay flaw. While such a button eases gameplay and contributes to fluid action and an overall exciting experience, at times it can work against you, though admittedly that's rare. Thanksfully, recharging health ala Halo minimizes frustration.
Varied weapons include innovations such as the satellite-laser Hammer of Dawn and the chainsaw-wielding rifle. The former is mostly context-sensitive, meaning you'll find/use one when you need to, and the latter is gory fun, but you won't rely on either. There's also a crossbow with explosive tipped arrows for good measure.
But for the most part your weapons are standard issue variations such as the automatic rifle, shotgun, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, pistol, etc. They all work very well and feature nice effects, but could have benefitted from greater imagination.
Melee likewise is fairly routine though it works well. The nice addition here as mentioned is the rifle with chainsaw attachment. Unique and well-implemented it offers a nice change of pace. However, it sometimes is too slow to be effective especially against wretches.
Speaking of, there's a decent variety of foes to contend with, from the weapon-wielding locusts to agile, clawing wretches to swarming kryll to charging berserkers. There are others still, but generally they feature more powerful variations of these enemy types. Still, this menagerie, combined with solid AI, provides challenge enough.
The AI, both friendly and not, helps push the experience to another level. Your squadmates are fairly intuitive and often use cover well while holding their own against the enemy, which likewise generally practice effective tactics and have pin-point accuracy.
Perhaps as in real-life, however, there are some dullards among the bunch. It doesn't help to have your comrades standing idly by while wretches charge past them to maul you, or charging into harms way either against superior locust numbers or into kryll infested darkness.
Thankfully, you can revive your teammates when they are felled, but when it's due to stupidity than that places you in harms way too. Thanks alot. Mercifully, foes don't fare any better. They too will charge at ill-advised times or into darkness (and kryll) to get at you.
Good thing these are mostly isolated incidents and don't detract too much from gameplay. In fact, this title consistently raises the tension with exciting gunplay and suspenseful action. Whether contending with locust, boomers, wretches and kryll all at once or one determined berserker, you'll be on the edge of your seat.
Not that the story is necessarily involving. It's definitely a nice subtext to all the action that transpires and sets the mood well, but it's not Tom Clancy (which may or may not be a good thing depending on your perspective).
In the end, I'd give it a 9.5 on a scale of 10 due to it's impeccable integration of superior production values and quality gameplay elements, despite the downside of the multipurpose A button, at times questionable AI and less variation in weapons and levels than could have been implemented considering the imagination otherwise on display.
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