Gears of War (Single Player)
Gears of War looks absolutely spectacular. It is impossible to overstate how stunning this game looks in HD.The voice work is absolutely superb. Cut scenes are magnificent.
Really.
I know I've said games look great before, but this is the high-water mark for the HD era so far. Gears of War is so stunning visually that it's hard to believe.
So what do you do in the game?
Here's what I've done so far: run thirty feet, take cover, shoot. Run thirty feet, take cover, shoot. Repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat.
That's after 3-4 hours of play, switching back and forth between Casual and Hardcore difficulty.
Who am I and why am I here?
That's what Half-Life 2 did so well--from the opening second of the game, you had a strong sense of place. You knew the stakes. No, Gears of War isn't supposed to be Half-Life 2, but there's no reason there can't be a well-defined story.
And actually, there is--there's actually quite a backstory--if only they had put it into the game. Maybe they do, but I really haven't seen any of it, and I'm really losing interest. After several hours, I'd generally like to give a shit whether people live or die, but at this point I couldn't care less. I've got nothing invested in these people, and we're mostly shooting enemies that appear to exist because of interbreeding between the Michelin Man and Skeletor. Not to mention that my ammo must be made of felt, because it takes massive amounts of hits to kill anything.
It's possible that the single-player campaign really kicks in at some point, but here's the problem: I may not make it to that point. I've got Medieval II: Total War, 1701 A.D., The Guild 2, Paraworld, and Dwarf Fortress all begging to be played, and every single one of them is more interesting to me than this.
I actually think Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter is far more involving on a minute to minute basis than Gears of War. GRAW's save system stank to high heaven, but I felt far more immersed while I played than in GOW.
Multiplayer, in contrast, is a terrific experience, based on my e-mail. So if you're big on multiplayer, this could well be your dream game. Single player? Not so much. It's not like Gears of War is a step backwards--it's just that they didn't make me care, and I was hoping they would.
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