Gears Of War - Xbox 360

the one that started the series. it's a great game and via back compat looks pretty danged good.

Good

I bought this game for only $4 ($2 shipping) used (worked perfectly and had a good case and manual) for my Xbox 360, mainly because when I was younger my brother and his friends played it alot and I watched them play and it seemed fun. Also, this game is a Xbox 360 exclusive, a classic, and very cheap but fun. The campaign is amazing and it's really fun, challenging, suspenseful, and scary. People even still play multiplayer on this. Even though this game is old, I would recommend it to anyone who's cheap and wants to buy a good game, esp. to all the 3rd person/1st person shooters. And the chainsaw kicks major a$$!

Gears of War is hands down the best co-op campaign game I have ever played. I have always been a supporter of the Halo series for incorporating co-op split screen campaign and Microsoft who creates both Halo and Gears of War has outdone itself. Gears of War is the greatest third person shooter starting one of the best franchises the gaming industry will see. This extremely graphic and post apocalyptic world sucks you in and takes you on a crazy ride through hell and back. Gears of War has a very gripping plot and story that leaves you begging for more. I have also just purchased Gears of War 2 and it is just as amazing. Well done Microsoft keep it going.

Just to state it vestigially, I'm a bit surprised I'm writing this review; usually I steer clear of writing reviews on the most heavily promoted games, as they tend to have so many other reviews written about them and I would expect mine to get overlooked, (especially considering this game's age) and I generally have the mindset that quality yet obscure games deserve my focus more often, as they often require someone to vouch for their quality more so than the biggest named shooters. Upon reading both a critical and favorable review of this game roughly a day ago though, I thought neither represented it very accurately, and so here I am...Of course this is a review of Gears of War. I'm sure anyone reading this already has at least some broad knowledge of the franchise, as it's become Microsoft's secondary flagship franchise next to Halo, and possibly the most flagship this gen specifically. Those reading this who haven't played it probably want to know, "does it live up to its hype"? Very broadly, yes, though at least by my standards that is not to say it isn't sorely lacking in some areas.What I have to be most critical of is the game's plot, or even more broadly the singleplayer experience as a whole. My personal experience thereof was a bit ironic; I bought the game under the impression - based off other gamers' testaments - that if I were going to only like one mode, it'd be the campaign/singleplayer... That couldn't have been less true... The plot elements involved with the campaign are extremely bare; that's pretty standardized with reference to shooters - especially big-name shooters at that - but a lot of players who are major fans of the franchise often describe the mode as a "must-play", and just being totally honest I didn't even play fully through (I played roughly halfway through, so I'm assuming I have enough experience with it to provide an objective take on it).In addition to the weak plot, most of the characters are depicted incredibly flatly and/or prototypically characterized, The only exceptions per me are Kim and Baird... The former, while he is a bit bland, comes off iconoclastic as he's Asian yet still very capable of holding his own in a fight, and the latter proves genuinely funny a few times during the campaign (albeit this humor comes off a bit unrealistic considering this nightmarish universe the characters inhabit). Fenix and Dom, the game's protagonist and deuteragonist respectively, can very simplistically be defined as general tough guy prototype, and probably blandest character in the game respectively (which says a lot considering none of the characters - as already mentioned - are that well fleshed out). This is also a trait standardized as far as shooters go, but the gameplay is also extremely linear... Linear gameplay works well for some games, but the extreme nature of this game's coupled with the very bare plot and paper-thin characters grants this game almost no replay value only encompassing its singleplayer mode...So I've been thoroughly critical thus far, and yet this game will receive a reasonably high score by me anyway... Why is that? The multiplayer gameplay is awesome. There's a lot of arbitration to some weapons' power levels (most notably the shotgun) but otherwise the multiplayer is really concise, generally fun, and very much in a league of its own with reference to innovation (third-person format, no respawns, the nature of downs and/or revives, really unique weapons, active reloads, etc.).This might come off pedantic to some people, but I myself am especially partial to the Hammer of Dawn as far as power weapons go... You aim a beam at any surface outdoors, and after a bit of time having satellites align, said satellites fire a vertical energy blast from above... Generally the initial blast is enough to kill whatever enemy one means to target, but if that isn't enough the player can also keep the blast continuous for 10 - 20 seconds while dragging it along the ground to deal just a bit more damage, often that deciding an enemy's fate... I don't mean to come off ludicrously specialized focusing so much on that, but until you've used the hammer, you can't fully know how awesome and unique it is contrasted with most shooters' weapons sets. The boomshot also feels both familiar and unique at the same time, being essentially an amalgamated grenade and rocket launcher... Despite it often being able to grant players an instant kill, it also seems like a balanced part of the game as it only allots the player two shots (which encourages calculated and conservative use of it as opposed to the "blow up everything in sight" mindset that other shooters might imply).Overall the sound is worthy of praise... Just to get it out of the way, with reference to the protagonist being very dull and prototypical, per me John Dimaggio's acting is the weakest in the game. I'm aware his natural pitch sounds similar enough to his voice in the game, but for whatever reason he sounds like he's trying greatly to come off hardcore, which per me comes off pretentious ultimately. Overall the rest of cast is great though... Of course there's Robin Atkin Downes as Kim, (you have to respect an actor's versatility when they're an Englishman voicing an Asian American character) Fred Tatasciore as Baird, (his voice and style of speech are always so dynamic hence the praise there) and Michael Gough as Carmine (I was amazed to find out he was also the voice of Tassadar within Starcraft; he's got an incredibly broad range and so of course I have to grant him praise). To reference the Locust, the primary antagonistic forces, they're wholly voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, (who else can achieve that perfect guttural pitch) and their queen is voiced by Carolyn Seymour (I don't have an extensive knowledge of her voice acting, and from what else I've heard her style of acting within this game is exactly the same as others... That upper-class English accent is both hot and fearsome at the same time, hence her acting being good by me too though).The score judged by its own merit is possibly a bit overrated per me, though it's utilized within a very intelligent fashion within the singleplayer (only becoming more prominent while in the midst of an actual firefight). Some of the sound effects - notably the sound of chainsawing an enemy - also give the game some very distinctive character contrasted with the ultra-realistic trend of a lot of other modern shooters.Anyone broadly familiar with my reviews knows graphics are what I generally focus on the least, though this game's graphics are nice... They fit the modern quality of this gen, and yet the lighting isn't too harsh (generally) and the textures all look very smooth and realistic (the graphical nature of Halo 3 for instance, is a major reason I actually preferred Halo 2 over it, despite featuring "outdated" graphics). The character design is pretty thorough, and generally things just look nice.To summarize, anyone expecting a singleplayer experience that's a lot of fun, features a compelling plot and/or characters, and offers a lot in the way of replayability, will probably be disappointed (despite what most other gamers will tell you). However, anyone expecting a shooter with a multiplayer mode that's truly unique, somewhat competitive worthy, still active online, (even after four years, which by console standards is very lengthy indeed) and truly fits the definition of "next-gen" needs to pick up this game.

I bought two games. One worked fine but this one arrived unreadable. Tried cleaning disk and disk drive but disc doesn’t work.

See where it began. After a decade since emergence day humanity is ready for a final push against the locust horde and end the war in one swift act of defiance. Play as Marcus Fenix and lead you squad through the ruins of the once mighty world of Sera. Helped by old friends and warriors of the land fight your way to victory. A classic game, a great adventure. This game is a must for any XBOX 360 owner. It might not be as shiny as the modern Gear's titles, but the campaign is worth it. Come and see where it all began, it's never to late to join the resistance.

I'm getting into the Xbox 360 really late so I'm not sure how I'd feel if I had played this game when it first came out. I've always been into PlayStation consoles but recently decided to buy some games for my stepson's Xbox 360. I was running out of PS3 games to play and I'm putting off buying a PS4 until there's more games available. Anyway, I've heard so much about this series that it was an easy decision to start off with this game. I found it to have clunky controls, annoying segments where you can die way too easily, and overall just mediocre gameplay. I did like the story and the graphics are pretty decent. The cover system and other aspects that were somewhat pioneered by the GOW series are things that I've became accustomed to in many more recent games so since I didn't play this game before that was common, I was not surprised or awed by the features. I've beat the game and have moved on to GOW2 which I find to be much better and smoother in almost every way. I've gone back and played many games that were supposed to be grand for their day and have been surprised and enjoyed many of them. This isn't one of them. I'm glad I played it just to get the experience and story but I can't say that I'll play it again.