I’m going to take you back in time when Epic wasn’t known for rainbow dances and mega marketing but instead was talked about over their insane world and badass characters! In this feature, we’ll be taking a look back at the original Gears Of War, what made it so good and how this very game paved way for two more entries to complete a legendary trilogy.
Jumping right Into War
The moment you launch a campaign there isn’t any in-depth lore or dialogue which sets the stage for what’s about to happen but instead, the game pushes you into mayhem right from the get-go, it’s not one of those games where lore plays a critical role nor do they have a 10-minute protagonist introduction scene.
Gears is pretty much like classic 80s cartoon shows on steroids where you have a bunch of heroes going on an adventure to save the world only that here we have intense violence and gruesome gritty setting.
It’s basically a group of mortal men giving their all against hordes of Locust to protect humanity and this is pretty much what goes on till the end credits roll as the game doesn’t tell you what, why, and how it all happens!
The Simpler The Better
As told in the beginning, you won’t have a lot to follow in terms of story but when it comes to gameplay this is where Gears truly shines and offers you a lot all while keeping it really simple.
Cover-based shooting is a style that is often associated with stealth in the world of gaming and it isn’t something that this game introduced but it surely pushed this style to the next level as our core loop here was just to take cover and shoot! The mechanics for that time period were super snappy and smooth.
Levels in this game had a very clever way of incorporating the cover system and not for once did it feel obvious or staged. In each phase, there is so much carnage and intensity that taking cover to battle off hordes of Locust would result in huge boosts of adrenaline that still to date no other game has ever done.
You have your trusty Lancer which is an assault rifle with a chainsaw and every single kill feels greatly rewarding be it the distant shootouts or the close encounters where you’d slice those locust creatures in half!
Alongside the usual filler enemies, the game threw mini-bosses in combat sequences which would result in you being forced to change strategy and rotate your covers across the area as this game would punish you if you were to head on and stand in one place.
Badass 101
What makes this nonstop combat-filled journey awesome is the protagonist Marcus Phoenix who hands down is the epitome of an alpha male hero, Marcus is fearless and in your face. The nature of this character helps the core game system a lot because the entire playthrough is a big mission and Marcus is hell-bent on completing it no matter who or what comes in his way.
Locusts are not a problem for him, hurdles and roadblocks don’t stop him, and if there’s a giant alien spider that no other man has done harm too well guess what? Marcus and his friend Dom will kick its butt all the way back to where it came and all of this might sound cheesy and corny but the way Epic pulled these off onscreen looks legit and solidifies the main characters that they are here to stay!
Gears also banks on the co-op feature as it can be played online and has a local split-screen feature too which results in having a second character with you all the time even when playing solo.
This is one of those very few games that have such great side characters that you really want them to appear when they aren’t around. Dom is mercenary and Cole Train is an ex-football player turned soldier who will slam baddies with insults while ripping them with his lancer! In this dark gritty battle against the Locusts, Cole Train serves as a comedic relief while still opposing as a threat to the enemy side.
War Isn’t Over
Gears Of War is a strictly linear game where you don’t have sandbox-style levels or chances of exploration. It has pace breakers where you walk and smell the roses only for the combat to begin again. Mainly this walk and shoot pattern carries out from the start to end but it takes you through many different locations.
Sometimes there’s a destroyed city, you’ll go through a creepy abandoned factory at night too where there are new kinds of threats like wretches which crawl and attract from all angles. Be it an underground tunnel or a walk in the streets there is always an element of surprise, a new kind of enemy, and a dread feeling of the unknown.
The game’s atmosphere leads to Gears of War being a horror game as much as it’s a cover-based shooter.
There are many things that I like in this game but what I love the most is how rapidly everything happens and goes by right from the get-go. There’s a total of five chapters that are divided into segments, and to beat the game normally, it takes roughly six hours to finish (normal mode also results in some rage-inducing segments)
The final act is set on a moving speeding train where Marcus and Dom face-off “RAAM” the ultimate boss and this my friends is an unforgiving battle where you’ll die a thousand deaths (double it if you’re playing solo as AI Dom will get you killed repeatedly).
For the first time ever after you’ve finally beaten RAAM which feels like a huge victory on its own, it feels like an accomplishment as the cutscene rolls where all our heroes take off in a helicopter with a beautiful uplifting score playing in the background but…
Little do you know that nothing big has actually happened and this was just a teaser of what hell is about to be unleashed as the queen immediately sets the stage for the sequel which is Gears Of War 2. We’ll talk about it too sometime in another feature.
For now, this will do, let us know in the comments what you think about the OG Gears game!
