en english cependant :
Gears of War is coming...are you man enough?
It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it. We set off to a swanky London penthouse to play one of the most anticipated games of 2006, the third-person tactical shooter, Gears of War. We’d heard mixed previews, mainly revolving around a dodgy control system, but we’d been looking forward to the game for so long that we weren’t going to be phased by the hollers of discontent from a minority. We’ve seen plenty of trailers to know that Gears of War would look great and seen in-game footage which had blown us away, but it’s easy to be deceived with the publisher’s hype when we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes. We were excited, but also cautious, just in case Gears of War didn’t quite live up to our expectations.
From the moment that we clutched the 360 controller in our sweaty palms and witnessed the first couple of minutes of the multiplayer map called Gridlock we were stunned. I exchanged a few glances with the HEXUS.gaming Editor Nick Haywood which was enough to convey the message. We didn’t have to say anything; it was the language of the gamer, the twinkle in his eye, and his ever widening smile that told me that he was thinking exactly what I was thinking. It was a moment where I just wanted to lay bare my inner emotions and shout at the top of my voice. It was moment that defied all logic as I struggled to come to terms with how the first moments of a videogame had entered my soul like no other before and left me tingling from head to toe. I literally took up position behind the cover of a car and sat there shaking my head in disbelief, frozen with awe, but occasionally brave enough to take a few pot-shots at an enemy on the far side of the map. As a person who’s been gaming for 18 years, I can honestly say that playing Gears of War is undoubtedly the highest I’ve ever felt. Forget drugs and alcohol, everything you need to get that adrenaline pumping is coming our way in November.
A bit of background first… Gears of War thrusts gamers into humankind’s epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde. In this third-person tactical action/horror game, players live and breathe the role of Marcus Fenix. A disgraced former war hero, Marcus seeks personal redemption as he leads his fire team against an onslaught of merciless warrior fiends.
Right that’s enough with the teasing, onto the action...
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The Action
We played two of the multiplayer maps in a 4 vs.4 battles with me, Nick and two other journos battling it out against four Microsoft employees. The first map was called Gridlock, a stunningly detailed small map with abandoned cars that can be used as cover, plenty of doorways to hide in and numerous vantage points ideal for sniping. Both teams start at opposite ends of the map, and despite only asking staff for the basic controls, it was literally within the first couple of minutes that we became familiar with the smooth control system. The first thing that totally dumfounded us was the fine level of detail. From our character’s body armour and weapons to the hanging vines and abandoned cars every inch of the environment added to the tense and realistic battles that seem to build in energy as they progress and reel you into their powerful grip. In Gears of War it’s not simply a matter of running headfirst into the enemy, it’s working as part of a team that offers the most reward and we were soon shouting out enemy positions to our colleagues, dashing over to fallen comrades to revive them whilst machine gun fire whizzed past our heads, and lobbing smoke grenades into areas that we planned to storm.
By pressing the ‘A’ button you can run, the motion slightly blurs and the clunking sound of your character with his weapons and ammo strapped to him is just one of the many excellent audio highlights. The ‘A’ button is also used to take cover, something that you’ll need to do at every opportunity. Run towards a doorway, wall, car, set of steps or almost any static object in the environment keeping hold of the button and he’ll dive for cover. The animation of the character and even the sound of executing such a manoeuvre is unmatched. Admittedly I was so drawn into the game that early on I was frozen to a spot behind a car, heart pumping and fearful to even move an inch. The sound of battle ringing in my ears and echoing around the environment is the stuff that gamer’s dreams are made of as I poked my head around the bonnet of the car to see if I could glimpse an enemy. I was spotted and within seconds there was machine gun fire ricocheting of the bonnet; I knew I was pinned down. Using the d-pad I switched to a smoke grenade and dropped it at my feet. Once the smokescreen appeared I broke my position, holding the ‘A’ button down and darted for cover at the top of some steps using the smoke as a screen. I’d spotted the enemy position and yelled it out to Nick who was perched behind the cover of an opposite balcony. He proceeded to fire at the enemy whilst I made my way around to the eastern side of the map to approach him from behind.
I equipped the machine gun, spotted the target bobbing up and down behind the safety of yet another balcony and unleashed a barrage of bullets into his body. The feel and power of the weapon had me gurning as I pummelled him with every last one of my bullets. He dropped to his knees clutching his chest as I moved towards him and stamped on his head to finish him off, blood spilling into the crac*s in the stone. I knew I was deep in enemy territory, but thought I’d have a chance to retreat back to safety. No chance. The moment I’d killed the enemy two more came dashing towards me, one brandishing a chain saw. As he powered it up I ran for my life, but could hear the sound of the chainsaw rattling in my ears getting closer and closer. It wasn’t long before I was lying in my own pool of blood, shaking my own head in disbelief at the raw emotion that my first introduction to the game had brought out in me. "Jesus Christ" I thought, "Let´s do that again." Gears of War makes you feel as if you´re in a big budget movie and you´ve landed the starring role.
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Smooth controls and frantic battles
Gears of War multiplayer can be played as fast or as slow as you wish. In the games that we played no-one dared to venture straight out into the centre of the map as there was little cover. Most opted for a strategic position where they could take out enemies from relative safety and plan their next move based on spotting the other teams’ positions. Moving from cover to cover around the area and gaining tactical positions is essentially the main draw to this tactical shooter, but that’s not to say the action is slow by any means. There are fiercely explosive shootouts that will see you sticking your head from behind cover, frantic dashes to get to the safety of a barricade and tense stand-offs where the silence is almost deafening.
Controlling, switching and re-loading weapons become an instinctive reaction thanks to the easy controls and the speed in which they respond. We played with three different weapons, the machine gun, the shotgun and the sniper rifle. We also packed a smoke grenade which is ideal for giving you time to reach a safe position. Each of the weapons can be switched by using the positions on the d-pad and, if your bullets run out, the movement is so swift that it’s easy to switch to your new weapon without fear of getting shot during the change. There was also a rocket launcher on the map which spawns at the same point at the start of every round, so there’s often a battle to get to that position and scuttle back to safety with the goodies. The design of Gridlock though makes it a dangerous venture as you’ll need to proceed into open territory to pick it up. This results in a tense battle for position as each team plays cat and mouse in order to get their hands on the powerful weapon. It’s certainly not worth losing a team member over as the other weapons pack such a powerful punch, so on most occasions the rocket launcher was left behind. These weapon pick ups can be found in all multiplayer levels but certainly don´t guarantee success.
Up close and personal, the chainsaw or the shotgun are ideal weapons for making light work of the enemy, whereas a machine gun is perfect for drawing out opponents or pinning them back. Killing the enemy won’t take just one shot though, you’ll have to fire half a clip or so from the machine gun in order to bring them to their knees. The sniper rifle is more effective if you can get a clear head shot, but even still it took us a few shots to take them down. The reticules used for targeting turn red when you have a clear shot with any of the weapons and aiming for the head will always bring opponents to the floor quicker.
Gears of Wars also allows you to revive players within a set time limit. After I’d thrown a smoke grenade into a tunnel that leads from the centre of the map to the enemy spawn area, I dashed through thinking the coast was clear only to be ambushed by the highly entertaining and effective chainsaw brandished by one of the cackling Microsoft guys. I shouted out to Nick that I needed reviving, told him my position and then watched through his viewpoint as he made the treacherous journey to my position. Despite not even playing, it was unbelievably intense experience watching a team-mate ducking and weaving from cover to cover as other team mates provided cover-fire. Nick threw a smoke grenade towards the area I was located and made a dash for it as bullets whizzed past him as I’m shouting ‘Hurry up, hurry up, I’m dying!’ He’d made what I can only describe as a journey of cinematic proportions from the east to west of the map to reach me and unfortunately had missed reviving me by only a couple of seconds. Putting his own life on the line he had now isolated himself from the rest of the team who were doing there damned hardest to try and evacuate him from the position. As I switched between the viewpoints of my different team mates it felt like I was the director of my own motion picture. The emotion and power that these beautifully rendered interactive environments, coupled with the furious action, manage to achieve is something that´s hard to describe. It´s undoubtedly down to the power of Unreal Engine 3 and the vision of the developers that prevent Gears of War from being another run-of the-mill third person shooter. The next-gen era truly begins when Gears of War arrives.
We also had a chance to test out a second map called Clock tower, where a bridge separates the friendly and enemy bases. Once again it was a small superbly designed and intricately detailed map with dozens of places to hide for cover and a gritty and tense atmosphere that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
While it’s true that we´ve only played two of the multiplayer maps, and can´t say whether the single player campaign will match what we´ve experienced, it’s clear to see that Gears of War is pushing the boundaries of conventional gaming by bringing us an all action shooter that is more tense and exciting than any game you will have ever experienced before. We’re still buzzing about the time we’ve spent playing the game and feel it’s our duty to spread the word about the highly pleasurable experience. The blend of tactical play, jaw dropping action and physics, superb control system, stunning detail, breath-taking animations and well designed maps surpasses anything that we’ve witnessed or played…ever. Gears of War is so good that we’ve been on a come-down since we´ve had to leave it behind. It’s all we’ve been thinking about ever since and we’re in no doubt that it’s shaping up to be one of the greatest games of all time and one that should inspire other developers to follow suit.Epic Games have managed to create a powerful experience for gamers, one that can’t be compared to any game currently on the console. Gears of War is world’s apart from any shooter title currently on the Xbox 360; if it wasn’t for having to catch a train home we’d still be there now. The era of next-gen shooters is upon us and you’d be foolish if you didn’t want to be part of it. ‘Emergence Day’ is on November 17th and it shouldn’t be missed. Rally the troops and get the word out on the streets because the hype is real. We´ll see you in online in November!
Quelques phrases en vrac
"As a person who’s been gaming for 18 years, I can honestly say that playing Gears of War is undoubtedly the highest I’ve ever felt"
" It wasn’t long before I was lying in my own pool of blood, shaking my own head in disbelief at the raw emotion that my first introduction to the game had brought out in me. "Jesus Christ" I thought, "Let´s do that again." Gears of War makes you feel as if you´re in a big budget movie and you´ve landed the starring role."
"Controlling, switching and re-loading weapons become an instinctive reaction thanks to the easy controls and the speed in which they respond"
"This results in a tense battle for position as each team plays cat and mouse in order to get their hands on the powerful weapon"
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