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Thursday 6 March, 2008
GAMEPLAY
I made a mistake with a name in the first gamelog, the satellite weapon is called the Hammer of Dawn and essentially unlimited ammunition as well as being the only method to kill certain enemies. It can also fry normal enemies so fast that any chance to use it I took, sometimes to the dismay of my friend who I was playing with. I only killed him once with it, and that was justifiable. He went in my way. He shot me way more than that.
I am really beginning to like this game, the way that you have to take cover in order to not die within a couple seconds is hard, but it’s a challenge that isn’t impossible to overcome. We also had to fight a Berserker, which is a incredibly strong enemy who will kill you in a single hit, but can’t see. Instead every time the player moves or fires his weapon, the Berserker will go after the sound. The players have to trick him into breaking down several doors and then getting it outside in order to use the Hammer of Dawn on it. I really liked this part because I haven’t played any other game with a part quite like this. It certainly was a unique feel.
DESIGN
How this game really stood out to me was the innovative use of cover. You had to use cover, it was easy to use and it felt natural using after a couple of minutes doing it. That is probably the biggest thing that Gears of War did right. It felt like a real battlefield where you could crouch and hide behind ledges and walls, only showing yourself when you were shooting at them. At first the controls for thing did feel somewhat clunky but after about 10 minutes I was hiding throughout the battlefield like a pro. (That is one phrase I do not often hear).
The weapon selection in this game was really only different from all the other games of its type by giving you the gun with a chainsaw on it and the Hammer of Dawn. And the concepts of both of those methods of killing things have been done before, but arguably Gears of War uses those features much better than the other games out there. Aside from those features the inventory of weapons is exactly alike every other fps, you have the machine gun, shotgun, sniper rifle, etc.
The storyline is a bit sketchy for me as of right now, even though I played the game from the beginning, I still don’t really know what’s going on. It could be just me, but it doesn’t seem to be that well explained. Of course it doesn’t really need to for the purpose of gameplay in the middle of the game but still. I understand that there are some sort of creatures living in tunnels underground that come up and fight against you. Why this is happening is anyone’s guess. Despite this lack of background info the characters are being developed at a steady pace, nothing excessive but they are identifiable as individuals.
Gears of War is a fun game and anyone who likes a good fps should play it, the way this game feels is different from any that I have previously played. I really do want to beat this game now.
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