Gears of War

by Adam, 09.28.06

Taking Stock

For the XBox 360
Published by
Microsoft Game Studios
Developed by
Epic Games
Shooter
Rated M


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Looking back, I wish I'd never heard anything about Gears of War. No publicity, no trailers, no post E3 picking up my jaw from the floor. Just that there would be a game released on November 7th that would be everything I was looking for in my next big shooter fix, and the reason to buy an XBOX 360. I wish this, because it would be an amazing thing to experience everything GoW has to offer, completely cold, with no hype.

Even so, we really don't know a whole lot about Gears of War itself. CliffyB and his team at Epic have been keeping the trailers mediocre, and the flow of information down to a bare trickle. Letting the graphics, and presentations speak for themselves, with as little help from the talking heads as possible. Don't believe me? When was the last time you saw it in action accompanied by hard facts, as opposed to pure hype? Not since this past May when Rod Fergusson was at E3 to talk about the multiplayer components.

And it is this small glimpse into the world of Sera that has kept shooter and horror fans on edge for nearly two and a half years. There isn't much I can say in this preview that you don't already know... except just to be there on Emergence Day.

Thusly, one can only speculate as to the glory of the game and what one wants out of the story. I personally want this game to be its own experience. I don't want to finish it with an ending that leads into a sequel, and no closure to the plot. That would be heartbreaking. I'm all for a franchise here, but make sure this game has the story chops to open it up a little bit, not just throw out a cliffhanger.
If CliffyB could do that, then maybe it's worth that $60 he so despises.