Please post all first impressions/reviews here!

I'll leave all current GOW threads open, but please do not create any new threads just to say that you got the game or to give your first impressions.

You can do that here.

Thanks,

Kyser

I just ordered GOW and COD3 from Buy.com. Great deal with the current Google checkout and free shipping with orders over $75. I can't wait for GOW. Does anyone know how many players the online multiplayer supports?

8 players in 2 teams.

8 players I believe....

I'm picking mine up @ 3 pm. I'll give you guys an update then.

I am pumped, I got a call from EB saying they will have it in the early afternoon... now to figure out if I should figure a way to get out of work early... and to tell the wife to go watch TV in the other room so I can play all night long :)

You guys need to update your profiles to show were you are from. That way I'd be able to tell if you are on the East or West coast. I'm not sure if GOW will make it to my area by today.

It's nice to have a game that,it seems, finally lives up to the massive hype that's been thrust upon it.This game could move 360 consoles BIGTIME this holiday season.Should have mine tomorrow,I can't wait!!!

Kysersose, could we get the multiple "GOW got a __ score!" threads merged into this thread?

Looks like 1Up gave GOW a perfect 10/10!

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3154958

I plan to stop by my local GS (Garland,TX) and pick it up this afternoon...I will be online some time this evening and ALOT tomorrow and Thursday, and Friday....


Gamertag RICHUT96

For those of us chained to our desks at corporate america until 5PM, who have filters that do not allow internet access to anything gaming related, save this forum, can someone copy and past a few of the reviews? 1up, Gamespot, IGN, or all of them? Thanks a million!

also for us folks out here in Iraq too. Thanks

For those of us chained to our desks at corporate america until 5PM, who have filters that do not allow internet access to anything gaming related, save this forum, can someone copy and past a few of the reviews? 1up, Gamespot, IGN, or all of them? Thanks a million!

Ask, and ye shall recieve.

Gears of War Review
One year in, the Xbox 360 has its Killer App. And we mean killer.
by Jonathan Miller

November 7, 2006 - Left or right?

Score - IGN: 9.4 Outstanding

At a crossroads on the war-torn planet of Sera, you have a decision to make. Both paths are equally dangerous, with the Locust horde armed with explosive arrows and revving chainsaws, ready to tear you to pieces, either way. No, this debate is between you and your co-op partner as you argue over who will pick up that next COG tag, secret pickups that act as currency for heralded Achievements.

It's here that you truly realize what a masterpiece Epic has created in Gears of War. Yes, it's the most gorgeous looking game on the Xbox 360, period. Yes, the sound design is worthy of awards. Yes, the game is fun as hell. But playing with a friend, as you bark flanking orders into your headset over Live, or across the room during a system-link game, or right next to you in a split-screen campaign, you realize that Epic has created the 360 game we all hoped for, and that Gears of War more than lives up to the impossible hype.

And then you snap back to reality, remember that you haven't picked up that COG tag yet, offer some kind parting words to your co-op partner, and choose to go left, because you're Marcus Fenix, and Marcus Fenix goes where ever the hell he wants to.


Badasses on parade.
Emergence Day

Gears of War takes place over the course of 36 hours on the planet Sera, what was once a civilized human planet of cheerful sidewalk cafes and flower-filled parks. No more. The population did not know that underneath every major city, the Locust Horde was digging. Underground monsters, of superhuman size and strength, with filthy complexions that could rival the ugliest of teens, the Locust are fearsome creatures. And on a sunny Sera afternoon, the Locust emerged.

The loss of life was catastrophic, or so it appeared in the opening sequence. The soldiers of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, or COG, fought valiantly, but failed. As the battle slipped away, COG soldier Marcus Fenix defied orders to try and rescue his father. He was caught and imprisoned. 14 years passed, and the Locust have closed in. As alien creatures take over Marcus's prison, an old friend opens the cell door, gives Marcus a gun, and asks him rejoin the fight.

Yes, Gears of War is a bit light on story. You are a soldier. There are bad guys. You must kill them. If fact, the only place you'll find the story tidbits above are in the instruction manual -- Epic assumes you already know all this. Without giving too much away, Epic does touch briefly on Marcus's father and Marcus's "sham" of a court martial, but this shallow story is a simple vehicle to drive the action. It's the manner in which Epic introduces us to Sera that is so fascinating.

Epic chooses to show instead of tell, using superbly directed cinematic sequences and bits of informative dialogue between Marcus and his fellow COGs: old mate Dom, cocky Baird, and former Crashball star Cole. The effect is a sweet introduction to the world of Sera and to Marcus, just enough to pique our interest, but not enough to give us a resolution. (Resolutions are reserved for sequels, unless you're Halo 2.) No, we never learn what happened to Marcus's father, even though one mission brings us back to the old Fenix estate. Chapter one in the Gears of War saga is all about one simple goal: to get to an underground mine and deploy the Resonator, a COG device that will map the Locust tunnels.

Along the way, you will fight through "survival-horror" missions, designed simply to scare the crap out of you. And eventually, you'll fight in large, open battlefields, taking on large numbers of Locust at one time before taking on the evil Locust general. Gears is light on story, but presents a very immersive and compelling atmosphere that sucks you right into the planet Sera. Any insight into the story of the war or into our protagonist's past will have to wait for the inevitable-but-as-of-yet-unannounced Gears of War 2.

But enough about the story. Let's talk chainsaw.

Vroom Vroom

The COG Lancer Assault Rifle goes down as one of the great weapons in gaming history, right alongside Link's Master Sword and Master Chief's sighted-pistol. At first glance, there's nothing particularly special about the fully-automatic weapon -- the bullets don't do much damage and it isn't particularly accurate at long range. But as you sneak around a corner and see an unsuspecting enemy with his back to you, you quickly run up, hold down B and rev the chainsaw bayonet, carving up your opponent in a bloody mess faster than you can say "Thanksgiving Turkey." The "vroom-vroom" sound of a purring chainsaw is both a glorious thing and frightening thing.

Unlike in Halo, where you can circle strafe and jump eight feet in the air before planting an energy sword into an enemy's face, you have to work for this chainsaw kill. The core gameplay mechanic of Gears is the cover system. To get into cover, you simply run up to a wall, a ledge, a wrecked car -- whatever -- and hit A. You will be sucked right into cover, safe from enemy fire, for the moment. From there, you can blind fire, you can pull down the L-trigger to pop out of cover and then fire, or you can perform a variety of evasive maneuvers like SWAT turns and rolls.


Among the greatest kills in gaming history.
Although the system works very well, there is somewhat of a learning curve, enough that some people will find it frustrating. After playing through the first of five single-player acts, you should have the system down. Keep in mind that the use of cover is what Gears is based on, and running out in the open ala "insert arcade shooter here" is a one way ticket to the blood-red game-over screen. The trick is not to run, but to move from cover to cover, advancing with your partner and squad, slowly pushing the enemy back, until you train the crosshairs of a sniper rifle on an ugly Locust mug and shoot it to a bloody pulp.

It's fast tactics. At first glance, Gears looks like an arcade shooter -- the action is, well, fast, and there's a lot of enemies and friendlies moving around the battlefield at once. But at the same time, the solid AI is performing flanking maneuvers, advancing and retreating, and executing the very basics of armed combat. As you are ducking behind a tree, waiting for an enemy to reload, it's not hard to imagine that the idea for Gears and its cover system was born in the heat of a paintball game. As such, Gears is a special blend of an arcade shooter like Halo with a healthy dose of methodical tactical shooter like Rainbow Six. Either way, it's a wonderfully fresh take on the shooter genre that plays great.

There are, of course, a few concerns. The A button does perhaps too much. While excellent for grabbing cover, holding A also triggers the "roadie run," a quick sprint where the camera takes an embedded-journalist perspective, making you feel as if you are running for your life (you usually are). But often times while sprinting, you will be sucked into a piece of cover against your will because you are holding down A. You get used to it. You get better at it. But it still happens enough to frustrate you when you're bee-lining to chainsaw your roommate during a multiplayer match and find yourself stuck behind a bombed-out sedan.

Also, up-close combat can feel a bit strange. Firing from the hip is difficult as the aiming is a bit slow, even with sensitivity turned to high. Sometimes you think you've landed a chainsaw only to be miss and take a shotgun blast to the kisser. These issues aren't enough to take away too much away from the fun gameplay experience, but they do show that Gears was clearly meant to be fought from behind cover.

The weapons of Gears of War are standard fare, with the exception of a few fantastic additions. There's the head-popping sniper rifle, the flesh-exploding grenade launcher, a variety of pistols as well as smoke and frag grenades. The frag grenades don't have a very large blast radius, but if you manage to get close to an enemy, you can use the melee attack to jam a frag in his chest, then roll away and watch your foe disintegrate -- simply awesome, if you don't blow yourself up in the process.

Epic also included the torque bow, a powerful Locust weapon that fires explosive arrows. If you can wind up the bow and hit an enemy, the arrow will penetrate and explode inside your opponent. Sweet.


You'll feel right at home on war-torn Sera.
The other slick new weapon is the Hammer of Dawn. By lacing the target with an infrared beam, an orbiting satellite will lock on to your signal and fire down a destructive laser from the heavens, obliterating anyone in the blast radius. You only need open sky and a direct line of site to your enemy or the cover behind which he is cowering. As the laser fires, you can drag the targeting beam around to different enemies for multiple kills. It takes time to lock on and you have to expose yourself, but it's a great kill.

Each weapon utilizes a neat new reloading method called Active Reload. When you press the right bumper to reload, a meter will appear with a sliding reticule. If you press the right bumper in the "sweet spot," you will reload faster. If you hit the perfect spot, your ammo will get a small damage boost. If you miss, you will jam your gun and it will take even longer to reload. It seems strange at first, but becomes second nature down the line and a nice risk/reward mini-game in the middle of all that action.

The Campaign

Gears of War is played over five acts, comprised of 30 chapters. The journey will take you through a number of exquisitely detailed and diverse environments, like city streets, the Fenix wine cellar, a speeding train and yes, even inside a mine cart. There's even a driving mission. Some of these chapters take no time at all -- the Outpost chapter in Act 2 takes about 30 seconds. All you do is run through a house and take a phone call, then boom! Next chapter.

Typically, however, each chapter consists of a few major battles between the COG and Locust. On the easiest difficulty level, you can breeze through the game in about seven hours the first time through. Your regenerating health system is generous, to say the least. Enemies are generally stupid, standing out in the open with a common death-wish. And your weapons cause considerable damage.


Now this is how you design a cave level.
Not so on Hardcore difficulty. Enemies are aggressive and will attack your weak positions. You will be flanked. You will be pinned down. Some enemies will wear helmets, protecting them from head shots from the sniper rifle. And up close, it will be you who gets chain-sawed. Yes, the Locust are a mean bunch, and beating Gears on hardcore is a gaming achievement anyone could be proud of.

And then there's Insane. Insane is, well, insane. I couldn't get past the first chapter, the training chapter the first ten times through. You are forced to perfect the cover system. You can only pop out of cover for a moment, fire a round or two, and then dive back into cover before being killed. Even drones, the dumbest and most abundant of the Locust, provide a monumental challenge. They move fast, always in cover. They are accurate, deadly and work together. On Insane, each chapter triples, at least, in length as you have to be patient, sticking your head up only for the perfect shot. Don't even get me started on the other frightening enemies, like the screaming Wretches, the brutish Boomers, the giant crabs and the elite of all Locust soldiers, the Theron Guard. To beat Gears of War on Insane will go down as one of the great gaming achievements ever, like taking down Halo 2 on Legendary difficulty.

The three difficulty settings are perfectly balanced, and while Insane and even Hardcore will stifle you time and time again, you feel a great sense of accomplishment after reaching even the next checkpoint, let alone the next chapter. And that's why you call a friend.

Two player co-op play is available via split screen, system link and over Xbox Live, and the Gears of War co-op mode ranks among the greatest of all time. After beating the game on Hardcore with a friend, you will ask, "Halo who?" Epic designed Gears to be a co-op game -- your partner is simply controlled by the CPU during the single-player campaign. The beauty of co-op is that you truly work together, using suppressing fire that actually suppresses the enemy, and using flanking maneuvers to defeat the Locust. Sometimes your paths will split, and Marcus will take either Baird or Cole while the co-op player, Dom, takes the other. Usually you will be able to see you partner through a window or on a platform above and you can help as needed. But most of the game you are side by side, Marcus and Dom, looking out for each other. And on Insane, you will welcome the company.


A Tiny Warzone

While co-op gameplay is fantastic, the guts of Gears multiplayer action comes in the versus mode. Versus is fun and addictive, yet it is small in scope compared to other shooters, consisting of only team deathmatch crossed with last-man-standing with up to four players per team. Epic likes the eight-player set-up and, frankly, so do we. The maps are small, yet well designed, based on areas in the single player campaign. They are symmetrical, for the most part, with special weapons like sniper rifles and Hammers of Dawn located strategically around the map.

The main mode is named Warzone, which is a basic four-on-four deathmatch. There are two variations of this mode. In Execution, you have to get in close in order to finish off opponents. Instead of a kill, enemies are incapacitated and you have about 30 seconds to rush in and dispatch them with either a melee attack, a bullet to the head, a chainsaw or a curb-stomp, a vicious kick that smashes the head down to the ground. In Assassination, the round is over when the captain of the team has been eliminated.

It's important to note that these are just variations of Team Deathmatch, and while each mode is fun in its own right, we would have liked to see team capture the flag or a fight over strategic points.


Bad Locust. Bad.
Locally, you can only play split screen versus, or one-on-one. Needless to say, four players on a big screen would have been a welcome option. Via system link and Xbox Live, two profiles can sign on and share a screen, at least.

This Is Next-Gen

Visually, Gears of War is the finest looking game on the Xbox 360. The environments are huge and diverse, and all beautiful. There is a tremendous attention to detail that some gamers will never even see, like gargoyle statues on the top of a skyscraper. No structure looks the same, there are no repetitive environments, no cheap double-backing. As in Half Life 2, when you fight in a city, you feel like you are fighting in a city. The art design is wonderful, with awe-inspiring architecture, inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, that make you feel as if you are fighting for something important. This is a game you need to see to believe, and it even looks great on a standard-definition set.

Likewise, the sound sets a new standard. A military-themed score transitions to spooky horror music and back, always setting the appropriate mood for the action. The voice acting is gritty and foul, just like Marcus and the rest of the COG soldiers, laced with locker-room profanity. The Locust are among the more frightening creatures you've ever heard. The drones sound like demon-possessed thugs, and the Theron Guard hiss out orders like rattlesnakes. Along the way the Locust picked up a bit of English, which makes their musings even more frightening. The effects, too, are spot-on. I've never heard a head explode or a chainsaw dismember someone, but I would imagine it sounds exactly like it does in Gears of War.


Do you have what it takes? No.

Closing Comments
Gears of War is a must-have game, pure and simple. Epic has effectively created a new gaming universe, and the rich story of planet Sera holds its own with the likes of Hyrule, City 17 and the Mushroom-friggin'-Kingdom. A game so gorgeous, both visually and audibly, that is this fun to play comes along only a handful of times a console generation.

There is a healthy learning curve to the cover system, but those who master it will find Epic's twisting and turning and rolling an exciting change-up in the shooter genre, a blend of fast-arcade action and basic, tactical maneuvering. The Insane difficulty level gives Gears legs months after you've finished the relatively-short campaign, and even with a friend it is an impossible, irresistible challenge. Versus is a one-trick pony, consisting of a team deathmatch with three basic variations, but damn, that mode is fun. Downloadable content is on the way, says Epic, but as it stands today, we are left wanting more. Bottom line: Gears of War is the special kind of game that makes you feel like a kid again, a sadistic little bastard obsessed with gore and chainsaws.
Another Takefrom Erik Brudvig
Gears of War is the best looking game I've ever seen. No contest. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can talk about the game. Gears of War may have been built around the campaign mode, but the adversarial multiplayer game is nothing to scoff at. The maximum of eight players split into two teams may be a small number for a modern online shooter, but it works well to keep the action going, especially when your first death means you're out of the game. The rounds move quickly and you never feel like you're just waiting around for the game to end, which takes a big chunk out of the annoyances I've found with some shooters in the past. Gears of War really straddles the line between a tactical shooter and a pure action game by forcing players to think about how they can look for protection while still maintaining a furious pace. That really is where the multiplayer game shines. Trying to plan out your attack and think clearly amidst a hectic battlefield makes for some seriously fun and intense gaming.

Then there is the campaign mode. Playing through it co-operatively is a must, especially for those that aren't the most skilled players. The mid-level setting of hardcore is extremely tough, even with another person by your side to revive you every time the Locusts take you down. Forget about playing the game on the Insane. It will tear you to bits. Being able to play the co-op mode in split screen or online is a huge plus, especially considering the lack of offline co-operative play we've seen in some recent Xbox 360 titles. In fact, Gears of War has many of the features gamers have been clamoring for in recent years, straight down to legacy and southpaw control options.

There aren't too many things that weren't done amazingly well with Gears of War, but the game isn't perfect. My biggest gripe with Gears of War comes with the A button being used too much. Holding it down will cause you to start sprinting. Tapping it will cause you to take cover on a nearby wall or downed pillar. It is also used to quickly dive to one side, jump over small obstacles, or leap from one level to another. This all works well towards making the game pick-up-and-play friendly, but it also creates some annoyances. Running along and brushing up against an obstacle will suck you into that piece of cover even if you just wanted to run by. It's a minor annoyance, but its still there. The only other real problem with the game is the lack of modes in multiplayer. Each of them essentially boils down to a form of team deathmatch.

Even with the minor faults, Gears of War is easily a contender for game of the year. The graphics, sound and presentation are nearly unparalleled. The gameplay is phenomenal and you'd be hard pressed to find a more complete package. Gears of War has shown what Xbox 360 is capable of. Now it remains to be seen what other developers can do to keep up.
IGN Ratings for Gears of War (X360


1up

Score 10 - Genius

by Dan Hsu 11/06/2006

You can always find reasons not to give a game a review score of 10. Control issues (Gears of War has that). A.I. problems (that, too). Bad dialogue or story telling (yes on both). Linear levels, online lag, limited modes (yup, yup, and yup). But as I was playing through the game, I found one consistently good feature: It was constantly impressing the hell out of me.

Let's go back to the bad stuff for a moment. Gears of War is an action shooter with tactical elements (or is it a tactical shooter with action elements?), so people will have an adjustment period for the controls. You can't run-and-gun like you do in Halo 2 -- you will get slaughtered. You have to learn to slide from cover to cover, using the environment as bullet shields. It's not complicated at all -- the "A" button does pretty much everything -- but tournament-level players won't like things like how you throw grenades (you really need to aim them, which takes too much time) or how you use the chainsaw on your rifle to melee attack an enemy (it's cumbersome and inconsistent in precision).

Your A.I. squadmates are rather helpful at first...taking out enemy Locusts here and there without making the game too easy for you. But eventually, you'll wonder if the game swapped in some look-alike substitutes that just got off a tiring ride on the short bus. Your partner, Dom, dies...A LOT...especially on the Hardcore difficulty setting. He is a constant liability, crying for you to revive him when enemies are all about, firing at the only other human that's standing around (which happens to be you). And on one late stage, Dom just flat-out refused to follow me into a train station packed with bad guys -- he got hung up in an alley and would not leave. If you can, let a friend take over Dom's role in co-op play...Gears is so much better an experience with a buddy.)

The story is ambitious (the underground-dwelling Locust burst through the Earth's crust to wipe out humanity), cliché-ridden, and you can tell how the story's going to end before you even reach it (a setup for Gears of War 2? No way!). And the dialogue? I didn't know people still said, "Sucks to be them." Cue eyes rolling.

My biggest complaint, however, is with the multiplayer options. What's there is a lot of fun, but that fun isn't going to last very long until downloadable content comes along (which developer Epic is working on now). Gears of War offers enough maps by today's standards (10), but not enough variety in features. All matches are four-on-four, which isn't bad in itself, but all three modes are just slight variations of each other. The standard War Zone is last-man standing (everyone always has only one life, elimination style). Execution is the same thing, except you can only off someone with a sniper headshot, chainsaw, or up-close-and-personal execution (like stomping his head into the ground). Assassination is the same as War Zone, only the match ends when the pre-designated "leader" dies. Compare this to Halo 2 with its 5 katrillion possible custom combinations of multiplayer modes, and you can already tell that Gears of War won't have the same longevity. It also doesn't help that the matchmaking system is broken.

You can always find reasons not to give a game a 10. But can the good stuff overwhelm the bad by such a wide margin in order to reach our highest rating possible?

I'm not going to talk about the graphics. You've seen the screenshots and trailers -- you already know how sick this game looks -- and yes, it really looks like that. Most of the game that's underneath is just as awesome, with a well-paced campaign mode (for the most part -- the middle drags just a teeny tiny bit) that's a little bit Halo 2 military sci-fi, a little bit Doom 3 frights, and a little bit Resident Evil 4 boss fights.

Each stage is memorable. Even as I write this a week after beating the campaign, I can recall dozens of "oh wow" moments, like the first time I encountered the shrieking wretches (that horrible noise they make will haunt you for days). Or when the blind, hulking berserker was stalking me by sound and smell alone. Or the part where I was defending my old home from a Locust onslaught (it felt like a smaller scale, more domesticated version of Lord of the Rings' Battle of Helm's Deep). Or when I looked at the face of an apartment complex, and dozens of drones were firing at me through the windows, their muzzle flashes strobe-lighting the darkness like we were on a CNN newscast, live from some war-torn third-world country. Or the parts where I have to blow up propane tanks because staying in the light will keep the flesh-tearing Kryll at bay.... They all combine for an unforgettable adventure through 36 hectic, desperate hours of a group of soldiers' lives.

You won't see any epic, you-against-an-entire-army battles that the end of the last trailer hinted at, but it doesn't matter because each individual kill is so damn satisfying. When you run into the first bunch of enemies, you'll be surprised at how many bullets each guy will take and how much blood he'll spill before keeling over -- it takes work and a little bit of strategy to take out even the lowliest of Locusts. Later, you'll drop drones to their knees just as they're running across a patch of darkness, so the Kryll can instantly swoop in and finish the job for you in a very violent, wet-sounding manner. And you'll probably never tire of redecorating a Locust's bodily interior with your vicious chainsaw.

Even in multiplayer, the limited modes seem to be less of an issue when so many encounters are so rewarding. I've literally jumped up from my seat in fist-pumping "yeah!!"-out-loud victory at least twice during our test sessions. One was when I caught three enemies at once in a single Hammer of Dawn orbital laser beam, making three bodies simultaneously blow up into bloody chunks to end the match -- another when someone had me pinned down with a turret, and I snuck around until I found a sniper rifle, poked out just far enough, then pop! It sounds awfully childish and/or shallow, but a sniper headshot is so much more gratifying when the target's melon explodes like...well, a melon.

I can go on and on, but you really need to play this visual and visceral masterpiece for yourself. When you do, you'll find plenty of minor problems, just like I did...but you can always find reasons not to give a game a 10.

And while I was playing Gears of War, all I kept running into was reasons to give it a 10.


Gamespot - Score: 9.6 Superb

Gears of War is an outstanding technical achievement, but in addition to looking and sounding amazing, it's a seriously awesome action game.
The Good: Stellar graphics reset the bar for what consoles can do visually; great soundtrack and killer sound effects; satisfying gameplay in single-player mode; very addictive online play; best use of a chainsaw in any game, ever.
The Bad: Story could have been a bit more fleshed out; difficulty could have used some slight tuning.

In Gears of War, a slab of concrete is your best friend. And if that slab of concrete isn't around, you can always make do with burned-out cars, piles of metal, huge columns, or even the ever-popular wall next to a doorway. Why are these inanimate objects so friendly? Because if you aren't hiding behind something in Gears of War, you might as well be dead. Microsoft and Epic have teamed up to create this wicked game of hide-and-seek with high-powered future guns, which delivers one of the most heart-pounding and graphically thrilling experiences of the year. If its exciting campaign doesn't rope you in, chances are the team-based multiplayer will--either way, Gears of War is downright amazing.


Marcus Fenix disobeyed orders and got locked up, but in tough times, even a traitorous soldier is better than nothing.

The game's campaign tells the tale of a man named Marcus Fenix. He, like the other soldiers around him, is an extremely thick dude that very clearly doesn't have time to bleed. The game immediately sets an action movie-like tone, complete with an interesting post-apocalyptic world that's been overrun by a mysterious force called the Locust. Marcus is a former soldier for the Coalition of Organized Governments, or COG. Their soldiers wear ridiculously huge, bulky armor, but can't be bothered to wear helmets. They're just that tough. Or stupid. Either way, Fenix is a former soldier that's been branded a traitor and locked away, but he's busted out of prison at the opening of the game, to help in the fight against the Locust. After a brief tutorial level where you and Dom, the soldier that busted you out, make your way out of the Locust-infested prison and, yes, get to the chopper, you're connected with the other members of Delta Squad and sent out to find Alpha Squad, which is both missing and supposedly in possession of a device that could turn the tide of the war. The game's story isn't very deep, and aside from a very brief mention in the front of the manual, it doesn't really bother to fill you in on the details behind the conflict or the main character's incarceration. The lack of exposition feels like a missed opportunity to make the characters and the setting even more compelling, and there are parts of the game that seem like they were built specifically to make room for some kind of flashback sequence, but the gameplay is so sharp that you probably won't care.

You'll fight a decent variety of enemies in Gears of War. Most of the Locust are humanoids, with minor visual distinctions between the standard troops, ones with shotguns, and so on. Later on, you'll fight some different-looking humanoid-style enemies that are armed with explosive torque bows, and there are plenty of other critters to face--some small, some screen-filling. They all use slightly different tactics, but the same basic rule applies: Wait for them to pop their heads (or other weak points) out and attempt to shoot it off. The enemy response to your actions has its great moments, but it also has its problems. Enemies hiding behind cover tend to not react when they get hit. From time to time, you might catch the back of an enemy peeking just over a piece of cover, and if you start shooting it, he'll usually just sit there and let you drill him to death. But in spite of its few problems, the action is tense and extremely enjoyable.

Gears of War consists of a large series of pitched battles between your squad and the enemy forces. If you leave your fool head popped up for too long, it'll get shot off every single time, so the proper place for you is tucked behind a wall or some other piece of cover. The cover mechanics work very naturally, making it easy to stick to a wall, pop up or around to take shots at the enemy, and get back down safely. Moving between nearby pieces of cover is also very easy to manage.

This isn't the first time that taking cover has been a focus of gameplay--the mechanics work very similarly to a fairly obscure PlayStation 2 game from Namco called kill.switch. But no game has made this sort of gameplay quite so exciting. One of the greatest feelings in this game is that when you pop out to take a shot, you immediately feel like you're taking your life into your own hands, because the enemy is very good at opening fire the second they see you and you'll see those bullets heading your way. This formula remains thrilling from start to finish, though boss fights and a pretty neat vehicle section help to break up the action.

Thankfully, one shot won't kill you, in most cases. The health meter takes the form of a skull and gear icon that appears onscreen in pieces as you take damage. If it's completed, that means you took one hit too many and you're history. But if you can avoid getting shot for a few seconds, the gear fades away and you're restored to full health. It's a much quicker recharge than something like Halo's energy shields, and this helps keep the action moving while reinforcing that you really need to play cautiously.

You'll usually have three other guys in your squad, but they usually aren't much help. They're good for distracting enemies, and they'll take down a few here and there, but they also tend to get dropped a lot. You can revive them, if you can get over to them and hit the X button, but usually it's easier to just finish the fight yourself, which brings them all back without exposing you to the same enemy fire that took them down in the first place.


Gears of War is all about ducking, covering, and blasting your enemies whenever they give you an opening.

Gears of War offers two difficulty settings right off the bat, and a third unlocks when you beat the game. The game defaults to the easiest setting, called casual. On this setting, taking cover only becomes important when you're up against heavy odds or later in the game, when the enemies get tougher. The middle setting, hardcore, feels just right at first--you need to take cover, but you can usually pop up and take shots without immediate punishment. But near the tail end of the game, both difficulties ramp up quite a bit. Hardcore starts to get a little unmanageable. Casual gets to be about as hard as the hardcore setting is near the beginning of the game. And once you unlock insane, you'll find that it's aptly named, though not impossible. Overall, the difficulty feels like it could have used a bit more tuning, or another setting that finds the sweet spot between casual and hardcore. But since you can select your difficulty each time you load up your game, it's easy to set it down to casual if you get stuck at a certain checkpoint, then raise it back up once you've made progress. Making your way through the campaign should take most players somewhere from about 10 to 12 hours, depending on the difficulty.

The game has achievements for finishing each of the five acts on each of the three difficulties, and they stack, so if you beat an act on hardcore, you get the casual points, as well. It only seems to keep track of what difficulty setting you're on when you finish the act, so all this switching around won't cause any trouble on that front, either. The game's achievements are pretty good, with a smart mix of points you'll get for simply playing through the game and some more esoteric ones, like points for playing as Dom in co-op, points for perfectly reloading your weapon many times in a row, doing well online, and so on. None of the points seem that far fetched, but you also won't have the full thousand during your first couple of days with the game, either.




While the campaign is fine and good alone, it's even better when you're playing with another player. You can do so via a split-screen or over Xbox Live, and the good news is that you can continue the campaign from where you've played in the single-player, so you can use any mix of single or cooperative play to get through without having to replay missions. The second player takes on the role of Dom, and the game is both more entertaining and significantly easier when playing with a partner. That's because when players die in co-op, they can be revived, provided they haven't been blown to bits or their deaths don't take place during one of the few times when the team splits up, separating the two human players. Online, the co-op behaves quite smoothly, and the graphics in split-screen mode appear to be just as good as they are when you're playing alone. About the only negative aspect of co-op play is that if a player drops out of an online game, the other player is forced to quit back to the main menu. A more seamless drop-in/drop-out setup would have been cool.


The game's online options make for some really exciting team-based gameplay.

A big part of making any shooter memorable is the design of its weapons. Gears of War has some very satisfying weaponry that really make the game stand out. The machine gun you're going to use for most of the game is the Lancer, and in addition to it being a fast-firing death dealer, it also has a unique melee attack in the chainsaw bayonet. Yes, a machine gun with a chainsaw mounted to the bottom of it is just as awesome as it sounds, though since most of the enemies are content to hide behind cover and mow you down if you attempt to get close, you don't get to use it as often as you might like. But when you do, it's a terrific display of great, splashy blood effects. The other weapons in the game aren't quite as flashy, as you'll get a standard sniper rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher, some grenades, and so on. But you'll also get to use something called the Hammer of Dawn, which is an orbital satellite that beams down hot, fiery death from above when you paint a target. But the catch is that the satellites have to be lined up above your position and you have to be outside for it to work, so it's only available in a few very specific situations during the campaign. You can carry four different weapons, but you'll always have slots reserved for a pistol and for grenades, so you have to make choices about which two main weapons you'll carry around with you.

Another really cool facet of the gameplay is that there's a trick to reloading your weapon. By default, reloads take a set amount of time and aren't anything flashy. But if you look just below the gun indicator on the screen, you'll see a line sweeping across a bar with a couple of different colors on it. That's the trick. A button press stops the meter. If you stop it in the gray area, the weapon reloads faster. If you stop it in the tiny white zone, you'll reload and all the bullets you just fed into your weapon will do more damage. But if you miss and hit it in the black, the gun jams and takes even longer to reload. It's a fascinating risk-versus-reward scenario that isn't difficult to master, but when you're under fire in a tense situation, you're still likely to screw it up now and then.

In addition to the single-player and co-op play, Gears of War has a team-based multiplayer mode for up to eight players. The four-on-four action is also round-based with no respawns, though like in the co-op game, you can revive other players when they go down. On the other side, though, that means you need to pump a lot more rounds into your enemies after they go down, just to make sure they stay down. Or, alternately, you can run up on their downed body and hit the X button, which delivers a very satisfying life-ending boot to your foe's head. For as much fun as the weapons are in single-player, they're actually more exciting here. The Hammer of Dawn becomes a pretty hilarious addition to the game, and you'll get to use that chainsaw more frequently against unsuspecting players thanks to the way the maps offer multiple ways to get to the same location. The key to multiplayer is to never work alone so that you can always have someone around to revive you and vice versa. Two players rolling up on one player usually (though certainly not always) results in the single player getting decimated. One of the other players may go down, but that's nothing a revival won't fix. The game's 10 maps offer a good variety, and you can mix the action up a bit by changing out the weapons that appear in the map. You can play in three different modes. Warzone is a standard team deathmatch. Assassination puts one player in the leader role and the other three players must fight as protectors. Execution forces you to kill opposing players yourself--if you let them sit there and bleed, they can hammer the A button to revive themselves. With a good number of maps and exciting action, this game appears to have some longevity to it online. If you like, you can also play over a LAN via system link, or locally--though local multiplayer is limited to two players, which isn't too exciting.


A shooter is only as good as its weapons, and Gears of War has a couple of really outstanding guns in it.

Consider Gears of War to be the game that raised the bar for how console games should look from here on out. The character models are thick and look outstanding. The gray, war-torn environments are nicely varied throughout the game, and the game is full of amazing standout visual moments, such as a train sequence where you see that the sky is full of ink left behind by flying Locust enemies, blocking your view of the stars just enough to prevent you from busting out the Hammer of Dawn. Or, when you get to an underground mine and see a lot of molten, glowing lava all around you. Or, anytime you get to use the chainsaw on anything, ever. Or, the way the camera gets down low and starts shaking like a wartime documentary whenever you start running. It all looks absolutely amazing, from the animation to the game's over-the-top blood effects.

The game also runs at a very steady frame rate during gameplay. The cutscenes, however, are rendered in real time, and when the action really gets heated in some of the sequences, the visuals chop up. The music in Gears of War is appropriately cinematic and really helps carry the action-movie style that the game is shooting for. The dialogue also gives off an action-movie vibe, mainly because most of it is totally meatheaded. The COG soldiers aren't scientists--they're dumb, strong soldier boys that are at home when they're behind the trigger. As a result, almost all of the dialogue is appropriately gruff and filled with the sort of "let's rock!" enthusiasm that you'd expect from a team of hardcore shooters. The weapons are also enhanced by great sound effects. The squish of flesh being ripped apart by the chainsaw, in particular, is outstanding.

Gears of War is a game that capitalizes on all of the promises made by the next generation of gaming. It looks more than a few steps beyond what consoles have been doing to this point, and the gameplay is supremely fulfilling from start to finish in all of its various modes. While there have certainly been plenty of similar shooters before it, the game's great weapons, amazing graphics, and absolutely thrilling action make it stand out from the pack in a big, big way.

Here is a review from TeamXbox.com who gave it a 9.6!
http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1247/Gears-of-War/p1/

Thanks a lot dude!!!

I'm picking up mine from EB at 3:30 after I get out of class. Can't wait!

Stopped at my local EB and it wasn't in yet. Only 3 left for walk-ins, so I paid for a copy and I'll stop back in after work at 3:30. They're being driven in by the district manager - hopefully he'll be in town by the time I get there.

I signed up for gameznflix a week or so ago, but I'm seriously considering buying Gears. I mean, come on, Chainsaws?
Curse you, hype-monster!

You lucky bastards! I'm going to have to wait as this is part of a Christmas gift from my girlfriend along with COD3 and some other goodies. Maybe I can talk her into letting me have GOW early...hmmm. The 360 was my birthday present and I got it early. My birthday is still 3 weeks away and I have had the 360 since September! Maybe I need to pick up some flowers or something ;)

No luck for me scoring a copy after calling the local gaming stores. No one is getting any in until tomorrow. One place said they may have it in tonight, but only enough for the pre-order copies. I may call them later and see if they have any left on the off chance they get more in then they thought.

Oh well I guess I can play Contra tomorrow until I can try and pick up a copy after work on Thursday.

My GS has them right now, my copy will have to wait until I get off work(5pm). Then it's sayonara.

I should have it in a few hours and after playing for a few hours I will post some impressions (not that it matters with the scores this game has been getting) .

---- Have Fun !!!

------ Jason

User reviews:

"If u havent reserved this game yet and cant get a hold of it ill call u dumb this right here people is Game Of The Year"
Some Kid


"I think I just shat myself "
Some Other Kid


"Halo killer? "Probably not." Perfect? "Not quite." Best 360 game to date? "Exactly."
Yet Another Kid

My EB games has my pre-order ready and waiting...... gotta wait til I get off work

Will have mine in 10 minutes. Will post some personal reviews when I get back. Im off to Game Stop now.

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER and player of Gears of WAR....this game gets a 19 out of 10....no joke....SICK

Played about 45 minutes so far. Its pretty good. I will get flamed for this but it looks the same graphics wise as GRAW which looked great. Maybe I was just expecting to much I dunno. Either way, so far I am having a blast!

JUST GOT MINE!!!

just got home too.. gimme a few hours to play it

Played about 45 minutes so far. Its pretty good. I will get flamed for this but it looks the same graphics wise as GRAW which looked great. Maybe I was just expecting to much I dunno. Either way, so far I am having a blast!

That would contradict everything that has been said thus far so I have to ask the obvious question ;) , what display and what resolution are you playing at ?

------- Jason

That would contradict everything that has been said thus far so I have to ask the obvious question ;) , what display and what resolution are you playing at ?

------- Jason
Beat me to it...

With a name like HDTV-NUT it better be good. ;)

GRAW certainly did not get the credit it deserved for graphics. I would certainly give GRAW points for variety that GOW seems to lack. (from movies and screenshots).

Which brings me to the question: Is VSYNC on or off? The only flaw in GRAWs graphics was the tearing.

From all the videos I've seen with people even playing it.. There doesn't look to be any tearing which is a huge plus..

I've called about 30 Gamestops and EB Games in and around town and they're all telling me tomorrow. Damnit.

Do you have a Fry's?

there is no tearing whatsoever on my toshi dlp...looks amazing and the environments are a lot more impressive in person than on the videos.

Which brings me to the question: Is VSYNC on or off? The only flaw in GRAWs graphics was the tearing.

From the horses mouth. Sounds like it's using the same system as Dead Rising, which seemd to work for most of the game.


There are hybrid solutions to VSYNC. Gears of War uses VSYNC whenever a frame takes less than 33ms to render and immediately displays the frame if it took more.

This means we VSYNC > 30 FPS (and hence clamping to 30 FPS) and don't drop down to ~20 FPS (32ms + 16ms) just because the framerate might be 29 FPS in rare cases.

In practice, this is the best of both worlds as you get VSYNC 99% of the time and don't get hitches the 1% of the time where strange things happen that cause the framerate to drop slightly. This has been working out great for us, allowing consistent high framerates with minor glitches here and there not ruining the butter smooth feel ;-)

-- Daniel, Epic Games Inc.

http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=531149&page=3&highlight=tear

Do you have a Fry's?

I wish! They always seem to have the best deals as well.

Thanks for the info Streetpreacher

I've played the first level and about half of the second on the hardcore difficulty (or whatever the hardest one that is open at first is).

Holy crap! The game looks so much better in person on my HDTV than even the high-res Gametrailer.com multiplayer footage on the same screen! Fantastic!

What picture profile in the game options are you guys using? I'm just using default.

i went today and i saw a ton right behind the guy and he said he couldnt till tomarrow unless i preordered, but i paid for it and preordered for tomarrow, after i did this i was like ok ill be here at 930 after my class is over and he was like you should wait till 1pm when we get the next shipment, i was so pissed, that kills all of the time i wouldve spent playing

Played the first 1.5 levels so far.

It's pretty sweet, but not as addictive as I'd thought it would be. I'll have no problem putting it down for the night in a couple of hours. But we'll see how painful this weekend is when the wife and I are out of town for a few days... :)

So far I am having trouble playing because I am too freaking busy looking at everything so I am lacking the sense of urgency the awesome music is telling me I should have. I am also constantly looking around to pick up the cog tags and the guns. I need to get out of the giddy "I GOT GEARS AND IT LOOKS AWESOME" place and move on over to the "I MUST kill locusts" place. Once I get there I am sure it will be quite addictive. Trouble is, I dont really want to get there YET, because I have work tomorrow and I have next week off so I need to savor this and play slow..... or play through casual fast and start over in Hardcore :)

For those of you guys who weren't able to pick up a copy of Gears like me...

Gametrailers has the HD videos back up plus a bunch of new ones and a review in HD.
http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=1650

For those of you guys that were able to get Gears today.....DAMN YOU!!! :D

Played first few missions and have to admit it rocks!!!I had to put it down to lower my blood pressure its so freakin intense.all i can say is wait till you see the bezerker.:)

I got mine.

So far so good. Truly awesome visuals (original huh?). Gameplay has a little bit of a learning curve but it's very intuitive. Very fun so far.

I'm playing with a Sanyo Z1 on a 96" screen. Looks fantastic!

What else can I say?

I'm off to play! (I'm a poet and don't know it)

Picked up my copy awhile ago and just put it in. Holy S#*@! This is one great looking game. It may very well be the best I have ever seen! Okay, time to play for awhile. I will post back later!!! My thumbs are going to be sore! :eek:

This is an awesome game. Visuals are top notch. There is a small learning curve to the cover system but I was used to it in about 5 minutes. Now back to playing.

I have the game in hand (from my local GS, see my profile for where i am), and i will play in a few minutes...have to finish dancing with the stars first...NOT!
although the game is upstairs in the media room spinning in my 360 while i sit here and type... just know that as soon as the kids go to sleep...ITS ON!!!!!

XBLGT = RICHUT96


edit:ok, so i played a few minutes tonight, but the game is not showing up in my gamertag yet on xbox.com///anyone else having this issue?

Wow it really is an awesome game with stellar graphics. Picked up my limited edition pre-order earlier.

As soon as I turned on the 360 and put in GOW, it said it had an update. What could that be?

Got mine at 5pm, can I say "Halo Killer"?

It is everything they said it was. The cutscene presentation is KILLER. Right before you join the unit by the chopper...chills.

I am so envious of you guys! :D

Seriously, glad you guys are finding it is living up to the hype. Keep the first impressions coming! I will post mine when I get my copy some day! :rolleyes:

Well I've been playing for 2 hours, and I've actually jumped right into a couple of Multi-player games. For multiplayer, let me just say...

TAKE COVER!!!

Oh, and work together. Talk with your team mates and decide where each man should go. If not, you'll all be hacked like turkeys in late November.

I will be hearing that in my sleep tonite TAKE COVER!!! :eek:

After about 2 hours of single player I have to say this game looks and plays phenomenal. While you definitely have to use cover, it is much more intense and fast paced than I expected. What I thought might be a gimmick, the active reload feature is quite cool. The cover system takes about an hour to get down, then it all starts to click. Crank up the surround and the first time you fire your weapon your ears will be in game heaven. The first time I used the chainsaw will go down as one of my finest memories in gaming. Granted I havn't played multiplayer yet and this is an early impression, I think this is going to be the game of the year, unquestionably. Now, off to multiplayer. Oh, one last thing, I'm not a very violent person, but video game dismemberment is sweet!

Everybody listen to me and listen good... I will play ANYTHING that looks as incredible as this. It is the best looking game ever. And beyond that it is really fun and, well, just macho. Since lost planet isn't making it out this year I don't see what could possibly get my vote over this for game of the year just based on level 1. This is next gen (finally).

This game is making my eyes bleed.

Thank you.

Makes me wish I had a 360. Damn. Sounds like "the" killer app. I didn't think anything could live up to this hype. The only other test for a game is to see how well it maintains interest and playability over a long period of time. It sounds like it's knocked it out of the park on all the others.

Very jealous.

You've gotta see these graphics to believe it. Holy ****!

As soon as I turned on the 360 and put in GOW, it said it had an update. What could that be?

That would contradict everything that has been said thus far so I have to ask the obvious question ;) , what display and what resolution are you playing at ?

------- Jason
I have the LG 37LC2D. Res is 720p.

Dont get me wrong, the game looks fantastic. What im saying is that I dont know how much better it looks then GRAW. Maybe I just remember GRAW looking better then it actually did? I sold GRAW on ebay about 2-3 months ago so I cant really compare.

Again, I think the game looks great and it is really fun to play. I just thought it was going to look WAY better then GRAW and to my eyes it dosent.

As soon as I turned on the 360 and put in GOW, it said it had an update. What could that be?

It was a fix for some very minor issues that came up during certification, that only about 1% of people would have even noticed.

This is paraphrased from a post by one of the developers on the Epic Games forum.

I have the LG 37LC2D. Res is 720p.

Dont get me wrong, the game looks fantastic. What im saying is that I dont know how much better it looks then GRAW. Maybe I just remember GRAW looking better then it actually did? I sold GRAW on ebay about 2-3 months ago so I cant really compare.
Again, I think the game looks great and it is really fun to play. I just thought it was going to look WAY better then GRAW and to my eyes it dosent.

I just traded in GRAW the other day, and speaking as a guy playing on a 50" Sony A10, there is a difference. The detail in the backgrounds is leaps and bounds over GRAW. The depth of animation is much past GRAW. The character models are significantly better and there is consistently way more action and movement and variety on the screen than in GRAW...and the thing is I loveed GRAW's visuals too.

The weird thing is, the game GoW reminds me the most of is Tony Hawk. Every time I wanted to put down the first Tony Hawk I'd say to myself "one more round, then I'm done." I'd do this for hours not realizing how much time I spent until I was groggy well after 3am passing out. This game is already doing that to me. I keep saying "one more checkpoint" but the checkpoints are so close and I keep seeing cool new enemies that after I pass the checkpoint I just want to see a little of what's next, and then I pass that checkpoint, and the whole process keeps repeating itself. I just pulled myself away after 3 hours and I'm going right back there.

Just great... two big meetings at work tomorrrow that I have to take the lead on and I'm gonna be out of it throughout them because I stayed up all night playing my new video game.


One thing to add, I'm usually a guy who goes for accurate, muted colours, but I think this game looks best if you pick the vibrant setting in its options menu. It brings out more depth in the graphics. At least with how I've got my A10 set, I see a nice difference.

My love for you is like a truck...I get it now.
Not really an easter egg but roll the credits, Epic FTW!!!

Wow, this game looks great even online.. I almost forgot what it was like to play a lag free game.. Stomping on someones head when they're done is fun even when it's you.. The blood splatter on the screen is awesome.. By far the best looking online game I have ever played on the 360.. It's not fun when you're looking around a corner and behind you, you hear the sound of a chainsaw.. But at times it gets used a bit much..

TAKE COVER!!! :eek:

Sounds like all us west coast folks got screwed out of getting Gears today because of a distribution issue (something about a plane not coming in when it was supposed to) . This was irritating but I know I will have one tomorrow fairly early , enjoy the head-start to those that got it today ( us west coasters will be seeing ya' online soon :D ) .

--- Jason

Sounds like all us west coast folks got screwed out of getting Gears today because of a distribution issue (something about a plane not coming in when it was supposed to) . This was irritating but I know I will have one tomorrow fairly early , enjoy the head-start to those that got it today ( us west coasters will be seeing ya' online soon :D ) .

--- Jason

Most east coasters also got screwed. Seems like only a small % of people were able to get this game today.

Yeah I know a bunch of east coasters who also are not playing the game. =(
Tomorrow night can't come quick enough.

It is worth the wait. I am sorry to post this but I have to get back to the game. My break is over... I am pulling an all-nighter! :eek:

San Jose, CA

Actually,, I just played GOW for a hour already. I have been calling eb all day from 12,3,5 , they said the shipment suppose coming this afternoon (that is usally the shipment time). At 5, they told me come in at 10 next day to pick it up. I was like, wait, I was told shipment comes in during afternoon only, how the hell, I am gonna pick that up next day at 10, if the shipment won't even be in.

So I suspect shipment will be in but just late, so I took a chance went to the store at 7 pm. The shipment came in as I approach the store, got the 1st copy. Couple guys were there after me.

Lesson learned, if you live close by the store, just go to the store late to double check.

I got hook and it's a good game, consider I don't like 3rd person shooter.

just like cod, pc got me hook to fps.

Good Luck Everybody, call in early tomorrow!

I picked this up this evening and have played through most of the first act.

Man, is this game awesome! I wasn't sure how the 3rd person fighting would work, but Epic really pulled it off! The combat is so intense and the graphics really immerse you in the action. The presentation is perfect and the game has the most amazing sound effects I've ever heard!

I haven't even had a chance to go online yet, I've been so busy with the campaign :) I started out on the Casual setting to get a handle on the controls. I'm waiting for my brother-in-law to pick up the game so we can play co-op.

I really think this is the killer-app the 360 has been waiting for. I don't know how anyone can see this game in action and not want a 360!

The game is so absolutely intense, and looks mind blowing on my 720p 1:1 92" screen. I absolutely LOVE it and even with all the hype, its actually surpassed my expectations of the game. I didnt think it would have so much depth to the actual gameplay, but it absolutely ROCKS. Gorgeous too. 10/10.

I got my copy a couple hours ago (West Coast here) and I haven't even been able to play it yet. I am waking up early tomorrow to pop it in.

My local gamestop received their shipment at 8 tonight and I walked out with my copy at around 8:30. I live in Newport Beach, CA by the way, so yes, us West Coasters are getting it.

I got my copy a couple hours ago (West Coast here) and I haven't even been able to play it yet. I am waking up early tomorrow to pop it in.

My local gamestop received their shipment at 8 tonight and I walked out with my copy at around 8:30. I live in Newport Beach, CA by the way, so yes, us West Coasters are getting it.

Same here- almost word for word, but in the San Diego area. I have to work tonight- but will be popping it in tomorrow am. hard to stay at work tonight.

I went to the Game Crazy near my place tonight, they had GoW but were only selling them to people who pre-ordred (even though they had more than enough). They said I could come back tomorrow morning and buy one. Just for them being like that I'll be getting it at another store. :)

Lucky for you guys in Cali , no stores in the Portland Oregon/Vancouver Washington area got any today . I called everywhere , even though I have 2 pre-orders , because I was helping a friend track one down . I was told by several places that they expected it in pretty early tomorrow however and my pre-orders are supposed to be in by 11am (assuming that does not get messed up as well) . Most of the game stores that I talked to were pretty PO'd that it did not come in , especially the ones that kept telling the pre-order people (like me) that the game would be there after 3pm (which was then pushed to by 6pm) .

Ah well , I can't complain as I usually have been pretty lucky getting this stuff right away so an extra day is no big deal for the biggest game of the year ;) .

------- Jason

I went to the Game Crazy near my place tonight, they had GoW but were only selling them to people who pre-ordred (even though they had more than enough). They said I could come back tomorrow morning and buy one. Just for them being like that I'll be getting it at another store. :)

Hehe , that is where I have 1 of my pre-orders (GC) and when I called them just before closing they still claimed they did not have it . Must be the bad weather in this region that messed up all the distribution (heavy rain and flooding) .

------- Jason

The game is so absolutely intense, and looks mind blowing on my 720p 1:1 92" screen. I absolutely LOVE it and even with all the hype, its actually surpassed my expectations of the game. I didnt think it would have so much depth to the actual gameplay, but it absolutely ROCKS. Gorgeous too. 10/10.

Agree 100%. This game is just amazing.

Anyone else not hearing or being heard by your teammates online?

Anyone else not hearing or being heard by your teammates online?

I thought the last update "cooked" your 360.. how are you still playing?

I thought the last update "cooked" your 360.. how are you still playing?


I had a 1yr warranty that was actually out on 11/22/06 and got a new one.. But this is my last one I can take back to Gamestop.. Manager told me next time to call Microsoft and have them replace or fix it..

Ok the game is so addictive I'm lookin at the credits right now... Awesome... 10 out of 10. Played through on coop with a friend on casual and it took us about 5 hours or so...

Ok the game is so addictive I'm lookin at the credits right now... Awesome... 10 out of 10. Played through on coop with a friend on casual and it took us about 5 hours or so...


You beat the whole game in 5 hours , now that is bothersome :( .

But I'm still buying it :D .

---- Jason

Damn you've finished it already!!

You beat the whole game in 5 hours , now that is bothersome :( .

But I'm still buying it :D .

---- Jason

Something cant be right.. with all the people reviewing this.. especially MAJOR magazines and websites who have played the game for 5 hours or more..

there should be alot of people complaining that short

Co-Op with a friend on easy doesn't sound that quick.. The AI guys on your team are retarded most of the time and do more to hurt you then help..

Co-op should be done on the hard setting so it's atleast a challenge.

Thats why I enjoy playing games on the hardest setting available. I get more joy and competition playing it that way then playing it on easy.

The new Video Review at www.gametrailers.com claims it should take the average gamer about 8 hours to complete . Their new HD video review has to have about the best quality game footage that I have seen so far ( first gameplay trailer that I have seen where you really get a feel for just how impressive the graphics are ;) ) .

----- Jason

Once you played through a game, then the next time you will go through it much faster. I played RE4 many times over and It is a very short game if you just run through it or since you know what to do, but the first time, it did take me awhile....This is why I try to play games on harder levels, so that way you are forced to slow down and play the game.......If there is Co-op then that makes the replay very good, since you can play through it with friends and have a different experience each time...I still play PDZ in Co-op just because it is fun that way....Can't wait to get it today (I hope CompUSA gets them in today).......

I just ordered mine to Iraq. Sera, Iraq, 2 wars to win for the people. :D

My Best Buy Pre-Order is now showing "Backordered". Any have any suggestions of where I can run out and get one today?

^ walmart

A pre-order is backordered? WTH? Was this an online pre? My B&M BB better dang well have it today or I am going to be upset despite the cool GoW t-shirt I am currently wearing (at work :eek: ).

From the order status page at Best Buy...

Order Date: 10/22/06


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1
Microsoft-Gears of War-Xbox 360 SKU: 7294652

$59.99
$59.99
$0.00
$4.05
$64.04


Ship to: DELETED


Status: 1 item(s) backordered.

I pre-ordered from Familyvideo on Oct 31st and this morning I got confirmation that GoW is on its way!! (Too bad I picked snailmail to get it :confused: )

Almost anywhere... I would get going now though... This game will sell out everywhere very quickly! :eek:

I am stuck @ the damn Beserker.... that thing scares the crap out of me when its running...... lol GREAT game....

haha the berseker is great, took me a few minutes to figure out how not to get shredded to pieces by that thing.

definitely the best looking game i have ever played and the thing that impresses me the most is the framerate, i haven't seen it take a dip so far at all, even during heavy firefights and lots of activity on the screen.

and the environments are gorgeous, too bad most of the time you're running and ducking out of the way to pay attention to most of it.

Quick questions. Can you play this co-op on the same Xbox? Like can a buddy come over and play the campaign with me. Also, can you play this 4 player split screen? Can you play this 4 player split screen online? Thanks!

While the game takes an avg. of 8-10 hours to complete in single player mode, this is assuming you're playing on the default setting (which is the easiest).

Bumping it all the way up to "Insane" takes 3x longer to complete.

While the game takes an avg. of 8-10 hours to complete in single player mode, this is assuming you're playing on the default setting (which is the easiest).

Bumping it all the way up to "Insane" takes 3x longer to complete.

What setting should I use if I don't play video games very often? The easiest mode sounds too easy. I was thinking about chosing the middle difficulty.

The easy mode is still tough.... no impossible, but a fun game to the average gamer....

Quick questions. Can you play this co-op on the same Xbox? Like can a buddy come over and play the campaign with me. Also, can you play this 4 player split screen? Can you play this 4 player split screen online? Thanks!

You can have 2 guys one screen for both co-op and multiplayer, but there is no 4 player split on it.

I would say 5-6 hours to complete the game on the Casual setting is about right. It took me just over an hour to finish act 1. I think I'm going to go back and play it on the Hard Core setting now that I've got a handle on the gameplay controls.

There are also several spots where you're given a choice of paths, so there is definitely incentive to go back and replay choosing a different path to see all the game has to offer.

I have to say this game has some amazing in-game cut-scenes and a lot of jaw-dropping moments! It's incredible that they can pull off this level of graphics with a steady framerate and most importantly, no screen tearing!

While this game deserves as close to 10 out of 10 as it can, the graphics deserve a 16.3 out of 10.

On a 21"CRT VGA monitor @720p it's almost hard to believe these images are moving and interactive. And no I'm not stoned.

It can only be described as shocking.

So I called the ebgames i pre ordered from and asked them if they had my copy b/c i was leaving on lunch to pick it up.. They told me their shipment today was delayed. What a bunch of BS... I may go buy from somewhere else and return the new copy.

While this game deserves as close to 10 out of 10 as it can, the graphics deserve a 16.3 out of 10.

On a 21"CRT VGA monitor @720p it's almost hard to believe these images are moving and interactive. And no I'm not stoned.

It can only be described as shocking.
totally. i spent the first 20 minutes just running around doing nothing but laughing in pure disbelief at the staggering beauty of the game. absolutely, completely nuts - at least 2 orders of magnitude better-looking than any game i have ever seen.

even on a 50" plasma from 8 feet.

Delayed until when? I put in preorder at EBG last night. I hope they have my copy when I stop by tonight.

Delayed until when? I put in preorder at EBG last night. I hope they have my copy when I stop by tonight.


Call them first. Mine said hopefully today. The guy was so snotty i wanted to smack him.

My Best Buy Pre-Order is now showing "Backordered". Any have any suggestions of where I can run out and get one today?

Is it me or is BB biased against anything MS these days? No Gears and no HD-DVD? Everything they seem to be doing lately seems geared towards selling BR and the ps3. :rolleyes:

I pre-ordered from Familyvideo on Oct 31st and this morning I got confirmation that GoW is on its way!! (Too bad I picked snailmail to get it :confused: )

Mine is on it's way from FamilyVideo as well, snail mail and a $5.00 off coupon equals $45.00. I don't care about the slow shipping, I am away for 10 days anyway.

This game isn't easy! Very tough and if i have one complaint its the camera system. It needs some serious work!

Delayed until when? I put in preorder at EBG last night. I hope they have my copy when I stop by tonight.

I called the EB Games today that I made my preorder at and the Manager tells me that, ta-da.... there has been a delay. He said that Fed EX has some sort of delay and therefore his shipment and the shipment for the rest of the EB stores in the area (Jacksonville, FL) has been delayed. He said that he has the district manager checking all of the stores to see if he can get some to his store. Yeah right.

I'm gonna check with some of the Walmarts in the area. I figured this would happen. If there's a delay with Fed Ex it must be with their distribution center in Memphis. The planes fly out of there and land at your local airport. Sure there could be a problem at the local Fed Ex distribution center, but I highly doubt it.

5-6 hours to finish....bah, I'll rent it. Not spending 80 bucks on 6 hours.

THat's pathetic. I've seen expansions for games last longer then that.

This game isn't easy! Very tough and if i have one complaint its the camera system. It needs some serious work!
Camera works great, hold "Y" to get on track.

The camera is sick...... I guess you just have to get use to it

I dont think the 5-6 hours for casual gamers is correct. I have played about 3 hours total of this game so far and I am only in the middle of act 2. It will take me about 10-12 hours to finish I would think. Once Im done im going to play on-line for much longer then that. This game is def worth the money. Def my favorite game on the 360.

5-6 hours to finish....bah, I'll rent it. Not spending 80 bucks on 6 hours.

THat's pathetic. I've seen expansions for games last longer then that.


That's on Casual, which most people seem to be saying is relatively easy. If you go to the review from IGN they say that the insane diffuculty easily takes about 3 times as long to complete and SHOULD be done on co-op if you want to stand a chance. I have not even mentioned the multi-player on LIVE yet. So this hardly sounds like a rental at all.

5-6 hours to finish....bah, I'll rent it. Not spending 80 bucks on 6 hours.

THat's pathetic. I've seen expansions for games last longer then that.


Keep in mind, that's on the Casual difficulty setting. Playing on the HardCore setting should double the length. Then there is Co-op, multi-player and the Insane difficulty level if you really want a challenge!

Seriously, this game is easily worth $60!

If you stop and pop and feel out the firefights and admire the eye candy it will be way longer than 5 hours. They must not be counting do overs from the Berserker tearin' 'em a new one :D . BTW the load times are fast as hell.

FINALLY got my copy! I had to buy the $70 collector's edition since all of the regular editions were sold out for pre-orders. Looks like my day is set :)

FINALLY got my copy! I had to buy the $70 collector's edition since all of the regular editions were sold out for pre-orders. Looks like my day is set :)
Take Cover!!!

Just went by BB. They had collectors edition out on the floor. I asked when the el-cheapo version was going to be out and they said they were waiting on the truck "30 to 45 minutes". I'm going back after work to pick it up. He said they're expecting 130 copies...

If you stop and pop and feel out the firefights and admire the eye candy it will be way longer than 5 hours. They must not be counting do overs from the Berserker tearin' 'em a new one :D . BTW the load times are fast as hell.


that damn beserker

Keep in mind, that's on the Casual difficulty setting. Playing on the HardCore setting should double the length. Then there is Co-op, multi-player and the Insane difficulty level if you really want a challenge!

Seriously, this game is easily worth $60!

That is just because it is harder to kill the enemy and easier for you to die. So you have to just go slower. There is not more "game" more levels, etc. its the same, you just are forced to go slower in the game, so it is still a short game. Almost every game out there has a harder mode, but the game is the same.

I dont think the 5-6 hours for casual gamers is correct.

Also, I'm not sure that 5-6 hours on co-op/casual sounds like such a bad thing. I think I might enjoy the ability to go through an entire game with buddy in one afternoon...

That is just because it is harder to kill the enemy and easier for you to die. So you have to just go slower. There is not more "game" more levels, etc. its the same, you just are forced to go slower in the game, so it is still a short game. Almost every game out there has a harder mode, but the game is the same.


Yeah, so...

I picked it up today too. Preacher if you're on later msg me.

I picked it up today too. Preacher if you're on later msg me.

Will do. I just found out that the courier tried to deliver my comp copy at 11:06 today, so with any luck I'll be able to pick it up at the depot when I get off work (and cancel my EB pre-order too :D )

Just got mine today. Can't wait to get home and throw it in the xbox. Gamestop in MA has the same excuse about FedEx going to Tennessee or something. I found a bunch of the $60 version in BB.

Yeah, so...

Meaning it is a VERY short game. People are saying if you play it on a harder mode it takes longer. In theory that is not true. If you are an awesome player, hard mode wouldn't take you any longer. Since people want to point out that the counter to the fact that it is a short game, not to worry, if you play it on harder it is longer, doesn't change the fact that it is a short game. 5 - 8 hours is pathetic for a $60 game nowadays. No reason it had to be this short. I'm just glad I'm an avid on-line gamer so I can get my money's worth.

It may not be that long of a game but it is still a BLAST! :eek:

Meaning it is a VERY short game. People are saying if you play it on a harder mode it takes longer. In theory that is not true. If you are an awesome player, hard mode wouldn't take you any longer. Since people want to point out that the counter to the fact that it is a short game, not to worry, if you play it on harder it is longer, doesn't change the fact that it is a short game. 5 - 8 hours is pathetic for a $60 game nowadays. No reason it had to be this short. I'm just glad I'm an avid on-line gamer so I can get my money's worth.

Well, I'm not a big gamer so I'm sure it will take me forever. :D I also enjoy online play more than the single player modes of most games.

for multi alone is worth $60 bucks

GS in Las Vegas (Cheyenne/Rainbow location) wont get theirs today due to the FedEx screw up. Luckily the BB down the street had plenty for all! I'm off to play.

BB seems to have them in abundance but selling fast.. for those trapped at work. you may want to do store pick up.. buy it online and they pull it to the side for you, and you dont want to worry about selling out. The BB i went to said they dot 100 in, and have sold 60, and expect a big rush after school time here ~4PM

Just picked up my copy. This is gonna be the longest day at work....ever :(

I am getting out at 5. Should I stick with my pre-order of the regular edition or is the Collector's Edition that much better?

Just picked my pre-order up at EB. The sales guy mentioned the same problem with delivering from memphis or something. He said they were the only store In greeley, colorado to get them delivered.

Does anyone know if GoW has in game brightness options? I pretty much have to rely on a game to turn down my brightness on my WS LCD PC Monitor.

I gave my first impressions of single player a couple of pages back last night. For those worried about game length it took me about 2-3 hours to play the first 2 of 5 "acts", but I was taking my time and looking around at the scenery. One negative I'll get out of the way now is your squad member AI is useless, they seem to die around every corner. I havn't played co-op yet, but I played execution mode in multiplayer for about three hours, so far :), today. I see multiplayer getting hundreds(maybe thousands) of hours of playtime. This game already wins my vote for game of the year, simply incredible. The best way to describe it in one word...visceral.

I popped in my local BB and was told they are already out of their first shipment. He apologized and I said don't apologize to me I already hae a copy... :D

Picked up my preorder copy at BB in Frisco, TX took a local ad price matched $10 off and used a 10% off Reward Zone coupon. Lady goes uh oh. You will be a penny short of your $40 in Reward Zone dollars. So picked up some twizzlers and used the credit card to buy both for a $1.49 :) Can't wait to get home and give it a go. Work is always getting in the way.

Does anyone know if GoW has in game brightness options? I pretty much have to rely on a game to turn down my brightness on my WS LCD PC Monitor.

Yes, it has a brightness adjustment as well as 3 display settings, saturated and two others, can't remember, I'm playing on the default. If you are worried about the blacks being crushed based on screenshots or preview videos, don't. There is no problem, plenty of shadow detail.

Edit...whoops saw you were worried about it being too bright. It shouldn't be a problem.

My theater is black and red. This tin fits perfectly. It's going up on display. That's why I bought it.

The book and DVD inside are nice but not worth my $10 as I'd watch them once and never again. So, I got it for the tin.

I would suddenly feel ill if I were you and get out of there so you can play it! :eek:

I have the LG 37LC2D. Res is 720p.

Dont get me wrong, the game looks fantastic. What im saying is that I dont know how much better it looks then GRAW. Maybe I just remember GRAW looking better then it actually did? I sold GRAW on ebay about 2-3 months ago so I cant really compare.

Again, I think the game looks great and it is really fun to play. I just thought it was going to look WAY better then GRAW and to my eyes it dosent.


eh, what can i say to you other than there's got to be something wrong somewhere. this is without question the best looking game i've ever seen, on either a pc or console. the textures are simply unbelievable. graw looked great, but this is in another class entirely...

I called Ciruit City and they said that they got some paper work saying they will not have it until the 12th. I know they had it advertised for today, so I guess some places are not going to sell it until then.......CompUSA had there shipment delayed but they didn't know anything else.

I broke down and went online to BB, ordered GOW, added the 12-month Live value pack to get the $20 off offer, clicked on pick up order, left work at lunch and picked it up and am now salivating and watching the time till I get off work to play!!

See you all online!

Dizzy

FYI: BB in Pentagon City had a huge stack of them at 12:30 pm today behind the Customer Service counter. They had both regular and limited additions stacked up. The pre-orders were in the cabinets underneath the 360 stack. Looked pretty impressive the numbers of GOW's they had in stock.

no problems whatsoever picking the game up in new jersey through best buy. just strolled in and had my choice of regular and collector's.

NEX-GEN is here , simply amazing !!! :D :D :D

- Been playing for about an hour just messing around and adjusting to the controls , this is without doubt one of , if not the best , shooters ever made ... period !

Halo 3 now has some really big freakn' shoes to fill .

--- Off to try some COD3 , it's gonna be a L O N G night tonight ;) .

--------- Jason

oaufoahfaslfdj!!!

I am going nuts! I am stuck here at work reading about the game all day. All I want to do is try it out!

Mine is on it's way from FamilyVideo as well, snail mail and a $5.00 off coupon equals $45.00. I don't care about the slow shipping, I am away for 10 days anyway.
I wasn't quite as lucky. I didn't see that FamilyVideo "deal" until yesterday. They were still showing "In Stock" when I ordered, but I received a notification last night that the title was back-ordered. No big deal; I'm not in a huge rush to get it. Cheap is better than soon, for me. :)

I had pre ordered my game months ago. My brother and I set aside tonight and tomorrow to play co-op over live. I had a really crappy day at work but no matter, tonight would make it all better. I stroll into Gamestop with my receipt in hand only to have the guy at the counter tell me in a snobbish, isn't that funny kind of attitude that they never received their shipment of the game. First of all, I was dissapointed that so many people had their copies yesterday and I couldn't get it, but whatever. However to not get it today after receiving a call from them yesterday to tell me to pick it up today just sucks. They said their was a problem with Fedex AND UPS :confused: . As bummed as I was, that wouldn't be their fault so I could only be mad at the salesman's attitude. Then he tells me that no store in my whole area had gotten a shipment either. Well I go over to Gamecrazy 3 miles away and they had 5 copies left for walkins. I lucked out. Gamecrazy said they ordered 50 extra copies on top of preorders. I called a few other stores in the area and they said they did have them earlier but they had sold out. I hate being lied too. Well, at least it worked out. I'm all set now, see you guys in a few weeks.

Just picked it up during lunch. I spent most of the time trying to get the image to look half way decent with my new VGA cables, ended up just plugging the components back in and it looks soooo much better.

Anyways, from the 10 mins i played the game seems simply awesome.

Picked it up last night at my local game store, I was originally going to get through EB Games/Gamestop but they said their shipment was delayed and they wouldn't get it till 7-8 PM. Local shop had it in at 6 PM ---25 copies and I was number three on the first come, first serve list.

The graphics are simply amazing, the buttons/controls are fairly easy to get use too, and the details and story is just out of this world. The game keeps you interested-- well at least for me-- I especially liked the cut scenes and how cut scenes and actual game play are the same (graphics wise) and transitions smoothly.

Multiplayer on-line is fun as hell--- I had 7 frriends that bought this game and we all hooked up for some late night GOW-- the curb stomping and offing the head with a chainsaw---it's unreal.

The $60.00 tag on this game is easily worth it. I was planning on getting Rainbow Six next week but after playing this game-- I think I'll hold off. I have enough "modern" shooters in my collection.

I had pre ordered my game months ago. My brother and I set aside tonight and tomorrow to play co-op over live. I had a really crappy day at work but no matter, tonight would make it all better. I stroll into Gamestop with my receipt in hand only to have the guy at the counter tell me in a snobbish, isn't that funny kind of attitude that they never received their shipment of the game. First of all, I was dissapointed that so many people had their copies yesterday and I couldn't get it, but whatever. However to not get it today after receiving a call from them yesterday to tell me to pick it up today just sucks. They said their was a problem with Fedex AND UPS :confused: . As bummed as I was, that wouldn't be their fault so I could only be mad at the salesman's attitude. Then he tells me that no store in my whole area had gotten a shipment either. Well I go over to Gamecrazy 3 miles away and they had 5 copies left for walkins. I lucked out. Gamecrazy said they ordered 50 extra copies on top of preorders. I called a few other stores in the area and they said they did have them earlier but they had sold out. I hate being lied too. Well, at least it worked out. I'm all set now, see you guys in a few weeks.


Where do you live Flyhigh? I went to Game Crazy in Simi-- five minutes after I walk in the store (around 5:50) the store manager comes in with a small box with 25 copies of the game. When I left, I noticed more people coming in and buying copies---

The EB manager I spoke with told me that he would call once his orders came. 3:00 came and he still hadn't called me. Seeing as though I preordered the game by putting 5 on it I was decided to look elsewhere. So what did I do? I went ahead and called BB and I told the guy I was looking for a 360 game and he immediately said " GOW". I said yep and he told me to come get it quickly b/c they had people calling all day asking about it. I've spent the last 2 hrs playing the game on hardcore. The game just looks amazing. The environments just border on being photo-realistic. I guess I will go pickup my 5 bucks that I used on the preorder from the EB store.

im completly done with gamestop.... forever, the said that the plane with there 2nd order got grounded.... i paid off the whole thing so im so so heated i have to wait, 1st the initial 360 preorder problems now this BS
boycoyy gamestop

That sucks for you guys having problems with gamestop. They have plenty of copies in the NJ/NY area. I went yesterday around 3:30pm and picked it up with no problems. There was a truck with a trailer parked right out front of gamestop. I dont know how many copy's they got but it sure looked like a **** load.

Played the game about 4 hours now and just finished act 2. Playing on the casual setting. The game gets better and better.

Campaign mode is great... and then I jumped online.
OH MY LORD

after playing this COD 3 while good.....seems so very "last gen"

Death To Us All! :D

I got screwed at EB Games too with the shipping foul up. The guy I spoke to on the phone told me that I would get an additional $10 off if I waited and picked it up tomorrow. I can wait for an additional $10 off. Kinda still sucks but oh well.

They must have screwed up on a lot this week. They are also saying shipping mishaps happened at their docks in Texas with Fed Ex. Those bastards! :mad: Atleast I have GOW!

Well I too succumbed and bought it from BB online and cancelled my EB preorder. They offered $5 off for the delay but as I have the day off tomorrow I wanted to have a good night with it. Only played a few minutes on hardcore before I got creamed (trying to save that slacker Dom!) and getting to grips with the controls but graphically at least it lives up to the hype. It really is like looking into another world and you can almost feel the destruction and desolation. I am itching to get back in and get my revenge on the Locust who got me later on tonight !

Yeah EB SUCKS!!! They screwed up bad and I am getting my money back tomorrow. But holy crap this game is awesome. The single player is good and I am almost done with the second act right now. I got sucked into the multiplayer though. We have to get an AVS game going tomorrow night!!! I got 3 others tonight but 2 on 2 isn't the same.

This should be a Gamestop complaint thread.

I pre-ordered GOW, paid $ 20.00. Today they don't have me in the system and my receipt is all blank. They wouldn't honor my pre-order.

It gets blank with the heat if you carry it in your wallet.

i know we all know how good this game looks, but how bout some screen shots of the game, see who has the best tv? :p

That sucks for you guys having problems with gamestop. They have plenty of copies in the NJ/NY area. I went yesterday around 3:30pm and picked it up with no problems. There was a truck with a trailer parked right out front of gamestop. I dont know how many copy's they got but it sure looked like a **** load.
I LIVE ON LONG ISLAND.....
i went last night at about 6, and they said i should preorder one of the ones coming in tomarrow if i want it bad, so i did and today and they pulled the whole shipping error BS

Damn ToysRus by me, I live in the freaking Chicagoland area and they still don't have it in. A good laugh for everyone, I call the one and the guy sounds like he is still in high school. I ask did you get Gears of War in today. His first response is he asks for what system? I tell him and he checks and they did not. Another one by me justsaid no I sensed the pattern. The last one is what pisses me off. I just called and I asked and he said we got in a large cart of games but I have not gone through them yet. I asked if GOW would be in there and he says it might be. I was like so if I came in would I be able to get it then. He says to check back in 2 HOURS! WTF, you close in less than 3 hours and I can't imagine they are super busy on a Wednesday night and the only other retail store really on my direct route home is Target and their ad says the 9th.

Boy, I chose poorly with my pre-order! I got mine at Gamestop and like many of you will be playing GRAW instead tonight! On the up side, they said they are knocking $5 off the price. Small consolation, but better than nothing. The local EB games and Software Etc. all sold out. I can't believe how popular this game is! Makes it even harder to WAIT!!! :mad:

I'm liking the game a lot. However the online graphic background kinda bothers me. The trees done move with the wind or if a bullet is shots thru them. Granted the background looks very nice, but at the cost of unrealistic I guess. Most of that I guess was concentrated on the characters.

pink

i know we all know how good this game looks, but how bout some screen shots of the game

A couple of quick shots I snapped tonight while playing on the new TV. I'll add more as I progress through the game.

http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/8783/gow001lk2.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/912/gow002ad5.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/8118/gow003yi3.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9765/gow005jr3.jpg
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/6057/gow007tl0.jpg

Must be problems everywhere.. I could only find it at one place in my area tonight and I checked Best Buy, Circuit City, and Toys R Us and Target was the only place that had it! Anyway played it about an hours only got through the first level but I have to say I wasn't blown away by the graphics like I had hoped. They are good but not leaps and bounds better than what we have seen before. Maybe it gets better further in the game. The characater models are really good but some of the enviroments (especially in the distance) seem flat. Anyway minor things and it does look good just not exactly what it seemed to by hyped to be. The game play is fun but on the medium setting it isn't easy and I keep dying a lot! So far I would give it a good but not the best thing I ever played (that goes to RE4)

Oh, My, God. This game is awesome in every way. The MP is really addictive and kind of reminds me of Counter Strike. I was worried about the one-life-to-live style gameplay, but the rounds only end up lasting a couple of minutes, and it lets you spectate your teammates while you wait. The 4 on 4 is really not an issue at all in my opinion. You can join games at any time, which makes it much quicker to get into a game, and also helps keep the servers running with full teams.

First chainsaw kill is very fulfilling! :)

Hey guys which display mode are you using under Video Options? You can use Soft, Lucid, Vivid, and Normal (default). Noticed a difference between them at all? Thx!

Hey guys which display mode are you using under Video Options? You can use Soft, Lucid, Vivid, and Normal (default). Noticed a difference between them at all? Thx!

You can go here and see some images with the different settings. I haven't got it yet, so I just looked at the pix. I liked the Vivid option.....

http://www.xboxyde.com/news_3781_16065_1_en.html

I think one thing to be learned is that pre-order is worthless. I just walked into the store yesterday and picked mine up. Didnt even know it was comming out until about 2 days ago. Dont mean to rub it in, just saying, skip the pre-order from now on.

Well, this game made me break down and buy a 360. I went by my local BB at around 11 and they didn't have any copies of Gears on the shelf and none of the staff seemed to know when to expect their shipment. On a hunch I stopped by on my way home a few hours later and they had a bunch on the shelves. I've put about 2 hours in just getting used to the controller. I think I've had a grin on my face the whole time. :)

I haven't enjoyed a shooter this much since the original Doom. Now I just need to talk the wife into a projector and 133" screen. :D

I agree about the preorder statement. The days of being able to pre order a game and then get a day or two before everyone else is extinct. You may as well go to a store and get t the day of release. Most places won't sell early even with a pre order anyhow. So what is the point? And then you still aren't guarranteed a copy anyway. Pre orders aren't what they used to be! ;)

Well, hopefully my girlfriend wont see this post...I went ahead and bought a copy of GOW on the way home from work. Walked right into BB and asked for it. They had them in the Loss Prevention closet under lock and key. Sold out of the LE version so I got the regular one. I have been playing since about 7:30 and I have to say that it is everything they said it would be so far! Sick, just sick! I am really taking my time with it and trying to get the controls down. I was worried about the "A" button after reading about some other experiences but I totally get it and I love this game already. I have just been playing the campaign on casual and have not even had a chance to try multiplayer or online play. The musical score is awesome and every turn and corner reveals a masterpiece. This is the one we have been waiting for. Simply awesome!

I think one thing to be learned is that pre-order is worthless. I just walked into the store yesterday and picked mine up. Didnt even know it was comming out until about 2 days ago. Dont mean to rub it in, just saying, skip the pre-order from now on.
I NNNEEVVEEERR preorde im anti pre-order and ive gotten any game ever on release day except this... halo1 and 2... all the GTA's this is the 1st game i wanted and didnt get

I'm in South Florida -- anyone know if GS is getting them in tomorrow? I'm still waiting for the phone call..

Supposably they will be everywhere tomorrow...

Never pre-ordered mine, picked it up today in Ottawa, Canada.

Played it for a few hours this afternoon and loved it! Definitely had a next generation feel to it. Very cinematic and movie-like in spots. The controls took a bit getting used to but I'm rolling now...

Can't wait to try it online!

Deserves all the hype and looks fantastic to boot! ;)

The game also has some sick bass. The only thing I don't like so far is the A button. I keep going to walls and rolling. It's really annoying.

Have you guys seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBnect1mkYA

Well, this game made me break down and buy a 360. I went by my local BB at around 11 and they didn't have any copies of Gears on the shelf and none of the staff seemed to know when to expect their shipment. On a hunch I stopped by on my way home a few hours later and they had a bunch on the shelves. I've put about 2 hours in just getting used to the controller. I think I've had a grin on my face the whole time. :)

I haven't enjoyed a shooter this much since the original Doom. Now I just need to talk the wife into a projector and 133" screen. :D
If you manage to talk her into that let me know how you did that so I can try to convince my wife. Then again my Living room is not big enough for 133" screen, but I can dream though. I love gaming on my 55A2000.

Its not in Alaska yet, been checking around and everyone says next week.

I am still a Halo fan and yet to be convinced otherwise, saw the GOW review on G4, looks gloomy and depressing.

I am still a Halo fan and yet to be convinced otherwise, saw the GOW review on G4, looks gloomy and depressing.
War is hell!

I love the button layout.. Perfect actually for the zoom and reload.. Getting a perfect reload is great and extremely fast.....

Loving this game so far... the active reload is sick- I live and die by it...

after playing this COD 3 while good.....seems so very "last gen"


no way man. cod3 is great too, in its own, different way. i'll tell you what, i've been playing videogames for a long time, and i can't remember two games of this caliber to launch on the same system on the same day...

I just finished playing this game and it is better than Halo and Halo2 I don't know if it will beat Halo 3. It is graphically the greatest game ever made. The attention to detail is unbelievable. I couldn't play it at first I had my Xbox 360 on a power strip I had to plug it into its own plug before I could play the game. It is unreal the graphics are unbelivable and the gameplay rocks I don't want to go to bed I want to play GOW.

Hey guys which display mode are you using under Video Options? You can use Soft, Lucid, Vivid, and Normal (default). Noticed a difference between them at all? Thx!


yeah that option kind of threw me for a loop. never saw it before for a game. i guess the feeling is that you could go dark, muted and dreary as the developers intended or you can "color" it up as you see fit. another fantastic touch. what setting are you guys using? i'm on default, but after looking at the examples i'm going to give vibrant a try later...

yeah that option kind of threw me for a loop. never saw it before for a game. i guess the feeling is that you could go dark, muted and dreary as the developers intended or you can "color" it up as you see fit. another fantastic touch. what setting are you guys using? i'm on default, but after looking at the examples i'm going to give vibrant a try later...

I've been using vibrant (and clicked the brightness up one notch) and have been very pleased with it. It looks gorgeous!

First of all, I was dissapointed that so many people had their copies yesterday and I couldn't get it, but whatever. However to not get it today after receiving a call from them yesterday to tell me to pick it up today just sucks. They said their was a problem with Fedex AND UPS :confused: . As bummed as I was, that wouldn't be their fault so I could only be mad at the salesman's attitude. Then he tells me that no store in my whole area had gotten a shipment either. Well I go over to Gamecrazy 3 miles away and they had 5 copies left for walkins. I lucked out. Gamecrazy said they ordered 50 extra copies on top of preorders. I called a few other stores in the area and they said they did have them earlier but they had sold out. I hate being lied too. Well, at least it worked out. I'm all set now, see you guys in a few weeks.


Same story here with our local EB Games/Gamestops. After 3 trips in 2 days and NO game I dropped by a local Walmart and got the Collector's Edition. I'll be using my pre-order funds for something other game (maybe COD3) at EB tomorrow and from now on I will never pre-order another game with the exception of the Halo series (since they always do a midnight event for that game). The value of pre-ordering video games has really disappeared in the last 2 years or so. :(

There simply is no reason to preorder games anymore if you are concerned about playing them on day 1.

Maybe a good 5 years ago.. okay make that 10.. lol.. when cartridges and optical disk technology was fairly new.. games DID sell out very fast. These days (not counting the PS3 BR discs) most games disks are so abundant its impossible not to be able to find a copy on a given release day.

Especially from larger retailers like BB, Walmart, etc.

The only reason I can see to preorder anymore is for a discounted price or added freebies (i've seen tshirts, posters and strategy guides given away free with preorders)

The first store I tried.. EBGames in GS Plaza mall in Paramus, NJ has plenty of copy of GOW. They were saving the collectors edition for preorder.. but anyone could purchase the regular version of the game.

This game is also gonna sell hundreds of thousands of 360's!!

While I was there.. I witnessed 2 people buying premium 360's and a copy of GOW. And that was without playing the game yet (I got my copy around 2pm on Launch day). Now that the game is being played in the real world for real fans.. expect alot more to sell.. because its not selling off hype anymore.. its selling off reality.

Just look at the positive comments in this thread alone. If I was on the fence for a PS3.. I'd definitely consider the 360-GOW combination.. versus waiting for a PS3 and their library to mature.

Truly an amazing game. Played it for a few hours tonight and I have to say I was never less than impressed.

We all know the graphics and sounds are ridiculously good but it's the controls that I'm really digging! I'm a PC kb/mouse person so I always havd had doubt about playing shooters on a console. Well, about an hour into it, all that disappeared. The controls are so damn perfect it's like telepathic control of the character. The active I have timed at a "one thousand one *click*" everytime!

Feels like a lifetime when you miss an active reload though. Oh you know you have the "A" button down well if the beserker part is a joke for you!

My only complaint so far are the nades. Perhaps I'm spoiled by CS:S and BF2 by being able to make Olympic style throws but I was hoping for a bit more range. You simply have to be too close (even arched up) to make the nade count.

This game should be the benchmark for other shooters, by far! Kudos to Epic and MS on delivering such a gem!

I just got done with a six hour co-op session. All I can say is wow wow wow. Most fun I've had since Halo 1. They did a great job on this. EVERYONE with an Xbox needs to pick this up.

That is all.

Anyone able to play 2 player split screen multiplayer on xbox live? I couldn't and had to create a new gamertag with a new xbox live account. :( If that's the case that is the biggest dissappointment to this game.

I never thought the game would live up to the hype but it more than did. MS needs to have this running in every kiosk this year near the Wii/PS3 kiosks.

I played it a couple of hours last night and it is a sweet game. Very intense for this amateur even at the "casual" level. I love the auto-save system which saves @ every checkpoint, allowing you to get right back into the battle should you die. I managed to get to the area where the lone Alpha team member is found. How far am I into the game?

I like this game much better than GRAW simply because the controls are much simpler and you can start having fun within minutes.

I really think that this game is going to sell a lot of 360 boxes once word gets around and especially when those of us with 360's show off the game to the sony crowd.

I guess i am in the minority. So far I am not overly impressed. Don't get me wrong the graphics are amazing. Best I have seen. It certainly has a "fun" aspect to it, but I just don't see this game holding up long term. There is not enough to it. Online is fun but limited maps, weapons and gameplay style may make it get boring quickly. So far the single player is uninspiring. I usually love shooters.

Anyway I am going to keep playing but think I here COD3 calling my name. Don't flame me, its MY opinon and who knows maybe it will hold my interest long term.

I guess i am in the minority. So far I am not overly impressed. Don't get me wrong the graphics are amazing. Best I have seen. It certainly has a "fun" aspect to it, but I just don't see this game holding up long term. There is not enough to it. Online is fun but limited maps, weapons and gameplay style may make it get boring quickly. So far the single player is uninspiring. I usually love shooters.

Anyway I am going to keep playing but think I here COD3 calling my name. Don't flame me, its MY opinon and who knows maybe it will hold my interest long term.


I agree, I played all night and the maps get old even at 5 rounds per.. I don't know if I'm just good or people aren't but after the match I would have over 300 points.. It's still fun though blowing someones head off though..

After playing more last night and nearly non stop since Tuesday I still have th urge to play this morning. I think it will hold for a long while with great replay value. The sense of urgency you feel when playing is amazing! :eek:

Man I have played 13 matches and only got 900 points :)

I will say it can be exciting at times. In one match it was first to 4 and the match was tied at 3. It ended up down to me against 2 others. I took out the first guy and after some cat and mouse it is just me and one oponent. Knowing the entire match rested on this one matchup was pretty F'ing exciting. Of course I got chainsawed and blew the match :)

I can still hear them, "TAKE COVER!"... :eek:

If you manage to talk her into that let me know how you did that so I can try to convince my wife.

I'm not holding my breath. She was rolling her eyes as I was hooking the 360 up to the TV. :D

If you stop and pop and feel out the firefights and admire the eye candy it will be way longer than 5 hours. They must not be counting do overs from the Berserker tearin' 'em a new one :D . BTW the load times are fast as hell.

I didnt have much trouble with the Berserker, but my automated team mate seemed to die every time I turned around. Now THAT was frustrating. Also, I had the bright idea that I was supposed to pull the Berkserker through one of the windows in the last room instead of the last door. :D

I didnt have much trouble with the Berserker, but my automated team mate seemed to die every time I turned around. Now THAT was frustrating. Also, I had the bright idea that I was supposed to pull the Berkserker through one of the windows in the last room instead of the last door. :D
My idiot computer teammate kept dying two rooms behind me during that segment! I kept having to go back and heal him.

And during Act II where you can die if you leave a lighted area? Holy crap, Dom didn't seem to realize that fact! lol

My idiot computer teammate kept dying two rooms behind me during that segment! I kept having to go back and heal him.

And during Act II where you can die if you leave a lighted area? Holy crap, Dom didn't seem to realize that fact! lol

Thats where Im at now in the game... And Dom seems to enjoy the Krill death dive bombs. Repeatedly.

I wish there was an option to take control of people in your party. That would solve so many of these problems. And the GUI is already built in with the Left Bumper bringing up the party. Maybe the Left Bumper + Directional Pad to control the appropriate party member? Oh well... Maybe for the sequal. :)

Loving this game. I woke up at 4am this morning and played for about 3 hours. I spent about 2 or so doing single player and the last hour on multi. It took me a while to get used to the controls but once I did, I started getting into the game. Then, the awesome cut scenes started pulling me in and then I face the Berserker! Holy crap. This is an awesome experience and I can't wait to play through it several times. I almost never do that with a game. But I easily see myself playing through this on casual, hard and online with a co-op.

The details in the game are great. It was so cool when you ran past a piano and you hear the shots from the enemy going into the piano and hitting chords in there.

Online was a blast. The guys were working together well, communicating and cheering and laughing at the dramatic deaths. I love it and am proud to have the collectors edition tin on display in my theater :)

I played some multiplayer last night and while it's fun, it seems, as Marjen posted that things can get repetitive b/c of the limited number of maps and the fact that the maps aren't that expansive.

I am sure they will provide new maps over Live... comon, let's be realistic here. The box even says the game supports downloadable content.

<off topic>

LINK (http://tovx.blogspot.com/2006/11/kid-gets-beaten-up-for-buying-gears-of.html)
Detroit, Michigan- A teen patron attempting to purchase a copy of Microsoft's eagerly awaited, "Gears of War" was assaulted while waiting in line at a local Gamestop Video Game store. The 15 year-old was beaten by a 36 year-old waiting in line, also.

Apparently, an argument ensued after the cashier claimed there were no more copies available. The 36 year-old named "Deion" started yelling and tried to cut in line in an attempt to purchase the last copy and a brawl started. The older customer sent a barrage of fists and harsh language at the younger patron.

The police were then called. "Deion" was arrested for aggravated assault and is currently awaiting arraignment at a local correctional facility. The 15 year-old was taken to a local hospital for several wounds to the head and neck. The final copy of the game is being held as evidence.
i know some people were unable to get their copies yesterday and should be upset but not to the point of fighting for a game. i am sure there were other issues in this man's life but its amazing how a product can drive a person to do unbelieveable things.

go to walmart on black friday and you'll see old ladies getting pushed down

</back on topic>

Man, I am sooo dead this morning. :( I stayed up way too late playing GOW and I'm sure I will do the same tonight as this game is just great! I am still just playing campaign mode on casual and I'm about half way through Act 2 I believe. Before that it took me a good 10 or 12 times getting slaughtered by the Berserker to finally figure out how to get out of the tomb. Once I got him outside I fried him pretty quick. I had nightmares about that thing last night! What is the high pitched blood curdling scream that I keep hearing? It's very disturbing and I found myself turning on some lights while playing because it was freaking me out! Now I'm trying to stay away from the Krill in Act 2. I have had a different experience with my AI team mates as mine have managed to stay alive so far and have not been much of a liability like others describe. Don't get me wrong, I did my fair share of reviving Dom and the boys but it's not like they were not getting in the fight. I'm not sure if I want to start multiplayer or online play yet or just finish the game on casual first. This game is so wicked!

I guess i am in the minority. So far I am not overly impressed. Don't get me wrong the graphics are amazing. Best I have seen. It certainly has a "fun" aspect to it, but I just don't see this game holding up long term. There is not enough to it. Online is fun but limited maps, weapons and gameplay style may make it get boring quickly. So far the single player is uninspiring. I usually love shooters.

Anyway I am going to keep playing but think I here COD3 calling my name. Don't flame me, its MY opinon and who knows maybe it will hold my interest long term.
Well, it sounds like you need to put in more time. The single player campaign is fantastic, but it takes a bit of time to get rolling. Act 1 is a bit on the slow side as you spend the entire time running from area to area shooting the same enemies...but the game really comes into its own as you move into Act 2. Each Act is significantly different from the last both in terms of environment AND gameplay. Think Resident Evil 4 style progression (it really is obvious that they were inspired by it, as they've said in the past).

Now, CoD3...that's a stinker. While the multiplayer is supposedly solid, the single player has taken quite a hit and is nowhere near the level of quality delivered in CoD2 last year.

<off topic>

LINK (http://tovx.blogspot.com/2006/11/kid-gets-beaten-up-for-buying-gears-of.html)

i know some people were unable to get their copies yesterday and should be upset but not to the point of fighting for a game. i am sure there were other issues in this man's life but its amazing how a product can drive a person to do unbelieveable things.

go to walmart on black friday and you'll see old ladies getting pushed down

</back on topic>


Yeah really! That kid should have chainsawed that guy and shoved a frag in his chest! :D Just kidding!!! It is a great game BUT it is JUST A GAME. I might lie cheat and steal to get it but not assault some kid who probably had to scrape together the $60 bucks to buy GOW!

A couple of quick shots I snapped tonight while playing on the new TV. I'll add more as I progress through the game.

http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/8783/gow001lk2.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/912/gow002ad5.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/8118/gow003yi3.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9765/gow005jr3.jpg
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/6057/gow007tl0.jpg


Are those rainbows that I am see in the 3rd and 5th pic?

Just curious... has anyone tried the button that changes the "content" yet? It's supposed to be less intense or something. I would just like a report of exactly what it does. A friend of mine is interested in the game but not so much in the cussing and gore. Just curious what can be expected when this option is used. Do they edit out the cursing? Do they turn all the blood off? Do they remove the ability to curb stomp? Do they remove chainshaw kills? Does everything turn into a Mario land where I shoot mushrooms at the Locust? What is it?

Just curious... has anyone tried the button that changes the "content" yet? It's supposed to be less intense or something. I would just like a report of exactly what it does. A friend of mine is interested in the game but not so much in the cussing and gore. Just curious what can be expected when this option is used. Do they edit out the cursing? Do they turn all the blood off? Do they remove the ability to curb stomp? Do they remove chainshaw kills? Does everything turn into a Mario land where I shoot mushrooms at the Locust? What is it?


I was kind of wondering that myself. Not that I would ever use it but I'm sure it might widen the audience a bit by toning it down to say a pre-teen level of content. Did anyone else have to show their ID when they bought the game? Best Buy carded me for this game last night! I'm 35 years old but maybe I look 16? :rolleyes:

I managed to get to the area where the lone Alpha team member is found. How far am I into the game?

Not far at all. You are still in act 1.

I am having a hard time with vs. mode on XBL.. I really just want to run out there and blow people away.... very hard to control myself :) Good time though!!!!!

2 things I dont like.

1. I'm not a fan of the grenades and the way you have to throw them. They seem pretty pointless in the heat of battle.

2. I don't like how you have to give up a primary weapon to get anouther weapon. To get the sniper rifle I had to give up my machine gun. After I was done with the sniper rifle I was pretty much useless until I could get a machine gun back.

Other then that. I think I can say that this is my favorite game ever. Halo 2 was my favorite and the online play was great. I still have to see how the online play in GOW turns out.

I also didn't realize that this game had different video setting such as "vivid" "soft" and so on. Im using the default, which are you guys using?

Does everything turn into a Mario land where I shoot mushrooms at the Locust?

Now there is a feature you could take back with you and convince Dave its a great game with!

I switched to "vivid" last night. It ads a das of color and brightes to objects. On my projector I noticed it quite a bit, less so on my Plasma.

Just took down the Locust manning the Troiken, this game gets better the longer you play it and get used to the controls. :)

Edit: I'm using Vivid with the brightness up one notch on a Dell 37" LCD. Looks incredible. 50" Samsung DLP later this year....

1. I'm not a fan of the grenades and the way you have to throw them. They seem pretty pointless in the heat of battle.

Yeah, you stay exposed for too long while setting up your throw. I DO like, how it shows you ricochet trajectories, though.


2. I don't like how you have to give up a primary weapon to get anouther weapon. To get the sniper rifle I had to give up my machine gun. After I was done with the sniper rifle I was pretty much useless until I could get a machine gun back.


Well, I always keep the Lancer, and only swap out my secondary weapons, so I don't see it as that much of a problem. I usually always keep a sniper rifle and the lancer, and occasionally swap the Longshot with a Shotgun, or the Hammer if it's needed.

2 things I dont like.

1. I'm not a fan of the grenades and the way you have to throw them. They seem pretty pointless in the heat of battle.

2. I don't like how you have to give up a primary weapon to get anouther weapon. To get the sniper rifle I had to give up my machine gun. After I was done with the sniper rifle I was pretty much useless until I could get a machine gun back.

Other then that. I think I can say that this is my favorite game ever. Halo 2 was my favorite and the online play was great. I still have to see how the online play in GOW turns out.

I also didn't realize that this game had different video setting such as "vivid" "soft" and so on. Im using the default, which are you guys using?


I agree with you on both counts here. The grenades could have a better delivery method but maybe it will get better with practice. Giving up a chainsaw gun for a sniper rifle sucks but I suppose it keeps it challenging as you have to hunt down the right weapon for the job.

Quick question... If you Coop a level, do you still get the achievement? Or do you have to solo it to get it?

Well, I always keep the Lancer, and only swap out my secondary weapons, so I don't see it as that much of a problem. I usually always keep a sniper rifle and the lancer, and occasionally swap the Longshot with a Shotgun, or the Hammer if it's needed.
How do you swap out secondary weapons? When I try and swap the hand gun type weapon that is given to you by default and pick up a sniper rifle or some other weapon it will not let me. I can only swap the primary weapon for another weapon.

Good game. Could easily be the best looking game I've ever seen on any console or PC.

Few negatives. Hate the main weapon switch, pissed me off. Hate the A button. Yeah, you can get use to it, but you shouldn't have to, they should of done it a completely different way. On-line. Wow, why ship with so few maps???? Yeah you can do download content, but they might also cost you unless you want to continue to wait until they are free. Plus, why do we have to wait months or whatever, ship it with more, my god, they've had the game in development now for well over a year, no reason not to release more, especially with the length of the game, man, that was short, cripes. Last complaint, running and gunning. Not the best executed and I think could of mad the game perfect in my opinion, especially in this kind of environment. Accuracy is SO low when you run and gun (as the manual warns you). Other then that, I still give it 9/10. I think, from now on, all games should have to look as good as this game or they should be banned. Flawless beauty. A lot of mouth dropping WOW moments in this game. My wife even loves the look of the game.

Here's a few shots I took (figured I should throw them in this thread as well). The game is so beautiful. Puts every other developer on 360 to shame. They did a remarkable job here.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/dark1x/gears2.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/dark1x/gears3.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/dark1x/gears5.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/dark1x/gears1.jpg

2 things I dont like.

1. I'm not a fan of the grenades and the way you have to throw them. They seem pretty pointless in the heat of battle.

2. I don't like how you have to give up a primary weapon to get anouther weapon. To get the sniper rifle I had to give up my machine gun. After I was done with the sniper rifle I was pretty much useless until I could get a machine gun back.

Other then that. I think I can say that this is my favorite game ever. Halo 2 was my favorite and the online play was great. I still have to see how the online play in GOW turns out.

I also didn't realize that this game had different video setting such as "vivid" "soft" and so on. Im using the default, which are you guys using?

Odd, I don't agree on either point.

(1) You can throw the grenade without having to "aim" it with the left trigger. So, you have the best of both worlds... accuracy but slower, less accuracy but faster

(2) The weapon you pick up seems to replace the weapon you have armed. Perhaps that is limited to certain slots. But you can shove a shotgun into the left or right slot for instance. I was able to keep my machinegun and replace another weapon.

How do you swap out secondary weapons? When I try and swap the hand gun type weapon that is given to you by default and pick up a sniper rifle or some other weapon it will not let me. I can only swap the primary weapon for another weapon.

Hitting left on the Dpad will switch to the secondary weapon (or more specifically, the second primary weapon), and then you can swap it out with any other weapons you pick up.

Last complaint, running and gunning. Not the best executed and I think could of mad the game perfect in my opinion, especially in this kind of environment.

I think they specifically wanted to avoid "Run and Gun" tactics. I'm personally glad they did, or else it would have been a more Halo-esque experience. Bunny-Hoppong, Grenade Spamming madness.

Last complaint, running and gunning. Not the best executed and I think could of mad the game perfect in my opinion, especially in this kind of environment. Accuracy is SO low when you run and gun (as the manual warns you).
Umm, its not supposed to be a running and gunning type game. That like saying that the duck and cover was not executed well in halo 2. lol. no sh*t. :)

Right, you essentially have 3 classes of weapons:

1. Grenades
2. Big weapons
3. Pistols

You can only put grenades in the grenade slot (up on the D-pad)

You can only put big weapons in the TWO big weapons slots. These include machine guns, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, the laser thingy, etc. (left or right on the D-pad)

You can only put pistol class weapons in the pistol slot (Down on the D-pad)

So, in summary, you don't have any choice about the grenades or pistol replacement or additions. But you do have a choice about your 2 main weapons. You can drop either the left or right main weapon.

Hitting left on the Dpad will switch to the secondary weapon (or more specifically, the second primary weapon), and then you can swap it out with any other weapons you pick up.
huh, i think i may have a problem then. when i am using the second primary weapon, like the "hand type gun" i can not pick up any other weapon. i can only pick up a weapon when i have my primary weapon armed such as the machine gun or the sniper rifle.

I think you are still confused. You cannot replace a pistol with a sniper rifle. You can replace either the left or right primary weapon with your sniper rifle.

Right, you essentially have 3 classes of weapons:

1. Grenades
2. Big weapons
3. Pistols

You can only put grenades in the grenade slot (up on the D-pad)

You can only put big weapons in the TWO big weapons slots. These include machine guns, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, the laser thingy, etc. (left or right on the D-pad)

You can only put pistol class weapons in the pistol slot (Down on the D-pad)

So, in summary, you don't have any choice about the grenades or pistol replacement or additions. But you do have a choice about your 2 main weapons. You can drop either the left or right main weapon. I think I know what the problem is. I have the hammer of dawn weapon in the left D-pad location. It will not let me replace the hammer of dawn with a different weapon. I have been carrying it around since act 1 and I cant get rid of the damn thing.

I think you are still confused. You cannot replace a pistol with a sniper rifle. You can replace either the left or right primary weapon with your sniper rifle.
I understand that now. See my post above.

Umm, its not supposed to be a running and gunning type game. That like saying that the duck and cover was not executed well in halo 2. lol. no sh*t. :)

Really?! No really? I mean, you are this badass guy out there fighting hordes of aliens and creatures and you are never going to run and gun? I get the whole duck and cover and they wanted to add that element, but why take out the other, that is my complaint, they specifically made it that you couldn't. In my opinion, the game would of been even better if you could do both, not that now I have to fire from cover only. Give us both, let us play how we want. Thus, making the game even more enjoyable.

huh, i think i may have a problem then. when i am using the second primary weapon, like the "hand type gun" i can not pick up any other weapon. i can only pick up a weapon when i have my primary weapon armed such as the machine gun or the sniper rifle.
Only the Shotgun (left) and Machine Gun (right) can be replaced by the sniper rifle. I don't think you can swap out your pistol for anything, it's your "last resort" gun.

Quick question... If you Coop a level, do you still get the achievement? Or do you have to solo it to get it?
Yes, you still get the achievements in coop.

Played it a bit more this morning.... man... this game just keeps getting better, but it sure is tough in spots! I haven't even touched the online play yet.

I have to say... one of the best games I've ever played thus far! On any system!

Some of the battles are the most intense I have ever played! Very well done!

I think I know what the problem is. I have the hammer of dawn weapon in the left D-pad location. It will not let me replace the hammer of dawn with a different weapon. I have been carrying it around since act 1 and I cant get rid of the damn thing.

Odd again. I dumped the hammer right after beating the Berserker.