Gamer's Corner. Issue Three.

Welcome to the third edition of "Gamer's Corner", this little segment will be where myself will others review the newest games, including pictures, hints, tips and much more. The games under review is "Gears Of Wars trilogy."
Gears Of War 1:
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 "Avrom-vroom" sound of a purring chainsaw is both a glorious thing and frightening thing.
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.
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 cross-hairs of a sniper rifle on an ugly Locust mug and shoot it to a bloody pulp.
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. Gears Of War 1: I would give it a 9/10Gears of War 2:
The original Gears of War was about laying the foundation and setting the stage for a massive struggle between man and monster. It introduced us to a planet named Sera and a band of warriors who will stop at nothing to preserve their people and make their home world safe yet again. Standing in their way are the Locust, a race of subterranean aliens hell bent on bringing down the Coalition of Ordered Governments and crippling the human race.
The investment you feel in the characters in Gears of War 2 is definitely deeper than you felt in the first game, with one major exception. I still don’t feel like I know Marcus very well. On one hand, that could be seen as a bad thing, failing to develop your main character. But in another, that may be something really specific to video games. You don’t know much about Gordon Freeman from Half-Life either, do you? Not even what his voice sounds like. That’s because you are Gordon Freeman, just like you are Marcus Fenix.
The other characters in the game get more meaty roles though. Dom’s search for his missing wife is a major thread of the story, but I don’t feel I can say much more about it without revealing some pretty big plot spoilers. Nonetheless, the resolution of that subplot didn’t have the effect on me that I think was intended. Call me jaded, but something about it just rang false. You may feel differently when you reach it, and write me letters about being a heartless bastard, but oh well. Despite the story and writing behind Gears of War 2 being light years ahead of the previous game in quality, it never really achieves high art. More like really good genre fiction.
Oh yeah, the gameplay. Some are going to say that it’s basically the same as Gears of War, that the “stop and pop” style of running to cover and firing from behind it mixed with up close melee attacks hasn’t really changed in any significant way. That may be somewhat true, but would you really want it to? The additions that have been made not only have a significant effect on gameplay, but look really cool and are fun to pull off.Gears of Wars 2: I would give it 8/10Gears of War 3:The word polish is bestowed often, but Gears of War 3 is embarrassingly well assembled. Anyone who played this spring's multiplayer beta has an inkling of this. From a mechanical standpoint, the third-person, cover-based shooting in Gears has never been as fluid, as responsive to player input. Weapons feel and sound fantastic and pack the punch that previous iterations struggled with. But it isn't just those meat and potatoes aspects or the beautiful, colorful visual palette on display, a marked departure from Gears 1 and 2, it's the entire package. Nothing in Gears of War 3 feels like an afterthoughtConfidence might seem like hubris without the execution to back it up, but Gears of War 3 never falters. The missteps of past games (poorly executed vehicle sequences, moments of spectacle that prioritize explosions over gameplay) are gone. The old lines of war have been blurred, and the three way battle between humans, the displaced Locust, and the wildly unpredictable Lambent makes for a more interesting fight, and takes place in a world that's falling apart. Marcus and friends' mission in Gears of War 3 hinges on the last bit of hope left, and it propels the game forward fantastically.As you journey from ship to shore and beyond, you visit a variety of beautifully designed locations. Improvised settlements of human and Locust alike convey the desperate state of Seran surface dwellers and contrast starkly with the areas humans have forsaken. These places all have meaningful connections to the story, so every narrative detour feels natural. The same goes for the gameplay detours. Logical on-rails vehicle sequences link major locations, providing exciting interludes that last just long enough to add some welcome diversity. The only vehicles you actually pilot are squat exoskeletons that move like a bulkier, robotic version of you. They are used sparingly and handle well, offering a heady feeling of destructive power. Gears of War 3 doles out cutscenes, combat, and changes of pace in skillful measure, and maintains this delicate balance within the on-foot firefights.Conflict zones vary widely in size and shape. Claustrophobic rooms channel you straight into your enemies, while larger areas give you plenty of room to flank your foes. Such spacious locations often play host to a new type of enemy spawn point, the Lambent stalk. Like the emergence holes before it, the stalk must be damaged to stanch the flow of enemies, and this can require some active maneuvering on your part. You need to use cover to stay alive, but you also must venture out into the field of fire to stop these spawn points and locate powerful weapons to wield against your foes. Returning favorites like the Mortar and Mulcher are joined by the One Shot (guess how it got that name) and the massive Vulcan, a devastating minigun that can only be moved by two people. Most of your arsenal is made up of guns that will be familiar to series veterans, providing a gruesome and satisfying array of ways to deal death at all ranges. Bullets still hit their marks with gratifying squish noises, and roaring chainsaws proclaim that the tried-and-true combat mechanics are once again in top form.In fact, accessibility is one of the strengths of Gears of War 3. Though it is an undeniably intense shooter, it scales very well to accommodate a range of skill levels. This is just one facet of the pervasive attention to detail that suffuses the whole game and gives you the sense that you are experiencing the pinnacle of the series. From the taut Versus competition to the two great cooperative modes, Gears of War 3 delivers immensely entertaining experiences on both sides of The Locust War. But the real triumph is the campaign, a masterpiece of exciting gameplay and emotional storytelling that stands head and shoulders above its predecessors. Even if you don't remember where you were on Emergence Day, this is one adventure you won't soon forget.Gears of War 3: I give it 10/10http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR0wncErTwGraphic differences between Gears 1, 2 and 3.Give me your thoughts on what to do for the next review! Next time Ninja-Toaster will be writing TF2!

Oooh, a trilogy review for some older games, nice. I like it. good reviews. Although from what I've been playing of it, I'd hesitate to give GoW3 a full ten. I'd give it around a 9.5 or so. Multiplayer can get annoying if you run into the wrong people, since the matchmaking is not necessarily skill-based to the extent it should be....

can you do metroid prime??

Jake Jordan Wolfe said

can you do metroid prime??

No. That game doesn't need to be reviewed. At all. If it's not your favorite game, then you're a Communist.

Sirenia Immortale said

No. That game doesn't need to be reviewed. At all. If it's not your favorite game, then you're a Communist.

Or a Sony/Microsoft fanboy. One of the two. Although those were rare at the time.....Although I wish Nintendo would put out another Metroid game to make up for the utter failure that was Other M. They need to fix that, and quickly....