Gears of War Preview

A short time ago, the Unreal Engine was the king of the hill when it came to PC graphics gaming engines. In fact, one of the tenets of PC gaming is that the graphics capabilities and game design that featured the very latest cutting-edge technology were PC exclusive, and the console world simply could not compare. In today's world, the term "Personal Computer" has become almost equal to a box with a Microsoft OS. Did Microsoft own the PC world? It seems so, these days. A more likely explanation is that the "only" operating system that will run our games on the PC is, for better or worse, theirs. Hey, that might not be entirely true, but I'm sure I could dig up some numbers from some Microsoft-sponsored survey to support my claim. (That meaty smack you just heard was thousands of Linux users putting palm to forehead while screaming 'DOH!' - Ed.) So somewhere along the way, Windows-based games have become synonymous to PC games.

Marcus looks badass.

These fiends used to be supermodels... a few too many coke diets.

So with Microsoft now dominating the PC gaming world, what happens when the company that *is* (for all intents and purposes anyway) PC gaming nowadays decides to make not only their own console, but its next-generation version as well? A couple of things - First, Sony executives start getting periodic migraines and taking sedatives, reassuring themselves that small and handheld is beautiful, and, secondly, the heavy duty technology that made the PC gaming world what it is today gets its very own console port. The Unreal 3 Engine, as its most recent iteration is dubbed - does not stand for *just* PC excellence any longer. What also happens is that young and talented level designers with a slightly feminine Guild Wars character-like look grow up, and become lead designers on flagship projects for the Xbox 360.

It's summer 2005 and Cliff Bleszinski is heading the development of probably the hottest Xbox 360 title at the moment, Epic Games' Gears of War. Ironically, this highly anticipated title won't be available in November when Xbox 360 launches. Instead, Epic Games is sticking with a rather vague 2006 release date. This is definitely for the better, as the "behind the scenes" events regarding the Xbox 360 Beta Kits paint a rather dreary picture for the developers. According to IGN, instead of getting the Beta Kits in April as they were promised, people developing games for the Xbox 360 got them in late June. They go on to add, "Believe it or not, it's early days for most 360 developers. This might sound worrisome to most, given that it's July -- nearly four months from launch. But for Xbox 360 developers, they're still new to the Xbox Beta Kits. To put that in perspective, most developers who are shipping their games at launch (November 2005) have more than just a fully running demo. They have levels nearly complete, graphics in place, and they're working on AI, level flow, balance, and the little things that take time, effort, and the many, many parts to be compiled into a massive whole."

In light of this, it's no small wonder that many of the Xbox 360 titles failed to impress at the E3. Everyone who has seen Gears of War behind closed doors at the show, however, agrees that if there is one title that truly highlights the awesome potential of Microsoft's next-generation hardware, it's Epic's new puppy.

But before we get into the visuals (and honestly, all you need to do is see the .AVI file that is included with the preview to realize how good this game looks), it's worth noting that Gears of War will primarily focus on the single-player, strong story-driven campaign. This is not to say the story in Gears is an original narrative - it's best described as a mish-mash of ideas and concepts from famous sci-fi stories. Granted, only the very basic concept is familiar to us at this point, so let's not judge a book by its cover.

Gears of War takes place on a planet called Sera - similar to Earth in many ways; Sera's rich history is marred by numerous conflicts of the indigenous human species. After many years of war and conflict, the humans have finally come to their senses, and a new period of both cultural and economic prosperity ensues. Sadly, the renaissance of art and science becomes but a painful memory with the discovery of a cheap fuel source called Imulsion. Human greed once again takes over as the world of Sera is plunged into a terrible conflict. The human architectural legacy and other material evidences of the times of prosperity are trampled on by military boots (hence, the subtitle "Destroyed Beauty"). In this conflict, however, human petty squabbles come at a far greater price than before. Enter (or rather emerge, as they've been biding their time underground), the vile and some claim alien race of Locust. The Strogg-like beings bent on human genocide, strike on Emergence Day to reclaim the surface for themselves. Incidentally, you've all probably seen the Locust already in the Unreal 3 Engine tech demos. Yes, the monsters in those demos are not just some random fiends; they are the Locust.

Humanity realizes it has to unite if it is to survive, but its resistance is not strong enough and soon, the world is in imminent danger of being overrun by the intelligent beasts.

The player enters the fray as Marcus Fenix. A disgraced former war hero, Marcus seeks personal redemption as he leads his fire team against an onslaught of merciless warrior fiends. You see, in a desperate attempt to fight off the invasion, whatever is left of the human government decides to let the prisoners fight against Locust in exchange for their freedom.

Gears of War uses tried and proven (and many times rehashed) concepts of several famous sci-fi novels and movies. On the bright side, I don't see anything particularly wrong with that, as long as the storytellers manage to offer at least a couple of novel twists and the execution is good enough to make the game world appear believable.

Where Gears of War is supposed to shine is in the gameplay department. Right off the bat, it should be said that you shouldn't necessarily associate the gameplay in Gears of War with what you've seen Epic create thus far. Sure, they've had their horror-themed moments in the original Unreal (remember the scene where ceiling lights start going out one by one), but supposedly, Gears of War will be a more slow-paced hybrid that combines the strong points of a tactical shooter, like team-based combat and lots of positional fighting, with the strong sides of survival horror games. These can include dire situations where players are forced to escape from an overwhelming number of monsters, and, of course, many creepy scenes set in poorly lit areas during nighttime missions. In Cliff's words, "the game features plenty of 'stop-'n-pop' gameplay, as opposed to the 'run-'n-gun' seen in many games," in addition to the said horror scenes. The amazing dynamic lighting and shadows, the particle effects and the almost photo-realistic quality to the textures that the Unreal 3 Engine is capable of producing, ensure that scary moments will have your heart racing and palm sweating as you clutch the mouse tightly with your index finger on the fire button... err, I mean, as you clutch your gamepad tightly...

The stunning character animation will inject a new doze of realism into the game world. Gears of War will take place both in nighttime and daytime settings, but it's during the night that the truly scary moments will play out. Given the game's art style, the moody gothic settings are sure to create the perfect ambience for this.

In regards to the way Gears of War plays, it should be noted that certain objects in the scenery will be context-sensitive. Marcus will automatically duck behind anything he approaches that is deemed as good cover. Pulling away from the object will cause him to keep running. If you decide to remain behind cover, you will have the option of popping in and out or blind firing (in which case you won't see the crosshair), all tying in to the game's "stop-'n-pop" gameplay style.