Gearing Up for War
By CAMPBELL, Gerard
Gears of War
From: Microsoft Game Studios
For: Windows PC
Classification: R16
Score: * * * *
Gears of War first made its debut on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 last year, garnering a multitude of Game of the Year awards, including in these pages last year.
Now, a year later, it’s appearing on a computer near you and it is a faithful translation, hampered by a few technical issues.
You play Marcus Fenix, a rough- as-nails soldier taking on the underground enemy, known as the Locust, 15 years after an alien invasion decimated earth.
Earth is now a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The PC version is the same game as that found on the Xbox 360: same hero-must-save-the-day story, same locations, same run-and- cover game-play, but adds some additional content in the middle of the game that brings more narrative and a beast hinted to in the 360 version but you never got to fight as well as a map editor. It also looks better, thanks to the computer’s ability to display a higher texture resolution.
The PC version also brings mouse and keyboard control to the game which, in my opinion, is a far superior control option to the gamepads offered by the 360.
Gears for PC is great fun, like the 360 game, but it brings some instability issues to the table which should have been ironed out before it was released.
The biggest issue is being frequently “booted” back to your PC’s desktop. I couldn’t get any further than the game’s main menu most times until I downloaded a software fix — which is an issue in itself. For some people, the software update locks up during the installation, meaning you can’t install the patch. I had to download it manually and install it that way.
You also can’t double click on the auto-run icon in the DVD’s menu to run the game — it’ll crash as well.
The game’s makers know about the issues but it’s frustrating all the same. If you’ve played Gears on Xbox 360, don’t even bother with the PC version — there’s not enough new stuff to warrant a second purchase.
For PC gamers, though, if you haven’t seen Marcus Fenix in action, have a PC that can run it well enough, and don’t mind a few initial technical hiccups, it’s worth a visit.
–Gerard Campbell
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(c) 2008 Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.