Gears of War Reviews

• Beautiful to look at, but a console port to the PC, and all that implies

  
  By A16WKPOSEGQC3Y on 2007-11-11
  I have the 360 version of this game. The voice acting, graphics and artwork, and basic pace was pretty decent, but I grew bored of console type checkpoint saves a long time ago, plus the 360 controllers just don't do it for me with this game, so I was waiting for the PC version.
  
  Well, I spent full price the day it came out, and boy am I disappointed. Beyond the fact that price already fell $10 in the first week, the game is not that much fun to play. There is no save system other than arbitrary checkpoints. How bored are we all with replaying the same 10 minute scenes over and over and over and over again. I know I am
  
  Also, its a 3rd person view, which is fine, but you can't really run and aim, nor can you jump or duck. These are some simple basics that all shooters need to allow full range of movement. I don't mind dying in these games, happens all the time. But I do mind playing the same boring passage 100 times without getting anywhere. The atrocious and annoying berserker part comes to mind here, where no matter what you do, you die 100 times before something lucky happens and you get through it.
  
  This is a decent game, don't get me wrong, but for the PC it is a console port, plain and simple. No save system, lousy controls. Nuff said
  
  

• Great Game and Fun to Play

  
  By A2JXT5OZ6V62JR on 2007-11-10
  Do not listen to naysayers. Before you install the game update your Windows Live from Microsoft and you will have no problems. The game runs very smooth and is beautiful to look at. The gameplay should be familiar to most people who have probably seen it on Xbox 360. Highly recommended for any action oriented gamer. Very high production values.
  
  

• Gears of War comes to the PC

  
  By AJKWF4W7QD4NS on 2007-12-06
  Arguably the best game to hit the XBox 360 yet, Epic Games' Gears of War comes to the PC with a more than solid translation from console to PC. If you've played the game before on the 360, you'll feel pretty much right at home here with what the PC edition of Gears of War has to offer, as it boasts the same gorgeous graphics, brutal gameplay, and addictive multiplayer that helped make the game such a hit in the first place. For newcomers to Gears of War, you'll get to see what all the fuss is about for the most part, although there are a few flaws to be found. Most notably is the fact that there are a few glitches and bugs to be discovered as you progress throughout the game, but they don't detract from the overall experience of the game. The difficulty curve could have been tweaked a bit as well, but as far as flaws go, they end there. Gears of War supports the keyboard and mouse as well as the XBox 360 gamepad, but either way, the control remains tight. There are some new additions, including added mission chapters and maps, and while they aren't anything spectacular, they're still worth playing through. As mentioned before, the game is a sight to behold, even more so now on the PC, but beware that there are some pretty steep system requirements to witness Gears of War in all it's visually brilliant glory. That aside, if you have the hardware and have never before experienced Gears of War, you should definitely give it a try now that it's on the PC, and see for yourself what all the fuss was about when the game was first unleashed last year.
  
  

• Lost saved games ruin an otherwise excellent port

  
  By A1VQDI7XR3CS4Y on 2008-01-04
  This is an exceptionally good game. The cover mechanic is one of best implemented to date, the enemy AI is decent, it is beautiful, the weapons are interesting and feel solid, the boss battles are jaw-dropping, and most importantly it's a lot of fun. They even managed to make reloading your weapons compelling. The characters are a little over the top and the dialogue reflects that. But the storyline is suitably grand and it serves to move the campaign along well enough. This should have been a slam dunk must-have PC port of the XBox game.
  
  But it's not. Saved games disappear. The save system is not only an offensively straight port of the console check-point system, but you have to create a Windows Live account to save your progress at all. What? Why? Don't answer that. I know why, and it has nothing to do with the gameplay experience.
  
  I knew there was no quicksave feature when I bought the game, but I didn't know that the game would routinely lose all of my saved progress and achievements. There's a 40 page thread on Epic Games forums about this problem that's been around since the PC version's release in November. If there has been an official response from Epic or Microsoft I haven't been able to find it. That is too long for a massive problem like that to go unacknowledged and unresolved. Unless you have the time to finish the game in one sitting, don't buy this game until they fix the vanishing save games. Go play Half-Life 2, Bioshock, or some other game with a quicksave feature instead.
  
  

• Great Game - Finally Patched

  
  By A1CNJ018N9SUIM on 2007-11-09
  Amazon rating system does not allow me to change my initial rating, hence the one star... But, today a patch has been released. It resolves all my problems. The game is awesome. Recommend to everyone.
  
  
• PC Users beware ...
  By A38W7J4SXBA87H on 2007-11-19
  First let me say that I have both the Xbox 360 version as well as the PC version. I decided on adding the PC version because I did not wish to fight with the wife over who gets the 50" HD screen at any given time. 3 feet from a 24" wide screen monitor and full surround is just as good. The Xbox 360 version seems to be the same in every respect save 2. The Xbox controller is very cumbersome to use (more so than the mouse on a PC). For an old guy like me, it is very difficult to get used to the controls. Especially the 'one size fits all' A button (SPACE bar on the PC).
  Unlike the PC, you do not need to log in to Microsoft to create a character so your games can be saved. Yup ... got to create a character online before you can save your game progress. I found this out a bit late ... I played for about 3 hours in the laid back mode and was half way into the second act when I decided it was time to go to bed and give it a rest. You can imagine my supprise the next morning when I could not start off from where I left off from the night before, but had to start over from the very beginning. Bill Gates really is the Anti-Christ ....
  The installation was also quite an ordeal for me. My PC system is not the very top of the line, but it is a smoker. After 45 minutes of waiting for the program to install, I saw the little MS shield saying I had a few upgrades to make ... thinking it was some update to the game (silly me) I said OK. Well, after the system rebooted ... time to play ... NOT! The updates (which had nothing to do with the game) glitched the install. At that point, the only way to recover was to uninstall and reinstall the game. Just about 2 hours after the disk went into the machine for the first time, the game was up and running ... well not quite yet ... Next I had to upgrade my NVidia drivers and another reboot.
  The game is a kick to play and the graphics are great, but if this is the future of gaming from Microsoft (or any other game producer)re: install problems, having to go online no mater what ... I think I will stick with finding more productive things to do with my time ... like self surgury.
  It is a fun game, however keep in mind you might have problems along the way with the PC installation.
  
  There's my 2 cents ... and you get what you pay for ...
  
  
  
• So many bugs...
  By A15VEC1DEOZMZ6 on 2007-12-03
  It might be a fun game to play... but installing and playing it is so hard! I needed to reinstall windows so that would work. I still have some random freezes. Windows Live is not available in my country, so I can only play (and save) offline. But worst than all, every 2-3 days it loses all save data and I have to start it all again from chapter 0 !
  
  Common, next time test the game before releasing! Or release it as beta.
  
  
  
• I hope you love staring at black, gray and white !!!
  By A2WLDEORTNRY0D on 2008-02-06
  Gears of War is a game that could have been great....but fell far short.
  I hope you like staring at a black, white and gray screen for hours at a time because that is about the only colors you are going to see throughout the whole game!!!
  
  Ever play a first person shooter before? Nothing new here. I am not going into the minutiae like some people do. Here is the whole picture synopsis.
  
  This game offers something different in the way of weapons and the movements of your character. You do and don't get the typical machine gun. Yes, it is a machine gun but it feels and sounds solid and futuristic when playing this game. Your movements are interesting. You can cling to, duck behind and walk along walls for cover like you have always wanted to. Peek out, shoot around the corner then duck back behind it.
  
  Sadly, that is the whole scheme of the game...peek, shoot and duck. Wash, rinse, repeat. Thankfully, the enemy will try to flank you, run right up to you and throw grenades at you. That definitely keeps it exciting.
  
  Tell you more about the grenades? OK. They are cool looking, they are powerful and the throwing system is unique. And it is also very disappointing! You hold your Mouse 2 button to create a "throw path" for the grenade to follow. When ready, you click the Mouse 1 button to throw it and BOOM! This works great when you are on level ground. In many cases, the camera angles for the throwing system completely prevent you from seeing where you are throwing the grenade. Effectively neutralizing your aim. Also, you can only carry 4!!! Yes, a measly 4 grenades.
  
  Which brings us to ammo. There are no health power ups or armor power ups to go hunting for. You automatically regenerate these when you are not being shot. AWESOME! Ammo is abundant and you can pick up your dead enemies weapons, allowing you to switch weapons and stock ammo to your hearts content. Again - AWESOME!
  
  The biggest SUCK factors of this game are as follows -
  Video is excellent but the colors are only gray, black and white.
  Game play is fast and fun but it gets repetitive.
  No save system. Checkpoints....YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  The game is entirely scripted so you know when the enemy is coming every time.
  When you die, you are forced to go through some of the same cut scenes over and over!!! Some can be skipped, others cannot!!!!!
  It feels like they ported it from the XBOX 360 instead of making a solid version developed specifically for the PC.
  
  
  Overall, it was OK. Not bad, not great. I played a friend's copy so luckily I did not have to actually pay for it. I definitely don't think it is worth $45. Maybe $30. No way would I pay more.
  
  
• sick game!!!!
  By A34RGWY7TGJI2S on 2007-11-10
  I don't know what the other reviewer was talking about with the low rating...but this game is sick. I just got it and am not finished yet, But it is easily the best looking game I have ever played. This is not just graphics either, but the look is gritty and realistic (not cartoonish like the Halos) actually adding to game play.
  
  
• Underwhelmed
  By A254O5PCXMW7NM on 2007-11-16
  This is primarily a review of single player.
  
  Its hard to see what the fuss is about. The best I can figure, it was the first real next gen title on xbox 360 and was good enough and had shiny enough graphics to show off the potential of the system. For that, it was Game of the Year according to many critics.
  
  On the PC, though, it is underwhelming. As expected graphics are excellent and silky smooth, as are the controls, so fundamentally its a very solid shooter, and can be recommended if that's all it was hyped as. The cover system is interesting and probably revolutionary on the consoles, where precise movement and aiming speed is limited by controls, but on the PC it feels gimmicky. I can manage my own cover, thank you - just let me sprint and lean around corners and I will expose far less of myself than your system forces me to do. Its useful here as a way to cover ground, and maybe there is a place for it yet in PC shooters, but practically speaking its a novelty for those of us who already studiously exploit cover wherever it is found.
  
  Partly due the cover mechanism and partly do to level design, the game eventually feels like an amusing game of whack-a-mole, where you pop up from cover and shoot your enemy, then he ducks and you duck, then he pops up and shoots you, etc. until one of you is dead. Theres a bit more to combat than that of course, but nothing we haven't seen before.
  
  Story-wise, there isn't much of one, which is a shame since the characters and gameworld are gritty enough to support something truly memorable and fun.
  
  All in all, on the PC Gears of War is a solid shooter, with great graphics and controls, but one cannot help feel it's better suited to the TV than the PC. There's just nothing really standout about it in a world of COD4, Crysis, Portal and all the rest of this season's superb releases. Unless you feel determined to play a third person shooter, that is, which is a pleasure I'm occasionally guilty of too.
  
  
  
• If I had had a clue about the problems that come with this game...
  By A12CQJC5NIGGMC on 2008-01-10
  Brand new PC built just for games, (new Quad processor, 2GB memory, 8800 GTS by Nvidia, 750 GB drive, etc.) Flawlessly loads and runs every game I have except for this dog. What a buggy piece of software.
  
  Other issues:
  Must create an online account.
  Constant crashes, and freezes.
  Save points require unnecessary replay of long segments of game whenever you get killed.
  Control over the character is unintuitive, even keyboard play brings with it unnecessarily difficult movement I always associate with console hand controllers. Give me a keyboard and mouse that tap into modern character movement and control (like Far Cry or Crysis, or even Unreal Tournament) any day over this kind of game control approach.
  
  I may pick this up again some day down the road, but this baby is being retired early because its difficulties in operation trump its benefits.
  
  
• Classic!
  By AV5AEO5CKJMB2 on 2007-11-23
  Great game, love it! It runs pretty smooth on my PC, I have a AMD Sempron 3.4+, 2GB Memory, NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256MB, Win XP (Screw Vista) and runs amazing with all the settings on the highest without no problems, I dont know why some people says that the loading time takes forever, i dont have that problem, the game never crashed or freez at all. If you got the system to running : go for it!, great game play, a lot fun, specially on co-op I decided to get this insted of COD4 mostly because it was $10.00 less and boy I hit the jackpot. All those that say that the game have issues, my guess its because they're running it on a system with less than 1GB of memory or some. Its a most!
  
  
• Blame Microsoft... Not Epic
  By A2SVD4PQT3R7VC on 2007-11-26
  Every problem that is happening with this game is directly linked to Windows Live being part of the game. Once players get their game up and running they have ZERO problems. A few in game stuttering problems have already been addressed and solutions have been provided. Other than that, the crashing at boot, and crashing after a few minutes of game play is ALL MICROSOFT'S FAULT.
  
  
• Do Not Purchase- Epic has not resolved Problems
  By A3VV3LD98LMVNY on 2007-12-25
  I am an experienced and well known on line first person shooter gamer. I have just read over 30 forums and over 200 entries..about the complete incompetence of Epic and Microsoft to release this game without resolving the computer crash problems. I will ask for a complete refund. Clearly if you take the time to read about this situation, this game release may go down as one of the most embarrassing products upon which Microsoft placed its name. Microsoft reps in the forums admit the problem. For example, the computer freezes, including a complete closedown of video cards, after a "checkpoint" has been reached; in other words, when you complete a level. I have a powerful gaming computer, but i read gamers with high end (+$5,000) units freezing up. You have been warned, which these comments only vaguely did for me when I asked for this game as a gift from a good friend.
  
  
• Average Gamer beware! Worthless game
  By A363ZWD7013I1G on 2008-01-08
  Wow, if you are not a techo geek and are not comfortable diving into your config files and registry keys etc... This game is NOT for you. I am somewhat of a computer nerd but I had a very very rough time getting this game to run. I had all the system requirements and then some. 100% guarantee when you install this game out of the box you can NOT play it without going to the Internet to figure it out. Good luck. typical Microsoft.
  
  I spent a lot of time adusting my display, downloading new drivers, reviewing other issue gamers discribed (and there are a lot) only to still having problems. Good luck.
  
  
• Fun game but WAY too many bugs
  By AU82J39E6M4OP on 2007-11-23
  Gears of War is a very fun game, but for the PC it has way too many bugs. The most annoying is an unexplained deletion of your save games. This happened to me twice both at random times and is fairly widespread, according to the forums which have hundred upon hundreds of post on this. The PC community has attributed this to problems with the Windows Live system, which is horribly conceived. There is some random stuttering in framerates even on a fairly high end rig (I have an AMD X2 6000+ with a Radeon 2900XT and 4 gigs of ram) that is due to poor optimization, since it IS a port after all. Before buying this game, I suggest you check the Epic forums if they've release some patches. At the current time they have not even addressed the save game problem (which is one of the worst errors that can possibly happen) much less offered a fix. This lack of service has caused me to return this game. I will be VERY wary about buying a Windows LIVE game from now on
  
  
• Painful because the game is actually cool.
  By A36JL2RRU79STU on 2008-01-06
  I purposely got the pc version (windows vista) of this game instead of xbox 360 version just b/c I like playing FPS or any shooting games with mouse better than a controller. Also, windows version of GoW has better graphic than xbox version if you have a good graphic card and has more single campaigns.
  
  Anyway, I've had so much expectation for this game. It took about 1 hour for me to install the game, but it wasn't a big problem for me. The problem started when I started playing it. The game crashed every 5 ~ 10 minutes and therefore impossible to progress. I searched for solution by googling and solved the problem by running the game "as administrater." But that wasn't all. I got to Act 3 of 5 after playing a few hours. The next day, I pressed "continue campaign" but it told me that there was no saved games. I was shocked and pissed. Indeed, it was painful to start all over again. I tried to find solutions online but still no luck.. This game could have been a great action-filled shooting game, but those critical flaws killed it. I recommend getting xbox version, or other better FPS games such as Call of Duty 4, etc.
  
  
• Pure Consolitus
  By A2J6CU6VA3ZH56 on 2008-01-14
  
  I cannot believe Epic shovelled this game onto the PC without customising ANYTHING for the PC player. This is not a shooter, it's a third person action console game with a shaky, epilepsy inducing camera movement that makes you want to puke.
  
  I felt like I was fighting a game controller when trying to play on the mouse/keyboard setup and instead of being in control of the main player, you get the impression you are inside a floating camera trying to keep up with the guy. The viewpoint is warped and stupid.
  
  Sorry Epic, the term "FPS" goes hand in hand with "Shooter". And this game is a 3D overhyped, overrated console jumping game.
  
  Save your money, don't reward console gaming companies for shovelling consolitus over to us.
  
  
  
  
• Fantastic
  By A2Z8OO3QY739V2 on 2008-01-07
  I've been blown away by the storyline, action, graphics, and intense gameplay in GoW. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for the PC version of this game. But it does come with bugs out of the package, and I was forced to manually update Windows Live multiple times to resolve crashes. But it performed flawlessly after applying the patch .Overall this is a very good buy for anyone into FPS games and do not have a 360 like myself. Not to mention the extra chapters in the PC version.
  
  Also, there is a crash bug if you try to launch from the CD instead of the deskop.
  
  
• Great Game! Recommend 2 G's Minimum Memory !!!
  By A30V8ZF05YW5B on 2007-11-14
  
  
  I have been waiting for this game every since I saw it on XBOX. I bought the game and the graphics are great if you have the video card to run it. HOWEVER! Problems are happing with this game, first before you can play the game you have to update your video card drivers to a higher version.
  
  This is after my desktop wont even play the game without constant crashes to the desktop runing 1 gig with 512K ATI X1650. However, before it would crash the graphics were set on high and looked awesome.
  
  I then loaded on my laptop with 2 gig of memory and a 256 ATI X700. Graphics had to be lowered to low but at least I was able to play the game. Hopefully they will create a patch to fix all these problems. As I found out this was tough when updating laptop drivers, because sony doesnt have and updated driver. Had to research alternate methods of hacking my video driver to support GOW. If this sounds like your problems look on google website for a video modifier driver.
  
  
• Console game, console problems.
  By A24C3Y8HU91D68 on 2007-11-15
  If you like console games and can handle things like checkpoint saving then you will like this game. If you hate playing the same sections over and over until you get it right then give this one a pass. To me the frustration level was just too high.
  
  
• Fantastic Shooter!
  By A1SI2XMN4YDQ8H on 2007-12-20
  If you like first-person shooter games on the PC - this one is one of the most fun games I've ever played. The graphics are excellent and so is the gameplay. If you are debating between buying this or Cysis, I would say the following: Crysis has more varied and nuanced graphics, but GoW has better gameplay.
  
  Pros:
  - Great singleplayer with a rich story and plenty of action
  - Great multiplayer on well designed maps. The multiplayer is a logical extension of the single player
  - Beautiful graphics - in a dark, surrealistic setting
  
  Cons:
  None that I can see
  
  
• What a great game
  By A38KVZ3EPM1PFP on 2007-12-26
  This game is truely amazing, with everything from the graphics to the character models. Yes the game does have bugs, but if you use the update EPIC released already and if you have a decent PC to run the game you should be alright. I have a 7600GT AGP card and i run all the settings on high except the textures they seem to make the game shutter horribly, and i am consistantly getting 20+ frames per second.
  
  
• reqs and problems
  By A2MQ00I655DKNG on 2008-02-22
  ok since they are NOT listed anyplace i can see in the product description and they SHOULD be; these are the required spec's for a pc to run this game:
  
  Minimum:(aka required to run)
  CPU: Intel 2.4 GHz+ / AMD 2.0 GHz+
  CPU Speed: 2.4 GHz
  System RAM: 1 GB
  Operating System: Windows XP or Vista
  Video Card: NVIDIA Geforce 6600+ / ATI x700+
  
  which means that the requirements for this game are its biggest down fall
  the game its self is $50 add to it the $100 - $300 you could spend JUST for a video card to run game (not to mention the other things you may need) makes the game not worth the purchase.
  (if you don't have a system that can run it)
  
  the game its self is great...the use of cover and squad tactics really works. the levels are stunning from the opening in the ruined city to the nightfall to the search of the mines; the levels are varied and interesting. wish i could say the same for the enemies, unfortunately you face about 10 enemies and 5 of them are boss fights, 3 of them you fight the entire game, and the other two are only seen in certain parts of the game. which while it adds to the games "world" constantly fighting the same enemies gets boring very quickly. on the plus side the pc version includes the latest gears of war content...stuff that had been released on microsofts xbox live service, which includes a new chapter in the single player story.
  
  the gameplay and "world" of the game are done very well,
  however the repetitive enemies and i said before the system requirements can have you spending more money on your system just to play the game then the game actually costs which means this game gets a total of 3 stars
  
  bottom line
  if you have the system for it then consider
  buying this game;
  if you don't have the system for it your best option is
  getting the 360 version
  
  
• PURE CRAPOLA! WORSE THAN VISTA!
  By A26YPNK2AZZZRL on 2008-03-06
  JUST WHAT THE TITLE SAYS! DON'T LIKE ONLINE PLAY! STAY OFF MY COMPUTER! SYSTEM HOG! STICK WITH THE MORE DECENT SINGLE PLAYER GAMES! GRAPHICS ARE THE SAME AND FUNNER SINGLE PLAYER! DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH MORONS ONLINE! WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER MICROSOFT GAME! GOING STRICTLY PS3 ON THE CONSOLE AND OTHER DEVELOPERS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH MICROSOFT ON THE PC!!!
  
  
• Gears of War, Good luck
  By A2PZUDH13PUXFQ on 2008-03-12
  I also have an alienware system built for gaming. This title won't load and their support is a joke. Stay away, very far away.
  
  
• Good game, but better on Xbox 360
  By A2XJZAN61P6QAJ on 2008-06-01
  This is a good PC game but it plays better on an Xbox 360.
  I am running 64bit Vista with an AMD 5000+ Black Edition processor, 4GB of 800Mhz dual channel RAM, 2 160GB SATA HDD's stripped, and 2 XFX 8600GT XXX edition PCI-E video card in SLI config. There are only games installed in this instance of Windows. With all of this I still have issues with studdering while running the game on mostly medium and low settings. Online play is good, but I have issues finding people to play with within a reasonable time frame. Even with the extra content, I think that the Xbox 360 version is better.
  
  
• Action Packed Port
  By A38RMEDWLM2XDU on 2007-12-12
  I'm always hesitant about ports to PC, but Gear of War was done pretty well. The controls feel appropriate with a keyboard/mouse, and I didn't experience any of the technical issues other have discussed. In fact, technically the only thing I wished they had done was to open anti-aliasing for all users, not just Vista owners.
  
  The game itself is a great experience. The action is awesome as the fire fights are intense, and feels like a thrilling cinematic experience. The atmosphere is well-designed with laudable graphics, and contributes to the feel of the degraded world.
  
  I'm a little mixed about the cover feature. I really don't *need* for the software to help me take cover, but it the animations and perspectives look pretty neat.
  
  Can't say much about multiplayer, as I don't see very many people online. This is too bad, because coop play would be awesome as your friendly AI is retarded, and only useful to soak up enemy fire.
  
  Things I didn't like were the inability to quick-save/load, and the some of the voice acting, which sounded totally awkward and forced.
  
  
• one'a the best
  By AQJIEURPG6ABN on 2007-12-12
  This game by far has the most intense gameplay as the action is pretty much nonstop as well as a developed plotline which may remain dull or not complicated enough to some-- it entangles the point of a video game to the fullest of its potential with amazing scenery detail, textures, and even graphics.
  
  Over all i give this game a 10/10
  
  
• Great classic game
  By A3DVGR8N1BGSIL on 2007-12-13
  The great thing about these kind of games is that the mechanics, graphics, gameplay are so original and fun it dosen't go out of style (even though th PC version came way afterwards). It plays great on a keyboard and mouse and it's a classic addition to any gamers library.
  
  

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Crysis
• BioShock
• The Orange Box
• Unreal Tournament III