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Dudes. (By which I mean dudes and dudettes who own an Xbox 360.)

I don’t post on here often, because I’m normally kept busy constructing elaborate sculptures of Karl Marx made out of tofu - but I’ve been moved to write because I’ve had a wonderful video game experience that I’d like to share with you.

Yes, you’ve surely heard that the Playstation 3 is about to hit shelves, but its ridiculously high price (in spite of the worthy upcoming release sched - GTA 4 anyone? Yes please!) makes it tough to jump on it just yet.

And in the meantime, I have my 360’s latest gem of a game Gears Of War to keep me very friggin’ busy.

The storyline is more or less standard for a first/third-person shooter - you’re an elite soldier fighting to save humanity from aliens yadda yadda yadda. But if you can get past that, you’re in for a treat, trust me (and you should trust me, because I said so.)

I had the opportunity to play Gears pre-release, both in single player mode and multi. What jumped out at me immediately was that the game was instantly fun as hell and just *felt* right - in that intangible, giddy way that only the best games do. It’s what happens when the game designers have tweaked and pinched and prodded all the little things and got it so right that you can kick into the game and almost immediately you’re in the pocket and blasting bad guys like it’s going outta style.

And now that I’ve spent more time with the game (going through the campaign co-op stylez with my buddy Gregg) I’m convinced this is one of the finest shooters I’ve played…ever.

The game mechanics are stellar - especially the context-sensitive action button whose effect changes depending on what you’re doing in-game. You’ll spend a lot of time crouching behind cover during firefights and the action button gives you an amazing range of movement options from a cover position: you can dive and roll from behind cover; dive from cover position to another cover position; and you can jump directly forward over the obstacle you’re hiding behind - all with one push of the X button (depending on what direction you’re aiming in with the left thumbstick).

I also love the little touches: you can shoot from cover by slinging your weapon quickly over your head and laying down a barrage of covering fire - and there’s a cool new down/kill model…even if you down a bad guy they can be revived by their pals unless you administer a final stomp!

Visually, it’s a cut well above the rest - the art direction is just breathtaking and kinda reminds me of the visuals in Chronicles Of Riddick (the movie). Play on an HD set and you’ll be mesmerized - the attention to detail, the muted colour palette and the sheer scale of everything adds to the feeling of being inside this new world - a world where buildings have crumbled, vegetation has overrun everything and the fog and grit of war envelop you like a shroud. It really is that good.

So anyway, I’m not saying you should buy this game - that’s not my place. But I AM saying that you should play the game, cos it’s rad. Maybe if you’re lucky you can find me on Xbox Live and I’ll hand-deliver the Gears Of War multiplayer whupping of your life. Bring it, sons.

Oh and watch out for Berzerkers. You’ll thank me later.

Posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 12:44 pm by Justin and is filed under Blog.

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