Gears of War: Co-op and Multiplayer Impressions

Written by Nick Doukas  on November 10, 2006

Special: Dom-Curious...

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Wow. Yes, just that one simple word Ц wow. The sense of wonder I get from my time with Gears of War cannot be understated, and my astonishment at the total package before me is pretty steep. It's true Ц the game is just that good. All the excited adjectives in the world can't do this title justice. It must be experienced first hand to truly understand how Epic has just nailed it. I can't say enough about the single player campaign, but my 5 hours spent playing co-op last night was very nearly a religious experience. I played as Marcus in my campaign while a friend jumped in as Dom Santiago, and I later played with my buddy who'd just gotten the game, from the beginning as Dom. Either way, it was some of the most fun I've had gaming in a long time. You definitely know when you're into something special, and GoW is most assuredly something special.

Playing with a friend is a whole other ball of wax. We played on Hardcore (of course) and the battles went from super-intense to completely off the scale. There's something about being in contact with a buddy, able to call out maneuvers, flanking positions and so forth. Charging into the fray to revive your downed partner is powerful stuff, as you roadie run with tracers and debris flying all around you, trying to reach him before he bleeds out. Drawing enemy fire while your cohort sneaks around behind the enemy Troika gun emplacement to cap the operator in the head is so much fun it should be illegal, and the visceral, blood splattering kills you get with bullets, melee and the chainsaw bayonet envelop your senses to put you right there on the battlefield. In certain sections of the game you'll split up and take different paths, and in re-playing the earlier segments I got to choose an alternate path from the one I picked during my single player run through. You'll also need to lend support in other ways, such as manning a spotlight to protect your team-mate from the deadly flying Kryll.

While the characterizations in Gears of War may be stereotypical, they're really well done and make for interesting, realistic and downright funny banter between the men. Everything from Dom's deadpan wisecracking to Baird's bitching about the locals swooning over Cole's former pro-athlete status, it's all fun stuff. Marcus's macho posturing and phrases such as УEat **** and dieФ after viciously putting down a Locust warrior are trite, but fit the subject matter well and definitely work nicely into the overall atmosphere. These are big, tough sons-of-bitches in massive body armor fighting a miserable, losing battle that's destroying their entire world. They're pissed-off, weary and they're damn well going to put up a hell of a fight against the beasts that have taken over their planet, even if it's a losing proposition.

The simple act of exploration is amazingly fun with a partner, and creeping through some of the structures with Wretches screeching somewhere in the distance is nerve wracking and a total blast. Combine that with true, two-man fire-team tactics as you move through the aforementioned environments and you've got a game experience that's not easily bested. In some instances one of you will handle the shotgun for close up threats while the other uses the Lancer for medium range wet-work. You'll also work in tandem to cover each other, heal, and call out ammo and grenade pickups. It's the entire single player campaign, the full experience, running pretty much flawlessly with 2 people

The multiplayer is just as addicting, with beautiful looking maps that are perfectly designed to encourage all sorts of realistic, tactical and adrenalized firefights. The 4 vs. 4 gametypes are nicely balanced, and the use of cover fire and team tactics (don't bother trying to be a lone wolf here Ц a two man cover formation is the only way to go) are imperative to success, addicting and, to put it quite frankly, fun as all hell.

The maps include Mausoleum, an incredible looking cemetery map with endless cover points and lots of action, Fuel Depot Ц exactly that, and we all know how flammable fuel is. There's also Tyro Station, complete with a train rushing through at the most inappropriate times and Roof Tops, a cool, open air game of hide and seek with lots of hiding and sniping spots. On the multiplayer front, you haven't had this much fun since Halo 2.

Final Thoughts
As if the amazing campaign wasn't enough, Co-op and multiplayer round out the package and take Gears of War over the top as Microsoft's next big franchise on par with Halo. Buy it, beg for it, borrow for it Ц but don't steal, you can always just rent. Next week Ц our final word on Gears of War.