Xbox 360 Games : Gears of War®
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Gears of War® is the first game developed by Epic Games exclusively for Microsoft Game Studios and Xbox 360™. Gears of War thrusts you into a deep and harrowing story of humankind’s epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet.

In this third-person tactical action/horror game, live and breathe the role of Marcus Fenix. A disgraced former war hero, Marcus seeks personal redemption as he leads his fire team against an onslaught of merciless warrior fiends. Immerse yourself in an experience so intensely emotional and gut-wrenching that playing will be like controlling a blockbuster action movie.

Gears of War utilizes the breathtaking new Unreal Engine 3 to create cinematic, high-definition visuals for a gaming experience that truly ushers in the next generation. Experience beautifully rendered interactive environments and characters so lifelike they appear to be made of flesh and bone. The next-generation visuals create a world in which the tiniest detail is vivid in the largest battle.

Gears of War unites next-generation technology with classic, emotional storytelling and a revolutionary tactical combat system, engrossing the gamer in a horrifying epic story of war and survival.

Salient Features

Engaging and disturbing cinematic story
Massively scoped worlds, memorable characters, and an epic storyline play out like an intense and unsettling blockbuster action film. Dramatic in-game camera work and a compelling story bring the brutal, emotionally charged experience to life. Control Marcus Fenix and his fire team as you pit advanced human technology against the overwhelming and horrific Locust Horde.

Fire team co-op action
All game modes, levels, and scenarios are designed for cooperative fire team play (A.I. or human). For the first time, A.I. teammates are indiscernible from human players. They move intelligently, take orders effectively, and seek cover and defend themselves when necessary. Experience rich cooperative gameplay through unique characters that require cooperation to survive.

Unprecedented visuals
Gears of War ushers in the next generation with unprecedented visuals. The Unreal Engine 3 technology pushes high-definition visual designs and brings out the smallest details in the largest battle. Experience a rich dynamic world with an unprecedented level of detail. Characters come to life with unbelievable model quality and a physics-integrated animation system that has them truly reacting intelligently to events as they unfold around them.
Hyper-realistic and intense combat: The battlefield is a lethal place—to foolishly stand out in the open is to die. To survive, create and take cover using interactive and dynamic environments, suppress the enemy with blindfire, and use weapons and teammates to outwit and outfight terrifying enemies.

Xbox Live® action
Gears of War will embody the next-generation Xbox Live experience and extend it even further. Experience individualized matchmaking, view player statistics, earn player achievements, customize your games, and build and personalize your gamer profiles.

Game Preview

Emergence Day is finally upon us, and as you gas up the chainsaw slung under your trusty assault rifle to do battle with the relentless Locust Horde, the question becomes less about what Gears of War® is (one shockingly fine-tuned action game) and more about what makes it transcend the genre to achieve pop-culture phenomenon status.

Just a taste of the magnificent detail.

Destroyed Beauty
I could go on for ages about the level of graphical detail and technical wizardry Gears of War employs, but that's not entirely why this game is so visually impressive. Instead, it's the marriage of the best technology has to offer with absolutely stunning artistic design.

Gears of War is certainly the blockbuster showpiece
for Xbox 360 that we've all been waiting for.

The catchphrase the Gears of War development team has been bandying about is "destroyed beauty," and that's exactly what this game offers. The pixel-perfect web of cracks on a statue is impressive on its own, but the fact that the statue itself is so heartbreakingly beautiful is what makes the effect so startling. Gears of War imagines a beautiful, classically gothic world, and presents it after years of destructive warfare, leaving no detail unrealized.

Detail Oriented
Aside from the visuals, what transcends a shooter from average to classic standing? One of those factors is the intangible 'feel' of the gameplay. The feel of Gears is made of hundreds of small decisions and factors that could have been ignored, but were instead fanatically developed and polished. For example:

• In Gears of War, reloading isn't a matter of simply pressing a button. This ordinarily simple action becomes a thrilling struggle as try to time your reload properly to receive a boost in damage. This is called an active reload. If you don't use it, your gun will reload automatically, which takes precious seconds. If you fail to reload properly, you may jam your gun, leaving yourself vulnerable for even longer.
• Placing Marcus Fenix in the bottom-left-hand corner of the screen instead of the center allows all the benefits of both third-person and first-person perspectives, while allowing the character to move freely.
• In the dark, clad in armor, or just at a distance, targets can be hard to pick out. You can rely on your targeting reticule to turn red if your target is a foe.
• The chainsaw under your gun must be revved up before it can be used to attack. This makes using it feel much more satisfying, but it also means if you hear a chainsaw attack coming, you have a second to react before getting butchered.
• In any other game moving from cover to cover would be a lateral exercise, but Gears recognizes cover even at odd angles, allowing a seamless transfer no matter what the circumstances.
• Guide lines appear when you prepare to throw a grenade, eliminating the guess work that is apparently the standard in other shooter games. You can still chuck grenades from the hip, though, if you feel confident in your grenadier skills.  

You'll hear that saw coming.

The preceding points aren't even necessarily the most impressive, but just a sampling of a list that could go on and on. Even better, all of these points are features that you won't notice if you aren't paying attention. The fact that these are all so intuitive, so well built into the game, makes them that much better.

Change of Pace
Gears of War is no one-trick pony either, and while there are plenty of gamers who will be satisfied with constant shooting mayhem, that's not what makes a game revolutionary. Consider Halo®. One of the many reasons it was lauded as having changed shooters forever is the use of the Warthog. That one simple game mechanic offered a much need change of pace, which changed the rhythm of the game and kept gameplay fresh.

Locked on? Time to call down the thunder.

Going into too much detail would spoil the some of the fun, so let's just say that Gears offers consistent changes throughout the game, making sure you never get bored. Whether it's a unique enemy battle, an environment variant that puts you on edge, or a Warthog-esque experience, the developers have taken painstaking efforts to keep the Gears experience fresh, exciting, and perhaps best of all, surprising.

Cooperative Bliss
Gears of War marks the first major next-gen title to allow co-op play through the entirety of the single-player campaign. In fact, simply calling it a single-player campaign is selling the experience short, as every facet of every level is built with a second player in mind. Even if you're not playing with a friend, the game simulates their presence with at least one A.I. operated teammate.

Moreover, this cooperative experience is seamless, and here, Epic again demonstrates their ability to execute a good idea flawlessly. A friend can drop in to play at any time, and when they leave, the A.I. steps right back in to take over. No muss, no fuss, and no extra complicated menu options.