Game Review: Gears of War- Online Play

A game has emerged for the XBOX 360 that has truly risen the bar for all games that are to come after it. That game is "Gears of War", and aside from its overwhelming excellent single player campaign, the game is even better when played with a friend. As every gamer knows, a single player campaign gets boring after awhile. You can only replay a game so many times before the game itself disgusts you and you have to move on to something new. Well luckily, thats where online play comes in, as it breaths new life into an otherwise dead concept. "Gears of War" is one of those titles that can be replayed over and over again on different difficulties and still be quite fun. But even "Gears of War" has a breaking point. Before you reach that point, it would be wise to try to have some fun playing online, via a broadband internet connection that is.

Each and every online match can have a maximum of 8 players, thats 4 players to each team. One side is made up of humans soldiers and the other is made up of Locust soldiers. There are no differences between the two sides, apart from the obvious visual appearance and the voices. So neither side has the upper hand during a match; its basically survival of the fittest.

The matches you participate in are not your standard frag matches either. When an opposing player kills you, you stay dead. That means you will not simply respawn every time you die; you will have to wait until the next round in order to play. Opinions often vary with this feature, as some like the idea of being careful and cunning on the battlefield, while others simply want to "run & gun" over and over. This "one life per round" feature means that you and your team must come up with a plan and coordinate with each other in order to win. You only have one chance to "Kill or be Killed" each round, so you have to make it count. Therefore, the team that says "Every man for himself!" is going to be brutally slaughtered by the team that says "Everybody, Stick together!"

A player can participate in three different types of online matches, which are Execution, Warzone, and Assassination. Each of the matches has the same basic guideline, which is "Kill 'em All!" Although, there are a few minor differences in each of the online matches:

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Warzone is a rather simple concept to comprehend, and this has to be the most common match that players will come across. In Warzone, you simply kill every member of the opposing team to win. In this type of match, when a player drops to his knees (which is basically pre-death), an enemy can just keep shooting and that downed player will die quickly. Once every player on an opposing squad is killed, the round ends. The squad with the most "round wins" will win the overall match.

In an Execution match it is slightly different. When a player falls down in execution, he can not be killed simply by firing at him. To kill a downed player in Execution, you have to get up close and personal. The chainsaw bayonet is a great way to finish off a downed player, but that can take a little too long. Every second counts on a battlefield; so while you're cutting your enemy in half, another enemy might be getting ready to blow off your head with a shotgun. Most players stick with the curb stomp (X button on downed player), as it delivers a fast crushing blow to the head. Execution matches are much more strategic because they allow players to be easily revived by their allies. Even though a player may have downed you, it doesn't mean your going to die. Obviously, your not in good shape. However, that player still has to risk coming out from behind cover to finish the job, and thats always a risky proposition in "Gears of War". The good news is that you can actually revive yourself if no allies are nearby. If no enemy is aware of your "vulnerable" state, you can frantically tap the "A" button to keep your heart going. After a few seconds, you will be revived and ready to get back into the fray. As you might have guessed, Execution matches seem to be the most popular of the three.

Assassination is, without a doubt, the least popular of the online matches. In this match there will be 1 team leader and then 3 "grunts". The team leader has no extra damage potential, health, or special attributes, he is just the leader. It is rumored that the leader was a bit stronger than the others, but it was false and he is just as fragile as the rest of the squad. However, the leader can pick up different weapons throughout the map, while the rest of the squad can not. Once the leader dies, the round is over. The person who killed the opposing leader then becomes the leader for his/her team. Players rinse and repeat this for every round, then the team that won the most rounds wins the match.
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As usual, there will be unranked and ranked matches. Those who like to shine up their record will play in ranked matches, where the competition seems to be much more fierce. Players who want a friendly match with not as much pressure will choose to play in unranked matches. Either way, you will still be going up against real live players who can think and switch up their game plan in the blink of an eye. So you'd better be a step ahead of your opponents if you want to survive.

You can expect the graphics & sounds to be the same as the campaign mode, simply amazing. But, its not easy to marvel over sounds and visuals when you are being fired upon, so only do that when you are safe and under cover. As for in-game lag, it doesn't seem to be that big of an issue. Obviously, it will vary from player to player and each match will have its share; but overall, the lag seems minimal.

If your tired of beating the campaign mode on insane for the 5th time in a row (which is no easy task), or you just need a break from the campaign mode, check out the online aspect of the game. It has lots of things to offer players and is simply fun, period. If you're an XBOX 360 owner, "Gears of War" is a must have title that you truly need to get your hands on. If you don't have the money, save it up then buy it some time in the near future. Its a great gaming investment!