Xbox 360 Critic Reviews

Each stage is memorable...They all combine for an unforgettable adventure through 36 hectic, desperate hours of a group of soldiers' lives...A visual and visceral masterpiece.

Gears of War is truly a breakthrough: The absolute finest game of its kind. The bar has definitely been raised. What Halo did for first-person shooters, Gears does for third person - it's that good.

Huge, muscular combatants move like giant men wearing heavy gear, fine details are everywhere, and splattering blood never looked so beautiful - and we mean that in an uncreepy, non-Hannibal Lecter kind of way. It just looks incredible.

I'm smitten with Gears of War and all its glorious, horrific violence, blood and anarchy. Move over Master Chief, 'cause Marcus Fenix will kick your bony ass all over town.

It's all about the gameplay, and Gears of War delivers in that department so completely that it wouldn't matter if you were playing the game in 16 bit graphics. But you're not. And Gears of War's glorious presentation - everything from the sound effects to the art direction to the awesomely dark storyline - only enhances what lies at the heart of Gears' destroyed beauty: the gameplay.

The single impression that I've consistently had about this game since I put the disc in my 360 was one of total and absolute awe and shock. Gears of War doesn't just raise the bar for what we expect from next-gen games, it doubles its height.

No longer a covert operation, Epic's sci-fi shooter Gears of War has finally emerged, and it's pretty much everything we hooped it would be, as well as a few things we didn't expect. [Holiday 2006, p.41]

We'll just come out and say it: Gears of War is better than "Halo"... It's a fantastic-looking, riveting, fire-first-ask-questions-never third-person shooter that manages to show you things that you've never seen before on a console.

Played with a friend, on Hardcore, Gears of War is simply an astounding game. Yes, it has the best visuals ever to grace a video game, but it's how these are used to create an intense shooter that make it so good.

Combining the excellent gameplay with superb level designs, non-linear battles that allow you to use any weapon or cover at your disposal to eliminate threats, as well as completely unique storyline elements is what really makes Gears' solo mode shine brighter than any of the grim graphics in the game.