NIDZUMI+

Gears of War originally released on the Xbox 360 back in November of 2006, and while it was a highly anticipated title, mainly with the press focusing on its co-op experience, the multiplayer really surprised me and turned out to be the stand out feature for the title. Fast forward one year and now we have the PC version of Gears of War which includes 5 new campaign chapters, 3 new multiplayer maps (inc. the previously released Xbox LIVE content) and lastly a game editor, which should prove to add some extensive longevity for custom created mods.

The PC version of Gears of War is easily the premier and must own version of the game, while it may not necessarily be needed or wanted by the fans who own the Xbox 360 version of the game, it does at least tempt the gamerscore whores amongst you (as it did me), as you have an oppurtunity to acquire another 1000 gamerscore from the game with the achievements which are separate from those on the Xbox 360. The only downside to this is that the game does not support cross-platform play between the PC and Xbox 360, this is rather more disheartening because you will quickly realize when you jump online that rather surprisingly there is just not that many people playing Gears of War on the PC. This may have something to do with bringing the LIVE experience over to the PC version, requiring a paid for Gold subscription which Xbox LIVE members are more accustomed with. It’s not all doom and gloom though, Silver members can play at no extra cost in co-op and Player (unranked) matches. This is not such a big deal for a user which already owns an Xbox 360 with a LIVE subscription though, as you can easily share your LIVE account between the Xbox 360 and PC, as to keep track of all your gaming accomplishments across the two platforms.

Gears of War is a must play title, regardless of whether you can get it on Xbox 360 or PC. If you have the choice then opt for the PC version as it is just simply the best looking version, and the newly added campaign chapters really add to the game, even more so than I initially thought they would do. While the new chapters offer up a new boss encounter in the form of getting to fight the Brumak, there really is a much more longer path to get to this encounter than I had expected, which has personally surprised me as I just expected a brief run around with shooting some Locust scum and then on to the fight with the Brumak, this however is not the case. Dare I say it, but these new chapters just might be the more better of encounters and locations in the entire campaign. This is really a toss up between whether you want the campaign content or the multiplayer more, as there just arn’t a great number of people playing on the PC version at any one time. Often when searching for a Ranked match, there just isn’t any going, occasionally I can get lucky and fine two and jump in the one with the most players. There’s just typically a lot of waiting around in lobbies waiting for people to join, which does detract from the overall experience some what, even the new currently PC exclusive maps can’t help you here either. Once you get a game going though, the new maps are certainly worth a look in – I still think Xbox 360 owners can expect to see these new maps come to the console in the form of downloadable content soon, hopefully.

If you have yet to sample the delights of curb stomping Locust brains into the pavement, and you have a computer which can handle Gears of War, then this really is one to buy. You’ll soon realize why Gears is Microsoft’s new baby in leading the next-gen console race. Rumors have been around for a long while now in regards to Epic Games making a trilogy out of the title, even the games ending hints at a sequel, so I think it’s safe to assume we can expect more from Gears of War going forward.