Review: Gears of War Triple Pack

Gears of War Triple Pack contains the original Gears of War, Gears of War 2, and the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection, which includes the "Road to Ruin" campaign and 19 multiplayer maps.

Release Date: February 15, 2011
MSRP: $29.99
Exclusively on: Xbox 360
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
Genre: Third-Person Shooter 
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Epic Games
Online Play: 10 Versus/ 2 Co-op
Local Play: 2 Co-op

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Gameplay: 
Gears of War is a third person shooter game, with its core concepts being derived from Resident Evil 4's "over the shoulder" perspective, Kill Switch's cover system, and Bionic Commando's swinging action akin to moving between points of cover. The series focuses on using cover to tactically engage the enemy in battle to avoid taking damage. While behind cover, the player can fire blindly and inaccurately at their opponent, or can look around the cover and aim carefully, though exposing himself to enemy fire; the player can also slide along cover, move between nearby cover, or vault over cover to race to a new point of cover. As the player takes damage, the "Crimson Omen" appears on the HUD, becoming more defined as the player nears low health levels. The player can regenerate their health by staying out of harms way for a short while. Should the player take too much damage, they will become incapacitated unless revived by a teammate; depending on game mode, the player may be able to recover from this state on their own, or may die after a short amount of time if not revived. When a combatant is down, a member of the other side may also attempt to execute the downed player via a "curb stomp" or other brutal method. Some types of damage will immediately kill the player with no chance of revival, such as explosive damage. There are five levels on both of the games, but they are referred to as "acts" and each act is formed into a certain amount of chapters.

Players in Gears can only carry four different weapons: one pistol-type weapon, up to four grenades of a specific type (Fragmentation, Smoke, and in Gears of War 2, Ink) and two other weapons which include, but are not limited to, two medium range assault rifles, a sniper rifle, and a grenade launcher (the Boomshot). Players can either obtain ammo or swap out their current weapons with any weapon dropped by a downed foe or from those scattered around the various maps. Most weapons feature the "Active Reload" ability: either after a weapon has run out of an ammo clip or when the player starts a manual reload, a meter is shown on screen, and the player can attempt to stop the meter in a certain marked area. If the player stops the meter in the marked area, their reload will be completed faster than if they didn't attempt an Active Reload, and if the player can stop the meter at a specific section of the marked area, they will gain a temporary slight damage boost with each reloaded shot and a faster reload. If the player stops the meter outside this area, their gun will become temporarily jammed and slow down the reload time. While most of the weapons are based on standard shooter archetypes, Gears's signature weapon is the Lancer, an assault rifle that has a mounted chainsaw bayonet which can be used in close quarter combat to instantly kill a foe. Most other weapons also can be used to bash opponents in melee, or in the case of grenades, can be stuck to a foe, exploding a few seconds later. In Gears of War 2, all three types of grenades (fragmentation, ink, and smoke), can be planted on any reachable surface, detonating when an opponent comes close to it. If the opponent spots the grenade, he or she can detonate it from a safe distance by shooting it.


Final Thoughts:
Both Gears games feature a single player mode that can be played co-operatively with one other player. The two players take the roles of two COG soldiers, Marcus Fenix and Dominic "Dom" Santiago, respectively, as they fight the Locust. At various times, the campaign will offer a choice of paths the first player can select; if the second player is present, they will be forced to take the other path. In these areas, both players generally have to work together to get them both through the section, such as by one player providing covering fire while the second player opens a switch that allows the first player to then proceed. The campaign mode features several levels of difficulties.

The competitive multiplayer mode in Gears 1 features 8 players while in Gears 2 features up to ten players split between COG and Locust forces in a number of gameplay types. Modes include "Warzone" and "Execution", both similar to a typical deathmatch, and "Annex" and "King of the Hill" where teams have to control a marked zone on the map. In the mode "Guardian,"(only in Gears 2) one member of each team is designated as the leader. As long as the leader is still alive, his or her team mates can respawn indefinitely. As soon as the leader is executed, his or her team mates can no longer respawn.Gears of War 3 brings a new dynamic to the series. In past games the AI went around the obstacle even if it had been destroyed. However, Gears 3 the AI will recgonize that the obstacle has been destroyed and are free to walk over it.

Rating: 5.0 = Perfect
Recommendation: Its a perfect BUY