Have You Played... Gears of War?

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Have You Played… Gears of War?It does not grind my Gears.

It does not grind my Gears.

Gears Of Waris a third-person shooter in which you take control of a giant man wearing a bandana and chainsaw equally giant alien creatures in half. Somehow it manages to make this an emotional, and at times, frightening affair.

The game bounces between explosive set pieces, unsettling, almost survival horror exploration, and tear jerking bro moments.

This wild oscillation would throw most games off balance, but Gears handles it beautifully. Come to think of it, this focus on movement is what makes Gears so special. Not only in relation to pacing, but in how these burly meatheads pull off jumping forward rolls like it’s nothing and slam into cover with a buttery smoothness.

For me at least, Gears has this depth across its modes that most games don’t quite match. I care about the characters as much as I love dancing around enemies in multiplayer and blowing chunks off the Locust. Even as the series grows dimmer with every release, I hold onto this faint glimmer of hope that the devs will recapture the magic of the first. Lancers crossed.