Gears of War Impressions [360]

[bapenguin]

Shacknews (http://www.shacknews.com/extras/e3_2005/051905_gearsofwar_imprs.x) has some impressions of the Gears of War demonstration. This is going to be the XBox 360 killer app.As for the gameplay itself, Gears of War institutes some very interesting elements into the action genre. We were explicitly told at the beginning that Gears of War was not a run-n-gun shooter like Unreal Tournament. Strategy plays a significant role. Pretty much at every engagement, your character is behind cover, typically crouched behind a stone structure. There's also times when you need to create cover. Whip out your powerful shotgun, shoot over a pillar and get behind it. Not only are you seeking protection, so are the enemies. So what plays out is both you and your opponent taking turns at peaking out and firing. Of course, you can also get creative. See that big 'ol statue a few meters from the enemy? Shoot it over and crush that creature.

Seemless coop play=teh g00d

[Furious Wang]

Sounds like a winner to me. Fully destructable and manipulatable environments are one of the main things that interests me about next gen systems.

[dr_qwandry]

*sniff sniff*
i smell a winner

[RMan]

I wouldn't get my hopes up for fully destructible environments, I'd expect the gameplay to be what is described with the statue. IOW, some destructible props, which implemented properly is still real fun. I can assure you, if they had fully destructible environments they'd make sure you knew about it.

[snubber]

Hah. Yeah. Don't get your hopes up. There will NOT be fully destructable environments. Maybe a column or two you can tip over.