| Gears of War (2-Disc Edition) | 
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| List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $34.98
You Save: $5.01 (13%)
Buy New/Used from $23.99
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 519
Category: Video Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Studio: Microsoft
Brand: Microsoft
Label: Microsoft
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Edition: 2-Disc
Batteries Included: 0
Age: 17 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: U19116
Model: U19-00116
UPC: 882224743068
EAN: 0882224743068
ASIN: B001A4MTGS
Release Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Engaging and disturbing cinematic story | | • | Never Fight Alone | | • | Gears of War Extras: Map Packs 1 & 2, Theme - Emergence Day, Gamer Pics - Gears of War, Emergence Day |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Gears of War thrusts you into a deep and harrowing story of humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet. In this third-person tactical action/horror game, live and breathe the role of Marcus Fenix. A disgraced former war hero, Marcus seeks personal redemption as he leads his fire team against an onslaught of merciless warrior fiends. Immerse yourself in an experience so intensely emotional and gut-wrenching that playing will be like controlling a blockbuster action movie. Gears of War utilizes the breathtaking new Unreal Engine 3 to create cinematic, high-definition visuals for a gaming experience that truly ushers in the next generation. Experience beautifully rendered interactive environments and characters so lifelike they appear to be made of flesh and bone. The next-generation visuals create a world in which the tiniest detail is vivid in the largest battle.
Amazon.com
This is a special two disc set for the original Gears of War. This version contains both Annex mode, and the ability to earn an extra 250 achievements for a total of 1250. Disc 1 includes the original GOW game. Disc 2 includes: - Gears of War - Map Packs 1 & 2
- Gears of War - Theme - 'Emergence Day'
- Gears of War - Gamer Pics - 'Gears of War,' 'Emergence Day'
- Gears of War 2 - Trailers - 'Duel,' 'Assault'
- Gears of War 2 - Theme - 'Bare Your Teeth'
- Gears of War 2 - Gamer Pics - 'Crimson Omen'
Gears of War, an Xbox 360 exclusive game that blends tactical action with survival horror, thrusts gamers into a deep and harrowing tale of humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet. The storyline plays out like a Hollywood blockbuster -- lead character Marcus Fenix pits advanced human technology against the overwhelming Locust Horde. Built around a revolutionary third-person tactical combat system and breathtaking, high-definition visuals from the Unreal Engine 3, Gears of War immerses you in a horrifying tale of war and survival. 
Gears of War is harrowing tale that pits humankind against the Locust Horde. | 
Marcus Fenix and his team battle nightmarish creatures. View larger. | 
In Gears of War, you must take cover to survive. View larger. | 
Gears of War presents a focused and well-paced cinematic experience. View larger. | The gameplay is focused on a fire team co-op so advanced that your A.I. teammates are indiscernible from human players. Voice recognition and real-time lip synching heighten the absorbing experience. The Unreal Engine 3 technology brings out the smallest details in the largest of battles. With GOW you're sure to experience a rich, dynamic world where characters spring to life. Speaking of life, the battlefield is a lethal place. To survive, you must suppress your enemy with blindfire, take cover in interactive environments, and use weapons and teammates to outwit your dreaded, inhuman foes. And with a title like GOW, it would be shame if you couldn't get online and challenge live gamers. With the next-generation of Xbox Live, you'll be able to experience individualized matchmaking, view player statistics, earn player achievements, customize games, and build personalized gamer profiles. Gears of War shined bright at Microsoft's pre-E3 press briefing, but a deeper demo at Microsoft's E3 booth revealed many of the game's mechanics. GOW is built with both the hardcore and casual gamer in mind. But, instead of selecting a difficulty level at the start of the game, GOW offers a choice at the beginning of each level. In the vein of choose your own adventure, you can select between a difficult or easy path. And it's not just a simple choice of battling tougher enemies; each path (explained by a comrade) represents additional content that is crucial to the storyline. After easing your way into the experience of the gameplay with the simpler paths, you can go back and test your skills on the more difficult routes and never feel like you've played through the areas before. Standing around in the open is likely to get you killed in GOW. You must use cover to survive. With a context sensitive A button function, you won't have to sweat memorizing cumbersome button combos. The A button will: - Slam you into cover. As you approach cover in GOW simply tap the A button to slide and make immediate use of cover.
- Vault you over the cover. Once you're in cover, pressing up and A will vault you over your cover to engage the opponent or next cover opportunity.
- Evade enemy fire. When you're forced to be out in the open, tapping the A button will engage a roll maneuver to evade enemy fire.
- Activate a "Swat Turn." When taking cover on the side of a doorway, pressing the A button will spin your character from one side of the doorway to the other, helping avoid fire.
Ripping a magazine free and replacing it in the midst of bloody combat is no easy task. GOW simulates this difficult action by forcing you to perfect your reloading skills. To be effective in combat you'll need to allot for time to successfully reload your weapon. Do it well and the battle is yours; do it poorly and you may actually jam your gun. Time it perfectly and you'll earn a bonus with a temporary damage boost. Though GOW clearly showcases a sci-fi experience, its roots are in tactical, realistic combat scenarios. Therefore, running and gunning makes for seriously erratic shooting. Think about what you're doing. Unless wasting ammo is your goal, you better stop, aim, shoot, and then move on. Otherwise, the Locust Horde might swarm you and take your life. Gears of War presents a focused and well-paced cinematic experience, and nothing ruins that faster than a time-consuming exploration of every switch or button to find the elusive trigger to open a door. This game introduces a "point of interest" button that comes up on the screen so you can immediately interact with the necessary item to move forward in your gameplay. GOW certainly offers drool-worthy graphics, but the mechanics have also received equal attention. Keep your eyes and ears on high alert for a release date, as Microsoft hasn't let the cat out of the bag on when gamers will be able to tackle this great-looking and great-playing title.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Close Your Eyes! The Overrated Train is Coming Through! September 29, 2008
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
What would you say if I told you that you were considering buying a product that has a laughably bad story, deep as a puddle characters, head shaking in despair dialogue, "gritty" detailed environments that only contain the colors brown, black and some type of gold shine, and it only lasts about 5 hours. Now, I know that seems like 5 hours is a good thing, but it's actually a negative when it comes to this product. What is the product I'm talking about? Gears of War for the Xbox 360.
This was Microsoft's defense against the release of Sony's rival Playstation 3 console in November of 2006. And while almost everyone praises this game, it is virtually a letdown in every major category.
You don't care about the characters or know anything about them, your goal is to simply destroy the enemy (The Locust Horde that arrived from the center of Sera) with a giant flash bomb that destroys / maps their caves. The plot is as bad as it sounds, and seems like it was pulled from a terrible Sci-fi channel made-for-TV movie.
What doesn't help Gears at all is the lack of interesting boss battles. I'm not even sure if this game has any boss battles to be honest. You have an enemy that can't see, can only hear (stolen from the terrific Resident Evil 4), a giant enemy spider (as dumb as it sounds), and a "general" as the "bosses". There is no climax, no resolution, no big surprises or anything to work with. You simply shuffle from linear area to linear area to shoot more Locust that suddenly pop up.
As if that isn't enough, the Lancer is the only weapon you'll ever use as it has a handy chainsaw equipt to it, but it makes every other weapon useless. Shotguns take 4-5 shots to drop an enemy, and when they never die and right right at you, it equals a quick death. The sniper rifle is ridiculously useless, as it takes another 4-5 shots to kill someone, and those are head shots folks!
The only redeeming quality of the game is the "duck and shoot" mechanic it made, so you have to duck and regain health, you can't just run around and shoot. You will get killed quickly with that mentality, and the enmy AI is relatively smart.... except when it says "reloading"... that doesn't make all the sense in the world, but neither does the game. And this hiding mechanic doesn't make much sense as to why dressers and couches are randomly placed in hallways and such, thus turning the game into a game of "peek-a-bo" with guns.
The grenade controls are hideous as well, and while lining up a shot, you'll get mowed down quickly trying to line up your shot. Which leads to my biggest question, but it doesn't ruin the game anymore than it already is downgraded, but why does no one have a helmet? The characters (who are all steroid pumped freaks of nature) are layered with body armor but no helmets or face shields? Why is that? You're fighting a war with a vicious enemy and you have no head coverage? That seems questionable...
All these little chunks in the "awesome" armor of Gears of War equals a bad experience, one that lacks depth, a story, a good ending or any thrills. Add in that you never truly feel like you're in a 'war' due to only a handful of enemies on the screen at a time, you just feel like a personal grudge. You never see any other environments other than caves and buildings, and the lack of creative enemy design is simply a major failure. A laughable point to make is that one of the coolest looking enemies you see at the start of the game you don't even get to fight! Oh wait, in the sequel you do! But that's not enough consolidation after playing this mess of a game.
If you like mindless shooters and watching body parts fall off your enemies, then you will truly enjoy Gears of War, but I personally like GOOD stories, CREATIVE environments and characters and LONG single player campaigns. And knowing this game sold over 5 million copies? Has me shaking in fear about how many mindless teenagers are playing this sad excuse for a great game.
 Kickass Game September 7, 2008
Plain and simple, this game will give you one of the greatest gaming experiences of all time, and the sequel, available Nov. 9, 2008, is sure to mend any loose edges and built upon Gears 1. This game is at the top with the likes of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.
Gears of War August 15, 2008
Gears of War for the XBox 360 is a great game! The campaign levels are fun to play over and over again. If you have XBOX Live then you can play this game with your friends or perfect stangers, which add quite a bit of game life to the campaign levels. My only cmplaint is the multiplayer for online play. If you are familiar with the Halo series, and have play on XBOX Live... you will know what Im talking about. Gears of War multiplayer is ruled by host advantage. If you host or are on the hosted team... you win. If not, you lose... plain and simple. Not much fun and rather frustrating, especially if you are familiar with Bungie.net and the service they provide to halo. Epic games [Gears of War], unfortunetly do not support their games that well. Still, worth the purchace... but you better hurry cause Gears of War 2 is coming in November!! I've already ordered mine! =)
fun game. sub-par bonus disc July 18, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
As is obvious from all its acclaim, Gears is an excellent game.
All of the bonus content is free online and on xbox live. For those with high-speed internet, I don't think it is worth getting the 2-disc edition.
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