Basically I need new pants after reading the article about it :D
Here is the article(s):
EDIT: I'm putting in summaries for the lazy fools.
Article 1(
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/612/612066p1.html )
As far back as June of 2004 we had slight glimpses of Unreal Engine 3. The demo included some foreboding architecture, a scary amount of detail, and a few shots of one ugly creature. Until now we simply referred to this artwork as a technical demo or an unannounced title using the new engine. But after visiting Microsoft to get a preview of their 360 lineup, we can safely say that these assets are from a new game from Epic called Gears of War.
This version of the Unreal Engine includes a 64 bit color pipeline, dynamic shadowing and a huge amount of texture effects. Because Epic licenses their engines out to numerous developers, this is a glimpse into the future of what many next-gen games will look like.
The trailer that we saw focused on a set of large marines dressed in futuristic armor. The team entered a large courtyard where the main character motioned for his squad to hold their position as he surveyed the area. The surrounding buildings were constructed of the same stone and metal gilding that was displayed in the UnrealEngine3 demos. The most striking aspect of the imagery was attention paid to smaller objects. Bits of ivy covered the walls and each piece of metal had its own reflective gleam.
Just as quiet settled over the marines, gun fire erupted from the abandoned building ahead of them. The camera then swooped in over the shoulder of the main character, known as Marcus Phoenix, and an aiming reticule appeared on the screen. What looked like a pre-rendered cinema was actually in-engine. Phoenix began blasting away at his unidentified targets causing structural damage to everything in his line of sight. One enemy appeared on the second floor of a building behind some boarded up windows. When fired on, the wood was ripped from the side of the structure and crashed to the ground.
It was difficult to tell what exactly was attacking the soldiers until the side of the building was torn apart in an explosion of rubble. A creature about two stories tall with a multitude of sharp teeth towered over the good guys and let out a roar as the scene faded to black. We were given another look at this monster in a slow-motion depiction of it continuing to smash through a stone building.
This third-person shooter will be available on the Xbox 360 and the PC. We were told by Peter Moore that Gears of War is currently running at 80% of the visual bar that Epic believes it can achieve on 360. It will also include online play, and should be available after the holiday season. Stick with IGN for more information on this game next week at E3.
Summary
Gears of War runs on the Unreal 3 Engine, which allows for scary amounts of detail(including individual woodchips and such from all sorts of stuff). This new engine allowed for an amazing amount of detail in the game along with a general CG quality graphical-ness. Next they watched a preview, in it what looked like a in-engine planned thing was actually being played. In it the player was firing frantically and you could see splinters and such coming from boarded up windows. The creature that was attacking the soldiers turned out to be a fanged two-story tall creature :D after it smashed through a wall.
Article 2(
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/616/616188p1.html )
Forget the news about the big three press conferences; forget anything you've heard about frame rate. While you are at it, forget about Halo 3. From now until the game is actually in my hands, the only thing we care about is Gears of War. While sitting in on a 20 minute presentation from Epic my excitement over Microsoft's new console jumped back up to a near fan-boy level. Furthermore, this demonstration only confirmed what we already felt about this game, Gears of War is the killer app on Xbox 360.
The demonstration was run by Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer. We saw a sizeable chunk of gameplay in two levels. Everything we saw was in-game, and in many sections looked as good as a CG movie. Before we gush about the gameplay, we also gleaned a few more details about the story, and the characters. Later, we returned for a full hands-on with the title.
A Cause for War
Gears takes place on the planet Sera. Human civilization had overcome their previous differences on this planet and entered a golden age of peace, prosperity, and beauty. The only thing that the planet suffered from was the constant need for new fuel sources. That is until a new substance called imulsion was discovered lurking just under the earth's crust. A technique called the Lightmass Process was able to convert this material directly into energy and the cities built atop imulsion reserves became targets for power hungry nations.
The attacks were launched by those countries without the new fuel source, and thus began the Pendulum Wars. The battles were waged for 79 years, until a third threat emerged from beneath the earth. On "Emergence Day" a race called The Locusts burst through to the surface and destroyed a quarter of the earth's population. The survivors formed a united front and fell back to a region called the Jacinto Plateau which rested on a layer of solid granite that was too thick for the Locust to break through. From here, the humans launched orbital-beam weapons and destroyed 90% of Sera's surface in a counterattack.
From Jacinto, the humans regrouped and a once glorious city became the center of an offensive. The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) emerged as the new heads of society, and given the main task of organizing an army to defend the last bastion of humanity.
Marcus Fenix
Prisoner No 098356-GX
Height: 1.85 meters
Weight: 105 kilograms
The lead character is Marcus Fenix, an "intelligent bad-ass" who was previously jailed for ignoring his orders on E-day so he could save his father. He is strong-jawed, broad shouldered and offers a compensatory curse each time he stumbles across a squad of Locusts. He's everything you'd want in a leader, with the pistol skills to match his bravado.
Bullet Time
Sera is gripped in darkness. The Locusts are most at home in the shadows, so expect the worst moments to occur when the lights go off. Gears of War can best be described as a mix between a third-person tactical shooter and a survival horror game. This is pop-and-shoot gaming, not the run-and-gun style of Halo 2. Oh, and it's f---ing awesome.
The demo begins in daylight, with Marcus and his Gears touching down in their King Raven helicopter at the East Barricade Academy. From the moment they land, the group finds themselves under heavy fire. It's not possible to survive by running in like a jack-ass, guns blazing. There's plenty of immediate cover. We watched as Marcus leaped for safety, then crouched down to avoid fire before popping up and taking down the hideous-looking Locust goons. The guns, which are currently not animated, light up with the gunfire. Windows splinter into a thousand reflective pieces, wood splinters and Locusts scream horribly as they fall to their deaths.
The first demo level, which takes place about halfway through the game, is an endless shooting gallery. While you must take cover, this is not a slow-paced game. Enemies come from every crevice and corner, pressing the advantage against the four-member squad. As one member notes, "This is a full-on gang bang."
The levels are somewhat streamlined so that cinematic moments can have maximum impact, but there are branching paths so that the team can split up. Taking the high road as opposed to the low can offer a different experience, adding to the replay value. Though, to be honest, everything about Gears of War looks to add to its replay value.
Later in the demo, the Gears have split, with half the team heading into the Academy to battle Locusts in the dark corridors while the other half takes on the enemies in the courtyard. The upper path earns Marcus and his teammate a view down on the courtyard so they can strike the Locusts from above while the Bravo Team hits them from the ground. All this is punctuated with an extra oomph when Marcus fires a few rounds into a statue, knocking it down on top of the Locusts. That same tactic can be used to create cover just about anywhere. When there isn't cover, you create it.
Hide-And-Seek
Cover is context-sensitive. So if you are near a wall, you'll go flat against it, allow you to lean out and shoot or blind fire. If you're near a car or other object, the cover button has you crouching. If you're behind a car you could shoot directly through the window or you can try blind fire. This can be used for any weapon, be it the Lancer Rifle, shotgun or even a grenade.
Blind fire isn't as accurate, but it keeps you safe. It can be a real risk with grenades as you get a helpful trajectory trailer before tossing a grenade while standing up. Under cover, that trail is gone, making a grenade toss much more of a crap shoot. Don't worry, we won't laugh when you throw the grenade into your own lap. Okay, we'll laugh a little.
Not all cover appears safe as the power of the 360 allows for wood and plaster to explode with incredible detail. At once point the Gears are trapped inside a gas station and come under such heavy fire from the Locusts that the boarded windows explode in a shower of splinters. If Epic bottled up the 20-minute demo and said that was the entire game, we'd be first in line to buy it. It's that hot.
A World of Darkness
Another area shown has the Gears in action at night. Marcus starts down a war-torn street with another squad member at his side. The Locusts come from underground and are terrified of the light. Remember when we warned that the darkest levels would bring the greatest horrors? No sooner has the level begun than a huge swarm of bat-like enemies cut through the air above Marcus. The Gears stand near the flaming shell of a burning as a means of protection and begin pushing the car down the street. Unfortunately, the car hits an incline, gets away from the heroes and end up exploding on impact with a barrier.
With little cover and no light, the Gears are in trouble. The footsoldier Locusts appears and suddenly the scene is alight with gunfire and explosions. Marcus then blasts an explosive barrel to send a concrete barrier into the street. He dives behind the barrier and ducks out of the way of the gun fire coming from the building across the street. When crouched out of harm's way, Marcus fires blindly towards his enemies by spraying his gun over the barrier, but keeping his head down. A few times. Marcus peeks over the top of cover to takes more accurate shots.
The Gears soon come across a seemingly abandoned gas station where they make another stand. Marcus sees an opportunity to light there way, turning a valve to release a stream of gasoline along the street. As the Gears retreat, Marcus shoots the gas, creating an intense line of flame and setting off numerous explosions as the team makes its escape.
Head to the Water Cooler
Gears of War is designed to have "water cooler moments," the type of events that have you talking to your buddy the next day. We were fortunate enough to witness one of these at the demos conclusion. After defeating numerous Locust grunts (in yet another "Holy Moses, It's Amazing!" battle) the camera shakes violently and a rumble echoes from the path ahead. A behemoth appears, a good twenty feet tall and roars just as the demo ends.
It was at this moment we asked for some Kleenex.
Gears of War allows up to four players to enjoy the campaign mode co-operatively. When you are absent friends, the AI takes over. However, you won't be commanding your troops a la Ghost Recon. Instead, the AI is advanced enough that it reacts logically. From what we saw, the teammate AI is pretty accurate, likely better than your friend's AI.
Intimate Death
One thing not on display in the demo are Intimate Deaths. These moments come when you are up-close-and-personal with an enemy and it appears they come with any weapon. One of the rifles has a chainsaw on the end, so if you get close, you enter a mini-game where you must furiously tap a button to saw through a Locust soldier. You can also jam grenades down enemy throats and snap a fool's neck and bash his head into the ground.
Here, we brought you some Kleenex.
Outlook
Gears of War officially sucks until we get a chance to play it for ourselves. This is the type of game everyone was expecting from the Three-Six-Oh. Epic may well become the favorite development house on Xbox 360. Sorry Bungie, we're sure Halo 3 will be quite hot, but if it never came out, we'd be happy with Gears of War. Sure there are some framerate issues, but this game is at least a year away. There's so much more to see, including adversarial multiplayer and vehicles, that it's hard to believe that the E3 2005 version of Gears of War may be the worst thing we'll ever see from Epic.
In an E3 full of oddities, Gears of War is the one game that absolutely must come out sooner rather than later. We have to have it and so do you.
Here are the screenshots:
(huge so I'll give links)
All are from
HERE HERE! HERE!! HERE!!! HERE!!!! HERE!!!!! HERE!!!!!! HERE!!!!!!!
I know I will buy the Xbox 360, even just for this game by the sound of it. There is an article on GameInformer, but it's not online to my knowledge, so pick it up at GameStop or wherever.
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