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[testerx]

Emergence Day is upon us:  

Finding the game is half the fun:
Well I was hunting for the last two day  (Nov 6th & 7th) looking for my copy of GoW.  Thanks to some little squirt at Game Stop I put down 20 bucks for a pre-order on the 6th saying we will get them in by noon.  Also there were no midnight madness events much to my surpise I guess everyone is waiting for the PS3 fanboys to get to best buy. Well I called and sure enough a new employee stated “umm…I doubt we will have it before tomorrow (The 8th)”  After I bitched at him about the employee I called all of them.  EB, GameStop, GameCrazy, Fry’s hell even Wallmart.   All of them gave me no info and in the case of Wallmart I got “ohh you wanna xbox 360 premium or non-premium…No I am looking for Gears of War…War we are at War…” I gave up after that call.  

One EB games gave me hope that I might have Gears in my hands, although it wasn’t looking good.  From the 1st time I called EB in Newark they gave me real info.  At noon they said we are waiting for it to come to Oakland and told me to call at 3.  I call at 3pm  I get the runner on the phone telling me he is just waiting for the call to pick up from the airport.  He tells me to call back at 6.  I call at 6 same deal.  So its 7 o’clock, time to call it a day at work.   I figured why not stop by EB I didn’t want to jinx it so I didn’t call.  I get into the parking lot and much to my surprise I see a line in EB I know this has to be it.  Sure enough I get inside and there it is Gears of War in all its glory.  

After a quick drive thru at BK I just drove and ate.  Big surprise a gamer eating fast food. I get home chat with the parents (Yes I live at home dam I’m a dork) for a few minutes then say goodnight.  That was at about 7:45

The Game itself:
I recently upgraded to a HDTV set and had my HDTV cables ready to go (I still only have a 360 plugged into this monster) Gears of War pulls you right it really quick.  For the longest time many of us have been looking at the website http://gearsofwar.com/Emergenceday/ much to my surpise the game starts right on with a simple but effective jailbreak. Marcus Fenix comes from the old war and apparently was jailed for some reason or another.  Now the enemy is stronger than ever and Marcus Fenix is needed once again.

The simple and effect controls come very naturally.  The hold L to take aim (Al La COD2) works very nicely in third person.  The shaky camera and blur effects pull you closer and closer to the real deal.  When is that HoloDeck coming out?

I was sucked in even during the tutorial the weapons and systems were very well done.  The shotgun actually is distance based you have to be close.  I will shotguns in all action games I must say this was by far the most realistic I’ve used to frag ever.  The true name of the game is cover, I read one review that said a slab of concrete is your best friend, this is very true if you are looking for an easier way to off yourself well just don’t take any cover it’s a sure kill.  The pistol is good but the revolver is better even with only six shots one headshot is all it takes.  The headshots are difficult too, no auto aim here girls, I have been a gamer of all of the classic shooters this one has been more difficult to aim.  This could be due to presecptive with the 3rd person view; most of my experience is 1st person.  I believe this will be something that I develop more as I play the game. I’ve found that increased sensitivity helps out.

A slam of concrete can also be your worst enemy.  You can actually edge off a corner of the concrete if say an enemy is just out of sight you still nail him.  I need to look at this more to see if I was just high at the time or what but it seems to be real.

Another favorite thing is when Marcus Fenix runs.  The camera is pulled down and begins to shake.  The run does another fantastic job of sucking you into the game.

Hammer of Dawn:

Oh baby this weapon is the mother of all ass kickers.  It’s a satellite in space that only works out doors and when its “online”.  You can only kill certain enemies with this.  The player holds a laser and paints a target and then as the sound hones in on the target triggers blam…death from above.  It reminds me of the weapon in that horrible Final Fantasy movie.  This is seriously an awesome ad on and I can’t wait to see it in multiplayer.


Final thoughts:

Brute force will only get you only so far (maybe just past the tutorial) cover is the name of the game.  Much like Kill Switch and Full Spectrum Warrior only its well done so covering doesn’t feel like camping.  Graphics and sound all top notch. I image if I was looking to bitch like a certain reviewer from Game Trailers I could say that the IGC don’t match with the in game people.  I chose not to bitch in this review.  Even my own father a man that has never even played a video game outside of solitary on windows looked at the game in amazement with an omg look on his face.  

More to come