I'll break it down a little, out of 10

Graphics; 7

The game looks good and plays smoothly, but put it alongside Call of Duty3 and Splinter Cell, it looks quite lame and I'm sure the old Xbox would have no trouble replicating the games graphics. As even Doom3 on the ole Xbox looked stunning.

Sound; 5

The guns sound highly unmeaty, and it doesn't really make full use of surround sound, dodgy speach.

Gameplay; 4

The main quest is very,very short. It took me 6 hours to get to the end of the game and its not that good. The AI is appalling even at times I was stood next to the bad guys and nothing was happening, no attacks, nothing. Whilst my team was taking fire from a machine gun enplacement I figured it would be a good time to pop up and hit him from the side, but no, everytime I pop up from cover, the enemy gunner turns instantly on me, everytime. Not good enough.

Having to also empty 100s of rounds into an enemy gets very tedious, at least on Halo it was fun. But no fun when your "team" gets in your way alot.

Online; 6

Sorry, but Call of Duty3 and Battlefield2 beats it hands down here. In Gears of War, every runs to the same point to get the usual Rocket Launcher/Sniper rifle and then its game over for the rest of you stuck with plain weapons, and you will get fed up with this quickly. Allthough CoOp mode does redeam this somewhat as it does require you to act as team when playing the campain.

Longevity; 6

Once the initial hype drops off and people see the game for what it is, a very average 3rd person shooter and it won't last long on live, I have allready gone back to CoD3.

Overall

Don't believe the hype, as usual when something gets overhyped its a big let down, and this does not live upto the hype.

7/10

Personal opinion obviously but I find it looks fantastic. Graphics are great. What TV you using ?

KoArAnG said:

Personal opinion obviously but I find it looks fantastic. Graphics are great. What TV you using ?

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I thought the same thing, the graphics are mint.

Shame the multiplayer sucks!

off topic ish but one thing i have noticed in PGR 3 is the graphics seem aimed to HDTV users.
eg on the car purchasing screen its nigh on impossible to read the small text on a CRT

KoArAnG said:

Personal opinion obviously but I find it looks fantastic. Graphics are great. What TV you using ?

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Its a Toshiba 37" Hd lcd. I have fiddled with the settings and it does look alot better.

But graphics aren't everything, once I got past the glitz of it and got down to playing, it didn't really do it for me, especially off the back CoD3s excellent multiplayer. The single player is too short and could have been alot better, the final train level doesn't look that good to be honest and looks thrown in at the last minute, along with the gimicky driving section mid way through.

The multiplayer does indeed suck. Only 4 on 4, and no respawns, so it usually ends up 4 on 1.

I have to say Koarang that your response has been the best I've had, as I posted my little mini review on 1 of many 360 forums about and got slated, no one could accept that it was my opinion, and not to be taken as fact, or at face value. I know full well that the old Xbox could not have a hope in hell of producing the graphics found in the game! But I realised that most of the people on those forums are kids/ americans or worse, both. So I gave up trying to get an adult response.

I gotta say I like the multiplayer. it's low on action but high on tension.

Feels kinda like paintball!

The Beast said:

I gotta say I like the multiplayer. it's low on action but high on tension.

Feels kinda like paintball!

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But without the pain!!!!!!!!!

Gazza AK47 said:

I have to say Koarang that your response has been the best I've had, as I posted my little mini review on 1 of many 360 forums about and got slated, no one could accept that it was my opinion, and not to be taken as fact, or at face value. I know full well that the old Xbox could not have a hope in hell of producing the graphics found in the game! But I realised that most of the people on those forums are kids/ americans or worse, both. So I gave up trying to get an adult response.

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Everyones entitled to say what they think about a game, we all have different tastes thankfully, otherwise the games being released would get really boring rather quickly.
There are some real idiots on the games forums, it's very hard to have a mature discussion about a problem or a game, that very subject came up when this last update failure knocked out a few 360's. Some poeple were having a go at guys who were rightfully distressed because their beloved 360's had just conked out and they wanted to know why..

I can't really comment on the game too much because I have only played through the first level, but I found it to be good so far, other than when you're running, the controls are a bit twitchy but I'll no doubt get used to that one.

The trouble with the Xbox forums is, and has always been, narrow minded console loyalists. First to defend a game, the system, anything Microsoft does out of blind faith, clinging onto ever-distancing memories of Halo. Thus, any criticism of their digital wonderchild will be adopted as the end of the world, its creater being the new Worst Person Ever.

Multi-format forums are where it's at. Many users will have played a variety of systems and appreciate the beauties and shortcomings of each. I'm a member of Bizarreonline.net (username Fuzzy) and although most recent Bizarre games are Xbox/360 exclusives previous titles and also The Club are multiformat.

As a result discussion is enriched by those more enriched, more open minded gamers. Tellingly, it's these open minded gamers that have also been somewhat let down by Gears of War.

As for PGR3 the game was made with both HD and SD users in mind, I think the problem in places is just an unclear font style or size.

KoArAnG said:

I can't really comment on the game too much because I have only played through the first level, but I found it to be good so far, other than when you're running, the controls are a bit twitchy but I'll no doubt get used to that one.

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The running thing don't get any better, more so later in the game when you randomly get stuck to walls!!

FuzzyPanda said:

The trouble with the Xbox forums is, and has always been, narrow minded console loyalists. First to defend a game, the system, anything Microsoft does out of blind faith, clinging onto ever-distancing memories of Halo. Thus, any criticism of their digital wonderchild will be adopted as the end of the world, its creater being the new Worst Person Ever.

Multi-format forums are where it's at. Many users will have played a variety of systems and appreciate the beauties and shortcomings of each. I'm a member of Bizarreonline.net (username Fuzzy) and although most recent Bizarre games are Xbox/360 exclusives previous titles and also The Club are multiformat.

As a result discussion is enriched by those more enriched, more open minded gamers. Tellingly, it's these open minded gamers that have also been somewhat let down by Gears of War.

As for PGR3 the game was made with both HD and SD users in mind, I think the problem in places is just an unclear font style or size.

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Thank you panda and koar, you have both restored my faith in the gaming world.

Im on act 4 on hardcore mode, and loving it.

@gazza AK47, you said graphics weren't what let the game down, and yet you state its only a 7 and the original xbox could imitate these graphics, errrr i think not mate.

But as stated each person is entitled to their own opinion, hence why i take game reveiws from magazines etc with a pinch of salt.

Gazza AK47 said:

The running thing don't get any better, more so later in the game when you randomly get stuck to walls!!

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well hopefully they will patch it, but it shouldn't have to get to that point, where was their playtesters all this time. From what I could gather this game has been ready for months and was held back to coincide with the release of the PS3. Are they getting too over confident now. Halo 2 was a big let down for me, way over developed as far as I was concerned, they lost that pureness that was there in Halo.

gex18 said:

Im on act 4 on hardcore mode, and loving it.

@gazza AK47, you said graphics weren't what let the game down, and yet you state its only a 7 and the original xbox could imitate these graphics, errrr i think not mate.

But as stated each person is entitled to their own opinion, hence why i take game reveiws from magazines etc with a pinch of salt.

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If you read one of my later posts it was meant as a sarcastic comment about the graphics and original XBox, near the top in response to Koars post. My grammar and way of putting pen to paper ain't the best, guess thats why I'm a mechanic and not a journalist.

I don't take any notice of what the mags say, I'll play a game and make my own mind up, and I'm sorry to say Gears just don't do it for me.

Gazza AK47 said:

Its a Toshiba 37" Hd lcd. I have fiddled with the settings and it does look alot better.

But graphics aren't everything, once I got past the glitz of it and got down to playing, it didn't really do it for me, especially off the back CoD3s excellent multiplayer. The single player is too short and could have been alot better, the final train level doesn't look that good to be honest and looks thrown in at the last minute, along with the gimicky driving section mid way through.

The multiplayer does indeed suck. Only 4 on 4, and no respawns, so it usually ends up 4 on 1.

I have to say Koarang that your response has been the best I've had, as I posted my little mini review on 1 of many 360 forums about and got slated, no one could accept that it was my opinion, and not to be taken as fact, or at face value. I know full well that the old Xbox could not have a hope in hell of producing the graphics found in the game! But I realised that most of the people on those forums are kids/ americans or worse, both. So I gave up trying to get an adult response.

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Everyone is entitled to they're own opinion as mentioned above but I have a question: Would you not have given it an 8/10 if you had never played Call of Duty 3 or Battlefield 2?

I think hindsight has a part to play here, if you look at GoW as a individual game and stop comparing it to others you will find it actually is amazing.

Well, after extended play I have to say the game is much better than it initially appeared to me. I knew it was good but it's really as good as I thought it was going to be before it was released and if I didn't have a Wii I'd be playing it constantly.

My Score 9.3/10

Im planning on buying gears of war fairly soon, as ive just finished Call of duty 3 with a mere 8 hours play time, great game, very short

Played Call of duty on PS2 as well, graphics impressed me for what is now obivously alot older platform, but thats the last game i will be playing on that. Looking forward to experiencing Gears of war listening to this review

Jordan

Well I finished GoW, and have sold it on EBay. They say in this months OXM mag that it redines the shooter genre, and employs tactics, how? and in what way?

Battlefield and CoD3 are what tactics are all about. Huge maps, with the infantry going in 1st followed by the heavy armour. With cover from snipers camping out(me)

You get a good game going on Battlefield, with everyone working as a team.

I still stick to my opinion of it, a good game but by no means the best.

Gazza AK47 said:

Well I finished GoW, and have sold it on EBay. They say in this months OXM mag that it redines the shooter genre, and employs tactics, how? and in what way?

Battlefield and CoD3 are what tactics are all about. Huge maps, with the infantry going in 1st followed by the heavy armour. With cover from snipers camping out(me)

You get a good game going on Battlefield, with everyone working as a team.

I still stick to my opinion of it, a good game but by no means the best.

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Did you play it CO-OP ?
I have and tactics come into play there and also you are able to give your guys orders and they will provide covering fire etc so you can flank the enemy.

tactics on multiplayer too. I often play it with workmates, but because myself and another guy are slightly better it tends to be us against 3 others. I think the only reason we win is because we work as a team. we usually take a few second at the start of the rounds to plan what we are going to do, amending the plan depending on what our opponents are doing. If we just went in guns blazing we would be lucky to last a couple minutes.