Gears of War [PC]

After earning both the praise of critics and the dollars of happy purchasers at its 2006 release, Gears of War has finally made its way to the PC, complete with extra content, tweaked multiplayer modes, upgraded graphics, and more f-bombs than you can shake a stick at. All the well-paced and grittily stylish thrills from the Xbox 360 version are here, together with a number of goodies exclusive to the PC crowd, and although it's not quite up to rolling with the big shooters of 2007, it's still the definitive version of this modern classic.

Conveniently, Gears of War PC includes the option to skip straight to the new single-player material, which neatly drops you in at the start of chapter 5. It clears up some of the plot elements that left Xbox owners scratching their heads, and fills in one of the more gaping holes in the game's oddly disjointed storyline.

Aside from dealing with that confusion, our star Marcus and his chums thankfully tackle some novel situations in this added content; as fun though the game is, there honestly wasn't that much more mileage in its simple run-hide-shoot formula. For the PC, Epic adds some considerably larger fights in more open areas, offering much-needed tactical depth and variety to the combat. And yes, you also get to fight the hulking Brumak creature that the Xbox version merely teased you with. There's a solid three hours of extra gameplay here, and it's extremely welcome.

Throw enough hardware at the game and it really performs. Although the Xbox version is still a real looker, on the PC it really shines, bringing out the game's superb texture work and classy effects work. It's not in the Crysis league, sure, but then what is? Broadly, the tweaked controls adapt well to the PC's mouse and keyboard, although you can use a 360 gamepad if you want to preserve that console feel.

Speaking of which, Gears of War also integrates Microsoft's "Games for Windows Live" infrastructure, which looks and feels identical to the Xbox 360's Guide interface, and even hooks up to your existing Xbox Live profile if you have one. Its best feature, especially for PC novices, is the way it downloads and applies game updates without hassle - just like the 360's automated patches. Unlike the Xbox version, though, you don't need to pay anything extra to join multiplayer games, although you can stump up $50/year for a Gold-tier account and earn some extra perks. No matter how much you pay, you can't play against Xbox 360 owners.

Take a look through the game's forums on the official Epic site and you'll see a number of users complaining of bugs and stability problems. Matters substantially improved after the game's first patch, and hopefully they'll improve more in the future. For what it's worth, we encountered no major problems with the game, barring an odd crash every time we tried to run it directly from the CD's autostart function. Steer clear of that, and if our experience is anything to go by, you'll be fine.

One thing Gears of War PC doesn't have on its side, though, is timing. Its release comes amid what's certainly the best few months for PC shooters in quite some time. No, it doesn't have the multiplayer depth of The Orange Box, or the gripping atmosphere of Call of Duty 4, nor the breathtaking presentation of Crysis. But it was a great game last year and it's at least a good one now. If you've been watching jealously as your 360-owning friends tackle the Locust, here's your chance to pick up the complete package.