E3 2006: Gears of War Preview

May 9, 2006

First thing was first at the Microsoft E3 press conference in Los Angeles today. Before Peter Moore took the stage to announce the upcoming library of 360 titles, and before Bill Gates unveiled the amazing Live Anywhere technology that will allow 360-owners to take on PC-owners at cross-platform titles, the lights went dark and the Gears of War trailer started rolling.

It was 30 seconds or so of intense, run-and-gun, CG action with a bit of back-story, detailing the war against the Locust on the planet Sera. Then a Microsoft representative took the stage and unveiled the first level of Gears of War -- 100 percent gameplay. The entire audience at the Mann's Chinese Theater went into sensory overload. Sure the sound was cranked up to 11, but the bullets and explosions and voices and screams and chainsaws all sounded brilliant and reverberated throughout the room. Visually, Gears has come a long way from E3 2005 -- the framerate has picked up considerably, while the textures, models and animations still look amazing. There were plenty of times when Gears slowed down when there was a lot of action on screen, but considering that it's May and the game is slated for release before the end of the year, and the survival-horror-FPS is looking very good. Click on the video link below for the trailer and direct feed of the in-game footage from E3.

We will get our hands on Gears of War in an eight-on-eight team deathmatch tomorrow morning when E3 officially opens, but here's what we took from the gameplay so far. Marcus Fenix was imprisoned for ignoring orders on Emergence Day to do some kind of heroic deed so he was jailed for several years. Of course, the Locust Hoards pull ahead in the war against humanity, so everyone in prison was pardoned. Former squadmate Dominic shows up with a duffle bag of gear and you get to make your first choice: jump right into the fray and storm the Locust head on or work your way through the interior of the prison in a basic tutorial mode.

The level started out with an attack chopper shooting down a giant, stone watchtower and it collapsed to pieces right in front of Fenix's feet. Then the Locust started pouring in. Seamlessly, Marcus ducked behind a fallen pillar, completely shielded from enemy fire. He was able to lift his gun over the column and fire blindly, suppressing the Locust. Not wanting to be shot in the face by bullets, the Locust also ducked behind cover. Then Marcus zoomed in -- an over-the-shoulder angle very similar to Resident Evil 4 -- and popped the Locust when they jumped out of cover. Marcus could easily jump behind corners, pop out and shoot, return to cover, jump behind a little ledge and take cover again, pop out and shoot some more. The action was fast, loud, white-knuckle, intense and, most importantly, smooth and seamless -- exactly the effect Epic is shooting for.

After clearing out a room with the help of Dominic, Marcus picked up ammo off dead bodies lying around. Mostly he had used an assault rifle equipped with a chainsaw-bayonet. When up close, Marcus triggered a nice cut scene, cranked up the saw and easily dispatched a Locust enemy as it let out a final scream of death. Blood splattered everywhere.

Occasionally Marcus reached into his backpack and pulled out a shotgun for close combat. The shotgun went off with a gang and sent the Locust reeling, although it didn't have the sweet chainsaw-melee attack. Instead, he was able to smash the butt of the gun into Locust face. Marcus also pulled some grenades out of his backpack and tossed them at enemies hiding behind cover -- a very effective way to dispatch enemies hiding for their lives. Dominic got in on the action as well and enemies reacted to his attacks, affording you the opportunity for flanking maneuvers. We do know that there will be basic squad commands as you progress through the game and pick more squadmates on the way. Epic said the mechanic will be simple, a bit more complicated than Half-Life 2 but not as complex as, say, Rainbow Six. At this first level, however, Marcus and Dominic took care of themselves, although they did yell out things to each other like, "Watch out!" and "Over there!"

After clearing out the prison courtyard, Marcus saw Dominic on the wounded on the ground, so he ran over and healed his buddy. From there, Dominic and Marcus sprinted for an evacuation chopper in the distance, but at the last second a giant, spider-crab beast crawled out of the ground, poised to attack. With that, the level and demo ended, leaving the audience salivating for more.

An hour or two later, we crossed the street for a more personal demo with Gears of War. Epic walked us through the first level again, but this time we learned there are multiple paths you can take. After Dominic unlocks Marcus's prison door, Marcus has to choose between fighting through the courtyard or taking a more tutorial-oriented route. Epic went on to say that there will be a variety of different paths to take when fighting each mission. Dominic and Marcus can stick together, gunning down Locusts as a team. Or, a friend can jump in at any time online or via split-screen co-op and two players can cover each other in the distance.

There are a variety of online modes planned for Gears, but Epic would only confirm the team deathmatch. The dev team is working to get as many players online as possible, but given the white knuckle, close-quarter combat of Gears, Epic said the ideal online deathmatch is four on four.

There have been a lot of rumors out there that the Gears of War would be very short in length, somewhere around six hours for the single-player game. A Microsoft rep said today that he knows both Epic and MS would not be happy with six hours, and, while he wouldn't hazard a guess to the actual length, Gears will run longer than six hours. Who really knows what the truth is with the open bar and models walking around in tight, white pajamas.

We'll give you more details of Gears of War tomorrow morning after we finally get our hands on the game. Judging by the reaction at the MS press conference, however, the line is going to be very long. Stay tuned.