bit-tech Shopping: Microsoft Gears of War (PC)

• Microsoft Windows Vista
• Microsoft Windows XP

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1

Strengths: Looks great. Great port from the Xbox 360 version.

Weaknesses: Lack of multiplayer competition in contrast to Xbox 360 version. Requires advanced PC to play at high quality.

Summary: Gears of War PC is a great port from the Xbox 360 version. Same great content as the Xbox 360 version but with the additional act containing 5 more chapters.Multiplayer is not as competitive as the Xbox 360 as there are less people playing.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1

Strengths: Great video and audio effects, excellent online play, and fun to play multiplayer contest

Weaknesses: Have to Pay for Live

Summary: This game has a great gameplay, video and audio effects, and storylines. It also has a good online play option, in which you can find may people playing this game. But you have to pay for that and when you play this game, you can feel that it was made for console game, not PC game, so its control with keyboard and mouse seems to be awkward sometimes. Despite some limits, this game is fun to play and I think a good game.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Days

Strengths: Taking cover and firing from cover is awesome. Some really nice special effects.

Weaknesses: Weapons and enemies don't feel real.

Summary: The keyboard controls feel like they were designed for a console game first. This game was converted from a console game so this is understandable. What I don't understand is how people play console shooter games without a mouse. Being able to use the keyboard and mouse for aiming really makes a big difference for this game. Some of the special effects make you feel there, like when you kick in a door and the screen tilts a little, or the blur when you spin around before you can see clearly, or how you can the heat from your gun after firing. I don't think the gore effects were done all that well. The enemies and weapons don't feel real enough to me.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1 Weeks

Strengths: Graphics are very detailed and well-done. Squad acts/reacts in a realistic manner as well as the enemies.

Weaknesses: Numerous crashes for different reasons. Weapons do not "feel" real.

Summary: If you have the patience to put up with the crashes then I would say that this game is one you should have and will make a welcome addition to anyone's PC game library.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1 Months

Strengths: Great graphics, fun game, cross-platform playability

Weaknesses: system requirements, unusual camera position (for me), bugs you for Live account every time

Summary: The game is a nice one overall. Graphics are great, and playability is fun. However, it runs jittery on my system, even though it is a 2.2Ghz dual core, with overclocked 8900GTS which works great on almost all other games. I had to turn graphics specs down from the highest to make it playable, which takes away from the niceness of the graphics. Also, i love FPS games, but most are in the first person view, where your view is what the character sees. This one is a bit different in that it is a third person view (Camera floats behind you). It takes some time to get used to that, especially when turning around. When you turn , the view lags for a few seconds before moving behind you again. This might not be a big deal for people used to that viewpoint...I am not, which made the game take a while for me to get used to. Also, the game would bug me everytime I started it for a Live login. While i can set one up, I didn't at first, and just used the quick game option, so I had to keep going through that screen when starting the game. No big deal, but you need the account to save your games, which is rather annoying. Other than that, it is a fun game, and I would have no problem recommending it for fans of the genre.