Gears of War: E-Day: First Impressions

I just completed the first Act of the Gears of War: E-Day campaign and I already want to talk about it because – holy shit, what a first Act! If the rest of the campaign keeps up this level of quality, we’ve got a serious contender for my GOTY on our hands! I knew from the Multiplayer Beta that E-Day might be something special, but I was still blown away right from the opening.

With all the graphical bells and whistles now unlocked, E-Day is easily one of the best looking games I’ve ever played. I don’t normally get quite so excited when talking about visuals but – wow! As soon as I took control of Marcus I had to spend a few moments just admiring the scene. The opening Act takes place at night in the city of Kalona just as Emergence Day is beginning.

As tremors shake the city, nobody knows what the f**k is happening and then – the Locust begin to emerge, pouring out of sinkholes that are opening all across the city and slaughtering anyone in their path. E-Day doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to portraying this opening salvo of the Locust invasion.

The Locust don’t differentiate between civilians or soldiers, and E-Day doesn’t shy away from the pure horror of a city under siege by an unrelenting and monstrous force that shows no mercy. The streets are wet with blood as you and a small group of fellow soldiers attempt to fight back, rally what forces remain and guide what civilians you can save to safety.

It’s tense, brutal and fast paced. And it looks f**king glorious! The attention to detail is staggering, the lighting is incredible and the blood – the blood! After one intense shoot-out against the Locust in a supermarket, I noticed a slick, wet trail of blood snaking through the aisles. I followed the trail to find a wounded Locust drone crawling slowly away. Blood has never looked this good!

Which sounds . . . kind of a weird thing to say, but it’s true! I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with such a satisfying head shot system as a Locust’s face explodes in a shower of gore. And you don’t feel bad about it – not when you see the horrors the Locust are inflicting upon the people of Kalona.

The world is also incredibly reactive to the action – at one point I was firing at a Locust taking cover behind a stone pillar and my shots were chipping away at the stone, exposing him to fire. But the same later happened to me as I ducked behind a wooden board which promptly shattered from enemy fire.

The movement system feels even better than it did in the Beta – it’s the Gears cover based shooting that we all know and love, but with a higher degree of mobility and directional flexibility. The weight is still there, the punch of the guns, but everything feels a little smoother, with more fluid transitions between cover, aiming or movement.

I’m not going to jump into the MP modes just yet – I want to play through the campaign first. And it’s a campaign I’ll likely play again in co-op – it supports up to four players and (if you’re playing on console) 2 player split screen! We don’t see that often, these days! As a package, with the Campaign, co-op play, Versus and Horde Siege, E-Day offers fantastic value.

I know I still have a long way to go and it’s very possible my impressions of the game will change as I progress. But right now – what an opening! I’m going to get back to it!