I’m not going to bore you by rehashing the Gears of War review here for you one more time.  Most of you have, oddly enough, already played this game when it was originally released for the Xbox 360 last year.  So for those of you who do need to play a little catch up – you can find our review of that release right HERE.  This short entry shall instead attempt to break down what you should, and should not, expect from the PC version as you, like we were, are more than likely wondering – should I bother?  The simple answer is, “Yes.”

Additionally Contented?

The lure of most ported releases is often the promise of additional content not available in the original release – much to the chagrin of the millions of gamers who bought the original and now will have to ascertain whether or not it’s worth the repeated dive into the piggy bank to grab aforementioned new release.

First off the checklist are the five additional chapters slickly inserted into the original storyline offering some added depth for those completionists who just can’t live knowing they’re out there and unplayed.  One of these new chapters was original seen during Microsoft’s televised press conference at this year’s E3 as Cliffy B showed off a battle with the beastly Bromak.  Yes, you can live without experiencing these chapters Virginia – so if that’s your only motivator behind considering this purchase – you can consider spending your money on one of the other dozen kick ass titles releasing this month.

Then there are the additional multiplayer offerings including three new maps as well as a new game mode – King of the Hill – which tasks squads with holding a specific map location long enough to earn points.  As the power play shifts with the tide of battle the team with the most points at the end of the round will walk away with the crown.   Definitely a worthy addition to the already sickly popular multiplayer mode – but since online play is not cross-platform – you’ll only have other PC players to contend with.  And just when you were no doubt polishing your Lancer to lay the smack down on those console loving swine.

Probably the biggest draw is one that has nothing to do with Gears of War itself – and that’s the Game Editor which gifts would-be level-designers with the entire toolset the Epic team used to create the breath-taking environments and scripted combat scenarios in the game.  To be clear – this is NOT a sandbox toy like that packed in with Halo 3.  This is a serious toolset which includes the Kismet editor that enables you to drill down and create complex lighting and texturing effects within the editor.  So don’t dive into Gears of War PC thinking you’ll be slapping maps together overnight – this is a professional tool – and that’s exactly what makes this package so valuable.

LIVE-ing it Up!

Game Editor aside, the Games for Windows LIVE integration is probably one of the coolest features in Gears of War for PC as it finally begins to deliver on the promise of integrating PC gamers back into the LIVE community. 

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as unlocking one of the 50 ‘PC only’ Achievements and watching that directly affect your Xbox LIVE Gamerscore.  I know… simple pleasures.  Aside from this ability to amp your Gamescore while away from the living room there’s also the simple fact that using the messaging tools has never been easier.  There’s a reason most Xbox LIVE users default to sending around voice messages -  it takes too damned long to write them!  Sure, Microsoft has released the nifty new Messenger Kit but guess what- my PC already has a keyboard. 

My only question here is why this is not yet a standalone application I can install on my desktop?  I want that right there in my Sidebar with my other Vista gadgets so I can keep track of my LIVE friends and messages in much the way I do my STEAM account.  Are you listening Microsoft?  Put down those ZUNE 3 plans and get my LIVE working on my desktop!

So where’s the cross platform gaming experience you ask?  “It’s possible, it’s there, you just have to really want to make it happen”, explains Epic’s Mark Rein.  Well, consider this a request Mark – let’s “make it happen” for Gears of War 2.

Special Issues?

Gears of War for PC plays, for the most part, like its Xbox 360 counter-part albeit with a slightly amped-up graphical representation.  However, it does comes with one thing the X360 version didn’t have…bugs.  And there are plenty of them – driver issues aside – because we can always fix those with a little due-diligence – the bugs in Gears of War PC are bad.  Terrible bad.  I’m talking about showstoppers.  One took place right in the first level as you cross the bridge outside of the prison block.  I somehow managed to get through the far door without Dom and that was it – the game was broken.  I had to restart from the last Checkpoint in order to continue.

Another ‘fun’ moment came in a later scene deep below the city as you work your way to into the Locust lair to set the Resonator.  After a particularly nasty – though predictable – Boss Battle – Dom’s AI (yes, it’s always Dom) wouldn’t allow him to cross over a dark puddle of ooze which just happened to block the entire path forward, essentially breaking the game.  I restarted from the last checkpoint only to run into this issue again.  Finally, I ran ahead to the next checkpoint which luckily reset my squad and teleported Dom to our position.  Solvable yes, acceptable? No. After waiting a year for the port – we should not be running into such obvious gameplay bugs.  Hopefully Epic will release a patch shortly.

Gearing Up for More

If you can get around the bugs – and I did – and the fact that you still have to struggle to get used to the games clever ‘cover-system’ Gears of War for PC is a solid package especially when you weigh in the additional content and the Editor. The Editor alone, as up and coming developers will agree, is worth the price of admission.  Gears the game is quite simply gorgeous, linear, controlled shooter action at it’s very best.  Hollywood action films should aspire to be as entertaining – and well, with the announcement of a Gears movie in the works – perhaps Epic might show them a thing or two out in Tinsel-Town.  If you’ve not played this game yet – then there’s really no question that Gears of War for PC should be on your holiday wishlist.

It’s no secret Cliffy B and the Gang are hard at work on Gears of War 2. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait an additional year to see our PC port for that one.