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Gears of War Additional Maps
© Microsoft

Mania Grade: B
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB: M
Genre: Shooter
Players: 1-8
Online: Yes
Developer: Epic
Publisher: Microsoft
Suggested Retail: 800 Microsoft Points
Graphics: B+
Sound: B+
Gameplay: B
Replay: B+
Fun Factor: B+
Reviewer's Wild Card: B

Gears of War Additional Maps

By: Captain Gordon Edward
Review Date: Saturday, May 19, 2007

Gears of War is still going strong as one of the best games on the Xbox 360. The developers have not been sitting on their laurels though instead they have actively continued creating many additions. Of course there was the Gears of War Golf game created behind the scenes, which makes me wonder if we will ever see it. They have also created an expansion in the battle modes for the game, recently upping the online play of Gears of War with Annex. Annex is a king of the hill style of game where you must occupy a space for a period of time to rack up points. Different from the previous modes was the fact that characters would respawn in fifteen second increments if they were defeated.

Recently they have also released a set of four maps, which is the second time they have released additional maps for the game. The first set of maps was free to download after sponsorship by Future Weapons, but the second set you must pay for... At least for now. The price of the maps is only 800 Microsoft points until September 3, at which point they will be free to download. I personally still play Gears now and then so I decided to spend my own money to pick up these maps, but I will tell you the main reason why later. One of the reasons is that these four maps help fill in a few other areas that you have seen in the game, but this time in more depth. Next we will have a rundown on what you can expect.

Bullet Marsh: The first map we take a look at is similar to the third level in the game, which mainly takes place outside of the complex. It is a dark and rainy level, and moved out into a swamp environment. The game normally holds onto a set of grenades, a longshot, a boomshot, and a torque bow, which can be good if you enjoy power weapons. The game has two different levels where one run through waist high water, and the second up on dirt hills.

The map is good and bad because it allows the Kryll to attack any characters that allow themselves to stroll into certain dark areas, some of which happen to be where the power weapons are located. Some of the weapon areas are illuminated for a brief period of time so it is your job to guess when they are about to fade away. The areas that you are attacked by the Kryll are fairly inconsistent though, which makes me wonder why I am attacked in some areas and not others. Overall this map was my least favourite of all of them because it can be confusing guessing where you can go up to the top level or down to the next.

Subway: The Subway is more so a two tier level with multiple areas to either ascend or descend. Like the name suggests it is more so an urban areas, which is good if you like an alternative to Gridlock. It is set during the day so it should be easy to see where all of the enemies, but it also has a few stalled subways on the lower level or cars on the top level to provide cover. This one features two sets of grenades, a longshot, a boomshot, and a torque bow.

I personally enjoy this map the most out of all of the new maps because it generally puts everyone in close quarters with one another meaning the action remains heavy. There may be a minor problem with the proximity of some of the items, like the torque bow to the boomshot and grenades that can make it very difficult to overcome in a round of Annex. This is a further issue when the Annex points continue to spawn in the basement. It is very fun to play on though so I give this one a nod as my top pick.

Process: Process brings you back to the end of the third level where you are slugging it down in the crust of the Earth, mainly when you get towards the end of the level where you set off the scanner. You battle in a processing plant for the goldish liquid called emulsion, which means there are plenty of pipes and other things to get in the way of combat. At the same time it holds a bunch of great places to take cover while battling the enemy. Like the other maps it is home to two sets of grenades, a longshot, a boomer, and a torque bow as the normal weapons.

Unlike the previous two levels it is more so on one level, with minor lifts when it comes to stairs. It is also more so maze like, meaning you can be lost in some of the back areas just long enough to get chainsawed by a person hiding behind barrel. The weapons are nicely spread around so it should prevent bottlenecks of one team controlling any major area, but it feels a little bit too big. I would rank this as third on the list, but it is still plenty of fun to play.

Garden: Creatively designed like one of the areas you will run into with the Berserker, specifically the one where you are in a garden setting. The battle in this one is taken outside and spread out on a fairly larger, but simple X styled map. The area is filled with grass and other plant-life, but also a few greenhouses. These greenhouses are slightly different from the other levels because they pump the local area with a fertilizer, which is a poison that kills characters. This poison can be turned off for a brief period of time by going to a control panel and pressing the buttons to turn it off. This map is filled with a boomer, two longshots, and a hammer of dawn that are fairly far apart.

I like this map because the weapons are nicely spread out, and the layout is set up to fantastically. The game generally spawns people equally apart from the hammer of dawn and the boomshot, while the poison mist protects the longshots, which means people are generally sent off with just the normal weapons. The area looks great and the poisoned section varies areas of attack. It can be fun to play on Annex mode because by running through a poison room you can stop the count by sacrificing your life.

In the end, it seems these maps were custom made to be perfectly compliant with Annex mode, which is not something you will find with all of the other maps. Each of the weapons eventually gets the Annex circle, which means if you enjoy that mode you will have a lot of fun. The maps are plenty of fun to play on, as are any of the other modes, but I feel they shine with Annex. The main question is if it is worth picking up the maps for 800 points now or waiting till September for them to be free. If you are a regular player of Gears I recommend picking them up because there is nothing worse than being kicked out of a room when moving to a new map just because you do not have it. If you have given up on the game you probably can just pass on these for now. Wrapping up, Captain Gordon gives the additional maps on Gears of War a B.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com

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