I ran the game with a Core 2 Duo E6400, 2GB of ram, and a Foxconn GeForce 8800 GTX under Microsoft Vista. DirectX 10 was enabled and the game ran OK for the most part I did experience periods of sluggishness and there were times the game really paused long when what seemed like a loading of a lot of data. You'll definitely need a beefy machine to run it smooth and that's once nice thing about the Xbox 360 as you'll spend a lot less to get the game to run with high details. You do get access to all the different resolutions and can turn up and down settings to adjust the detail level so that you can run it a little smoother or prettier. When I ran the game in DirectX 9 mode, I really saw no difference except that it did run smoother. DirectX 10 mode does offer 4XAA and it does smooth out the edges. The problem is you'll need a very high end card to get adequate performance with this feature turned on. I'd say stick with DirectX 9 though and reap the benefits of higher framerates and no loss of image quality. The game looks absolutely gorgeous though and cleaner than when I play on the Xbox 360 attached to my 44" LCD TV running at 720P. The models are incredibly detailed and the textures are high quality.
I did run into a few bugs here and there. Some video sequences seemed to play a little prematurely as I wasn't near the area where it should trigger the event. Another one that made me restart the game was when I was trudging through the underground and came up to a boomer on an opposite ledge. I was able to phase into one of the rock faces just like Kitty Pryde of X-Men fame. Diving around a little, I found myself stuck even though on screen my entire body was out of the rock. I had to restart at a checkpoint to get going again. Once in a while I would experience some textures popping in as well. Other than a few minor bugs, the game never did crash on me.
The new content and inclusion of the editor is nice but if you already own the game on the Xbox 360 you might not find enough here to warrant spending another $50. I definitely like the control scheme better and it does look better than the console on high detail. PC gamers or those that skipped out on the Xbox 360 version will definitely be in for a treat though. Once good mods and maps come out for the game, there might be enough value to pick the game up for those that already own the 360 version. Overall, Gears of War is a good port of the 360 game to the PC with some fun included content not available on the 360.
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Gears of War Companies:
Epic B-
It's a great port with a good chunk of a new chapter added in. The game needs a beefy system though and those who already played the 360 version might not find that a new chapter would warrant a new purchase.
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