Gears of War

Gears of War is a third-person action shooter from Epic Games that originally released in 2006 exclusively for Xbox 360 and quickly became one of the most significant games of the entire generation thanks to its elaborate cover-based combat system and the dark atmosphere of the war-torn planet Sera, plagued by underground creatures called the Locust. A PC version followed in 2007, giving computer players access to the game for the first time.

The PC edition carried over the same story campaign and the same cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes as the Xbox 360 version, but also brought several elements beyond the original – these included new multiplayer maps, an additional weapon, and support for higher image resolution along with better-quality textures and more advanced graphical effects that took advantage of the power of strong contemporary PC rigs beyond the Xbox 360's fixed capabilities.

Controls were adapted for keyboard and mouse, which, especially when aiming and quickly moving between cover, offered more precise control than a gamepad's analog stick, although the game continued to support a connected controller for players used to console-style control. Given its release a year after the original and the added elements, this was an expanded and graphically improved version of the game, not a mere stripped-down port with no changes – PC players thus got the most content-rich release available at the time.

Because the PC version arrived on the market a year later, it was also playable by players who didn't yet own an Xbox 360 in 2006, or who preferred PC gaming with a mouse and keyboard over a gamepad. Given the hardware requirements of the era, this was a technically demanding title that needed a more powerful graphics card at full detail settings than was typical for the average home computer of the time – the reward, however, was the best-looking and most content-complete version of the game available.

Why play it: For players without an Xbox 360 in 2006 and for mouse-and-keyboard fans alike – more demanding on period hardware, but rewarded with the best-looking and most content-complete version of the game.