Gears of War

Not Much Under that 'Do-rag

HIGH The Cole Train runs on whole grain!!

LOW Marcus's uber-meathead actions at game's end.

WTF So many unanswered questions from so many angles.

After Amy, I took @KayinAmoh's advice and spent some time with Cabela's Survival: Shadows of Katmai on 360. You may not believe it, but the game is completely awesome.

While it's hardly high art, Gears 3 generally manages to craft a satisfying enough experience—except in one regard. For some odd reason Epic Games made the strange decision to saddle Marcus not just with his usual team of cohorts (Dom, Baird, and The Cole Train), but to also add in some new characters as well. The additions of female characters Anya and Sam to the mix works out well enough, but the decision to add Jace Stratton to the team is a disaster.

This week: The moderate highs and not-so-moderate lows of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, plus we remember what made the original so special. Also: Gears of War 3, Tim takes five minutes off, and we share our picks for dream HD remakes. Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, Richard "The Logician" Naik, and Tim Spaeth. Special thanks to RandomRob for composing this week's break music!

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Links:

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Conan O'Brien is very concerned about the industry's shift towards non-violence. Gear of War 3 is just another sad example.

Is the game industry in a state of arrested development? We present our take on Heather Chaplin's incendiary GDC presentation. Plus, the proliferation of co-op, the viability of OnLive, and lessons learned from Leisure Suit Larry. With Chi Kong Lui, Mike Bracken, David Stone, and Tim Spaeth.

Download: Right click here and select "Save Target As..."
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Topic and Game References:

• Final Fantasy 11
• OnLive
• Resident Evil 5
• Heather Chaplin on "Burned by Friendly Fire: Game Critics Rant" GDC 2009 Panel
• Fable
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
• Madworld
• Gears of War 2
• Leisure Suit Larry

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

I finished the main campaign in Gears of War 2 last night after chainsawing my way through hundreds of locusts and being sprayed by about a thousand gallons of blood. It was a pretty kick-ass experience on the whole, filled with over the top set pieces and so-bad-its-good dialogue. Given the extreme Gears of War-ishness of it all, however, I was taken aback by two surprisingly dark turns in the story, including one moment that nearly brought tears to my eyes. How could this be possible? Let me explain.

My good buddy Chad Dukes (who co-hosts the Big O & Dukes show at WJFK FM-where you can hear my movie review segment every Friday afternoon) landed an exclusive interview with John Dimaggio that's up over at his site TheFukerton.com.

Who's John Dimaggio? Only the guy with one of the coolest gigs in the world. Not only is he the voice of Futurama's wisecracking robot Bender, but he's also the voice actor responsible for Gears of War's Marcus Fenix. Check out the two part interview here.

Part 1:

Part 2: