Games for Windows Live: Put It Out To Pasture

Multiplayer offers a chance to play as a Locust character

As one of Microsoft's marquee PC games, it's no surprise that Gears of War is a Games for Windows-branded title, and the box comes with a free one-month Gold-level trial of the Games for Windows Live service. We've covered Games for Windows Live in-depth at YouGamers before; it's Microsoft's branded online service. Think of it as Xbox Live moved to the PC. You can, in fact, use an existing Xbox Live account when signing in to Games for Windows Live, and that's exactly what I did. My meager list of achievements and embarrassing Gamerscore are loaded each time Gears of War loads, reminding me how little I actually use a console for gaming.

Warning: just like the console version, be aware that only one campaign progress file can be associated with a single Games For Windows Live account. While running some benchmarks, I started a new campaign with my primary Games For Windows Live sign-in, and promptly lost six hours of progress. Adding insult to injury, GFW Live would only let me start again from Chapters 1 and 5 in the story, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I must have also completed Chapters 2 through 4. A traditional PC save-game system would do just fine, thanks.

Online battles are intense and unforgiving. My advice: fire back once in a while

It's impossible to discuss the multiplayer experience without assessing the value of Games For Windows Live, and as you may have heard, the service is far from perfection. The interface is clunky, using very little of the available screen real estate, and even sports button icons from the Xbox 360 gamepad. From within the game, I was able to browse my friends list (total friends: zero), change my account settings, and set up voice chat features. Gears of War for Windows multiplayer is still in its infancy, with few populated servers and even fewer servers worth joining.

If you're familiar with the banter on Xbox Live, then you know what I'm talking about. Turn up the obscenity a notch with Games For Windows Live, though; I guess computers are stashed in the basement or kids' rooms, out of the earshot of parents, instead of in the family room. The in-game server browser could also use an overhaul, as it's difficult to sort lists of servers and mark favorite servers for future sessions.

Solid Fun, Empty Servers

While I could do without the Games For Windows Live experience, I managed to find a small server playing the Warzone game type, which pits Cog versus Locust in a last-man-standing battle (incidentally, most game types were Warzone, with Execution a close second). This is old hat for Xbox 360 players, but matches are separated into three tiers: Ranked matches, Player matches and List Play matches. Ranked matches feature universal ranking as well as achievement scoring, Player matches have no ranking but do offer up achievements, and List Play games are just for fun. There's also a worldwide leaderboard, which was looking pretty sparse the day after release. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), there is no cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and PC players; the same technical decisions that prevent moving PC content to the Xbox 360 prevent the inter-platform online matches.

Occasionally, taking over a Locust turret is the best means of protection.

The fighting gets messy up close. Here, a Wretch is disposed of

Along with the Warzone and Execution modes, Annex and Assassination make their way from the console release. New for the PC is the King of the Hill mode, which is a mash-up of Execution-style killing mechanics and the objective control system from Annex mode. I spent some time playing King of the Hill on the Mansion map, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'm a multiplayer curmudgeon, so that's no small feat, and I went as far to plug in my microphone and return the favor when insulted. It's likely that my fellow players were Gears of War stalwarts from the console side, because they had tactics down to a science. On an average cable connection, lag wasn't an issue, even when the action reached a fever-pitch of intensity.

But if multiplayer in Games for Windows titles continues to require the ill-conceived Games For Windows Live service, then servers will be continue to be ghost towns. I don't expect to by playing much Gears of War online once my trial Gold membership expires. My Gears of War multiplayer final score: Gears of War, 1; Games for Windows Live, 0. As soon as I find someone interested in a cooperative run-through of the game online, I'll have to write off an entire day of work.