10 Video Games You Bought CONSOLES To Play
2. Gears Of War (Xbox 360)
Following up the original Xbox was a challenging prospect for Microsoft. Contrary to its predecessor, the Xbox 360 launched with no Master Chief in sight. Luckily though, the system's first killer app arrived in 2006 and went on to kick-start the system's initial success.
Gears of War, the pet project of Cliff Blezinski and developed by Epic Games marked a revolution in third-person, cover based action. It immediatey stood out for gritty and weighty gameplay, featuring gruff protagonists barrelling around the levels and reducing the locust to mincemeat with their crunchy weapons. It was a suitably bleak and harrowing ride, with gruesome violence and vicious combat making it stand out from other releases.
Selling one million copies in its first two weeks on sale, the game was such a hit that it dethroned Halo 2 as the most popular multiplayer title on Xbox Live. Gears of War set the standard for both the unreal engine while also establishing the Xbox brand as the place for hardcore gaming in the late 2000s.
Of course, getting a killer app at the early stage of the game allowed the 360 to maintain its lead over the competition and kept the fanbase on side until Halo 3 the following year.