Game Review ( Gears of War: Map Pack 1 )

As most of us Gears of War fans know, two new maps were just released via download for free in the Xbox Live Market Place. This is my review on the two maps.

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Raven Down: This map takes place around a crashed Raven helicopter in the middle of a tiny area. Raven Down is hated by many, liked by few.
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PROs: Great map for shotgun duels because it's so small; no boomshots, torque bows, or snipers; Pretty damn easy to flank.

CONs: Any grenade tagger can get you right in the back because it is so easy to flank; no "special weapons" may be a turn off for many; RD is really a small map - but is that really a con?

Verdict: Raven Down is really going to be a love-hate map for most, but for me, I love this map. I love how it's basically a shotgun fest ( since I'm good at shotgunning ) and how you can flank so easily, but flanking easily means the opposing team can too, and that's obviously annoying. In my opinion, Raven Down is obviously a great map for the price, ( $0! ) and it's actually a pretty damn good one, making it well worth a download.

5/5

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Old Bones: This map takes place in what seems to be a combination of the two Gears of War maps mausoleum and mansion. It's a really even map with two sides to flank, and one center to pwn some noobs.
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PROs: Great for those who love mausoleum and/or mansion; fun map to play; pretty solid map for snipers; flanking isn't cheap, as it is hard to secretly get around without being noticed.

CONs: Some may get turned off by the level design; no torque bow or boomshot; some may get lost their first few games.

Verdict: Old Bones is a much bigger map than Raven Down, probably making this map the map of choice of the two for those who love to snipe, or just camp out. To me, this map is really fun, but this is nothing more really than a combination of mausoleum and mansion, not really making it seem like a new map. It all seems to familiar. Either way, this is still a really fun map to play, and it will definitely get played a lot from now ( as well as Raven Down ) until Gears of War's final days. ( What final days? )

4.5/5

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Raven Down and Old Bones are two great additions into the game - it's about time we got some new maps. It has also been confirmed that Epic will be releasing more maps, but not free of download. See you on GoW.