Ended just as it was getting good...
Now don’t get me wrong. I think the game is great, and an excellent title to be added to the 360's ever expanding library. BUT, I don’t think it’s the sparkling diamond most make it out to be, more a dull ruby.
Now, let’s cover the things I like or even love about the game. Firstly, graphics; they are unarguably the best graphics yet seen on ANY platform. Sharp, detailed, and with an excellent art style to boot. Granted you look a little closer and you realize the textures are low res yet hidden by a layer of super fine bump mapping, but still, the game looks great. Lighting is top notch, textures look amazing from a distance, details, and environment variety is above average. Maybe not as varied as the often compared rainbow six Vegas, but varied non-the-less. From a purely visual and technical standpoint, the game is close to perfection. But I feel this is also the games largest problem. The graphics are almost its only redeeming feature. Without them the game would have sold well, but not nearly as well as is has. For me it feels like the action equivalent of the boxing game fight night round 3, looks stunning, but overall a shallow one trick Pony. Only where FNR3 had the slow mo KO, gears has the chainsaw.
There are gameplay mechanics and features that are pure genius, the active reloads, the one-button-does-everything control method, these are things I love about this game, but these do not create a good game on their own.
The game is very linear, the game is very short, and the game lacks a worthwhile engrossing plot, something a game of this type strives for. Its typical halo, doom, half life, one man (as your team is close to useless) saves the world.
Again though, these things are not necessarily what make the game average for me. The hype did, the promises, the fan hype, the current over enthusiasm for the game, I don’t feel any of it bar the graphics live up to the hype. My expectations where simply not exceeded, or even met for that matter.
The game has cool weapons, great graphics, average plot, and dialogue and ok AI. The game technically doesn’t do anything wrong. I just don’t feel it does anything as right or as well as everyone makes out. Just as the game picks up enough steam to gain even an ounce of that initial buzz it ends. Its abrupt, its un-satisfying, and overall makes you feel short changed in terms of the single player at least.
Then there’s multiplayer which simply isn’t a very lasting experience. The maps are repetitive and the game modes limited. It feels bolted on. Which makes little since considering it also feels very little time was put into the story itself in terms of length and plot.
Overall I feel the game is very undeserving of its high praise. It’s by no means bad, but its by no means amazing either, it just IS. It promised a lot, and delivered very little. For the hardcore online players you may gain more value from the game, but for the online casuals, they have the 6 hour campaign that you can shoot through with a friend. Which imo just doesn’t equal a 9+ score.