This can take some getting used to, but it is worth it just to explode someone with a single shotgun blast.
In this case though, it's irrelevent. If you don't like this, there IS something wrong with you.
This is game is all about balance, skill and team work. In most shooters, there's a certain tactic that always wins. Usually, the sniper owns the game. One wrong move and you're out. If somebody skilled gets it, there's nothing you can do. This isn't true for Gears, or at least not in my experience. there's always something you can do to get out of a situation, be it smokw grenades or dashing between cover. The weapons themselves are unexpectidly balanced. the sniper, for instance, is only useful in skilled hands. Unless you're facing the worst of opponents, headshots are hard to come by. Gears' rocket launcher, the Boomshot, also requires nimble fingers. You have to condier the distance of the enemy, as the rocket will dip when fired. Most of the time, it's useless unless the enemy is static. Then we come to the mighty shotgun. The ruler of all. That might seem to contradict what I had said about balanced weapons, but the overall factor in multi-player is teamwork. If you have it, you at least stand a chance. Hundreds of options become available to you, and all of a sudden, the shotgun isn't so mighty anymore. For the shotgun to be any use, you need to be up close. You have to stare the enemy in the eyes. Face someone who is more skilled in the ways of the shotgun, and it's almost certain death. However, your team are a powerful weapon. With them, you can keep all shotguns at a safe distance. Teamwork is Gears' crowning glory. It's also it's biggest downfall.
If you're a regular player of xbox Live, you'll know that, to be blunt, the people suck. You rarely find anyone decent enough to have a fun game with. A lot of them just do what they want, heck, most of them don't even talk. Find yourself in this situation in Gears', you're pretty screwed. That is, unless the other team are in an identical situation. Multi-player is intensly fun, but it's up to the players to unlock it's full potential. If you're not enjoying it, don't blame the game, blame the people! This is by no means an excuse to act like an ass, but this game is best played with friends. Which brings me onto the Campaign mode and co-op.
You can tell this is how the game was meant to be played. While the game is great on it's own, it pales in comparison to co-op. This is mostly because of the horrible friendly AI. Let me give you an example. I was on the second act, facing a Boomer (sort of like an organic, humanoid tank) and I instinctively ran for cover. And my Ai team-mates did too. Or at least, they tried their best. They went for cover, oh yes, but instead of diving behind some debris, they decide to stick to a wall, right in front of the Boomer, completely exposed. And they didn't even care. Not even when I told them to be defensive, oh no, they just stand there and happily let themselves get blown to bits. the enemy AI on the other hand, is not so bad. The drones (Gears' cannon fodder) will flank you, take advantage of their position (e.g. snipers are placed high atop buildings etc), and send in shotguners to blast you to tiny bits. Well, most of the time, sometimes they'll all decide to run towards you and let you do the blasting to bits. This game can be extermely difficult at times, mostly because of the friendly AI dying so often. And this is where the co-op saves the day.
When playing co-op, you take control of 1 of 2 characters. Player 1 (the host if playing over Live) plays as Marcus and gets control over the remaining 2 AI teammates, and makes decisions over who takes what route through a mission. Player 2 takes control of Dominic Santiago, Marcus' sidekick. The fact that you have a human player that has at least some intelligence (hopefully) makes it instantly more fun and far easier. You can form tactics, such as flanking, that you just couldn't do with the AI. You can provide support, revive eachother, the list goes on. Harder enemies will become much easier as you can concentrate fire on a single target, instead of having AI fire at random targets. Co-op livens up a game that otherwise wouldn't have been all that great and far too difficult.
If you're thinking of buying this game without Live, or if you can't system link, don't. The campaign is much too short, even with 3 difficulty modes (9 hours will get you through insane, the highest difficulty). Multi-player is where this game shines and fails at the same time.
Before I get onto the positive aspects of multi-player, I'm going to discuss the negative. Just so you know what you're getting into.
1. Frustration
Forget any game that has ever made you scream into your headset like an annoying preteen, this will bring you to your knees, such is Gears' nature. The multi-player is fast and brutal and can not be prepared for. To gain any skill you'll have to put yourself out there, get called a noob by someone with less experience and skill than you, get kicked for letting your team down, and expect a dent in your feedback. As I said before teamwork is essential. the most frustrating aspect of multi-player is when you're losing and you know you could win if SOMEONE WOULD LISTEN TO YOU AND NOT RUSH THE GRENADES EVERYTIME!! But they won't. You'll also get annoyed by how good some players are, gliding around the map like a deranged ballet dancer. They know what to do in every situation, and you'll hate them for it. The key to Gears' is patience, and you'll find yourself in short supply.
2. Lag
As mentioned before, this is one fast paced game, and because of this you WILL need a good connection. The slightest hint of lag will render you useless. If you're in a game with a laggy host, you'd be best just to leave.
3. Other players
We've all heard them. The 13 year old kids (sorry for the sterotype) who seem to think overusing the word "n00b" will impress. They'll comment on your skill, shout for "stealing" they're weapons, use the worst insults ever conceived and make playing the game hell (unless you mute them). All games have them, but they seem particularly prominent here. Avoid like the plauge.
4. The chainsaw/ grenade tagging
Or rather, overuse of them. We all know about the plasma sword in Halo 2, and "unfair" it was. Of course, nobody minded the odd death from it here or there, but it's when people overused it that our blood boiled. The same goes for the chainsaw and grenade tagging in Gears'. The chainsaw is attached to your Lancer gun (your default gun in all multi-player matches) and is an instant kill, with no way of escaping. Similarly, grenade tagging is when you stick a grenade to someone and they will explode. Once you're hit with one, you have no choice but to die, although you can take the tagger with you. Like Halo 2, the odd use of it here and there won't annoy you. It's the constant overuse of it that comes close to spoiling the game. Epic (the developers of Gears of War) fought with Microsoft to keep the chainsaw in the game. The first time you use the chainsaw, you'll agree with Epic. After you get the 100 chainsaw kills achievement, you'll never use it again, and you'll start to side with Microsoft.
Now that I've made you lose hope in Gears' and all mankind, I'll throw in a few compliments to rekindle your intrest.
This is fun, pure and simple. You will never get a fellling again like you will the first time you're alone and obliterate another team. You'll have a smile on your face for at least 1 hour everytime you take out more than 1 person with the Hammer of Dawn (a giant laser from space, no less). It will renew your faith in humanity (as long as you mute the annoying players). The adrenaline rush you'll get from exploding an opponent with a shotgun as they turn the corner is amazing, it's something you'll be comparing other game experiences to for as long as you're a gamer. When you're an unstoppable killing machine, you won't want to stop. Dashing from cover to cover is the experience of a lifetime.
I've yet to mention taking cover in great detail. This is possibly Gear's crowning glory. It's what Gears' does best. You've no doubt seen cover in games before, whether it's sticking to a wall and peeking round the corner in Metal Gear Solid, or sheltering from bullets in Perfect Dark Zero, but Gears' does it with such style and elegence that it's hard not to take notice. Every action in Gears' is context sensitive and cover is not different. A simple tap of the A button will have you glued to the wall, another tap and you'll be free. By holding the left stick towards another piece of cover and you can elequently shift to it. The animations for this are great, and it adds another level of gameplay. You can also fire your weapon from cover. You can blindifre (this is where you don't steady your weapon and no reticule appears, so you have absolutely no idea where you're shooting most of the time) or hold the left trigger to bring up a reticule, although you can be shot by doing this. Situations will arise when your choice of what to do while in cover will decide the outcome of the match, such is its importance.
The last thing I'll discuss (because you've been reading for ages now) is the graphics, and I can tell you they are easily the best thing you'll see on the 360, even without an HD television. The animations look splendid, the character models look realistic, the environments are really prtty, and most of all, the graphics have marked the end of the intense shininess of earlier 360 games. They truly are a sight to behold.
That about rounds everything up! I may have missed a few details here or there, but nothing major has been left out...I think. I hope that you pick this game up, if you don't, you're really missing something great. If you don't like it, there is something wrong with you. Fact!