Crazy fun and and a blast to play... for a while, but it is definetly worth checking out and at least renting.
Gameplay- 8 controls are nicely mapped and the pop and stop shooting is fast paced and intense. the controls feel like halo, only you can shoot in third person w/o a reticule and you can hold the L button to bring your weapon to your shoulder and have a reticule, also the A button controls all extended movement like running and jumping over cover as well as rolling. This and hiding under cover and using some basic tactics leads to some really cool fights. You can hide aroung a corner and blind fire your shotgun at point blank or flank the enemy and get some presicion shots with a machine gun at a vantage point and then go in for the kill. Generally enemy's aren't that tough and can be easily beaten but it is still pretty fun. Beware, push over bosses ahead. Multiplayer is even more intense and is the highlight of the game. It feels like other shooters but has enough unique features, also matches can get kind of same-y. You start with the same weapons, there are limited modes and maps and once you know where powerful weapons like the rifle are the matchs can get repititive. However the game is still fun and every kill you get is satisfying. Also your health regenerates really fast so hiding for like 3 seconds max will bring to full health. Overall gears of war has great gameplay.
Graphics- 9
The game looks fantastic and has some really good looking lighting and blood effects. The cutscenes can get choppy and the frame rate has occasional drops but it still looks great. Also there is only one death animation when you use the chainsaw bayonet on the machine gun, it looks great but can be dissapointing when the developers couldn't put in like a couple more. For example, you chainsaw someone when they are downed/kneeling, from behind or even running it will show the same animation, from the front the limbs are squirming and your character goes at the same speed and path every time. Every other gun does that too obviously but when you have a chainsaw you want to see something different. The color palette is a bit limited too, while understandable as the game tries for this horror, sci-fi atmosphere it just doesn't come off that well. Games like RE4 have a few major colors but are way more atmospheric, GEOW's premise and setting are still good though.
Sound- 8
weapons, hits, movement... it all sounds decent. The music is pretty good too. Also in multiplayer when Locust (Aliens) run they make hilarious breathing and wheezing sounds. It is really funny when at the beginning of a round all 4 locust members start running and breathing... priceless, also some COG (good guy soldiers) get kills they make some humorous coments, especially Cole (a COG).
Value- 6
Campaign is horribly short and has only one extra, collecting COG dog tags. You may get anywhere around 20 your first time through the game and there are only 30 in total. There is an unlocked insane difficulty mode when you beat it but it isn't really that inticing. However co-op play is really fun and always entertaing and gives the campaign some more replay value. The whole game will take less than ten hours, about 5 for the campaign, another 1 or 2 for getting all COG tags and maybe another 3 or 4 with co-op play. The multiplayer is addictive however and while it can get a bit repititive, new content will eventually flesh it out more, also as said before every kill is satisfying. Basically your paying like 50 dollars for online play, if you have live then i suggest trying this game, no live? avoid it. still want to play the campaign? go to a friends house and play it co-op. when the game drops in price, (inevitable) then maybe for around 30 this is worth every penny, now though at full price... no way.
Tilt- 10
... ummmmm... well... uhh... yeah i hate doing this part of the review, it is really weird, this is apparently to balnce out the score but then how does a game get like a all 9's or something like that? shouldn't it get like a 7 if everythin else is a 9? anyways here's a ten GEOW.