Was skeptical going in but wow!
Starting the game was very slow and I felt like they just kind of expected you to know the controls already. therefore, the learning curve took a little longer than I had hoped for but once I got the hang of it the game became much more enjoyable.
The story of Gears is unfortunately very flat, which is the ONLY reason it did not receive a higher score. It does not explain why the locust have come to the surface. They also do not explain why Marcus is in jail. I had to go to the pamphlet to read a one sentence explanation about it...lame. If they could have given the story more depth this game would have been super solid. Instead, what we got was a "day in the life" action horror game and not much else.
Luckily for Gears, the gameplay was so good that it made you forget about the lack of depth in the story and helped you to focus on staying alive.
With most games I feel that the best production is put into the first level or so and then it tapers off and the end levels seem monotonous. Ironically, Gears had the opposite effect on me. I actually felt that they spent less time on the first levels and then the levels gradually got better.
The weapons are cool. The chain-saw was fun however, sometimes it was hard to get it to respond the way I wanted it to. The Hammer of Dawn, a satellite weapon, was also a treat.
There are a good mixture of enemies in Gears and it will definitely leave you wanting to play it through again on harder difficulty levels.
Gears effectively created a riveting level of tensity that was held throughout the game starting at the very end of Act 1. The music soundtrack was also one of the best I have heard in a long time.
This game was still a bit too bloody for my taste. But, they do put a control on there to limit it a little. After that was set I played through the whole thing. I would recommend this game to most people bt keep in mind that it does adhere to the M rating.