I started playing the series last weekend (September 17th) and I fell in love instantly. The characters' personalities were extremely well developed for a game from 2006 (but then again, Mass Effect, which came out in 2007, was also amazing), and the graphics in the first game blew my mind. I thought I was playing a game from last year or even a recent game, THAT'S how amazing they were to me. But only starting the series last weekend caused me to rush into the game too fast, and I didn't really get to savour the story as if I were to play it in 2006. However, there is a plus side to playing all three in a row without any interruptions (except college and such), there's no real "break" in the story or waiting for the next one to come out. It's almost like a long movie that keeps getting better and better. The game-play is suitable for anyone at any level of "skill," I can say, because the only other third person shooter that I've completed was the Mass Effect series, which aren't the highest of skill. But, if you need a challenge, even the Hardcore setting is great for experienced players. The graphics improve over each game, but I played them all right after another, so the difference was there, but not "in your face, I've improved," like some games. The scenery is BEAUTIFUL in Gears 3; everything is well-lit, and it gives the right atmosphere each time. I think they focused on this part because a friend told me that people complained about the grey aspect to everything. I never complained, because it's a darker story, so it doesn't need "pwetty rainbows and flowers." But I'm not a picky person. At all. The story is the biggest part of a game for me. I only played Mass Effect because I wanted to know what happened next, and t made me stay up sometimes just to even have a little character development back story. Gears definitely does this, but more so in Gears of War 3 because I think Epic Games realized that people enjoy story as much as they enjoy gaming, so they took more time in developing the story so people like me would be addicted. I'm not saying the first two Gears games were horrible story-wise, just that the the first was kind of like a "test," I'll say, then the second focused more on smoother controls. The third almost perfects it, and I give the entire series a 9/10. I haven't finished Gears of War 3 yet, but I'm on Act 4 (so almost done, because there are only 5 acts in each game). I play one act each night on co-op with my friend, who is a Gears veteran. I should be done the series before Saturday. If someone were to ask me about this and if they should play these games, I would highly recommend them, whether they like story or controls or just shooting things to pieces, it's all around a beautiful, well-made and well-thought out game.