Beat my expectations
First of all, the story. This really got me intrigued as I was always wondering what happened with the "Trial" that they always refer to in the other games, so this answers some questions. Graphics are fairly typical for the Gears games, with sharp cutscenes and nice environments. The Bad:
**** terrible AI, seriously, it's worse that Crysis. Do not expect your squad to have your back, or you will just wind up frustrated. Some parts of the character development could have used some work to, as it was a little disengaged. My hopes for this game were low, I thought it would just be another rinse and repeat, similar to COD.
It being a prequel was a solid choice by the writers, although the thought of a prequel usually pushes people away from trying it, but instead have opened themselves up to a wealth of storytelling.
Overall, it beat my expectations