Gears of War is Amazing and contains lots of thrills. It has incredible action, graphics, sound, and is just plain FUN.
Graphics: There is not much to say that hasn't already been said. All you need to now is that GEARS is the best looking game to date and it creates an immersive world you will enjoy spending your time in. There are so many things going on screen at the same time, the textures, particle effects, and draw depth are superb. A final graphical note. GEARS cut-scenes are all ingame real-time using the graphics engine and they are spectacular. It really does show how powerful the engine and X360 are and really presents an arguement against the need for pre-rendered cut-scenes in the future. Blue-ray is indeed not necessary.
Gameplay: It's not run and gun, EPIC left that to the Halo series. It's more life like with the stop and pop gameplay. The fire fights in this game are so intense and incredible, but it never lets up. It's one incredible intense battle after another and they get bigger and harder with each new scenario. The contact sensitive A button movement works well once you get the hang of it, that will take about an hour. It's different, but fun and feels real like war movie.
GEARS is a difficult game. On casual it will take about 10 hours, but Hardcore is just that and it makes this game about 15 hours on that difficulty. Insane mode is indeed insane and reminds me of Halo on Legendary, it's that hard. Enjoy the challenge cause the AI is great.
Sound: the sound effects are sweet and if you have a good sound system, it puts you smack dab in the battle. The music is military like and uplifting and synchronizes with the action very well. There are some very creepy music in there as well, but the voice acting could be better. However, when Marcus tells Dom that he is sure the Locust know that the COG is not there to sell them cookies, I had to laugh out loud.
Multiplayer: 4 on 4 is very appropriate with these maps and its still very exciting. 10 maps come with the game and they are well designed. Hey this is EPIC afterall, multiplayer is what they do, so I need not say more. More maps and downloadable content is on its way.
Bottomline is that GEARS is not perfect and I could point out glitches and negative little things about the game, but they would not subtract from this gaming experience.
This is all you need to know: I am 35 years old and GEARS made me feel like a kid playing video games again. It's intense, it's beautiful, and it's fun. Buy it now!