Gears of War has the graphics and audio of a next-gen game, but fails to break the norm in terms of gameplay and balance
The problem is, I think gamespot takes too much into account this game's graphics and sound and doesn't focus enough on its actual gameplay and diversity. Sure the game looks great and has pretty ragdoll physics, but theres maybe 5 types of guys you fight throughout the entire campaign, theres only a couple of weapons, melee is WAY too powerful (especially in multiplayer), theres only 3 multiplayer types besides co-op and they are all just rehashs of each other, and the balance in MP is seriously tipped. I mean seriously, it takes two pistol whips to down someone but you have to pump an entire clip of the lancer in an enemy to kill them? Theres obviously some issues with this. Not to mention there's a serious lack of gametypes like deathmatch, capture the flag, and territory. The game looks nice, but it feels like Halo 2 without the diverse gametypes and balanced gameplay. Not to mention it takes like 10 tries to get into a multiplayer game because they keep starting as they are being refreshed on the match list.
I dunno. It was a great experience to beat the game with my friend, but beyond that, there's not really much else to this game that's worth $60. Its a must-have for any Xbox 360 junkie, but in the grand scheme of gaming, it doesn't really hold up considering the gigantic sum of money you have to pay to play it. Rent it unless you got a lot of friends with xbox 360s you can play co-op and live with. I guess I'm back to world of warcraft... again...