Amazing in it's own right, GeoW will not dissapoint anyone, but will get repetitive.
Gears of War plays out like a slick action movie. You are Marcus Fenix, a former war-hero turned inmate released to fight the hordes of underground dwelling creatures known as the Locust. And that's about it.
What's that? You think there's more?
Nope not really. Like I said, a slick action movie. When's the last time you commented on the nuances of a Steven Segal Movie? Never, because you watch Steven Segal for his emotionless portrayal of badass who break people's fingers.
The game plays out like every single third-person shooter should. It's seamless, easy to pick up, but never too easy. In order to survive, one must take cover quite a bit, except on the easy setting, in which you can take a lot of damage before dying. What makes it so seamless is that you never find yourself scrambling for buttons. The run button is the take cover button, along with the jump/dodge button. Other than that you have reload, melee, and fire. Easy. Easy. and E-Z. This simple control scheme makes it so fun and fast that the action never stops.
As far as the actual action, there's not much to it. The locust come from under ground and come at you 3-5 at a time. For the most part, you'll get a standard troop set comming at you shooting rifles or shotguns. Later in the game you get more of a variety, such as the boomer who wields a grenade launcher, or the elites, who carry the super-awesome crazy-style Torque Bow, which is basically an M-80 on a super-powered bow-and-arrow, otherwise known as the redneck-Robin Hood. The single player mission is dull when it comes to everything else but the action. The story goes no where, with few details on why Marcus was in prison. When I saw the interviews and trailers, I was hoping they would play up a story of how war not only damages the beautiful locales they destroy, but also the people engaged in it. Oh well, maybe for Halo 3 Microsoft will get a little more poetic.
The multiplayer is where the game shines. Unlike the single player, in multiplayer a player get's shot down to his knees, where he can be revived by a teammate, adding a element of teamwork not seen in many titles. While playing you'll find yourself taking less cover and doing more beat downs and chainsawing. My favorite technique is to use the sniper rifles as a close range weapon to knock an enemy down, followed by a prompt melee.
However there are a fair number of complaints I have with the multiplayer. First is the 4-on-4 maximum for matches. While this is a great style, it could have been a lot better if the game at least allowed for larger matches to take place, especially in the bigger maps. The lack of modes is my biggest problem with the game, of which it only has three. No deathmatch, no capture the flag, nothing even remotely creative. In the past 30 seconds I just thought of one, have a team of locusts protect 2 emergence holes. As long as they're still open, the locust can respawn. How about that? Sure not amazing, but still, if I thought of that in 30 seconds, why not the guys over at Epic Games think of something better in the time they had?
Other than that, rest assured this is one of the best games you'll ever play. Not the best, and not the best of the year, definitely not. But damn, it's good.