Absolutely amazing for as long as it lasts.
Although everyone expected this game to look good, not everyone was completely sure if the game was going to play alright. Graphics are one thing, gameplay is another, and Gears of War delivers. From the gun fights to the level design and the perfect pacing, everything in this game works. There are always plenty of options for killing enemies, there are always plenty of enemies that need to be killed, and killing enemies is always plenty of fun. Killing with the chainsaw gun is fun, killing with the shotgun is just as fun, killing with the sniper rifle is maybe even more fun, killing with the torque bow is amazingly fun, and killing with the hammer of dawn is nothing short of orgasmic. Everything just feels so good there's not much to complain about, and the level design helps this even more. Not only do the environments look good but the way you take cover behind objects and kill enemies to advance is done superbly. Getting up from cover while enemies are still around is never a good idea unless you know exactly where you're gonna go and what you're gonna do when you get there.
Another thing people were worried about before this game came out was the problem of feeling like you're doing the same "st** and p**" (censored for the sake of repetition) gameplay over and over in every level, but this isn't a problem because this game is very good at introducing new things. Just as a hint, it's best to stay out of dark areas during the night, and unloading clip after clip on a berserker just isn't going to work. This is not to mention the game gets harder as new more aggressive enemies start popping up later in the game.
By far one of the most impressive things about the campaign is the seamless co-op. Playing through the single player with a friend over Xbox Live is just about the pinnacle of a great online experience. Not only that but the multiplayer, though light on variety, is fun and challenging. Chainsawing locust was fun in the single player, but in the multiplayer modes it's around a billion times more so. This is truly the reason to have an Xbox Live Gold membership.
Gears of War's graphics are, of course, the best of any game that has come out to date, and if you really appreciate technology you'll probably find yourself standing around staring at water-soaked pathways and wall textures more than once. Environments are gorgeous, character models are extremely impressive and the level of detail is unprecedented. Water and lava effects are pure perfection and art design is excellent. There's really not much bad to say about the graphics. I could sit here and nit-pick about little details about buildings in the far distance looking like something from an N64 game when you've got your sniper zoomed in on them or I could mention the pop-in that you get when you enter a new server in multiplayer, but I don't really care about those things because the rest of the game looks fantastic.
Sound-wise it doesn't get much better than this. The grand orchestral score is very fitting and you'll find yourself humming it sometimes, the voice acting is great and the sound effects of you chainsawing someone is worth the 10 all by itself.br />
After all is said and done there is really only one big complaint I have about Gears of War, and it's that it doesn't last too long. The single player will last you about 8-10 hours and the multiplayer, being light on modes, will probably get old fairly quickly. There are, of course, achievements to unlock but in the end the game is just short. However, given the monstrous amount of work that was obviously put into the single player and co op modes it's easy to forgive since you'll probably be playing through the campaign more than once, most of the time with a friend.
Gears of War is a flat-out awesome game that deserves to be played by anyone who's got a 360 and is into action shooter games (so, basically, all of you). If you haven't already got this game, you either don't have $60, your'e living in a cave, or you don't own a 360, and in which case, you better go get yourself one and play this game.