I know this game is gonna rock even without looking at any reviews

Hopefully my copy arrives tomorrow

OK, the OVERALL REVIEW SCORE (according to Metacritic) is now 9.3.

Main complaints from the 80% reviews are the fact that it didn't really bring anything new to the table... So, apparently vehicles, new weapons, a tweaked cover system and third-person view gameplay in general is overrated? o_O

It feels excessively familiar. I'll say that much after playing for a few hours. I'm having the most fun I've had all year with the 360, but I really have to say the basic format hasn't been the quantum leap all the hype made it up to be. Visually it looks pretty similar to the original, despite the tweaks to the UE. Model textures aren't higher res, still seeing the same typical UE pop in, etc. with nicer lighting effects. Everything is just on a much larger, more epic scale, bringing a great sense of escalation to the Locust/Human conflict. The ability to have hundreds of characters on screen at once, or multiple large animated models in tandem contributes most to this. It feels like a real war, rather than a series of localized conflicts.
Since I'm not even factoring in all the new online features (which had the most room for improvement over the original), I still feel the game deserves a 9 at minimum. Perfect? No, but then what game ever is?

Do we still need this thread stickied? Are there still new reviews coming out for the game?

^ Yeah. It's Gears 2! =P

This game was insanely awesome. Especially horde mode. WOOOOO!!!!