7/10

+ Best Graphics on the 360
+ Great cover system

- Weak story/characters

Man these 7s are really dissappointing, makes me question if we played the same game or not

Seriously MikeB...seriously?! Your faulting the game for "appealing to teens", comparing it to the PC version (which has nothing to do with this thread, we're talking about the specific console game ONLY, and ranking it as such) and giving a negative point for, "need XBox Live gold to play online"!...wow...everyone knows you don't like Xbox already, but damn does it have to be that obvious, this was desperate.

9/10

One of the best games this generation and one of the best shooters ever. It helped to define what "next-gen" standed for. An incredible and challening experience, exhilarating from start to finish as few games manage to accomplish.

Pros

• Great cover mechanic
• Loved the way they integrated the tutorial, I wish more games did that.
• Made the over the shoulder camera popular (wasn't the first, just made it popular)
• Great multiplayer
• Revitalized the shooter genre
• active reload is genius
• amazing graphics, probably the first true next-gen game graphics wise (besides Geometry Wars)

Cons

• Controls can be a turn off at first and can make the game a little accessible.
• Single player was short (I generally play games for the single player, not multiplayer)

Really a great game, it revitalized the shooting genre and inspired so many great games this gen (even Uncharted!).

9.4

-edit-

And I do have to laugh at the people critisizing the story-- yeah, it is pretty cheesy but it's also a shooter and like Mario I don't play it for the story.

9.4/10

Thinking back to the impact this game had when it first released, i can't score it lower than this. I was huge, and more importantly..was fun. The gameplay was a bit clunky at times, but once you got used to the fact your characters were human Mac Trucks, it was easy to move, and dodge/roll, and roadie run. Online play was awesome, and is still fun, it's just too bad the achievements were so time consuming, and skill based. Great boss battle, the best use of a cover system, and a chainsaw on a gun...i mean cmon...

If all could be said in one word, it'd be from the great Marcus Fenix...

"NICE!!!!"

Ok for the first time in the ranking game time for me to be harsh.

Gears of War was definitely a game I was psyched for (first 360 game I bought actually). And yet I have never come out more disappointed from a video game ever (mainly because I don't buy bad games). I do think the RE4 inspired setup and adapted/improved cover system made for a great experience. I also think visually the game was quite impressive for the time. But when that is all you have where do you go.

It almost feels with Gears of War that they created the medium to get something awesome but didn't put anything to link it up with. A pretty package with nothing in. For the borefest that was the single player I think the only reason I finished it was because it was only 5 hours. $60 for a 5 hour storyline. The problem with the game is it was firefight to firefight with nothing else. The game had some variation but never enough to make it a big deal. The night level may have been my favorite level and that was the shortest act of the game. The other problem with this gameplay was the story and characters were so unappealing and dull in every way that you could have had dummies in drab backgrounds and the game wouldn't have been any different.

Multiplayer, was fun, but definitely needed improvements. Just like the single player it felt like a work in progress and instead of giving you the work from the progression they stopped before the progress.

Gears of War is not a bad game by any standard but it is not a great game either. This game showed that Epic either didn't have the time to give a complete game or simply to early in "next gen" development to really improve on it. Luckily being a work in progress by the sequel they really created a wonderful and COMPLETE game with Gears of War 2. But with Gears of War 1 it just wasn't there.

Therefore Gears of War 1 is easily my most disappointing game of this generation and definitely my most overrated. For scoring I'm generally pretty harsh but I still recognize it as a decent game. Above average but great in no standards. Thus:

7.5/10

Game was just too much of a work in progress rather than a complete experience and that just can't be looked highly upon. Only reason I still give it moderate to good score is because the setup was there... just didn't build upon it right.

This was the first wowza game this gen for me. The graphics, the awesome gameplay that was more then run and gun, Having a partner at all times. I loved the characters, even thou Baird was and still can be aggravating to listen to, The enemies were no joke, Gen Raam was a total jerk to defeat and I can remember so many great times from the game. From breaking out of prison to meeting the kryll for the first time and having to stay in the light to finding a way into the building with wretchs everywhere to being in Markus's fathersv house when all hell breaks loose and they send wave after wave to kill everything, the berserkers were just evil! The story was ok, if not throwaway, the online sucked imo, and the lack of emotion at times was blah. I wish there had been vehicle gameplay mixed with the shooting parts.

9.2

9.5/10

The Good
Excellent graphics, fun throughout, great soundtrack

The Bad
Too short

I played it on the PC, I dropped my score 3 points because I had to actually pay to play online. If you don't remember, I gave it a 5/10. It was just a shitty game that bored you by the end which also required you to pay for internet play.... As I said before, only because it was fun the first couple of chapters did I give it a 5 not a 1 or a 3.