I picked up Gears Of War today. I gotta say, it feels like I've been waiting forever for this game - and I'm not ashamed to admit the flush of excitement that came over me when I put the disk in and the game fired up for the first time. It doesn't disappoint one bit - and all the hype surrounding it is very well deserved. The run and gun days are over, it is now time for stop and pop, I'm absolutely loving the concept of taking cover in this game. The simplicity of just needing to really worry about one button (A button) to take care of all your cover options works very smoothly, and leaves you plenty of time to focus on taking out the enemy rather then trying to remember what does what.
There's a chainsaw on my gun!!
Yup.
And I swear to the gods I let out a holler when I was online and chainsawed my first victim, add to that the ability to curb stomp your opponent when he's down to finish him off, and you discover really that that's what Gears Of War is all about.
No doubt in my mind - this is the game of the year.
...
Also, while I was at the store getting Gears, I picked up the wireless headset/mic that was just released. Its pretty slick, waaaaaay overpriced - but hey, it makes me feel like Jack Bauer while I wear it, and thats worth the price in itself.
Over all though the headset works as good (if not better) as the wired set that comes with the Xbox 360.
EDIT -- Upon further use, I have sadly discovered this mic a shameful rip-off from Microsoft. I payed 70 freaking dollars and the bloody thing screams feedback and distortion into the ears of whoever happens to be at the receiving end. 80% of the time I end up having to switch to my default wired mic/headset.
