Gears Of War Member Review for the Xbox360

This game is fantastic for many reasons, but not perfect. It has outstanding graphics, great sound and soundtrack (especially when there is no music, just ambient sound. Much spookier.), and a gameplay engine that makes anyone a commando. The "cover" system is so simplistic, that anyone can feel like a badass, and yet, it blows me away that no game had done it yet. The controls are easy to learn and use, which makes the game less for hardcore FPS fraggers and more for the average player who wants to rock some enemy butt. The characters are yor very basic archetypal "badass angry guys who don't take no guff," which is cool, but very typical. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy that kind of character, but I think the only person I really enjoyed was Cole (a very stereotypical character as well) because of his more playful kick-assery. The enemy A.I. is at the least, quite decent. I found that I was generally, much smarter than them, which is a shame, cause I'm also pretty bad at shooters. But the Locusts still killed me enough to make them a formidable foe. The story sucks, by the way. Sorry guys, but there is no real beginning, or end to this game. There is no developement, and it is way too short. ****SEMI-SPOILER**** The end leaves something to be desired, and I hope they follow it up with something better than a sequal infected with the Matrix: Reloaded virus, gaurunteeing it to suck after a great initial game. All in all, this game is only next-gen in graphics. Everything else could've easily been on the original Xbox. And finally, I know this review is almost all negative, but thats because everybody else ignores its flaws. I love this game and I play it a lot, I just thought somebody should play the devil's advocate on this title.