Ok, this is one of the older games for the 360, but was also recent released for the PC with a addition of a new single player level and boss fight. I'll basically be covering both and will inform you of any differences that they may have.
SYNOPSIS
You are Marcus Fenix, recently 'pardoned' from a military prison so he can continue fighting in a war against a relentless subterranean bipedal enemy called the Locust. As a member of the elite Delta squad in the Gears army you and your fellow squad mates must face the worse and the ugliest that the Locust swarms send in an attempt to wipe humanity off the face of the plant Sara. At your disposal are firearms of all types, flail-like grenades, chain-saw bayonet and the orbital laser platform; the Hammer of Dawn. However, it will take more than raw firepower to win this war... it'll take aggressive cunning.
THE GOOD
I have to say what caught me most about GoW is that the environments capture the feel of a land caught up in a 14 year war that seems to have no end in sight. Buildings are bombed out, abandoned vehicles and trash litters the streets and a gray 'cloud' seems to linger over the mood of the characters as you play. In many ways it has the same look and feel as parts of Saving Private Ryan did, but on a much larger scale.
Game play itself is solid and more natural than many first person shooters on the market. As the game is actually a third person shooter (TPS? Hmmmmm, wonder if someone stole my red Swingline stapler...) allowing your player can duck and hide behind low walls, pillars, or just about anything in order to avoid enemy fire. From this position you can blind fire your weapon to put their heads down, pop up to do an aimed shot or vault/dash/dive out of cover to another cover point. However, the Locusts can do the same thing, and like you, try to set up flanking attacks in order to catch you in an exposed position. More than anything, combat focuses not on charging head long into the enemy, as that will get you packed away in a body bag very quickly. Instead it focuses on using your head, and using your team to play smart. Dying actually becomes very uncommon later in the game once you get over the learning curve and understand that you aren't Master Chief or a Jedi of some kind, but rather just a grunt with no cool power armor or impossible abilities.
Like Halo you are limited to two weapons, however they made it so you can also carry a pistol in a hip holster as a last ditch weapon should all else fail. This gives a greater flexibility to fighting styles as the standard lancer rifle is good for suppressing fire but isn't accurate, but the Locust rifle is accurate but only fires in three round bursts, meaning that the player has to decide which matters more to him: "spray and pray" or "Boom! Head shot!". Added to this is an active reload system that allow you to speed up the time it takes to slap a new magazine in and give an extra damage bonus to some of your bullets. If you miss however, your weapon will jam and it will take longer to reload it, leaving you very venerable to the enemy.
Thankfully, unlike Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, GoW is about more than just setting up the 'Four F's (Find, fix, flank, finish) as combat is dynamic and doesn't linger on the same battle for very long. Added to this are part that break the trend completely and force you face off against creatures such as the blind but aggressive Berserkers, the light sensitive but ravenous Kryll, the massive tarantula like Corpsers, and the Rancor like Brumack in the PC version. Each fight has its own unique challenge and requires both quick reflexes and a quick mind to figure out how to take down these nasties.
Add in the PC version is a new chapter when you and your fellow Gears must escape the before mentioned Brumack; a Rancor clone armed with auto cannons, missiles and a violent streak wider than the state of Texas. Combating this beast adds a new level of challenge to the game as the scale of the battle is larger than anything else faced in the 360 version.
THE BAD
As mentioned earlier, the learning curve takes some time getting used to as many of us are not used to having to use the 'sneak and peak' method of game play. If you don't catch on to this quickly enough, later encounters with the larger enemies such as the Boomers will seem impossibly hard. Ammunition also seems overly plentiful as there are ammo crates at way too regular intervals. In fact I can't recall ever running out of bullets while playing it through, or even feeling like I needed to conserve rounds in my favorite weapon.
THE UGLY
Where to begin...? Ah, yes, of course... CHAINSAW BAYONET!!!! Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre attached to an assault rifle. First time I used it I was greeted to the sight of Marcus shredding a Locust diagonally and my screen covered with blood splatters. After I got over the 'Ewwwwwwwwww' factor I quietly put that weapon away and chose something less gruesome. With this said, enemies bleed profusely when shot, enemies and players can be dismembered, decapitated, sawed apart and torn limb from limb. It's bloody... I mean REALLY bloody.
Add to this the fact that your team never went to finishing school and tend to use four letter expletives in cut scenes, in game dialog, sometimes even when picking up weapons, grenades, killing enemies, joking with each other, ect. While the dialog sounds like something a bunch of harden butt kickers would say, it's still not meant for younger ears.
It's very much an M rated game, however it is a brilliantly done M rated game that plays like a gritty war movie and is very well paced. It's doesn't become dull or repetitive and has great replayablity in single and multiplayer modes.
