Well I had some time yesterday to take a break from all the work I have been doing lately to stop thinking about making video games and actually play one... At first I was a little skeptical about all the hype surrounding this game... sure Epic has always made quality first person shooters but this game was supposed to change the way we think about FPS's... right?  Well we all heard that story before... remember when Quake 3 came out for the PC?  There was a ton of hype surrounding that release and it was supposed to change the way we thought about FPS's... while Quake 3 did bring some exciting new elements to online/multiplayer FPS's it wasn't so ground breaking and different from Quake 2... I still know people who are playing Quake 2 multiplayer over there lunch break at the office... but anyway... back to Gears... I started a new single player campaign last night and of course set it to "Casual" so I wouldn't get frustrated right away with the level of difficulty... well right from the start Gears of War was totally captivating!  The last FPS shooter I played through was Halo 2... I have been playing Prey lately but there is something about that game that just doesn't yell for you to come back and keep playing... that IS NOT the feeling you get with Gears... right away you fell immersed into the storyline... the camera angles really have a dramatic effect on the experience... I haven't really loved the "sneak around" games like Splinter Cell so I wasn't so sure I would take to the whole "look for cover constantly" idea in Gears... but let me tell you... IT IS A FANTASTIC STEP FORWARD for FPS's!!!! You really do feel like you are part of the action in this game... and there is something about the squad based combat too... maybe it's just hearing Dom yell out "Marcus... Flank 'em..." but there is a great sense of meaningfulness to the part you play in the game... the in-game cinematic breaks don't really take away from the game play... they are short and sweet and always seem to do a great job of showing off some of the graphical goodness in the game!  I only took the time to play through Act 1 last night but I am hooked!

Has anyone else pickup up Gears yet?  If so what did you think?  Is anyone else as stoked about this game as I am?