So after the publisher's refusal to release a demo, then releasing a frankly rather boring game play video, I had more or less written off Gears of War.

The art style is laughably Ubermensch/Testosterone-Filled/Super-Goth-Gritty, with everyone being more buff than Arnold ever wished he could be, the aliens being visually almost indistinguishable from the "Rumbling Juggernauts of Masculinity" that are your squad mates, etc.  It all added up in my head to a brainless wargasm frag-fantasy for angsty teenage boys who are tired of playing Halo Deathmatch and shooting each other with airsoft guns. [How's that for an overgeneralizatin? :-)]

Boy, was I wrong!

I happened to get possession of the GoW disk for a few days while an acquaintance (ok, actually my brother) went out of town, and on his suggestion I tried it out.  Three hours passed before I even noticed the time.  Sure, there are some problems with the game (melee is hard to initiate [which might be a sticky button on my controller], the art style is indeed laughably "dark adolescent", if beautifully well rendered, etc.) but all in all, I can't deny that it's a heapin' helpin' of fun.

Tactically, it's a lot like the recent Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games, but with some "Halo" thrown in.  You don't get to order your squad around much, but cover and flanking is critically important, and the enemy ai is pretty good at using both of those elements to its advantage.  Especially cover.

I still prefer GRAW because of its more realistic focus and better squad tactics, but I will definitely be picking up GoW after I finish GRAW and GRAW2.