Here’s a game I definitely wasn’t expecting to get for Christmas this year, but so far I am loving it. At first I was a little wary of Gears. I am not a huge shooter fan, and I quickly get board with games like Call of Duty, also this game has been hyped a considerable amount. Well, this isn’t your run of the mill shooter. It’s got some really awesome and fun gameplay mechanics. It’s all about finding cover, and developing strategy to find the right angle for your shot. It’s pretty much the antithesis to a run-n-gun. You must control Marcus Fenix from bunker to bunker, while commanding and aiding your team. Ironically, it draws more inspiration from competitive paintball, than actual warfare. It’s got probably the best graphics on a console game I have ever seen, and it’s got an interesting post apocalyptic alien invasion story. That sounds like a pretty tired concept, but the design of the enemies appearance and behavior is frightening and intense. It did seem a little linear at first, but the game allows you to branch paths to play different parts of levels. The single player campaign mode isn’t very long, but it was definitely built for online play. If you don’t have Xbox Live, you will be missing out a considerable chunk of this game. Gears had a whole lot of hype well before it was released, and now it has what I refer to as anti-hype. Anti-hype is the backlash some people place on a game or movie after it doesn’t fulfill their expectations that were inflated by hype. I can assure you, Gears is a great game, just don’t let the hype get you too excited about it. It’s not “game of the year” in my opinion, but it definitely belongs in the top 10. In summary, Gears is an excited and intense stop-n-pop shooter with all the blood, guts and bullets you could ever want.