Having come from the first-person Halo crowd, I was skeptical that Gears of War (GOW) would live up to the hype. But it's actually revolutionized shooters by perfecting what other games were already doing, adding some gritty elements that make it more realistic...ironic, considering the game takes place in an apocalyptic future.

Marcus Fenix is the ultimate tough guy, broken out of prison by one of his squad mates for a suicide mission. Fenix leads a team of testosterone-laden warriors in a quest to find the Widget and plant it in a place that will destroy the enemy, the Locust Horde, a race of ugly, pasty mutant-types.

There are no faux cut scenes in GOW; everything you see is in-game graphics. And how sweet those graphics are! Be it the blood gushing, the sparks of bullets firing, the collapsing of crumbling architecture--all of it is captured in grisly detail. Fenix and his comrades are extremely lifelike (my guess is motion capture) and they curse and swear with all the vigor of an HBO series. Finally, we have a game for adults.

Not, mind you, that the game is any more mature. Fenix is still a one-note cipher of macho attitude, and his companions are hilarious rip-offs from Aliens and Predator. But so what? Like Halo, that's exactly the point...we came to kick some butt and chew bubblegum, and we're all out of bubblegum. So blowing up bad guys will have to do.

Humanity nuked its own territories to prevent the Locusts (sometimes called Grubs) from spreading and it shows. GOW's world is a big, monotonous mess of broken debris and lost dreams. So how did the Locusts survive? By digging underground in massive tunnels. The Corpsers, gigantic Locusts the size of whales, tear up terrain and make smaller holes for the humanoid Locusts, who spill out of the gaping hole like pus out of a wound.

The campaign is innovative, from moving mine carts to a fight, to a gun battle in a crumbling house to a shootout on a train. And who doesn't love a fight on a train?

Graphics aside, GOW is a fully realized universe. You can stop bad guys from spawning by throwing a grenade into a "Grub Hole." And to complicate matters, grenades are connected to chains that you bounce off of things (and even people), so one does not merely throw a grenade at a target. Gone are the Hail Mary sticky bomb kills that made Halo frustrating. The other weapons are equally innovative, especially the chainsaw bayonet, which allows you to churn up your enemies, Evil Dead style. Locust duck and weave, use cover, slowly advance forward and then retreat when they're in trouble. And oh yeah...NO JUMPING. Halo characters hopped around like frogs, such that a Spartan armed with a rocket launcher could become a moving target on an otherwise featureless terrain. No such luck here...if you're standing out in the middle of nowhere, you'll go down and go down hard.

Combat is brutal. This is the first game I'm aware of that made an art of reloading weapons; by hitting a certain button at the right time, the player gets rewarded with more damaging ammunition. Reload at the wrong time and the gun jams. What a concept! Another innovation is the idea of ducking behind cover. You can also duck and weave, diving from hidden locations as you zig-zag across the battlefield. You can even blind fire your weapon around doorways. In the campaign, your fellow characters are more than just cannonfodder. The game is considerably easier if they're alive.

The camera is as much responsible for the realistic feel of combat as the warfare itself. When someone gets hacked up or dies at point-blank range, blood soaks the camera. When Fenix runs, the camera stoops lower and bounces along behind him, just as if there were a cameraman following his every move. It even addresses my own pet peeve: you can't run forever this way, Fenix gets tired after awhile. There are frequent hints throughout the game, flashing to important weaknesses that turn GOW into more than just a shooting gallery. Yes, there is the obligatory vehicle driving and valve turning, but GOW makes it all feel natural.

The multiplayer is excellent. Two teams of up to four (Locust vs. Humans) battle it out. When comrades fall down, you're even responsible for helping them back up. The dead can watch over the shoulders of their comrades or watch from fixed cameras. Tactics actually matter. I play every Wednesday night (look for Talien, natch) with friends and it's a blast.

GOW is more than just a game...it's an immersive war experience. No self-respecting fan of shooters should miss it.