Holy poop. That's about all I can say right now about Gears of War. Thanks to our MVP lead, we were able to get behind the closed doors and get a hands-on demo of Gears where we all got to play the multiplayer version of the game. Our group of eight was split into two and we were pitted against each other in a deathmatch

How could you not love playing with a massive hunk of a man who grunts with the passion of a rhinoceros? How could you not love running up behind someone and instead of just knocking them in the back of the head with the butt of your gun, you start the roar of your chainsaw and split them in two?

The visuals in the game are good - I've seen better but in no way did it detract from the fun of it. The game uses the Unreal® engine to do all its dirty work and it handles it beautifully. The only slight distraction I noticed was during the press briefing demo that Cliffy gave. During the single player campaign, a slight lag could be seen when moving from one stage to another. No doubt this was just a loading sequence catching up and hell, it's better than having to sit through an actual load screen. If it was something else, hopefully it will be fixed by release.

I was on Team Cog and we were taken down in the first game. Being the competitive people we are, though, we came back with a vengeance. We took the other team out 4 times! The representative that was coaching our team had a bad habit of coming over and screaming "B B B B" in my ear. YES! I GET IT! B is the chainsaw! I will never forget that now, dude. Thanks!

I managed a pretty nice sequence of chainsaw hackup and teammate resurrection - yep, that's right, resurrection. You can shoot a player until he falls down but if you don't keep shooting him, he has the chance of being resurrected by one of his teammates. Hmmm Sounds familiar...ShadowRun applied this idea to their game, too. I'm hoping this new concept will cut back on some of the spawn killing that goes on.

The weapon system reminded me of the Ubisoft games where you can bring up your inventory and select your favorite killing apparatus. We had the chance to pick up rocket launchers, sniper rifles and others. There is also an annoyance factor built in with reloading. You have to time it correctly or else your character cusses at you and jams the gun. I'm happy to say, I only managed to do this once. Don't think for an instant that you can be trigger happy run and gunners, either. This game makes full use of the aiming. If you think you'll kill your enemy just by firing wildly, it ain't gonna happen. Spraying fire is really spraying fire. Stop, aim, shoot. Those three words will be your friend.

I'm sure the game will draw fire for being violent but there are some of us in this world who have control over ourselves and can play games like this without feeling the need to then go to the shed, pick up the chainsaw and go on a butcher spree in the neighborhood. Maybe people should go under psychological testing before being allowed to play games. UGH. having said that, this is not a game I would like to see in a 10 year old's hands.

Something emphasized in this game is the use of teamwork. Without your team, you are fairly useless. Sticking together was the only way my team succeeded in smashing the competition. After all, it won't help you if you go off as a lone wolf, get pegged but have no back-up to resurrect you - have fun in observation mode. You will also want to get acquainted with cover. To survive, you need to shield yourself and finding some kind of cover will do this. You have the opportunity to stay in cover by rolling, sliding and turning from one spot to another, which is kind of cool.

I was so disappointed when we had to leave. I can't wait for this title to come out. Now, there's no such thing as a Halo killer in my mind but this will definitely be one hell of a sidekick for me. I can't wait to chainsaw my friends in half. We all love each other...really we do.