I played this game for two hours tonight at my friend's house, and I liked it. We played campaign on the casual setting, and once you start getting the cover system down and what it can do, it's rather satisfying. The story is OMG awful, as is the dialogue, but the game is fun regardless. The last thing I did in the game before I went home was take on a Berserker, a creature that can only be killed by a certain kind of weapon. And that weapon could only work outside. We were inside. So we had to lure the Berserker outdoors and blast it. That was the coolest part of the game, easily.
However, it had a negative reprocussion too. The Berserker encounter was extremely reminiscent of RE4 and the tension that RE4 provided at all times. And that was definitely the biggest thing Gears is lacking: tension. I'm fighting these supposedly scary alien-types, and they just seem like regular dudes. Perhaps if I played on Hardcore, my mind would change, but that's my initial take on it. I'll be playing more tomorrow and hopefully I'll jump online.