And only having one save slot also doesn’t bother me too much…it kinda takes me back to the years spent playing Nethack. It’s a little aggravating, but I can also understand why they did it.

Anyway, the funny/bad part is the tall-slender-rabbiteared-fishnetstockinged-spikepumped girl whos rear ends up in your face if the camera swings wrong. And I would think that spike heals would sink into the sand. And that carrying a bow with spikes on it slung over your back, spikes aiming at sensitive bits, would be a bad way to travel. There is a lot of slogging too, just like 10 (which is why I never finished 10). But I seem to sit down at it for hours at a time so it must be good. I guess I really like the license system.

-Doug

I admit to being overly attuned to Halo because I’ve played it too much. I find that I like the rythm of the single encounter more, as opposed to the flow of the whole game.

I *hate* sticking to a wall when I wanted to roll.

Gears so far hasn’t annoyed me yet, and is doing a good job of letting me know where to go and what to do. The “look at whatever’s important” button is a wonderful idea. I’m currently near the end of Act 3, and the length seems about right for me — I can only play in short bursts these days, so it’ll still take me a week or two to finish the single player campaign.

I haven’t had the sound issues you describe; it has a good balance for me, and excellent surround effects for locating wretches. And though stupid, the characters are growing on me. Especially the Cole train…